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<h1 id="awesome-computer-history-awesome-build-status">Awesome Computer
History <a href="https://github.com/sindresorhus/awesome"><img
src="https://cdn.rawgit.com/sindresorhus/awesome/d7305f38d29fed78fa85652e3a63e154dd8e8829/media/badge.svg"
alt="Awesome" /></a> <a
href="https://travis-ci.org/watson/awesome-computer-history"><img
src="https://api.travis-ci.org/watson/awesome-computer-history.svg?branch=master"
alt="Build status" /></a></h1>
<p>A curated list of computer history videos, documentaries and related
folklore maintained by <a href="https://twitter.com/wa7son">Thomas
Watson</a>. Inspired by the <a
href="https://github.com/sindresorhus/awesome">awesome list
thing</a>.</p>
<p><a
href="https://github.com/watson/awesome-computer-history/edit/master/README.md">Pull
Requests</a> are welcome.</p>
<h2 id="table-of-contents">Table of Contents</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="#videos">Videos</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#old-recordings">Old recordings</a></li>
<li><a href="#documentaries">Documentaries</a></li>
<li><a href="#reflective-interviews">Reflective interviews</a></li>
<li><a href="#talks--lectures">Talks &amp; Lectures</a></li>
<li><a href="#movies">Movies</a></li>
<li><a href="#commercials">Commercials</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="#audio">Audio</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#podcasts">Podcasts</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="#texts">Texts</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#folklore">Folklore</a></li>
<li><a href="#announcements-and-memos">Announcements and Memos</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="#source-code">Source Code</a></li>
<li><a href="#websites">Websites</a></li>
<li><a href="#license">License</a></li>
</ul>
<h2 id="videos">Videos</h2>
<h3 id="old-recordings">Old recordings</h3>
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkPOzHopOIo7ii8LTjgwBT_XMTR7q54KX">United
States Navy Training Media: Basic Mechanisms in Fire Control
Computers</a> (1953)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q07PhW5sCEk">Timesharing: A
Solution to Computer Bottlenecks</a> (1963)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJDv-zdhzMY">The Mother of
All Demos</a> (1968)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0zgj2p7Ww4">Xerox Parc -
Office Alto Commercial</a> (1972)</li>
<li>Computer Networks - ARPANET (1972) - The developers of the ARPANET
talk about their new network:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVhwOaCwkb0">Part
1</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmO4TxDCMjI">Part
2</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjbax5HYHLQ">A Computer
Animated Hand</a> (1972) - One of the earliest examples of computer
animation</li>
<li><a
href="https://computer-literacy-project.pilots.bbcconnectedstudio.co.uk/">The
Computer Literacy Project</a> (1980-1989) - In the 1980s, the BBC
explored the world of computing in The Computer Literacy Project (all
episodes)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WCTn4FljUQ">KRON San
Francisco: Primitive Internet report</a> (1981) - KRON San Francisco
news segment on how early home computer users could read their morning
newspapers online</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc4ROCJYbm0">The UNIX
System: Making Computers More Productive</a> (1982)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvDZLjaCJuw">The UNIX
System: Making Computers Easier to Use</a> (1982)</li>
<li><a
href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkJ6eQKpHZgsZBla4JgKj3A">The
Computer Chronicles</a> (1983-2002) - All episodes <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421311/">8.6/10</a></sup>. A few of
the notable episodes are:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVZiureyV-s">Simulator
Software</a> (1983)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Uz3HYfCIGc">Artificial
Intelligence</a> (1985)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_o8gerare0">The
Internet</a> (1993)</li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbJy0O4UFSM">We Are
Apple</a> (1984) - Corporate song that was used during the Macintosh
rollout in January, 1984</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ozipf13jRr4">Thinking
Allowed - Artificial Intelligence</a> (1989) - Interview with John
McCarthy, creator of Lisp and one of the founders of the discipline of
artificial intelligence</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrIjfIjssLE">Erlang: The
Movie</a> (1990)</li>
<li><a href="https://archive.org/details/netcafe">Net Cafe</a>
(1996-2002) - All episodes <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1057240/">?/10</a></sup>. A few of
the notable episodes are:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://archive.org/details/nc101_hackers">Hackers</a>
