Celebrating the 6502 Chip; the chip that changed the world. Hosted by University City Science Center, Venture Cafe  In conjunction with the University City Science Center, Compuseum organized a Philly Tech week presentation on the 6502 Chip; the chip that changed the world. 

Speakers lineup Guest speaker Dr. Thomas Haigh, author of "A New History of Modern Computing" Bill Mensch, Laurie Walmark, Liza Loop, Al Charpentier, Daniel Kottke, Bil Herd, and Cedric Gaudin.

The famous 6502 chip was created at MOS Technologies, Inc. of Valley Forge, PA in the 1970's, and formed the CPU core for the very first personal computers the Apple 1, Atari and Commodore machines.   

Those who joined in were able to meet the people who created this inspirational chip, used it and marketed it, including the owners of the very first Apple 1 computers.

For Pioneering the First Personal Computer: The Kenbak-1

The Kenbak-1 is considered by the Computer History Museum and the American Computer Museum to be the world’s first “personal computer”. Only 40 machines were ever built and sold. It was designed and invented by John Blankenbaker of Kenbak Corporation in 1970, and was first sold in early 1971. The system first sold for $750. Only 10 machines are now known to exist worldwide, with various collectors. In 1973, production of the Kenbak-1 stopped as Kenbak Corporation folded. More info on the Kenbak-1 here on Wikipdia.

Grace Hopper (posthumous award) – Our Philly Gal

In 1949, Grace Hopper became an employee of the Eckert Mauchly Computer Corporation of Philadelphia as a senior mathematician and joined the team developing the UNIVAC I. In the early 1950s, the company was taken over by the Remington Rand corporation, and it was while she was working for them that her original compiler work was done. The compiler was known as the A compiler and its first version was A-0. In 1952 she had an operational compiler. “Nobody believed that,” she said. “I had a running compiler and nobody would touch it. They told me computers could only do arithmetic.” In 1954 Hopper was named the company’s first director of automatic programming, and her department released some of the first compiler-based programming languages, including MATH-MATIC and FLOW-MATIC. COBOL.

John Hill has a degree in Business from Villanova. John started as a computer tech in the Air Force in 1965 at SAC headquarters working on the FSQ-7. Later he worked for IBM on keypunch and sorters and then was trained on the 360/65 system. In 1977 he became an instructor with Sorbus teaching peripherals and the IBM 360/65. He was the lead instructor at Sorbus for the Kaypro to service their desktops as well as the  North Star S100 and other systems. He later moved to National Tech Support for microcomputers and networks, including 3COM and Novell. He is currently retired and living in North Carolina. We are grateful to John Hill for his donation of the BYTE Magazine collection to Compusuem.

The latest addition to the Compuseum collection is a generous donation from Everett Katzen, President of Springboard Media, an Apple Premier Partner. Everett has longstanding experience with a broad line of Apple products and his stores are visited by those interested in the Apple product line. They have TWO locations; one in mid-town Philly and the other in Exton, PA. Everett has donated an Apple Macintosh TV! Now I bet you didn’t know there was such a device created way back in the stone age of 1993. This was Apples first attempt at computer and TV integration, and it bombed with only 10,000 units produced and we now have one of them! This is a great treasure for us and Compuseum is grateful to Everett for his generous donation. For more details read here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_TV

Pat Trongo, talented database administrator, generously donated his Commodore SX-64 “Executive Computer” to the Compuseum. We are grateful for his donation. This computer, first released in 1984, comes complete with small, built-in CRT screen and pop-out keyboard panel. The SX-64 features a built-in five-inch composite monitor and a built-in 1541 floppy drive. It weighs 23lbs and the machine is carried by its sturdy handle, which doubles as an adjustable stand. It was announced in January 1983 and released a year later, at $995 (approximately 2,400 USD today).

The latest addition to the Compuseum collection is a “nearly complete” collection of the printed issues of PC Magazine, dating back to the original Volume 1 in 1982. The collection was donated by Alfred Poor, who wrote for the magazine as a freelancer for more than 22 years. He was a Contributing Editor most of that time, and was the magazine’s first Lead Analyst for Business Displays. “PC Magazine was the clear leader among personal computing magazines, and it was an exciting time to have a front row seat on the industry,” This collection provides a valuable record of how the personal computer industry grew and developed. Many familiar (and not familiar) brands appeared and disappeared over the years, and this collection documents the many changes that occurred during the market’s first two decades. The Compuseum is grateful to Alfred for his very generous donation which is sure to be a much sought-after resource on critical milestone computing history.

Student Luke Miles displays the vintage IBM 10MB hard drive which weighs 80 lbs. It has a Random Access Head Disc Assembly, 240 volt magnet which is very large and heavy, 4 platters with 2 heads (top and bottom) per platter and a conventional "timing Belt" from the motor to the platters. There is a plexiglass cover that allows viewers to see inside to the platters. Donation by Dave Cohen of Western Digital.