My son and I opened a small personal computer museum

[rietveld]

My wife let me use an empty space, in a commercial building we own, as a private personal computer museum

 

 

[rietveld]

This is just my attempt at storing these items in a more presentable manner

 

This is still the crap in the basement of my sons house that needs to be sorted also 

 

 

 

Edited January 3, 2023 by rietveld

[rietveld]

[jhd]

 

Will this museum eventually be open for public viewing?

 

Is there any thought of establishing a separate corporate entity to own the assets (in case one of the founders ever dies or loses interest) and so that tax receipts can be issued for donations in cash or in kind? This would also allow membership in e.g. the Ontario Museum Association. 

 

Remember the tragic tale of Syd Bolton and the demise of the Personal Computer Museum in Brantford. Legally, it was just his "personal" collection (despite having received donations), so it ceased to exist upon his death. 

[digress]

You have a Sanyo mbc 555! Now that is a great collection.

 

My childhood computer. I still one here too.

[NIAD]

Crazy insane collection!!!! I couldn’t even begin to imagine the amount of time and expense it takes to collect, maintain and display… the custom built display shelving alone would cost a small fortune.

 

Good luck with the endeavor and glad there are people like you preserving all this great stuff. For me, besides the CV & ADAM hardware, I’m very appreciate of digital type of collecting that can be accomplished with one modern laptop computer.

 

[rietveld]

28 minutes ago, jhd said:

 

Will this museum eventually be open for public viewing?

 

Is there any thought of establishing a separate corporate entity to own the assets (in case one of the founders ever dies or loses interest) and so that tax receipts can be issued for donations in cash or in kind? This would also allow membership in e.g. the Ontario Museum Association. 

 

Remember the tragic tale of Syd Bolton and the demise of the Personal Computer Museum in Brantford. Legally, it was just his "personal" collection (despite having received donations), so it ceased to exist upon his death. 

I was a friend and volunteer at Syd's museum.  After he passed I was given a few systems 

 

The buildings are in the name of my corporation and the assets in them also. 

[Captain Cozmos]

The two cats are part of the Alf exhibit.

[rietveld]

We bought an old pre school building and turned it into 3 apartments and still had this space available for my stuff

 

The building is cool. It was built in 1899. 

[CraigL]

1 hour ago, Captain Cozmos said:

The two cats are part of the Alf exhibit.

😂😂😂😂😂🐱

[LiqMatrix]

I would definitely post your pics over at Vogons.org & VCFED.org. Very nice collection!

Edited January 3, 2023 by LiqMatrix

[jhd]

10 minutes ago, rietveld said:

We bought an old pre school building and turned it into 3 apartments and still had this space available for my stuff

 

The building is cool. It was built in 1899. 

 

Excellent! I love it when heritage buildings can be repurposed into something still useful.  

[allansim]

11 hours ago, jhd said:

 

Will this museum eventually be open for public viewing?

 

Is there any thought of establishing a separate corporate entity to own the assets (in case one of the founders ever dies or loses interest) and so that tax receipts can be issued for donations in cash or in kind? This would also allow membership in e.g. the Ontario Museum Association. 

 

Remember the tragic tale of Syd Bolton and the demise of the Personal Computer Museum in Brantford. Legally, it was just his "personal" collection (despite having received donations), so it ceased to exist upon his death. 

Looks like most of Syd's collection went to U of T in Mississauga so it lives on?

 

https://www.utoronto.ca/news/14000-titles-u-t-mississauga-s-syd-bolton-collection-takes-video-game-studies-next-level

 

"The U of T Mississauga Library has set up a space for anyone who wishes to make an appointment to play a game from the Syd Bolton Collection"

 

[zyzzle]

Well, that's the Motherlode.

 

And, yes, I'm sure you're still sitting on a few million, after having *spent* a few million to acquire all that wonderful stuff!

[rietveld]

5 hours ago, zyzzle said:

Well, that's the Motherlode.

 

And, yes, I'm sure you're still sitting on a few million, after having *spent* a few million to acquire all that wonderful stuff!

