Bugbook Historical Computer Museum facts for kids
The Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum was a special place that showed off many old and important computers. It was like a treasure chest of computer history! A computer fan named David G. Larsen collected these items. He, along with Gaynell Larsen and Dee Wallace (the LCF Group), ran the museum in Floyd, Virginia. It was open from 2008 until May 2016. The museum got its name from "Bugbooks." These were teaching books about electronics made by a group called the "Blacksburg Group" in the 1970s and 1980s. David Larsen was part of that group. After the museum closed, most of David's collection went to the Mimms Museum of Technology and Art in Roswell, Georgia.
The Museum's Story
David Larsen, who started the museum, collected computer items for over 40 years. He loved electronics from a young age. His computer journey began in 1957. This was when he worked for the Navy at Remington Rand UNIVAC in St. Paul.
David's whole career was about electronics and microcomputers. He taught about instrumentation and automation at Virginia Tech for 31 years. He is also an amateur radio operator, which means he talks to people around the world using radio. He has done this for six decades!
Cool Computers on Display
The museum mainly focused on computers made between 1971 and 1981. This was when personal computers first started to appear. Some of the amazing items you could see there included:
- A working copy of the Apple I computer. There were also four original Apple-1 computers that could be seen by special request.
- The Mark-8 computer.
- An Altair 8800 computer with a very early serial number (#21).
- The famous Commodore 64 computer.
See also
