[vcf-midatlantic] our new museum -- micro exhibit -- pick 28!

[chrisjpf33 at gmail.com]

On Nov 5, 2015, at 10:54 PM, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic at lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:

Everyone,

This is going to be a fun thread. PLEASE DON'T FORK IT. :)

Tentatively, we'll have space for 28 microcomputers in that section of our new museum exhibit. This begs the question: which ones?

I made a preliminary list. Some ground rules:

- Do we have the system and does it work or can realistically be made to work?

- What is *** MOST *** historically important? (Thus some of our personal favorites may be initially excluded... examples: Atari 800, Commodore VIC-20, DEC Rainbow, Epson QX-10, and many others)

- Exhibits aren't permanent, so some could be rotated in/out.

----------------------

That being said, here's my list of 28. We will probably display them chronologically. Pardon anything obvious that I forgot.

Very important: Don't just reply with lists of other notable microcomputers, or make a huge fuss that the CyberBlahBlah-25 was the first with the XYTTTGH 8081 chip, etc. .... I want to hear solid arguments for/against the historical importance of whatever systems you think we should include/exclude.

1. Our homebrewed "Dudley" PDP-8 clone
2. Apple 1 (Mimeo)
3. Apple 2
4. Apple Lisa (2/10)
5. Apple Mac 128K
6. Apple Mac Portable
7. AT&T (but which one? 6300, 7300, or 3B2?)
8. Commodore PET 2001
9. Commodore 64
10. Commodore Amiga (500?)
11. Compaq Portable
12. HP-85B
13. IBM 5100
14. IBM 5150
15. IBM PC Jr.
16. IBM (or generic) Windows 3.1
17. IMSAI 8080
18. Mark-8
19. MITS Altair 8800
20. MOS Tech KIM-1
21. Osborne 1
22. Processor Tech SOL-20
23. Scelbi-8H (repro)
24. Sinclair ZX-80
25. SWTPC 6800
26. TRS-80 Model 1
27. TRS-80 Model 100
28. Xerox 860

And ..... go!



The VIC-20 was the first computer to sell a million units, wasn't it? Not significant enough to make the list?