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It's fun to see this, mostly because things from Rhode Island don't often end up on the NH front page :) A related organization, the Rhode Island Computer Muse

It's fun to see this, mostly because things from Rhode Island don't often end up on the NH front page :) A related organization, the Rhode Island Computer Museum [1], is also great. Their warehouse (which is unfortunately by appointment only) is full of all sorts of really important gear from computing history. Their Learning Lab is more easily accessible, and has a few old PDPs, if I recall correctly.

jjice 3y ago
It looks like the link may have been missed, but this looks like it's the website: https://www.ricomputermuseum.org/Home https://www.ricomputermuseum.org/Home Thank you for sharing this!
CoastalCoder 3y ago
About a year ago I took my son to the RI Computer Museum in North Kingstown, and it was awesome. The people were super friendly, and I got a great explanation about debugging hardware faults on the PDP (PDP-9?) that was there. Now if only there were software-dev meetups in this end of the state :)
Kennnan 3y ago
I lived for awhile in North Kingston RI and I absolutely loved the Rhode Island Computer Mueseum. It was usually staffed by older gentlemen, who would absolutely love to go into any topic related to computers they knew about. One of my now core memories is playing the original space wars on a working (only 8 remaining if i remember correctly) pdp 12 with one of my friends in elementary school.
- cbm-vic-20 3y ago
  RICM has one of those PDP-12s. And RCS/RI also has one! Two of these very rare machines, both in working condition, are located within a few miles of each other.
- CoastalCoder 3y ago
  > I lived for awhile in North Kingston RI You're missing a "w" :) The local town names are: Kingston (where Univ. of RI's main campus is) West Kingston (used to have American Power Conversion's HQ) South Kingstown (greatest town on earth, and home of Phil's Diner. Suck it, Pawnee.) North Kingstown (where Quonset huts were first deployed, apparently; and source of the world's best donuts: Allie's Donuts)
KennyBlanken 3y ago
I've been to the RICM and while the warehouse is kinda neat, everything is just sitting rusting. They're not doing anything with what they're sitting on, and a lot of it is very poorly protected/packaged. The warehouse was enormous, filthy, and had large doors open to the outdoors (far down the other end, but still.) They're also (reportedly) rather anti-Apple/Macintosh.
- cbm-vic-20 3y ago
  The warehouse is like the scene at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, where they file away the artifact into a box to be placed alongside countless shelves of other artifacts. I wouldn't say it's filthy as much as I would say it's dark and cluttered- they can really use some more structured organization and inventory management. They get donations of really large equipment, and their first priority is that it has a place where it won't be scrapped. But they have a ton of stuff, a small staff and modest budget, so they do what they can. One story they told me is that they are contacted by TV and movie production companies that need period-specific computers and props, so they'll pack up and send out various equipment and lease them out. They come back cleaned up and in better shape than when they sent them out.
marcus0x62 3y ago
> things from Rhode Island don't often end up on the NH front page Was that a New England-Freudian slip?

jjice 3y ago

It looks like the link may have been missed, but this looks like it's the website: https://www.ricomputermuseum.org/Home https://www.ricomputermuseum.org/Home Thank you for sharing this!

CoastalCoder 3y ago

About a year ago I took my son to the RI Computer Museum in North Kingstown, and it was awesome. The people were super friendly, and I got a great explanation about debugging hardware faults on the PDP (PDP-9?) that was there. Now if only there were software-dev meetups in this end of the state :)

Kennnan 3y ago

I lived for awhile in North Kingston RI and I absolutely loved the Rhode Island Computer Mueseum. It was usually staffed by older gentlemen, who would absolutely love to go into any topic related to computers they knew about. One of my now core memories is playing the original space wars on a working (only 8 remaining if i remember correctly) pdp 12 with one of my friends in elementary school.

cbm-vic-20 3y ago
RICM has one of those PDP-12s. And RCS/RI also has one! Two of these very rare machines, both in working condition, are located within a few miles of each other.
CoastalCoder 3y ago
> I lived for awhile in North Kingston RI You're missing a "w" :) The local town names are: Kingston (where Univ. of RI's main campus is) West Kingston (used to have American Power Conversion's HQ) South Kingstown (greatest town on earth, and home of Phil's Diner. Suck it, Pawnee.) North Kingstown (where Quonset huts were first deployed, apparently; and source of the world's best donuts: Allie's Donuts)

KennyBlanken 3y ago

I've been to the RICM and while the warehouse is kinda neat, everything is just sitting rusting. They're not doing anything with what they're sitting on, and a lot of it is very poorly protected/packaged. The warehouse was enormous, filthy, and had large doors open to the outdoors (far down the other end, but still.) They're also (reportedly) rather anti-Apple/Macintosh.

cbm-vic-20 3y ago
The warehouse is like the scene at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, where they file away the artifact into a box to be placed alongside countless shelves of other artifacts. I wouldn't say it's filthy as much as I would say it's dark and cluttered- they can really use some more structured organization and inventory management. They get donations of really large equipment, and their first priority is that it has a place where it won't be scrapped. But they have a ton of stuff, a small staff and modest budget, so they do what they can. One story they told me is that they are contacted by TV and movie production companies that need period-specific computers and props, so they'll pack up and send out various equipment and lease them out. They come back cleaned up and in better shape than when they sent them out.

marcus0x62 3y ago

> things from Rhode Island don't often end up on the NH front page Was that a New England-Freudian slip?