Vintage Technology Collector

ExtremeTech reports: "Throughout the history of computers, one aspect has plagued and restricted its growth more than any other: permanent storage. From the very first computers that used punched cards and tape for input and storage to the refrigerator-sized hard drive (pictured right), the tale of non-volatile memory lays the foundations for today’s ubiquitously digital world. At the same time, however, computer storage is strangely disassociated from the breakneck advances in silicon transistor fabrication, and so it offers an interesting counterpoint to the Megahertz War, Moore’s Law, and today’s surge towards low-power system-on-chip computing." (read the rest of the article )

eWEEK reports: "Aug. 12 marked the 30th anniversary of the introduction of IBM’s 5150 personal computer. Recently, IBM executive Mark Dean, one of the engineers of the original IBM PC, said the post-PC era is here, and that it's not the devices, but the social interaction they enable, which now is driving innovation."  (Read the rest of the article )

PC Pro reports: "A single photograph, scraps of circuit diagrams drawn from memory and a pile of disused components – it isn’t much to go on, but from such meagre beginnings, engineers rebuilt one of the precursors to the modern computer. The Tunny decryption machine – on display at The Museum of National Computing at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire – was a feat of engineering both during World War II when it was created, and over the past five years when it was rebuilt. This is the story of how a team of volunteers turned scraps of information into a fully functioning replica of a machine that helped to win the war." (read the rest of the article )

The Kenbak-1 is regarded by the Computer History Museum of America as the worlds first personal computer. Robert Nielsen owned one of these machines since 1971 and in this video he shows you the inside of it. A rate KENBAK-1 computer is for sale on eBay.com right now.

The New Yorker reports: "ANNALS OF BUSINESS about Xerox PARC, Apple, and the creation of the personal computer. Describes a visit by Steve Jobs to Xerox PARC in 1979. Xerox PARC was the innovation arm of the Xerox Corporation. In 1970, Xerox had assembled the world’s greatest computer engineers and programmers, and for the next ten years they had an unparalleled run of innovation and invention. By 1979, Apple was already one of the hottest tech firms in the country. So Jobs proposed a deal: he would allow Xerox to buy a hundred thousand shares of his company for a million dollars—its highly anticipated I.P.O. was just a year away—if PARC would “open its kimono.”" This is probably the best article on the subject I have seen. Note: To read the full article requires a subscription.

Molly gives us some video game history, telling the tale of the Great Video Game Crash of '83.

On eBay is a Popular Electronics Magazine from January 1975, which has a famous article about the Altair 8800 in it. Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia (whole article ): "A cover story on Popular Electronics could launch a new product or company. The most famous issue, January 1975, had the Altair 8800 computer on the cover and this ignited the home computer revolution. Paul Allen showed that issue to Bill Gates. They wrote a BASIC interpreter for the Altair computer and started Microsoft."