GDO: IBM Hursley Museum
Hardware from IBM’s history is on show at Hursley, but it may make you feel a little old.
Twenty years ago, IBM staffer Len Peach started a collection of historical equipment for an open day — since then, the pile of ancient tech has grown at Hursley House in IBM’s offices in Hampshire, offering an in-person view of the evolution of computing from the beginning of the 20th century to now.
“Hopefully, people can see that the technology has moved on at a blistering pace over the past 100 years, from manual punch machines all the way through to the phone in your pocket that enables you to connect to any computer, anywhere in the world,” said Mark Perry, volunteer curator.
The evidence of that evolution is on show with IBM hardware from the early part of the 20th century, all the way to the present day, Perry said, starting with punch machines. “Then we have almost all models of PCs and PS/2s produced by IBM,” he said. “We have many memory devices from RAMAC through to microSD cards, and a very comprehensive collection of ThinkPads, typewriters, monitors, and disk drives. We have part of a 1950s mainframe computer, an IBM 705, which was the company’s first commercial computer, and a room dedicated to the work of an IBM customer engineer with all the special tools they’ve used to service and repair IBM equipment over the years.”
Some of the hardware is up and running, with more in the works to show off IBM’s software. “We are currently trying to get original versions of IBM Hursley’s key software products running on some mid-range AIX and AS400 machines in a way that might make an interesting demo,” Perry said.
While such technology may well be familiar to PC Pro readers, who have worked with it in their own careers, there’s a collection of gadgets that few have seen. “We also have a display of products that never made it to market, because they weren’t commercially viable at the time – although many of them pre-date some of the items we take for granted today,” said Perry. “Examples are a wearable PC from the late 1990s and a very usable tablet computer from the same period.” Such kit is sure to spark nostalgia in visitors of a certain age, but Perry said the ancient machinery fascinates younger generations, too. “Kids find it interesting because they’re unaware that many of these items ever existed, or what they might be have been used for,” he said, adding he recently had to explain what a typewriter was to nine-year-old students who asked if it was for sending email. “Adults of all backgrounds often comment about all the items they remember having used over the years, and are then shocked at how old it makes them feel.” The museum is run by volunteers — retired IBM staffers who maintain the equipment — so it isn’t possible to be open to the general public. However, you can email uklabscomms@uk.ibm.com to set up a group tour. For more information, visit the museum’s website at hursley. slx-online.biz.