A lot of this stuff was free or almost free.

 

My son has been collecting for a long time. 

 

I keep it in hopes that I will use it when I retire.  I am thinking of that this year or early next year when my youngest son finishes University

 

 

[Keatah]

 

20 hours ago, jhd said:

Will this museum eventually be open for public viewing?

To me this is a huge aspect of any museum. Something interactive and even hands-on.

 

19 hours ago, NIAD said:

Good luck with the endeavor and glad there are people like you preserving all this great stuff. For me, besides the CV & ADAM hardware, I’m very appreciate of digital type of collecting that can be accomplished with one modern laptop computer.

I can't agree more on this point.

 

Take computer software for example. It's an interactive medium any way you look at it. And it is the input/output of a gaming session or word-processing session, or programming stint, that is the essence of the time spent working with the equipment. In simpler terms it's not enough to just look at the gear, you gotta play with it.

 

I straddle a line between keeping a comprehensive Apple II collection and running everything in emulation. Keeps the wear and tear off my original gear and affords me some extra creature comforts not possible on real hardware. Same for visitors. Show them the A2 collection but do all the activity and screwing around on a disposable PC. I'd rather them pound the hell out of a $20 PC keyboard when playing Olympic Decathlon than my original A2 from the 70's. The experience is good enough to be interchangeable.

[rietveld]

I should use the word 'MUSEUM' loosely. Its more of a large empty space that I utilized to store my computers. Everything is setup and operational.   Just plug it in, turn it on, and use it

 

I have had people over to use some of the stuff but nothing on a pre  determined schedule 

 

 

 

 

 

[jhd]

30 minutes ago, Keatah said:

Take computer software for example. It's an interactive medium any way you look at it. And it is the input/output of a gaming session or word-processing session, or programming stint, that is the essence of the time spent working with the equipment. In simpler terms it's not enough to just look at the gear, you gotta play with it.

 

I agree. The Royal Alberta Museum has parts of a 1960s IBM mainframe. It was one of the first computers used by the Government of Alberta. (I don't think that the whole system was preserved, but I am not entirely certain.)

 

I have seen it on display. After a minute or less, I moved on to the next exhibit. It would have been far more appealing if it was running -- even some sort of demo if not interactive. A large metal box full of electronic components is not very interesting to the non-specialist. 

[Keatah]

On 1/3/2023 at 10:02 AM, NIAD said:

For me, besides the CV & ADAM hardware, I’m very appreciate of digital type of collecting that can be accomplished with one modern laptop computer.

Again on this point. The vintage hardware, to me, is nothing but a delivery vehicle. A conveyance for hopes and dreams - some of which manifest into greatness and personal satisfaction. There are many shapes and flavors of all that. Having all this made readily available can and does make a significant contribution to learning about and discovering yesteryear's computing devices.

 

A personal example would be the AGC. I've seen it in museums and thought it interesting. But to read in-depth, watch teardown videos, play with a simulation of it, read real-life usage accounts from the astronauts and engineers - that adds so much more scope and breadth. Suddenly the item of interest grows and expands far more than you'd initially assume.

 

To see and play the 2600, for example, is one thing. In expanding the scope through a digital collection you suddenly learn about microelectronics history, where it all came from, where it's all going. You learn of the new artform. And so much more. Even culture and business. Not just "Pac-Man" or "Space Invaders".

 

So any museum covering this subject must include a digital collection and references to all the material it makes available. It's such a rich field and it can be no other way.

 

9 hours ago, rietveld said:

I keep it in hopes that I will use it when I retire.  I am thinking of that this year or early next year when my youngest son finishes University

This is something I've learned (over the past century) to be very aware of. I still have some stuff I'm going to get around to someday. And I've been saying that since the 70's or 80's. And I never do. And the stuff piles up. It's an unstoppable force that requires constant attention to.

 

It's worse when one has to spread themselves over many platforms. All the subtleties and nooks and crannies and differences between them can be overwhelming.

