While Philip has been busy with the latest hardware additions, I have had the pleasure of archiving some classic software for the museum.
Like the hardware, the software is archived into boxes, so far there are 132 SW boxes as we call them, containing around 7,800 different titles, they have their covers scanned, contents checked for completeness, and any defects or omissions recorded, this is important as a better example may turn up, and could replace the archive title if the condition is better.
The software is of course available for the public to view on request, so if a particular game gets the nostalgia flowing, why not drop us an email, and we can have it ready for your visit to the museum.
The donations from the very generous public have added many interesting titles to our archive, so what have we had lately?
Ultimate: The Collected Works ZX Spectrum +3 Disk This compilation from Ultimate play The game collects eleven of their best known ,and most loved classics from their work on the ZX Spectrum, only Underwurlde is omitted as it could not be made to work on the 128K machines. our copy has the two disks, instructions, interview with the founders of Ultimate and Rare, Chris and Tim Stamper, and the hint sheet envelope which is still sealed, unfortunately, the map is missing.
Mansion Adventure 1 Commodore 16 The museum has over 800 computers in it’s collection, and the software to match, this includes the machines that were in the shadows of their contemporaries, such as the Commodore 16, which sold reasonably well in the UK, but next to the Spectrum and C64, it was definitely a minority machine, this game is something of a rarity, it arrived with a further 22 games that have been added to the archive, such as Booty, 3D Quasars, and Cuthbert Enters the Tomb of Doom, another uncommon game.
Rockman – Mastertronic, Commodore 16 To emphasize the point about recording conditions of new arrivals, this title was previously held as just a cassette, then a carry case arrives stuffed full of C16 titles, this was sorted for duplicates, then those duplicates checked against the archive for condition, this yielded a complete copy of this fun, and big selling title, so it replaced the cassette only copy in the software box.
Donald Duck PK – Disney – Gamecube Not just about 8 bit retro titles, we are starting to accept titles for much newer machines too, this game arrived with a few other Gamecube discs in great condition, perfect for our gaming nights, and for the younger visitors to the museum.
Centipede – ZX81 – LLamasoft Who can resist a Jeff Minter classic from 1981, arriving in great condition, with original Llama cover.many more classic and not so classic games to come in the months and years ahead..
Welcome to the first of what I hope will be a regular feature showcasing this week’s new additions to the Centre for Computing History’s hardware archive.
Why do we need to catalogue items?
First, some background: the Centre currently has around 1000 storage boxes containing all sorts of items. But the boxes are all shapes and sizes and the individual items aren’t on our system; there’s just a brief list of what’s in the box. As we bring the boxes from our warehouse in Haverhill to the new premises in Cambridge we plan to repack the items in standard-sized archive boxes and ensure that each individual item is photographed, described, catalogued – and most importantly tagged with it’s new location so we can find it in future.
Why go to all this trouble? Because once an item is catalogued, anyone can find it through our website. They’ll be able to read a brief description of what it is and what it does. There will be at least one picture so they’ll know what it looked like. And the site can automatically link them to related items such as peripherals, software, manuals, etc. Most importantly part of the archiving process involves recording the item’s new location so if anyone wants to see it, we can find it with no need to search high and low.
With 1000 boxes to go through this is a slow process. Currently we have 63 properly archived boxes (we call them “BX” boxes, as distinct to the storage boxes which are prefixed with “BOX”). Of course, we regularly receive hardware donations from members of the public and those need to be catalogued as well.
What is the archive?
An important part of the museum’s mission is preservation of computers and their history. To do this we aim to collect one example of every historically significant piece of hardware, software, or documentation, ideally with their original packaging. This goes into our archive where it will be preserved for anyone who would like to see it. If we have more than one of a particular item then the best one will go in the archive and the others can go on public display or used as handling stock. Broken items are still useful for spare parts to keep the display items running – this is a ‘hands-on’ museum and equipment does occasionally break!
Today’s Additions
Nintendo 64 Expansion Pak. Many games could take advantage of the extra memory this provided to give better graphics, framerate, or gameplay options. Don’t lose the little plastic ejection lever or you’ll never get it out the expansion port!
Xplorer FX Professional. A cheat cartridge for the Sony Playstation. Could be linked to a PC to download new cheat codes.
Early Sinclair ZX Spectrum Console. This is one of the earliest ZX Spectrums I’ve seen! Based on the serial number it’s one of the first 8000 ever produced. The early models can be distinguished by their light grey keys.
Prototype Sinclair QL. Owned by the Sinclair company and used for early development.
Thorn EMI Liberator. Designed for the Civil Service in the mid eighties, this was a word processor designed to reduce civil servant’s reliance on typing pools and speed the production and editing of documents. It was required to be small and light enough to fit inside a standard government-issue briefcase.