Category: Fall 2024

Entries, Fall 2024, Newsletter

Media Archeology Newsletter 23: Suite Dreams on Pixelating Screens Tomorrow @ 5pm-8pm!

Hello all!

We hope you’ve been doing well! With Thanksgiving break right around the corner, we hope you get some well-deserved respite before finals week kicks in. As a reminder, during Thanksgiving break we will not be hosting open lab hours (our student researchers need a break too!). 

Suite Dreams on Pixelating Screens Tomorrow!

Don’t forget that tomorrow from 5:00p.m.-8:00p.m., our Suite Dreams on Pixelating Screens event will finally be underway. Stop by our lab, located in ATC 1.705, and create some wonderful art on our vintage machines! 

Demo of the Week

The demo of the week is KidPix Studio Deluxe on our Dell PC! 

Come by the lab and play this childhood favorite! You are allowed to save your drawings on the computer, by the way. 😊 

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: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Tuesday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Wednesday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Thursday: 1:00pm-3:00pm

Friday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

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

Entries, Fall 2024, Newsletter

Media Archeology Newsletter Week 22: Suite Dreams on Pixelating Screens Next Tuesday, Nov 19 @ 5p.m.!

Hello all!

We hope you’ve been doing well! Although the semester may be rapidly approaching its end, we still have a few events up our sleeves. 😉

Suite Dreams on Pixelating Screens!

Next Tuesday on November 19th from 5:00p.m.-8:00p.m., we will be collaborating with the Games & Media Library to host the Suite Dreams on Pixelating Screens event! Come on down to our lab, located in ATC 1.705, and create some magnificent works of art on vintage versions of various art programs!

Thanksgiving Break

As usual, we will not be hosting open lab hours over the week of Thanksgiving break.

Demo of the Week

Our demo of the week is Marble Blast Gold on the iMac G5!

Stop by the lab and play this vintage Super Monkey Ball clone on a vintage machine!

Object of the Week

The object of the week is the Panasonic Dynamite 8 Track Player!

This particular machine, released in 1976, is designed to play 8-Track tape cartridges. This now defunct audio format was the 60s’ and 70s’ version of a portable music player. The way an 8-track player is designed means that once it has finished playing the final track, it automatically loops back to the beginning.

If you would like to learn more, this article from collector’s weekly has information about our specific model of 8-track player. This article, from recording-history.org, explains the history of the 8-track format itself.

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: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Tuesday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Wednesday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Thursday: 1:00pm-3:00pm

Friday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

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

Entries, Fall 2024, Newsletter

Media Archeology Newsletter Week 21: Ghost in the Shell Next Week!

Hello all!

Welcome back! We hope you’ve been doing well. We had fun at the Gaming Gauntlet and enjoyed seeing you all there!

Ghost in the Shell Screening

Next week, the Media Archeology Lab and the Games & Media Library are collaborating again to screen a vintage copy of Ghost in the Shell!

 This screening will take place on November 5th at 7p.m., inside the Games & Media Library’s room, ATC3.705, as usual. Come join us and watch this iconic film together!

Demo of the Week

The demo of the week is Microsoft Flight Simulator 1998!

Stop by the lab to play a vintage video game and fly airplanes from 20 years ago!

Object of the Week

The object of the week is the iBook G3, also known as the Clamshell!

These computers, released in 1999, were the contemporary laptop counterparts to the iMac G3s. Like the Jellybean iMac G3s, they were colorfully themed and ran versions of Mac OS 8 and Mac OS 9. Despite looking like a plastic kid’s toy, these were fully functional and used for professional work. One of the more interesting parts of the outside design is that they have a built-in plastic handle near the hinge, so you can carry them around like you would a briefcase. To me, this sounds like an incredibly anxiety-inducing way to carry around a laptop, but the option is there for those that find it convenient I suppose!

Our iBook is a surprisingly solid machine for the time; it has 128MB, so I assume the original owner upgraded it (the original and SE iBook G3s both came with 64gb of RAM maximum, according to EveryMac). If you stop by and are interested in seeing it turned on, feel free to ask the student researcher hosting open lab hours when you visit.

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: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Tuesday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Wednesday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Thursday: 1:00pm-3:00pm

Friday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

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

Entries, Fall 2024, Newsletter

Media Archeology Newsletter Week 20: Gaming Gauntlet Showdown! Tomorrow @ 5-9p.m

Hello all!

We hope you’ve been doing well! Things have been going smoothly and steadily over at the lab.

The Gaming Gauntlet Showdown

The Media Archeology Lab and Games and Media Library are hosting a games tournament tomorrow, Oct. 15, from 5pm-9pm located inside ATC 3.705. Come and duke it out in a variety of different vintage video games!

Demo of the Week

The demo of the week is Blade Runner on the Dell PC!

Come visit us and play this classic video game on a vintage Windows machine!

Object of the Week

The object of the week is the Apple Yum Advertisement Poster!