 

But, the original sentimental stuff I grew up with, I do eventually get around to - comes in fits and spurts like any normal hobby. Curating and collecting and working with it is fun. But it only became that way after I narrowed down my focus on the physical stuff to just 4 platforms, with specialization in 2. All 4 are sentimental. PC, Apple II, Trs-80 Pocket Computer, Ti-59.

 

Even as a kid I was overwhelmed in trying to keep up with all the instances of BASIC and the various DOSes of the 8-bit world. I only moved into a personally rewarding spot once I focused exclusively on Apple II. I seemed to know "everything" A2, but when I tried learning other machines the specifics of them conflicted and got in the way of clear thinking. All of that detracted from in-depth learning and fun. I only advanced when I stopped flipping back and forth between 5 or 6 of the then contemporary machines. For the record it could have been any 8-bit I took a liking to. Just so happened there were enough Apple II dealers around and school kids to trade software with.

[zyzzle]

3 hours ago, Keatah said:

This is something I've learned (over the past century) to be very aware of. I still have some stuff I'm going to get around to someday. And I've been saying that since the 70's or 80's. And I never do. And the stuff piles up. It's an unstoppable force that requires constant attention to.

 

It's worse when one has to spread themselves over many platforms. All the subtleties and nooks and crannies and differences between them can be overwhelming.

But, this is true of almost everyone and everything. It's almost axiomatic. There's never enough time or energy to get to what can be put off to later. Even for decades. I know it, I've got books I've been wanting to, meaning to read, but suddenly now it's 10 years later. That's the purpose of a "library". It provides peace of mind. You know you've got that last, evasive thing, but there will eventually be time enough at last to get to it. Real life intervenes, and so our collections still beckon.

 

Setting up a museum is a truly wonderful idea. To share your collected weath with others is the greatest gift one can give. If not in money, but in time and *usage* of some of that old equipment. It's a very valuable history lesson which you can impart to other people. Even if you don't have time to use all that stuff, others can view it and gawk (?) at it in your museum. You've got to watch out for unscrupulous ones though who may try to rob you or damage the equipment, though. That's always the unvoidable thorn in setting up a "public" library or a museum of any sort. The deadly details can weigh you down so that it become tiring "busywork", when the original intent was to have some FUN instead.

[rietveld]

8 minutes ago, zyzzle said:

You've got to watch out for unscrupulous ones though who may try to rob you or damage the equipment, though. That's always the unvoidable thorn in setting up a "public" library or a museum of any sort. The deadly details can weigh you down so that it become tiring "busywork", when the original intent was to have some FUN instead.

To the best of my knowledge all that i have ever had stolen from my collection was a boxed copy of the SNES game Earthbound.  It was either stolen or misplaced, but i lean toward stolen since after all these years it has still never shown up in my piles of stuff

Edited January 5, 2023 by rietveld

[Keatah]

I had one cartridge and its manual stolen from me. Or perhaps borrowed from me without being told. I got it back, but a friendship was sent into decline. Why is it that there are so many low-life behaviors surrounding videogames? You hear about it on ebay and craigslist and wherever. And it seems the more current the console, the more criminality surrounds it.

 

 

[coleconut]

I was more or less the club "scrounger" for MTAG - the Metro Toronto ADAM Group back in the day so I usually had a sales table at the monthly meetings and you'd be surprised at how many items "walked" when they thought I wasn't looking.  I never called anyone out on it, figured they needed it bad enough to thief it, well so be it.....

 

Edited January 11, 2023 by coleconut

[rietveld]

I was at a computer show a few years ago with my Intellivion setup and someone pulled the (hard to get) LTO flash cart out of my system.  Not sure what there intent was but when they saw me see them they just put it back in and said "nice setup"

 

 

Edited January 11, 2023 by rietveld

[NIAD]

15 hours ago, coleconut said:

I never called anyone out on it, figured they needed it bad enough to thief it, well so be it.....

 

You, sir, are a better man than I.

 

I would have put that person thru a wall, not so much for the act, but for disrespecting me.