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Stuff to do in San Francisco

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patscc

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Stevens Point, Wisconsin
Hi, I'm out in San Francisco for a couple of days( until Dec. 20 2008 ), and was wondering if there's anything interesting to go see, in the vintage omputer sense. It'd have to be accessible via mass transit. Thanks !
patscc
 
There is almost no mass transit in the Bay Area! :D

Good things to do if you can:

1. Visit the Computer History Museum. It's kinda close to the Mountain View train station, but I wouldn't want to walk it. A cab would be a good idea.

2. Visit the ACCRC (Alameda County Computer Resource Center) and see if you can get a tour of their museum.

3. Try to get over to the Weird Stuff Warehouse. There isn't really any mass transit nearby, but a cab from the Sunnyvale train station wouldn't be too bad.

Enjoy your stay! If you get down to San Jose drop me a line!
 
Stanford University Surplus - open wednesdays 9:00-4:00. Worth a quick look. Also, bring your parts list and buy the ones you need at the counter at Jameco (you can see it from US101 in Belmont!).

Lou
 
Get on the BART and take a ride under the bay. Get off at the Oakland museum which I think is the first stop on the other side. It's the one next to the fresh water lake that is connected to the ocean and has the tide effect. That area is nice. Anyway, that museum was very interesting and had a lot of vintage stuff. I'm sure they will have something computer related there and I think it was free.

Watch out for those orange robed people trying to talk you into coming to their church, lol. I actually lost a friend that way.
 
SF Stuff

SF Stuff

Thanks, guys, for the tips. Oakland museum, unfortunately, is undergoing renovation, and everything but natural history was closed. Oh, well, still was a good tip.
Thanks to y'all, I now have great instructions on how to get to the Computer History Museum, and Wierd Stuff Warehouse (WSW), which I'd never realized was that close to SF.
I've always wanted to go to WSW, but at the same time, I've always been afraid of going to WSW. I guess now the time has come to square my shoulders, step up to the plate, and face my fears like a man, and enter the WSW.
The plan for tomorrow is WSW first, then the Computer History Museum. Of course, this assumes I make it out of WSW...

patscc
 
Wsw

Wsw

--T said... ...Really, I promise!
Click to expand...
Funny. That's exactly what the creatures in the orange robes by the Lake Merrit BART station said.
I'm sure SWS will let me go just the moment my plastic becomes excessively fragmented.
patscc
 
Done & Babbage

Done & Babbage

Well, thanks for all the tips. Just got back (after being stuck at various airports for several days)
WSW is truly amazing. More of a junkyard on shelves than anything else. It's a good thing I don't live within a couple hours drive of that place. Definately worth a visit. Bring money.
I ended up boxing my purchases up and USPS-ing them home.

The Computer History Museum is very cool a definate must-see. It'll be very satisfying to point out to people "actually, it IS in a museum"

Right now they probably have the most beautiful piece of machinery I've ever seen:
A working reconstruction of Charles Babbage's difference engine. Crank-operated. Five tons or so of steel and brass. They do a demo of it where they run it through some calculations. I think it's only there until February, so if you're nearby...

patscc
 
Hi
I think the Babbage machine is there till April but I could be wrong.
It is one of those things that is worth coming to see, even if
one looks at nothing else.
It belongs to one of the founders of Apple or Micro$ ( I forget which one ).
He expect to have it in his front room. It is quite something to watch.
Dwight
 
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