Open access
Making historic machines available to everyone, when the originals are out of reach for most people.
About us
The Online Computer Museum (OCM) is dedicated to keeping the history of computing within everyone's reach. It works towards three aims:
In the browser
Accessibility first, which is why the emulators run in the browser, with nothing to install.
Hands on
A new layer of interaction: a 3D machine to operate, rather than the text-only emulators of the past.
How a machine joins the collection
Each machine is rebuilt twice. Its logic is emulated from the original handbooks and maintenance manuals, closely enough to run the software of its day. Its body is modelled in 3D from period photographs and drawings, down to the lamps and switches of the front panel, so that it is operated the way its first users operated it.
A machine goes on view once its emulator runs original programs. Until then it is listed in the collection as in preparation.