Museum of 20th Century IT

Exhibit

Alison and Shawn are preparing to exhibit information technology from 1981-2000 for one week, fall 2011, at Hartell Gallery, Cornell U. (Sept 18-24).

Components

Handspring Visor Deluxe

History

http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Handspring-Inc-Company-History.html

Amiga 500

Minimized materials, but still meeting demand for expandability through externalized components pioneered by Apple and Commodore consumer-level predecessors.

Amiga 2500

The largest Amiga, a workhorse, with expansion bays for drives and cards.

Amiga 1200

The portable member of a later generation of Amigas.

Apple Power Mac G4

Advertised as the first supercomputer for consumers, since it crossed the boundary for US limits on exports of powerful computers.

Description

A multimedia extravaganza featuring the personal collection of two Gen-Xers, this exhibition incorporates functioning computers, slide show viewers, personal computing devices, and visual displays—both print and digital. Information technology devices from 1981-2000 inform this retrospective conversation between design and computing. In this exploration of the physical history of information technology, some objects are classified as cutting edge design or functional innovations; others feature graphic or design software that served as visualization tools. Themes of the exhibition include the history of the Macintosh as a design object, portability, and the Commodore Amiga computers’ tools and software related to visualization, drafting, and music.

Preparation

• Replace batteries in computers. Old batteries prevent storage in parameter RAM, causing difficult hardware problems. See Amiga#Batteries.
• Replace or repair Mac LC power supply. It's not supplying 5 and 12 V, and it's making a 2Hz click.
• Create list of all computers to display and create floor plan, determine placement, # of power supplies needed.
• Opening or closing reception?
• Posters for advertising show and educational posters for show
• LCD Screen application/ movie

References

Cory Arcangel's Pro Tools

http://nymag.com/print/?/arts/art/features/cory-arcangel-2011-5/index1.html

Emulators

MiniVMac allows users of newer Macs to run a Macintosh Plus in a window on their computer. http://minivmac.sourceforge.net/doc/start.html

UAE runs Amiga OS on Windows, Linux, and Mac.

http://www.amigaemulator.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UAE_(emulator)