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Dutch computer museums (2022)

95 points · 26 comments · npollock

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nizmow · 1790961426 · focus · HN ↗
I recently moved to Eindhoven and have been meaning to get to the museum in Helmond. This has prompted me to make the trip this weekend!
1. hananova · 1790962240 · focus · HN ↗
  And just last week they opened a store diagonally across from the museum where you can buy their surplus.
  1. nizmow · 1790962914 · focus · HN ↗
    Likely a very dangerous temptation :)
2. gijsnijholt1980 · 1790962300 · focus · HN ↗
  It’s truly a great museum! A trip down memory lane and they do their best to keep most machines operational. That’s no small feat. Enjoy!
pkal · 1790962284 · focus · HN ↗
The DEC barn seems interesting, but I don't gather where it is located or how you can visit it?
1. andrehacker · 1790966381 · focus · HN ↗
  <a href="https://www.vaxbarn.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.vaxbarn.com/
  ?
2. Someone · 1790966600 · focus · HN ↗
  [delayed]
smokel · 1790962434 · focus · HN ↗
"SAMENGEST TEKEN" is most likely an abbreviation for "SAMENGESTELD TEKEN". I guess it's a translation of "COMPOSE KEY" and they ran out of rub-on letters somewhere.
JSR_FDED · 1790962562 · focus · HN ↗
Damn, I just came back from a trip to Amsterdam
dr_dshiv · 1790963044 · focus · HN ↗
Do these still exist? How are they funded?
1. Confiks · 1790966114 · focus · HN ↗
  Certainly! You can watch a talk about the operations behind the Home Computer Museum here: <a href="https://media.ccc.de/v/mch2022-140-homecomputermuseum-the-making-the-challenges-and-the-importance-" rel="nofollow">https://media.ccc.de/v/mch2022-140-homecomputermuseum-the-ma...
  There's also a page here that contains the budget for multiple years, although the totals from 2027 on don't sum correctly from the different sub-budgets: <a href="https://www.homecomputermuseum.nl/informatie/organisatie/beleidsplan-2025-2028/" rel="nofollow">https://www.homecomputermuseum.nl/informatie/organisatie/bel...
2. gpvos · 1790967351 · focus · HN ↗
  The Home Computer Museum will repair your old home computer for money.
teekert · 1790963136 · focus · HN ↗
I went to the Bonami SpelComputer Museum in Zwolle, I spend > 5 hours there. Loved it, you could touch everything, oh the long lost satisfaction of putting in a real floppy floppy! I played pong, I played on and MSX, the NES, old Sega's, Atari's. My son also loved it, I parked him at the Playstation's and Xbox's at the end, then did another round, starting from the 60's Star Trek style computers to the now. At the end we played some pinball machines, and some old arcades as well.
michaelastreiko · 1790963191 · focus · HN ↗
[dead]
NBJack · 1790963220 · focus · HN ↗
R.I.P. Living Computer Museum (yes I am aware of its formal name). They took such good care of the systems there, and basically everything could be played with. It's technically not the only museum like it around Seattle, but it was incredibly memorable.
1. buildbot · 1790964520 · focus · HN ↗
  It was really something to be able to go in and interact with systems from decades ago. Huge loss that it was closed.
2. pkal · 1790967405 · focus · HN ↗
  Aren't they related to <a href="https://icm.museum/" rel="nofollow">https://icm.museum/?
mahirsaid · 1790963574 · focus · HN ↗
wow this museum captures so much beauty from early computer era. The quality is lost compared to these items.
vouwfietsman · 1790963708 · focus · HN ↗
Only a tourist would call Helmond and Zwolle closeby, that's like half the Netherlands!
1. estomagordo · 1790963890 · focus · HN ↗
  Only a person from a country larger than a floppy disk would call them nearby.
  1. brnt · 1790971600 · focus · HN ↗
    Hey now, it's not about size but about how you use it.
fuzzythrowaway · 1790964004 · focus · HN ↗
The computer sections feel warm and sort of anchored in place, whereas those shots of the arcade gave me the "liminal space" heebies. I wonder why.
Are there any places like this in the US?
Confiks · 1790965709 · focus · HN ↗
You can watch a talk about the Home Computer Museum (in 2022, they've developed much further since) here: <a href="https://media.ccc.de/v/mch2022-140-homecomputermuseum-the-making-the-challenges-and-the-importance-" rel="nofollow">https://media.ccc.de/v/mch2022-140-homecomputermuseum-the-ma...
ChrisArchitect · 1790965729 · focus · HN ↗
Related this week on Polish and German museums:
Before pixels: Modular industrial dashboards
<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49912792">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49912792
devy · 1790966887 · focus · HN ↗
This reminds me of two museums I've visited and left with great impressions:
- Computer History Museum (CHM) in Mountain View, California (yes very close to Google's HQ - Google's a huge donor). Absolute the best collection of Computer Science history both from theories to software to hardware.[1]
- Museum of Radio and Technology in Huntington, West Virginia. A tiny museum completely organized by volunteers and donors (some were WW2 GIs and 3 letter agency retirees). Not famous at all in an old elementary school building. But collections were amazing. [2]
[1]: <a href="https://computerhistory.org/" rel="nofollow">https://computerhistory.org/
[2]: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Radio_and_Technology" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Radio_and_Technology
gpvos · 1790967258 · focus · HN ↗
There is now also the Nationaal Videogame Museum in Zoetermeer.
1. brnt · 1790971693 · focus · HN ↗
  Went there last year, pretty good! It's quite arcade focused.
CalRobert · 1790968333 · focus · HN ↗
Also in NL, is <a href="https://applemuseum.nl/" rel="nofollow">https://applemuseum.nl/ worth a visit?

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