In collaboration with the Games and Media Library, we screened Time Bandit inside ATC 3.705.
https://calendar.utdallas.edu/event/laserdisc-screening-of-time-bandit
Author: Oliver Davies
Hello all!
First of all, sorry for the radio silence! It has been a hectic couple of weeks for us.
We wanted to extend a thank you to everyone who attended the Halo LAN party two weeks ago! That event was more successful than we could have hoped for, and we hope you had as much of a blast playing as we did hosting.
Future Newsletters
Due to the rapidly approaching finals season, this will likely be our final newsletter for the semester. We will be sending another smaller email next week just to remind you all about our upcoming movie screening and to provide any updates regarding open lab hours, but after that, the next time you hear from us may be next Fall.
Open Lab Hours
As the semester comes to a finish, we will be closing our current open lab hours to begin preparing for this summer’s Vintage Computing Festival. This means that around May 12th, our current tentative closing date, we will not be providing open lab hours until the beginning of next semester. At the beginning of the Fall semester, after we have figured out our student workers’ and volunteers’ schedule availability, we will send out an email and update our website with new open lab hours.
If anything regarding this changes, we will provide more information in a future email.
Demo of the Week
The demo of the week this week is Grim Fandango on the Dell PC!
Stop by the lab and play this classic adventure game!
Object of the Week
The object of the week is the Space Shuttle Phone!
Originally made in 1986 by Electrical and Electronic Factory Limited (a fact that I was unfortunately only able to verify through an eBay listing, since it does not seem to have a page of its own on other vintage phone websites), this novelty telephone is part of our growing assortment of working vintage phones. Currently, it is hooked up to “Cat Facts,” a program supplied by the wonderful people at SneakyNet, a telephone service provider for Vintage Computing Festival Southwest.
If you are interested in using landline or touch tone telephones, the lab has several different models that we are currently experimenting with. Please be aware however that you are not able to call any outside numbers, including 911, from these phones.
Lab Hours and Room Number
We are located in ATEC 1.705, right next to ATEC’s welcome center. Our open lab hours are:
Monday: 1:00p.m. – 4:00p.m.
Tuesday: 12:00p.m. – 4:00p.m.
Wednesday: 1:00p.m. – 8:00p.m.
Thursday: 12:00p.m. – 4:00p.m.
Friday: 1:00p.m. – 8:00p.m.
Thank you for reading our newsletter! We hope to see you soon and wish you a stress-free week.
Sincerely,
The Media Archeology Lab
The University of Texas at Dallas
In collaboration with the Games and Media Library, we set up a LAN network and hosted a LAN party for the original Halo in ATC 1.705! We loaded Halo on computers (mostly iMacs along with several Windows XP Dell towers) running versions of Mac OS X and Windows XP. Using a compatibility patch found online, we were able to create cross-platform compatibility between both sets of computers.
In collaboration with the Games and Media Library, we screened Star Trek: First Contact inside ATC 3.705.
https://calendar.utdallas.edu/event/laserdisc-screening-of-star-trek-first-contact
Hello all!
We hope you’ve been doing well! This week we have something fun planned for you all. 😉
Movie Screening This Thursday
We are once again collaborating with the Games and Media Library to host a laser disc movie screening! Join us this Thursday at 7p.m. in room ATC 3.705 to experience the wonders of Star Trek: First Contact. As always, we do require your Comet Card for check-in, so don’t forget to bring it with you!
Demo of the Week
The demo of the week is Grand Theft Auto on the Dell PC!
Make sure to stop by the lab and wreak havoc in this infamous classic!
Object of the Week
The object of the week is the Hollowed-Out iMac G3!
This corpse of an iMac G3 looms on the shelf by the lab’s entrance. Be careful of where you search, because you may find its gory innards, infested with plastic toy spiders left over from Halloween, splayed out nearby.
Littered inside of this husk are spare stickers and pins we have created for various events. If any of them catch your interest while you are visiting, you are free to take and keep some.
Lab Hours and Room Number
We are located in ATEC 1.705, right next to ATEC’s welcome center. Our open lab hours are:
Monday: 1:00p.m. – 4:00p.m.
Tuesday: 12:00p.m. – 4:00p.m.
Wednesday: 1:00p.m. – 8:00p.m.
Thursday: 12:00p.m. – 4:00p.m.
Friday: 1:00p.m. – 8:00p.m.
Thank you for reading our newsletter! We hope to see you soon and wish you a stress-free week.
Sincerely,
The Media Archeology Lab
The University of Texas at Dallas
Hello all!
We hope you had a lovely spring break!
There are no events coming up this or next week, but we will be having a movie screening on April 3rd. You can expect to hear more details about the screening in next week’s newsletter issue.
In the meantime, our open-lab hours have returned to what they were prior to spring break. You can reference these hours at the bottom of this newsletter or by visiting our website.
Demo of the Week
The demo of the week is Spider Solitaire on the Dell PC!
Stop by the lab to experience a nostalgic classic using a computer running Windows XP!
