hi folks I’m putting together an exhibit on the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) for the Canberra Vintage Computer Exhibition coming up in July. I’d like to be able to show visitors examples of magnetic core memory and core rope memory, since this is what was used in the AGC.
Does the ACMS have any examples of this in the collection? I couldn’t find anything searching the website. If ACMS has is some, is it possible to get some examples on loan for the exhibition? (Does ACMS do loans? Is there a process, and what are the conditions?)
For the purpose of the exhibition, the pieces wouldn’t need to have any significance, or be pretty - they could be the least-valuable examples in the collection that might not be suitable to go on display in the museum.
Hey, that sounds like an awesome exhibit — AGC is such a cool bit of computing history. I’m not sure if ACMS has core memory or rope in the collection, but maybe someone might know?
If not, maybe there’s someone here with a spare bit of core memory in their personal stash who’d be open to helping. Either way, keen to see what you put together in July!
It’d be great to add the ETI-660 and og TEC-1 from the ACMS to the chronological Aussie kit computer lineup at the Canberra. Also, does anyone have a Microcomp we can borrow? @reaelectric - Can we use your working mini-2650 in Canberra? I have one but it’s not working. Does anyone have a working Super-80? I have an untested one. An original Southern Cross anyone? Finally @Cefiar - Are you going to Canberra this year? It’d be awesome to have a working Applix 1616 there. I actually have one now, nabbed Alan’s, but it needs work. There’s a ton of software if you need it.
I’ve only gone as a visitor (last 2 yrs), just not with anything on display. At the moment, while the Applix “works”, it has issues. Notably, the video is shaky (the timing seems to be a bit off), which it seems comes down to something to do with the 16 Mhz mod, which provides the clock signal to the 6845 video chip. Unfortunately, the mod changes one of the PALs (none of which have been reversed/copied), and the old PAL was not kept with the machine, so it’s not like I can revert it back into an 8 Mhz machine. I suspect I might need to redo the clock lines in the mod with some shielded cable.
I’ve already got a some software loaded on the machine, but the archive I went through (the one Alan shared with me) had a lot of duplicates and is a bit like digging through 200 shareware disks to find the bits you want, and there wasn’t much of an index at the time.
Have had a lot of other things on my plate, but not a lot of cash to spend on fixing things, so it’s all going a bit slow.
just coordinating this - would I be able to display one or two pieces as part of the ACG exhibit? I’m happy to point people to the ACMS exhibit to see the rest, of course
Apologies for late reply. Still working on it. Maybe you could take a video of the machine running? I’d love to include it in a presentation for the Canberra show. Also, would you be keen to join in a podcast about the Applix? I’ll try to get hold of Paul Berger and another friend, Steven pass, may want to get involved.
I’m putting together an exhibit on the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) for the Canberra Vintage Computer Exhibition coming up in July. I’d like to be able to show visitors examples of magnetic core memory and core rope memory, since this is what was used in the AGC.