A Geek Itinerary
August 28, 2009 6:58 AM   Subscribe

Technology innovation will be a large part of late 20th century American history. Now the gearheads can explore the roots of all that geekdom. The Geek's Guide to Seattle is a virtual tour of some of the region’s most interesting and notable technology locations. A Geek's Tour of Silicon Valley hits hotspots there. Don't forget The Tech Museum and the Computer History Museum. Back east, there's Research Triangle Park (pdf) in North Carolina, and The Computing Revolution at the Museum of Science in Boston.
posted by netbros (8 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
The Geek's Tour of Silicon Valley is only a photo tour, unless I'm clicking the wrong links. Lots of good photos with only a sentence to describe them. For example, the photo named "Wilson Sonsini Entrance". Wilson Sonsini is worth a FPP all by himself, but on this sight, not a word, just a photo of a building.

Maybe they should call it the Geek's Trivia Tour of Silicon Valley. "See if you are geeky enough to know what these photos are!"
posted by eye of newt at 7:14 AM on August 28, 2009


/* this is awesome */

Both the Computing Revolution exhibit at the Museum of Science and the Computer History Museum are comprised of remnants of a full-fledged Computer Museum in Boston, which used to be next door to the Children's Museum. I went in 1999, and I think it closed a year or two later. There was a giant walk-through computer (jump on the keyboard!) and a Graveyard of Extinct Programming Languages, perfect for those who always wanted a picture of a tombstone engraved with the likes of ALGOL 68 or FORTRAN. You could probably have had a debate with someone over whether or not Fortran belonged in the graveyard, but the place was empty when I was there.

There was a lot of great old stuff to look at, including early attempts at random-access memory, the original Apple wood block, and even Woz's blue box. I am glad to see that that particular artifact made it over to the museum in California.
posted by Spatch at 7:30 AM on August 28, 2009


Oh man, I wish I'd seen that Boston Computer Museum. There's also the MIT museum which has some (MIT specific?) computer history stuff.

Also, a nit: "Technology" does not refer to computers only. A hammer is technology.
posted by DU at 7:33 AM on August 28, 2009


Yes, the Computer Museum closed in '99. I went in the early 90s when I was eleven or twelve and super loved it. I definitely climbed on the giant trackball.
posted by clavicle at 8:16 AM on August 28, 2009


The Mountain View Computer Museum is pretty awesome for nerds of a certain age. I toured my kids around and told them who I knew that owned each of the old pre-PC personal computers and their various pros and cons.

They were suitably bored.
posted by GuyZero at 10:21 AM on August 28, 2009


Also, touring Silicon Valley is pretty dull. There is, in the famous saying, "no there there."

But Mefites who pay close enough attention to know where I work are welcome for a tour if you're in the area. You can see the generic office furniture where all the magic happens.
posted by GuyZero at 10:24 AM on August 28, 2009


don't forget the geek atlas, which has destinations further afield.
posted by bruceo at 11:28 AM on August 28, 2009


Gearheads, heh. When in geek-to-geek it works as shorthand for hardware enthusiasts, but I made the mistake of calling myself one in an interview once and had to fake my way through twenty minutes of rebuilt Camaro discussion.
posted by dhartung at 11:49 AM on August 28, 2009


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