First Vintage Computer Festival hits Britain

January 28, 2010 | 10:06

Tags: #acorn #amiga #amstrad #dragon #milton-keynes #sinclair #spectrum #vintage-computing

Companies: #bletchley-park #commodore #national-museum-of-computing #tnmoc

If you're of the old-school of computing, the guys at the National Museum of Computing have just the thing for you: the first official Vintage Computer Festival in Britain.

As reported over on TechRadar, the festival - scheduled for the weekend of the 19th of June at the Museum's home in Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes - is a continuation of the regular tradition started a decade ago in Silicon Valley and marks the first time the festival has hit UK shores.

The event is set to feature demonstrations of vintage computing hardware - both culled from the Museum's own impressive collection and brought along by private exhibitors - a series of lectures on British contributions to computing throughout the years, stands with yesteryear's top-notch tradeshow traditionalists including Amiga, Atari, and Sir Clive's Sincliar, along with demonstrations of DEC's PDP11 mainframe, hands-on gaming and "vintage challenge" events, and even a flea market for people looking to expand or shrink their own individual collections.

The Museum has also promised performances by chip tune artist Pixelh8, aka Matthew Aplegate, who will be using original Sinclair Spectrum, Commodore 64, and even Nintendo GameBoy hardware for his particular brand of techno. Pixelh8 is to be joined by "one of the pioneers of British synthpop," although the Museum is keeping tight-lipped on exactly who that might be.

Museum trustee - and event coordinator - Kevin Murrell expects that the event will "exceed one thousand visitors" over its two days, "draw[ing] visitors from overseas as well as from across Britain." Murrell describes the early response to the as-yet minimally publicised festival as "already remarkable," and is hoping to gain interest from additional sponsors.

The Museum has an official page regarding the event, with more information planned for release closer to the date.

Will you be planning on attending the event, or are you very much about the here-and-now when it comes to computing? Do you have any memories about particular British computers of yore - something from Acorn, perhaps, or rivals Sinclair or Amstrad? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
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