Object of the Week
The object of the week is the Sony Micro TV Model 5-303W!
This TV, released in 1962 in the U.S., is a lot smaller than it seems. Its antenna is able to pick up VHF television signals; you can use the handle near the top of the antenna to move and adjust it towards the direction with the clearest signal reception. Our model also came with a fairly swanky carrying case, although this is not pictured in the above photo.
Fascinatingly, our model also included the forms, receipt, and packaged documents from when it was initially purchased!
The U.K. based Science Museum Group has a silver edition of our model available in their collection, so if you would like to learn more about it, you can check out this linked page from their website to learn a little more about it.
Lab Hours and Room Number
We are located in ATEC 1.705, right next to ATEC’s welcome center. Our open lab hours are:
Monday: 1:00p.m. – 4:00p.m.
Tuesday: 12:00p.m. – 4:00p.m.
Wednesday: 1:00p.m. – 8:00p.m.
Thursday: 12:00p.m. – 4:00p.m.
Friday: 1:00p.m. – 8:00p.m.
Thank you for reading our newsletter! We hope to see you soon and wish you a stress-free week.
Sincerely,
The Media Archeology Lab
The University of Texas at Dallas
Hello all!
We hope you’ve been surviving midterm season! With spring break happening in just one week, we know many of our student researchers are very much looking forward to it. Speaking of which, our hours will be different over spring break.
Spring Break Open-Lab Hours
Please note the Media Archeology Lab will not be hosting open-lab hours next week and will be closed for the duration of spring break. We will resume our regular schedule after spring break finishes.
Demo of the Week
The demo of the week is KidPix Deluxe 4 on the PowerMac G4!
Make sure to stop by the lab and draw something using this childhood classic!
Object of the Week
The object of the week is the Philco Transitone Radio!
This radio sits on one of our shelves in the lab and is probably our most spectacular out of the radios currently on display. If you wish to see it in person or briefly touch it, stop by during open hours and ask one of our student researchers, who will be happy to help you.
Lab Hours and Room Number
We are located in ATEC 1.705, right next to ATEC’s welcome center. Our open lab hours are:
Monday: 1:00p.m. – 4:00p.m.
Tuesday: 12:00p.m. – 4:00p.m.
Wednesday: 1:00p.m. – 8:00p.m.
Thursday: 12:00p.m. – 4:00p.m.
Friday: 1:00p.m. – 8:00p.m.
Thank you for reading our newsletter! We hope to see you soon and wish you a stress-free week.
Sincerely,
The Media Archeology Lab
The University of Texas at Dallas
In collaboration with the Games and Media Library, we screened Fantasia inside ATC 3.705.
https://calendar.utdallas.edu/event/laserdisc-screening-of-fantasia-5058
Hello all!
We hope you’ve been doing well! Although midterms are rapidly approaching, we hope you still have some time to spare to relax and watch a movie with us. 😊
Fantasia Screening This Thursday @ 7p.m.
Have you ever seen Fantasia? If not, you should join us this Thursday (March 6th) at 7:00p.m. in ATC3.705, because we are once again collaborating with the Games and Media Library to host a movie screening! Make sure to bring your Comet Card for check in.
Demo of the Week
The demo of the week is Deimos Rising on the iMac G4.
Don’t forget to stop by the lab and play this classic game on one of our vintage computers!
Object of the Week
The object of the week is this 56k Windows Internal Modem!
This modem is perhaps a little too old for our Dell Tower PC.
Before broadband internet became the norm around the early 2000s, dial-up modems were the most common medium for accessing the internet. While currently less than 1% of the US still uses dial-up internet (HowToGeek), its influence on life today is evident in both computing history as well as internet culture; you have likely heard the infamous modem dial-up tone, or heard someone make a joke about being kicked off of the computer so that their parents could make a phone call.
If you’d like to learn more about the history of dial-up internet, this article from HowToGeek offers a brief and interesting introduction. This YouTube video showcases an example of what a dial-up modem handshake sounds like, and if you are curious about what is happening behind the scenes, the description links an excellent write-up by Oona Räisänen describing exactly what is going on step-by-step.
Lab Hours and Room Number
We are located in ATEC 1.705, right next to ATEC’s welcome center. Our open lab hours are:
Monday: 1:00p.m. – 4:00p.m.
Tuesday: 12:00p.m. – 4:00p.m.
Wednesday: 1:00p.m. – 8:00p.m.
Thursday: 12:00p.m. – 4:00p.m.
Friday: 1:00p.m. – 8:00p.m.
Thank you for reading our newsletter! We hope to see you soon and wish you a stress-free week.
Sincerely,
The Media Archeology Lab
The University of Texas at Dallas
In collaboration with the Games and Media Library, we hosted a T-shirt making event in our lab at ATC 1.705! Students could enter the lab and, using a copy of KidPix 4 Deluxe installed on our machines, print any design they created onto a plain white T-shirt.
https://calendar.utdallas.edu/event/diy-t-shirt-design-with-kidpix