I was tempted to call this article “Mature folk relive their younger years at the North West Computer Museum“. However, we had a ‘youngster’ amongst us for whom most of what was on display was completely new to them.
Quantum at the North West Computer Museum
Any how, Quantum Technology Club members decamped to the museum yesterday evening and had a great time. There was the inevitable recounting of stories, discoveries of computers that weren’t in people’s collections and opportunities to play with them all. The museum is definitely very hands-on, anything in working order can be used. That might mean coding, or playing some of the greatest games every written and folk could not resist.
Humans to the rescue of technology
Of course, there were fusions of modern and ageing technology as some members got ChatGPT to write code for the elderly computers. But human ability outshone, fortunately, and was required to debug the generated code. So we’re not all of a job just yet.
Days, and names, gone by
The exhibits cover almost the entire age of the desktop computer; many dating back to the early 1980s. Names of companies that have since passed into history are represented. These include Commodore, Oric, Sirius, Acorn, Psion, Atari, Tatting, Digital, Dragon; the list goes on. Then there were the revolutionary and promising technologies of the day like MSX. It’s a really fascinating collection.
Gaming – as it used to be
Tucked away in dark a gaming arcade like area are a handful of stand-up gaming machines. This is were many really showed what a misspent youth they enjoyed. Amongst those in there were Space Invaders, Defender, and Pac-Man. These are three of the most iconic gaming machines every made. It’s just as well they didn’t have Sega Rally Championship; I might have just moved in.
Not just computers
There were other curiosities with a link to computing of the day. The Sinclair C5, for example, was iconic and years ahead of its time. Sadly it was out of reach. Probably just as well as it might have been possible that the inner child in some would not have remained bottled up had it been more accessible.
Well worth a visit to the North West Computer Museum
The shop was pretty well stocked with goodies and some members availed themselves of its contents. Donations of computers that are surplus are sold to help fund the museum. One was purchased for a private collection by one member, whilst another obtained a quite useful reference book on gaming consoles.
Our host, Joe, was great, giving us the background to many of the exhibits, together with technical info. He really made us feel very welcome indeed. This as the museum is not normally open to the public in the evenings; he had opened especially for us.
The members who attended all had really positive comments about the museum and if you have the slightest interest in computers; a visit to the North Computer Museum is a must.