Living Computers: Museum + Labs

Living Computers: Museum + Labs (LCM+L) was a computer and technology museum located in the SoDo neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. LCM+L showcased vintage computers which provided interactive sessions, either through time-sharing operating systems or single-user interfaces. This gave users a chance to actually use the computers online or in-person in the museum. An expansion had added direct touch experiences with contemporary technologies such as self-driving cars, the internet of things, big data, and robotics. LCM+L had also hosted a wide range of educational programs and events in their state-of-the art classroom and lab spaces.

According to an archived version of LCM+L's website, their goal was "to breathe life back into our machines so the public can experience what it was like to see them, hear them, and interact with them. We make our systems accessible by allowing people to come and interact with them, and by making them available over the Internet."

The museum closed in February 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Part of its collection was auctioned off, and the rest was split between two museums.

History

LCM+L (originally known as Living Computer Museum, and before that, PDPplanet.com) was founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, on January 9, 2006. Through PDPplanet, users were able to Telnet into vintage devices and experience timesharing computing on equipment from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) and XKL.

Users around the world could request a login through the LCM+L website and telnet into systems from XKL, DEC, IBM, Xerox Sigma, AT&T, and CDC.

The museum opened to the public on October 25, 2012, and guests could visit in person to interact with the collection of mainframes, minicomputers, microcomputers and peripherals the museum had on display. Various and changing exhibits in the museum showed how much computers and technology had changed over the last 50 years and were changing still. In 2013, Seattle Weekly voted the museum the "Best Geeky Museum" because it highlighted "an essential part of Seattle binary history - the founding of Microsoft and its role in establishing Seattle as a tech-driven industry".

On November 18, 2016, the institution changed its name to Living Computers: Museum + Labs to reflect its enlarged goals of igniting curiosity through direct touch experiences with contemporary technologies as well as vintage computers.

The museum closed in February 2020 and did not reopen afterward due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2024, The Paul Allen Estate announced that the museum would be permanently closed. Some of the museum's collection, most of which was owned by the Estate and not the museum itself, was auctioned off by Christie's. The auction was held online from 23 August to 12 September 2024 and raised $3,635,982 as part of the Gen One: Innovations from the Paul G. Allen Collection auction series. The rest of the collection was split between The Interim Computer Museum in Tukwila, Washington and the Mimms Museum of Technology and Art in Roswell, Georgia.

Collections and exhibits The collection consists of publicly donated items and Paul Allen's personal collection. The working computers on display included one supercomputer, seven mainframes, 10 minicomputers, and over three dozen microcomputers.

Various artifacts from the museum were borrowed and featured in TV shows such as Mad Men and Halt and Catch Fire.

Computers Manufacturer Model Type Year Introduced Available for public use Telnet access Amazon Kindle 1 hand-held 2007 Amiga 500 microcomputer 1987 Apple Apple 1 microcomputer 1976 Apple II microcomputer 1977 Apple IIe microcomputer 1983 Apple III microcomputer 1980 Apple Lisa 2 microcomputer 1984 Apple iMac G3 microcomputer 1998 Apple Macintosh SE microcomputer 1987 Apple Power Mac G4 microcomputer 1999 AT&T DMD 5620 / 3B2 minicomputer 1983 Atari 2600 video game console 1977 Atari 400 microcomputer 1979 Atari 1040 ST microcomputer 1985 Columbia Data Products MPC 1600 microcomputer 1982 Commodore PET microcomputer 1977 Commodore 64 microcomputer 1982 Compaq DeskPro 386S microcomputer 1989 Compaq Portable microcomputer 1983 Control Data CDC 6500 mainframe1967 Control Data DD60 monitor operator console 1964 Control Data 405 card reader peripheral 1964 Control Data CDC 679-6 magnetic tape transport peripheral 1964 Cray Cray-1 mainframe 1975 Cromemco Z-2D microcomputer 1978 Data General Nova minicomputer 1969 DEC PDP-7 minicomputer 1964 DEC PDP-8/E minicomputer 1970 DEC PDP-10 KA10 (DECsystem-10) mainframe 1968 DEC PDP-10 KI10 (DECsystem-10) mainframe 1971 DEC PDP-10 KL10 (DECSYSTEM-2065) mainframe 1974 DEC PDP-10 KL10 (DECSYSTEM-1095) mainframe 1974 DEC PDP-10 KS10 (DECSYSTEM-2020) mainframe 1979 DEC PDP-11/70 minicomputer 1975 DEC PDP-12 minicomputer 1969 DEC VAX-11/780-5 minicomputer 1982 DEC VT131 terminal 1981 Dell Dimension XPS B733 microcomputer 1999 E.S.R. Digi-Comp II reproduction toy computer 1965 (original patent); 2012 (reproduction) Honeywell 6180 DPS-8/M maintenance panel and Multics emulator peripheral; emulation of mainframe 1973 (mainframe) IBM System/360 Model 30 mainframe mainframe 1964 IBM System/360 Model 91 front panel peripheral 1966 IBM 029 card punch peripheral 1964 IBM 4361 mainframe 1983 IBM Personal Computer 5150 microcomputer 1981 IBM PCjr microcomputer 1984 IBM PC/AT microcomputer 1984 IMLAC Corporation PDS-1 "sImlac" emulator emulation of minicomputer 1970s (minicomputer); 2017 (emulator) IMSAI 8080 microcomputer 1975 Interdata 7/32 minicomputer 1974 MITS Altair 8800 microcomputer 1975 Microsoft PixelSense microcomputer 2007 NeXT NeXTcube microcomputer 1990 Nintendo NES-101 video game console 1993 Osborne Executive microcomputer 1982 PLATO Terminal V microcomputer 1976 Processor Technology Sol-20 microcomputer 1976 Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 4 microcomputer 1983 Sun Microsystems 3/160 microcomputer 1986 Tandy 1000 microcomputer 1984 Tandy Color Computer 3 microcomputer 1986 Teletype Model 33 terminal 1963 Teletype Model 35 terminal 1963 Teletype Model 37 terminal 1968 Texas Instruments Speak & Spell Compact hand-held 1982 Texas Instruments TI-99/4A microcomputer 1981 Xerox Sigma 9 mainframe 1971 Xerox Alto minicomputer 1973 Xerox Alto "ContrAlto" simulator emulation of minicomputer 1973 (minicomputer); 2016 (emulator) XKL TOAD-1 mainframe 1995 XKL TOAD-2 mainframe 2005

References

Living Computers: Museum + Labs

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