(1996) - Looks at the hacker culture and their influence on the early
growth of the internet</li>
<li><a href="https://archive.org/details/nc103_cyberpolitics">Politics
on the Web</a> (1996) - Institute for Global Communications, Cyperpunks
and Anarchists Press</li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCz_SiPD_X0">Steve Jobs:
The Crazy Ones</a> (1997) - Steve Jobs talks about The Crazy Ones
marketing campaign on internal Apple meeting</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="documentaries">Documentaries</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVCLowi4v7w">Hackers:
Wizards of the Electronic Age</a> (1984) - Documentary about a 1984
hacker conference <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1191116/">7.6/10</a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcKxaq1FTac">The KGB, the
Computer, and Me</a> (1990) - With computer scientist Clifford Stoll
<sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308449/">8.0/10</a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_of_the_Nerds">Triumph
of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires</a> (1996) - History of the
personal computer <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115398/">8.5/10</a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9ebkjWU6Z4">The Internet:
Behind the Web</a> (2000) - Documentary about development of internet
from 1950-60s to 21st century.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q7FTjhvZ7Y">Code Rush</a>
(2000) - The story of Netscape and the birth of Mozilla <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499004/">7.3/10</a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMm0HsmOTFI">The Code</a>
(2001) - The Histroy of Linux &amp; FOSS <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0315417/">7.5/10</a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw8K460vx1c">Revolution
OS</a> (2001) - The story of GNU/linux and Open Source Movement <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308808/">7.3/10</a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUf1d-GuK0Q">The Secret
History Of Hacking</a> (2001) - History of early hackers <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2335921/">7.6/10</a></sup></li>
<li><a
href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgE-9Sxs2IBVgJkY-1ZMj0tIFxsJ-vOkv">BBS
The Documentary</a> (2005) - History of the Bulletin Board System
<sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460402/">8.5/10</a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc-hlV2xbSg">The
Codebreakers</a> (2006) - Documentary about how poor countries are using
free and open source software (FOSS) for development purposes.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jciIsuEZWM">Hackers Are
People Too</a> (2008) - Documentary about what hackers are <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1279942/">6.0/10</a></sup></li>
<li><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Download_The_True_Story_of_the_Internet">Download:
The True Story of the Internet</a> (2008) - A documentary television
series about Internet history <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1684716/">7.8/10</a></sup>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VANORrzKX50">Part 1:
Browser Wars</a> The rise and fall of Netscape and its battle against
Microsoft</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjbh9FFW6VE">Part 2:
Search</a> The rise of Google and Yahoo</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQjnkyoNIfg">Part 3:
Bubble</a> The dot-com crash of 2000 and the mainstays of the
Internet: Amazon.com and Ebay</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f42J_reRO0Q">Part 4: People
Power</a> Peer to peer technology, web 2.0, and social networking</li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1737747/">Something
Ventured</a> (2011) - The history of early venture capital <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1737747/">7.0/10</a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAfUjqIbfXo">Code 2600</a>
(2011) - Documents the Info-Tech Age, told by the events and people who
helped build and manipulate it <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1830538/">7.4/10</a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHl0WI32XkY">We Are Legion:
The Story of the Hacktivists</a> (2012) - A documentary on the workings
and beliefs of the self-described “hacktivist” collective, Anonymous
<sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2177843/">7.3/10</a></sup></li>
<li><a
href="https://www.pbs.org/video/american-experience-silicon-valley/">Silicon
Valley</a> (2013) - A PBS “American Experience” documentary about the
start of Silicon Valley <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2547530/">7.9/10</a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTOKXCEwo_8">TPB AFK: The
Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard</a> (2013) <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2608732/">7.6/10</a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ctQOmjQyYg">DEFCON: The
Documentary</a> (2013) - Documentary about DEFCON, the biggest hacker
conference <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3010462/">5.8/10</a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSZqkn9hT5w">Downloaded</a>
(2013) - The Napster Revolution, a documentary that explores the
downloading revolution <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2033981/">6.9/10</a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYPNjSoDrqw">Birth of
BASIC</a> (2014) - Invention of the Basic computer language.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXr-2hwTk58">The Internets
Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz</a> (2014) - The story of programming
prodigy and information activist Aaron Swartz <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3268458/">8.1/10</a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQnAEiGx1-4">Rise of the
Hackers</a> (2014) - Harnessing cryptography to stay a step ahead of
cybercriminals <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3979842/">7.5/10</a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/80104318">Silicon Cowboys</a>
(2016) - Documentary detailing the story of Compaq, its three founders
and how it took on IBM at the height of its PC dominance. <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4938484/">6.8/10</a></sup></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="reflective-interviews">Reflective interviews</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRZAJY23xio">Steve Jobs -
The Lost Interview</a> (2012) - A conversation with Steve Jobs as he was
running NeXT, the company he had founded after leaving Apple <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2104994/">8.1/10</a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVxeuwlvf8w">The Great 202
Jailbreak</a> (2013) - David Brailsford</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT_J6xc-Az0">UNIX Special:
Profs Kernighan &amp; Brailsford</a> (2015) - David Brailsford
interviews Brian Kernighan</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="talks-lectures">Talks &amp; Lectures</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKWGGDXe5MA">Computers From
The Inside Out</a> (1985) - Richard Feynman Computer Heuristics Lecture.
Not about computer history per se, but about how computers work</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVTWCPoUt8w">The Origins of
Linux - Linus Torvalds</a> (2001) - Linus Torvalds tells the story of
how he went from writing code as a graduate student to become an icon
for open source software.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo">The Secret
History of Silicon Valley</a> (2008) - Talk by Steve Blank at the
Computer History Museum</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxAXlJEmNMg">Crockford on
JavaScript - Volume 1: The Early Years</a> (2011) - Not actually about
JavaScript, but about early computing history</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pTEmbeENF4">Bret Victor -
The Future of Programming</a> (2013..ehh 1973) - Humorous talk about the
future of programming as seen from 1973</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="movies">Movies</h3>
<p><em>Dramatized versions of real events</em></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168122/">Pirates of Silicon
Valley</a> (1999) - History of Apple and Microsoft <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168122/">7.3/10</a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXBxV6-zamM">Micro Men</a>
(2009) - History of Acorn Computers and Sinclair Research <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1459467/">7.6/10</a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Network">The
Social Network</a> (2010) - The history of the birth of Facebook <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1285016/">7.7/10</a></sup></li>
<li><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halt_and_Catch_Fire_(TV_series)">Halt
and Catch Fire</a> (2014-2017) - Set in the 1980s, this series
dramatizes the personal computing boom <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543312/">8.4/10</a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2080374/">Steve Jobs</a>
(2015) - The story shows Steve Jobs behind the scenes of Apples iconic
product launches. <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2080374/">7.2/10</a></sup></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="commercials">Commercials</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zfqw8nhUwA">Apple 1984
Super Bowl Commercial</a> (1984) - Apple 1984 Super Bowl Commercial
Introducing Macintosh Computer <sup><a
href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4227346/">7.8/10</a></sup></li>
</ul>
<h2 id="audio">Audio</h2>
