Some people find it difficult to exist without computers of one kind or another. They may even believe they always existed. Others tell you they have only been in use for the last two or three decades. Neither is right.

Computers and computing have been used for centuries, though not in their present form. An abacus is a manual computer, punch card machines used a form of computing at the beginning of the 1800s, Babbage built a type of computerised machine in the early 1800s and ENIAC was created in 1945.

Many people contributed to the development of present day computers and there are links to information on a number of these, with connections to information about others.

There is also information about the development of computing ideas, computers and operating systems.

A final section looks at a range of early computers used in Australia, especially in schools and homes. They were certainly not as capable as those at present, but they were fun to use !

For information about the history of The Internet, visit The Internet page.

Famous Computing People

• Pioneers in The History of Computers
  For additional biographies of pioneers in the computer field go to this site.
• Allen, Paul & Gates, Bill
  Developed the BASIC programming code.
• Babbage, Charles
  First user of a computer; see Lovelace, Ada for the same reason.
• Baird, John Logie [& Hansell, Clarence]
  Developed the concept of using hollow/transparent rods for transmitting images.
• Berners-Lee, Tim
  Acknowledged developer of the World Wide Web.
• Boole, George
  Developer of boolean logic.
• Gates, Bill - Biography
  Succinct biography of one of the most powerful men in the world of computing.
• Gramme, Theophile
  Developed the first commercial electric motor.
• Hoff, Marcian
  Designed the first microprocessor [4004].
• Jacquard, Joseph
  Developer of punch cards - used initially in the weaving industry.
• Jobs, Steve
  Developer of the Apple and NEXT computers.
• Liebniz, Gottfried Wilhelm
  First western mathematician to work with binary numbers.
• Moore, Dr Gordon
  Developer of Moore’s Law.
• Nelson, Theodore, [Ted]
  Developed hypertext. Also at this site.
• Sinclair, Sir Clive
  Briton who created the first genuine home computers.
• Torvalds, Linus
  Developer of the Linux operating system.
• Turing, Alan
  Began work on a software theory.
• Zuse, Konrad
  Builder of the Z1, the first known binary digital computer.

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History of Computing

• A Brief History of Computing - Complete Timeline
  Runs up till 2003.
• A Chronology of Digital Computing Machines [to 1952]
  Not changed since 2002. Article. Scroll down to find the beginning of the chronology. begins in 1623.
• An Illustrated History of Computers
  Images, brief text. Multiple pages.
• Chronology of Personal Computers
  ‘An attempt to bring various published sources together to present a timeline about Personal Computers’.
• Computer Chronicles
  Takes you through the history of the computer from the first computer - the abacus, to the present day. Thinkquest.
• Computer History
  Briefly annotated links to resources from Computer Museums to comic strips and books from the early years.
• Computer History Museum
  Exhibits provide historical information.
• Computers : From the Past to the Present
  A lecture given in 1994. How much has changed since ?
• Computing History - The UK Computer Museum
  ‘The Centre for Computing History has been established to create a permanent public exhibition telling the story of the information age’. A range of information is available online through the menu on the left.
• History of Computing
  Concrete devices, numbers, early computation, navigation and astronomy, weather prediction, symbolic computations, references, links. From Wikipedia.
• History of Computing Information
  Annotated links. Online documents, Printed References, links.
• History of Computing Links
  BUBL. Annotated links.
• History Resources
  Annotated links in multiple directories. Articles to online resourcdes. SIG CIS.
• Internet History
  For information about the history of the Internet see the section on this page.
• PC Biography
  The history of computers covering hardware and software developments over the years.
• The Annals of the History of Computing
  ‘Covers the breadth of computer history through scholarly articles by leading computer scientists and historians, as well as firsthand accounts by computing pioneers’. Access the Current Issue and Free content.
• The History of Computing
  ‘This collection of materials relating to the history of computing is provided courtesy of the Department of Computer Science at Virginia Tech’.
• The History of Computing Project
  Biographies, games, software, companies, hardware, timeline.
• The Turing Archive for the History of Computing
  ‘Largest web collection of digital facsimiles of original documents by Turing and other pioneers of computing’.
• Timeline of Computing History
  Annotations grouped in time periods.
• Virtual Museum of Computing
  Britain. An online look at computing. Archived.

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Early Computers

ENIAC

• ENIAC
  Find information about what is regarded as the first modern computer.
• Penn Library Exhibition
  Everything you want to know about ENIAC, the first functioning computer.

General Sites

Archives

• Archive Wayback Machine
  See what web pages looked like in years gone by, especially some you may still use today.
• Pandora Archive
  An archive for Australian web pages.

• Australian Computer Museum Society
  This group strives to maintain old computer hardware and software.
• Discover the Abacus
  Probably the first of the ‘computing’ devices and still used around the world.
• Obsolete Computer Museum
  Photographs, information on these and even memories from those who owned them.
• Old Computers
  For those who still love their old computers. Museum, history, links, magazine.
• Totalisator History
  Australians also invented some of these, especially the totalisator used with racing.

Amiga & Commodore

• Amiga, Commodore
  Very popular once, especially for gamers.
• Amiga History Guide
  ‘The largest Amiga history site in the world ! This site examines topics ranging from Amiga Inc’s early foray into joysticks, to the latest offerings in cross-platform Amiga solutions’.
• Amiga Point of View
  ‘The splendidly infrequent PDF publication’.
• AmigaWorld
  Amiga Community Portal. Features, News, Forums, Classifieds, FAQs, Links, more.
• Commodore 64
  Once amongst the most popular of the home/school computers. Find Software for them or even learn how to repair them. More Software can be found at this archive.
• The Amiga Web Directory
  While closed for several years, the page you open to has a list of links, many of which still seem to work.

