Living Computers: Museum + Labs (LCM+L) was a

computer A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...

and

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

museum located in the

SoDo Sodo () or officially Wolaita Sodo (, ) is a city in south Ethiopia. The city is a political and administrative center of the Wolaita Zone and South Ethiopia Regional State. It has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation between abov ...

neighborhood of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington. LCM+L showcased vintage computers which provided interactive sessions, either through

time-sharing In computing, time-sharing is the Concurrency (computer science), concurrent sharing of a computing resource among many tasks or users by giving each Process (computing), task or User (computing), user a small slice of CPU time, processing time. ...

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 Internet of things (IoT) describes devices with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other communication networks. The IoT encompasse ...

, 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 According to an archived version of LCM+L's website, their goal was "to breathe life back into our machines so the public can experience what it was like to see them, hear them, and interact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 The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In June 2024, The Paul Allen Estate announced that the museum would be permanently closed and that the museum's collection, most of which was owned by the Estate and not the museum itself, would be auctioned off by

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

History

LCM+L (originally known as Living Computer Museum, and before that, PDPplanet.com) was founded by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

co-founder

Paul Allen Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American businessman, computer programmer, and investor. He co-founded Microsoft, Microsoft Corporation with his childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which was followed by the ...

, on January 9, 2006. Through PDPplanet, users were able to

Telnet Telnet (sometimes stylized TELNET) is a client-server application protocol that provides access to virtual terminals of remote systems on local area networks or the Internet. It is a protocol for bidirectional 8-bit communications. Its main ...

into vintage devices and experience timesharing computing on equipment from

Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC ), using the trademark Digital, was a major American company in the computer industry from the 1960s to the 1990s. The company was co-founded by Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson in 1957. Olsen was president until ...

(DEC) and XKL. Users around the world could request a login through the LCM+L website and telnet into systems from XKL, DEC,

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

, Xerox Sigma,

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

, and

CDC The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and is headquartered in Atlanta, ...

. The museum opened to the public on October 25, 2012, and guests could visit in person to interact with the collection of

mainframe A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterpris ...

minicomputer A minicomputer, or colloquially mini, is a type of general-purpose computer mostly developed from the mid-1960s, built significantly smaller and sold at a much lower price than mainframe computers . By 21st century-standards however, a mini is ...

microcomputer A microcomputer is a small, relatively inexpensive computer having a central processing unit (CPU) made out of a microprocessor. The computer also includes memory and input/output (I/O) circuitry together mounted on a printed circuit board (P ...

s and

peripherals A peripheral device, or simply peripheral, is an auxiliary hardware device that a computer uses to transfer information externally. A peripheral is a hardware component that is accessible to and controlled by a computer but is not a core compo ...

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 The ''Seattle Weekly'' is an alternative biweekly distributed newspaper in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded by Darrell Oldham and David Brewster as ''The Weekly.'' Its first issue was published on March 31, 1976, and it becam ...

'' voted the museum the "Best Geeky Museum" because it highlighted "an essential part of Seattle binary history - the founding of

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

. The Allen Estate announced the museum's permanent closure in June 2024 with plans to auction off some materials in the collection.

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 ''Mad Men'' is an American historical drama, period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on cable network AMC (TV channel), AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, with seven seasons ...

'' and '' Halt and Catch Fire''.

Computers

References

External links

*
Pete Warden Blog: Why you should visit the Living Computer Museum in SeattleSearch the LCM+L Library and Archive Catalog!
{{Museums in Puget Sound Computer museums in the United States Industry museums in Washington (state) Museums established in 2006 Museums disestablished in 2024 Museums in Seattle Science museums in Washington (state) SoDo, Seattle 2006 establishments in Washington (state)

History

Collections and exhibits

Computers

References

Further reading

External links