For me a large part of the appeal of the Retro and Vintage Computing hobby is learning about how to the machines work and how they would have been used. These aspects of retro computing are best experienced hands-on. But I'm also super interested in the historical context and the teams that built them both because these are amazing stories, and because those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
One of the things I'm realizing is that for the documentary / storytelling YouTube creators (channels like the 8-Bit Guy, LGR, RMC Retro, 65Scribe, Tech Time Traveller and Nostalgia Nerd) they spend alot of time searching through archival material and viewing old photos and video. Hats off to them for bringing awareness and attention back to these machines and the stories of the teams who created them.
During the VCF Midwest 2022 YouTube Panel Discussion one of the questions was about how much more effort it takes for the creators to make this type of content. It is a very time consuming activity with some videos taking weeks of effort. I would like to say that my own interest in Retro Computing has a great deal to do with these stories and I would like to salute these creators for their hard work.
There is another class of channels and websites that are dedicated to presenting primary source material in its original form. There is more and more historical footage being uploaded to YouTube and other platforms like Archive.org. For the retro computer enthusiast there is an overwhelming amount of original source material out on the web. Here's a quick overview of some of these sources that I've been enjoying recently:
"The Computer Chronicles" and special events like recordings of MacWorld events are only a search away either at Archive.org or YouTube.com.
The Computer History Museum has been uploading a ton of oral history interviews from their archives.
Both the Vintage Computer Federation and VCF Midwest have been uploading the talks from their events. Sometimes these talks are given by primary sources, the people who were there when the machines were created and many of them are quite good storytellers.
The Computer History Archives Project has also been uploading a great deal of interesting historical footage.
Dave's Garage is interesting for Microsoft users because for some of the topics that he discusses he's a primary source (and he's also very transparent about when he was "in the room" and when he wasn't).
The Centre for Computing History has also published some good video interviews of historical importance, and is a good source for many of the parallel developments that happened in Britain in the early days of computing.
Here's a fun screenshot from one of these historical movies, Bill Gates in the computer lab at Microsoft.
In the background from Left to Right we see an IBM PC 5150, a Compaq Portable I, and a Macintosh Plus, so this must have been 1986 or later.
What are your favorite sources of primary material on the web? Please leave a comment or send me an email if you have other sources that I should have included here. Thanks!
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