Apple

• Apple II
  Learn more about this popular computer. Used especially in education.
• Apple IIGS
  Another Apple machine. Information, graphics, technical data, links to further information.
• Apple Products 1976-2007
  Visual representation of all Apple products from the Apple 1 to Apple TV. Printable.
• Apple Lisa
  History, technical information, graphics, links and a history of Apple from 1973 to 1989.
• The Apple Museum
  ‘Dedicated to the history of Apple Computer, Inc. and with more than 350 Apple products listed, the most comprehensive Apple history source on the internet’.

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Emulators

Amiga

• Amiga Forever
  ‘Award-winning Amiga preservation, emulation, support package. Different editions of Amiga Forever blend high-quality software and original content with the ultimate set of videos to chronicle and let you experience first hand the history, culture, challenges and passion behind the Amiga’.
• RC Drummond E-UAE
  ‘It attempts to bring many of the great features of WinUAE to non-Windows platforms’.
• UAE Amiga Emulator
  ‘UAE is a mostly complete software emulation of the hardware of the Commodore Amiga 500/1000/2000’.

Apple

• Virtual Apple ][
  ‘A site which will take you back to the 1980s through its collection of more than 1 250 game disks online. Virtual Apple ][ now runs on two emulators. While Windows is still required for the Apple IIgs programs, the Apple II Programs now run on any platform using a Java based Emulator’.
• Virtual ][
  ‘Emulates the vintage Apple II computer on your Mac’.

• BeebEm
  ‘BeebEm is a BBC Micro and Master 128 emulator. It enables you to run BBC Micro software on your PC. BeebEm will run most BBC Micro software including Elite, Exile and Revs. It will also run most BBC Micro ROM software. The software page links to sites to download software’.
• Click-2U
  ‘An emulator which can load Playstation 2 CD/DVDs and run the game like A Playstation 2. This Software contains all BIOS for all Countries. Also has the best plugins for the best quality’.

Commodore

• CCS64 - A Commodore 64 Emulator
  ‘Emulator for PC. CCS64 is shareware. This means that the program is Free to use and to copy, but if you use it regularly I would appreciate that you would register the program’.
• Power64 and Power20
  ‘Run your favorite Commodore games on your Mac with Power64 and Power20 !’

DOS Emulators

• Boxer
  ‘The DOS game emulator that’s fit for your Mac. It’s based on the robust DOSBox emulator, with a lot of magic sprinkled on top’.
• DBGL : DOSBox Game Launcher
  ‘An open-source, multi-platform frontend for DOSBox, based largely upon the proven interface of D-Fend’.

Mac

• Emulators on Mac
• MAME OS X
  ‘A native Mac OS X port of the popular MAME emulator. It is designed to take advantage of all the latest Mac OS X technologies, like Core Video and Core Image’.
• SheepShaver
  ‘Open Source PowerPC MacOS run-time environment. It enables you to run PowerPC Classic MacOS software on your computer, even if you are using a different operating system’.

• EmuUnlim
  For anything about early home computers, emulators or any other information, start here.
• MAME
  The first choice if you want to experience what computers were like in the past.
• Rom Hustler
  In addition to the ROMS for each, there are emulators from the Atari 2600 to the Zinc and Sony PSP.
• Vice
  ‘VICE is a program that runs on a Unix, MS-DOS, Win32, OS/2, Acorn RISC OS, BeOS, QNX 4.x, QNX 6.x, Amiga, GP2X, SkyOS or Mac OS X machine and executes programs intended for the old 8-bit computers’.

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General Sites

• JavaBoy
  ‘JavaBoy is a Gameboy emulator, which means it faithfully reproduces games from Nintendo’s Gameboy, on any machine which can run Java’.
• Neave Games
  ‘Recreated for your retrospective pleasure, these classic arcade games should stir up a few memories of twiddling with joysticks as a kid’.
• The Video Game Museum
  Dedicated to early computer games, it covers systems and games.
• Vintage Computer Festival
  Hundreds of links to almost every past system.

Other Specific Computers

• Altair 8800
  ‘Widely recognized as the spark that led to the personal computer revolution of the next few years’. History, technical details, links, more. Find more information at The MITS Altair 8800 site and also at MITS Altair.
• Atari
  The first console made from wood and plastic. Links. Atari still produces games for other machines. Find the old cartridges here.
• BBC [Acorn]
  Good information on this computer. Find games here.
• IBM Personal Computer [5150]
  History, technical information, graphics, links, a partial history of IBM from 1970 to 1987. Also find information on the IBM 5150 here.

Microbee

• MicroBee
  Kit beginnings, disk machines, colour, premium series, games, final versions, links. From Wikipedia.
• Microbee [ACMS]
  Includes a Microbee Archive with photos, information and more.
• Microbee Shell
  Click on the topics within the frame.
• Microbee Software Preservation Project
  Has a Forum and Public Repository. Designed to preserve software and documentation for this Australian product.
• Nanowasp
  A MicroBee emulator suitable for Windows. A second emulator Ubee512 can be downloaded here via the Repository link or direct via this Download Link. Again, suitable for Windows machines.
• The MicroBee
  Article, information, links, more.
• Unofficial Amstrad WWW Resource
  One of the first popular PC systems. The first real challenger to IBM. Documents, downloads, source code, links, more.

ZX Spectrum

• World of Spectrum
  If you want things to try go here. Check the Emulators page for a listing for all operating systems.
• ZXF
  Magazine. Articles, downloads, shop, bookfinder, specific machine data.
• ZX Spectrum
  An original advertising brochure for the ZX Spectrum.
• ZX Spectrum Software
  Information, listing, links. From Wikipedia.
• The Sinclair ZX Spectrum
  Hardware, models, Sinclair Research, Amstrad models, clones, peripherals, software, references, links. From Wikipedia.

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