Museum

The IDL Museum of "pre-Apple II" Microcomputers

We have been in the game of connecting small computers to instruments since 1974.  In the first photo below there are 3 microcomputers in the IDL cabinets that date from about 1977 or earlier.  Each was used to control and collect data from scientific instrumentation.

 

ALTAIR 8800 Computer
Some of our older "pre-Apple II" microcomputers

 

Below, you will see memory boards: a 4K (4096 bytes) semiconductor static RAM board and a 4K "core" (magnetic) memory board.

 

4k semiconductor RAM and 4k core memory
4k semiconductor RAM and 4k core memory

 

In the lower image is a DAQ board built in the IDL. At that time, it was not cost-effective or easy to generate single printed circuit boards, so the technique of "wire-wrapping" was used for point-to-point connections.

 

Wire Wrap board from the 1970s
Wire Wrap board from the 1970s

 

More "pre-Apple II" computers, interface boards, and peripherals like acoustic modems and paper tape readers are housed in our "antique" cabinet.