<h3 id="podcasts">Podcasts</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.internethistorypodcast.com/">Internet History
Podcast</a> (<a
href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/internet-history-podcast/id829119009">subscribe</a>)</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="texts">Texts</h2>
<h3 id="folklore">Folklore</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd03xx/EWD340.PDF">The
Humble Programmer</a> (1972) - Dijkstras overview of the programming
universe as he saw it in 1972</li>
<li><a href="https://web.mit.edu/humor/Computers/real.programmers">Real
Programmers Dont Use PASCAL</a> (1982)</li>
<li><a
href="http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/perlis-alan/quotes.html">Epigrams on
Programming</a> (1982)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/story-of-mel.html">The
Story of Mel</a> (1983)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~elf/hack/recovery.html">Unix
Recovery Legend</a> (1986)</li>
<li><a href="http://phrack.org/issues/7/3.html">The Conscience of a
Hacker</a> (1986) - The Hacker Manifesto</li>
<li><a href="https://www.dourish.com/goodies/jargon.html">The Jargon
File</a> (1988)</li>
<li><a
href="https://www.activism.net/cypherpunk/crypto-anarchy.html">The
Crypto Anarchist Manifesto</a> (1992)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.activism.net/cypherpunk/manifesto.html">A
Cypherpunks Manifesto</a> (1993)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.ssh.com/ssh/port">The Story of Getting SSH Port
22</a> (1995)</li>
<li><a href="http://cristal.inria.fr/~weis/info/commandline.html">In the
Beginning…Was the Command Line</a> (1999)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html">The case
of the 500-mile email</a> (2002)</li>
<li><a
href="https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs/utf-8-history.txt">UTF-8
history</a> (2003)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.cbi.umn.edu/iterations/spira.html">20 Years —
One Standard: The Story of TCP/IP</a> (2003)</li>
<li><a
href="https://gizmodo.com/how-steve-wozniak-wrote-basic-for-the-original-apple-fr-1570573636">How
Steve Wozniak Wrote BASIC for the Original Apple From Scratch</a>
(2014)</li>
<li><a href="http://ftp.arl.army.mil/~mike/ping.html">The Story of the
PING Program</a> (undated)</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="announcements-and-memos">Announcements and Memos</h3>
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.os.minix/dlNtH7RRrGA%5B1-25%5D">What
would you like to see most in minix?</a> (1991) - First public mention
of what would later become Linux</li>
<li><a
href="http://www.lettersofnote.com/2011/07/internet-tidal-wave.html">The
Internet Tidal Wave</a> (1995) - Bill Gates memo to all executive staff
within Microsoft on assigning the Internet the highest level of
importance</li>
<li><a href="http://phk.freebsd.dk/sagas/bikeshed.html">A bike shed (any
colour will do) on greener grass…</a> (1999) - Poul-Henning Kamp coining
the term bikeshedding</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="source-code">Source Code</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://github.com/chrislgarry/Apollo-11">Apollo 11
Guidance Computer</a> (1969) - Original Apollo 11 Guidance Computer
(AGC) source code for the command and lunar modules</li>
<li><a href="https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/primevalC.html">C
compiler</a> (1972) - The earliest known versions of Dennis Ritchies
first C compiler (<a href="https://github.com/mortdeus/legacy-cc">GitHub
code mirror</a>)</li>
<li><a
href="https://github.com/dspinellis/unix-history-repo/tree/Research-Release">UNIX</a>
(1972) - Continuous Unix commit history from 1972 until today</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/MS-DOS">MS-DOS</a> (1982,
1983) - Version 1.25 and 2.0</li>
<li><a
href="http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/adobe-photoshop-source-code/">Adobe
Photoshop</a> (1990) - The first version of Adobe Photoshop (written in
Pascal)</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="websites">Websites</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://info.cern.ch/">First website ever made</a> (1990) -
CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research Organisation)
website</li>
<li><a href="http://fishcam.com/">The Amazing FishCam</a> (1994) - The
Fishcam was the second live camera on the web and is the oldest camera
site still in existence</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="license">License</h2>
<p><a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"><img
src="https://licensebuttons.net/p/zero/1.0/88x31.png"
alt="CC0" /></a></p>
<p>To the extent possible under law, <a
href="https://github.com/watson">Thomas Watson</a> has waived all
copyright and related or neighboring rights to this work.</p>
<p><a
href="https://github.com/watson/awesome-computer-history">computerhistory.md
Github</a></p>