This is going to be a long reply. Make sure you all have time before reading it. :) Following is my rationale for each of the systems I listed a few days ago. Then I'll consider/comment on what Whitney posted. Keep it mind the meta-reason for everything, which is these are the systems we happen to possess in something close to museum-quality. 1. Scelbi-8H ... Above it: Mark-8 The two most popular pre-Altair systems. 2. IBM 5100 ... Above it: HP-85B Important to show that not all mid-70s micros were for/by hobbyists. Mega-corporations were there too. 3. MITS Altair 8800 ... Above it: IMSAI 8080 The two most popular 1975 machines. Altair epitomized the homebrew generation and launched Microsoft. IMSAI was the clone and (albeit several years later) was used to almost start thermonuclear war. :) 4. SWTPC 6800 ... Above it: Processor Tech SOL-20 ** and ** TDL Xitan I'd hate to skip these three, because we have very nice units and they're all important to their generation... Xitan of course is an NJ product. 5. Apple 1 ... Above it: KIM-1 Apple 1 speaks for itself. KIM-1 because something has to go on the other shelf. :) (Given its small size, we could include other SBCs on the top shelf using other processors, such as the RCA Microtutor, etc.) 6. Apple II ... Above it: Apple /// and/or GS Apple II: One of the trinity. Apple /// or GS: Because the other II models are only incremental updates. 7. Commodore PET 2001 / Atari 800 PET - One of the trinity. Atari 800 ... to show that Atari didn't just make videogame consoles, which many of our museum visitors think. 8. TRS-80 Model 1 ... Above it: Heathkit H-89 TRS-80 - Another of the trinity. H-89 - because a lot of museum visitors who aren't technical know about Heathkit from their involvement in radio and other technical hobbies, so they ask us if Heathkit was in computers too. 9. Xerox 860 ... Above it: NEC APC 860: Technically not a "computer" although it clearly is a computer. Important to display because its software is one generation removed from the Alto and one generation ahead of the Lisa. APC - no particular reason other than I didn't know what else to put there. :) Wide open to suggestions that * make sense * in this context, not just because there's a computer someone likes. 10. Sinclair ZX-80 ... Above it: TI-99/4A ZX-80 - Most famous early British micro. TI- just because? 11. IBM 5150 PC ... Above it: PC Jr. PC - IBM's big entry into consumer micros changed everything for better or worse. JR. - To show IBM had missteps 12. Osborne ... Above it: Tandy Model 100, DG One These speak for themselves: the popular early portables. 13. Commodore 64 ... Above it: VIC-20 and/or, 128 C64 - Best-selling micro for a loooooong time. VIC or 128 - duh. :) 14. Apple Lisa ... Above it: Epson QX-10 Lisa - Early commercial GUI + show people Mac didn't start it all. Same goes for the QZ-10, at least in app integration. 15. Apple Mac 128K ... Above it: Mac Portable Do I really have to explain? 16. Commodore Amiga ... Above it: Sony SMC-70 These two show how others quickly surpassed the Mac in multimedia and technical abilities. 17. PC clone ... Above it: Something running OS/2 Again for better or worse: Windows 3.1 and beyond. --------------- Now a few comments to Whitney's comments:
Micro-Computer Predecessors: The Terminal & The Calculator Datapoint 2200
We don't have one.
Heathkit H-8
Not sure if we have one.
IBM 5150 PC / Compaq Portable
Compaq could indeed be above the 5150, but if we have the "son of clones" unit devoted to Jr.+Tandy 1000 then something else has to go.
The Suitcase Portable IBM 5100 Osborne
5100 was never actually "portable", only in its marketing. I hear someone wrote a book about this stuff. :) I would love to have a whole separate exhibit about historic portable systems. Perhaps we can do that via a kiosk in the "computer of the month" area.
Somehow address foreign developments, which ran in parallel, but dominated in Europe & Japan respectively ... International ... MSX BLs BBC Master Sinclair ZX Amstrad non-BBC Acorn Toyotas Hitachi MB/Fujitsu FM/NEC PC-88/NEC PC-98(APC III) also Sony, Sharp systems Citroens Thomson/Oric
We have some of those but not many. Same as for portables, I'm inclined to make "international" a separate exhibit in the special little area for that one day.
Word processor unit removed, as addressing that market should reflect some diversity of the systems (Wang, Vydec, Sony etc). Also needs more space.
We intentionally do not have a collection of word processors. Xerox 860 is the exception because of its massively historic software.
For instance the Franklin has to go in-- it made ROM copyrightable, if not on purpose.
Hate to repeat myself :) but that kind of thing would be another candidate for CotM area. We have a lot of such candidates. :)
Despite my predilection for macs, I think you can tell the story with just one (and the LISA) and not even a significant one (the 128k). The early interface is too alike the LISA's to demonstrate/differentiate well to the layman.
Strongly disagree. We have to show the Lisa and 128K Mac! Both are way too famous/historic to leave out. ------------------------- As everyone can see, we're not focusing on only generations, or only chronology, or only application types or processor types or where they're from geographically or whatever. We are focusing on the simple question, "Which systems ** based on what we have that's close to museum quality ** are the most noteworthy to us and most likely to teach something understandable to the general public alike?" The answer is, "More than 34ish," so the ones that are kind of obscure or that focus on one specific aspect are relegated to the monthly rotation. Of course, these are exhibits needn't be permanent. We can easily change things as our collection changes and/or as we restore various systems into working order and/or as we simply feel like it. Doug asked, "Which ones will be used for live demos," and the answer is, "As many as reasonably possible."