CommodoreZ
Experienced Member
I'm searching for a specific, formative computer history documentary from my youth.
I've been trying to figure out what on earth it was that I watched in June of 2004 that started me down the path of this hobby. Memories are fuzzy, but I remember my 8th grade computer science teacher putting on a VHS tape that began filling in the technological gaps and exciting my imagination to learn about the history. There was a gulf of missing information between things parroted by older family members (with generic phrases like "well, we used to use punch cards!" or "computers used to be as big as a room" without any additional context) and what I understood as a then-modern computer. I remember not wanting to leave the classroom, despite it being the last class of the last day of school because of how much I enjoyed that documentary. It was talking primarily about the birth of the microcomputer in the 70s and probably some of the 80s, but beyond that, I can't recall much else.
Knowing that I may never encounter it again, I'm curious if any of y'all can recommend any documentaries about the history of computers, either good ones for folks involved in the community, or ones suitable for more general audiences. Obviously there are plenty of more recent ones about specific companies or individuals, but I'm more interested in something a bit more broad-spectrum.
I've been trying to figure out what on earth it was that I watched in June of 2004 that started me down the path of this hobby. Memories are fuzzy, but I remember my 8th grade computer science teacher putting on a VHS tape that began filling in the technological gaps and exciting my imagination to learn about the history. There was a gulf of missing information between things parroted by older family members (with generic phrases like "well, we used to use punch cards!" or "computers used to be as big as a room" without any additional context) and what I understood as a then-modern computer. I remember not wanting to leave the classroom, despite it being the last class of the last day of school because of how much I enjoyed that documentary. It was talking primarily about the birth of the microcomputer in the 70s and probably some of the 80s, but beyond that, I can't recall much else.
Knowing that I may never encounter it again, I'm curious if any of y'all can recommend any documentaries about the history of computers, either good ones for folks involved in the community, or ones suitable for more general audiences. Obviously there are plenty of more recent ones about specific companies or individuals, but I'm more interested in something a bit more broad-spectrum.