If you have entered the lab then you have seen this poster. We have it framed on our wall, and when our lab first opened to the public in 2023, we had all our vintage iMacs arranged on our circular white table as a reference to this poster.

This advertising campaign is so iconic that Apple’s new line of iMacs directly references it.

While we do not currently have our iMacs G3s arranged like this advertisement, we still have some available for public demo during our lab hours. So, if you are curious about the original colorful jellybean Macs, make sure to stop by our lab!

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: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Tuesday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Wednesday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Thursday: 1:00pm-3:00pm

Friday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

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

Entries, Fall 2024, Newsletter

Media Archeology Newsletter Week 19: Alien Screening Tomorrow @ 7pm!

Hello all!

We hope you’re doing well and surviving midterms! It has been a busy two weeks for us at the lab.

Alien Screening on October 1st!

Tomorrow, located in ATC 3.705 at 7p.m., The Media Archeology Lab is once again collaborating with the Games & Media Library to host a movie screening! You will need your Comet Card to enter, so make sure you remember to bring it with you! 

 We hope to see you there. 

Demo of the Week

The demo of the week is Unreal Tournament on our Dell PC! 

Stop by during our open hours and enjoy a session of this classic game. 

Object of the Week

The object of the week this week is the Apple Lisa! 

If you are not already aware of it, the Apple Lisa is an extremely historically important computer. The computer cost $9,995 USD in 1983 upon its release, which is roughly equivalent to $32,171.64 today according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ online inflation calculator. Its operating system was called Lisa OS, and featured a very early graphical user interface (as opposed to being an Apple DOS or another command-line based operating system). You can read more about it from its article on computerhistory.org by clicking here.

The Lisa: Apple’s Most Influential FailureCHM publicly releases the source code to Apple’s Lisa computer, including its system and applications software.computerhistory.org

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: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Tuesday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Wednesday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Thursday: 1:00pm-3:00pm

Friday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

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

Entries, Fall 2024, Newsletter

Media Archeology Newsletter Week 18: (Not) Your Parents’ Board Games, Tomorrow @ 5pm!

Hello all!

Hello all! We hope you’ve been having a wonderful week. We’ve been busy preparing for tomorrow night’s event. 

(Not) Your Parents’ Board Games Night

Tomorrow, from 5pm-7pm in the ATC Lobby, we will be co-hosting Not Your Parents’ Board Games Night with the Games & Media Library! Stop by the ATC building and explore these vintage board games with us, and bring your own if you have one. We hope to see you there! 

Object of the Week

Our object of the week is the Rotary Dial Phone! 

Dead, but not forgotten. If you are under the age of 40 you have likely seen this kind of telephone through re-airs of old cartoons, such as Tom & Jerry or the Looney Tunes. If not, you likely remember using one! The beautiful red phone pictured is one currently on display inside our ATC lab, so if you would like to try dialing one in-person, come and visit us during our open hours! 

You can check out this short silent film from 1927 for a guide on how to use a rotary dial phone, or this website from 2004 by William Lee Roberts if you want to see a visual history of the evolution of old rotary telephones. 

Lab Hours and Room Number

We are located in ATC 1.705, right next to ATC’s welcome center. Our open lab hours are: 

Monday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Tuesday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Wednesday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Thursday: 1:00pm-3:00pm

Friday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

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

Fall 2024, Newsletter

Media Archeology Newsletter Week 17: (Not) Your Parents’ Board Game Night!

Greetings and Salutations!

Last week’s film screening, which was located in the Games & Media Library.

Hello all! We hope you have been having a good first month of the semester. 😊  

Before we get things started for this week, we’d like to extend a big thank you to everyone who came and watched Part 1 of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy with us last Tuesday! We had an absolute blast hosting you all, and we hope you had a great time too. 

(Not) Your Parents’ Board Games Night

Next week, on September 17th from 5:00pm-9:00pm in the ATC Lobby, we will be collaborating with the Games & Media Library to host a vintage board game night! Come stop by and experience old and forgotten table top games with us. If you have one of your own, feel free to bring it with you! 

Demo of the Week

The demo of the week this week is Neverwinter Nights on the iMac G4!

Stop by the lab to play this classic RPG on a contemporary vintage machine! 

Object of the Week

Our object of the week is the Tomy Chatbot! 

The Tomy Chatbot was a remote-controlled robot from the mid 1980s that also had a built-in tape recorder. This allowed the owner of the robot to “deliver” a message. Because of the way the arms of the robot were designed, it was also able to carry a small tray around.  

Unfortunately, it seems the poor Chatbot was overshadowed by its more well-known cousins, the Tomy Omnibot line of personal robots, as there is not as much information about it available as there are for the Omnibots. If you are interested in various personal robots from the early 80s-90s, this website hobbyist website from 2008 has a massive collection of information on them available. If you don’t like dated websites from 2008, they’ve also been briefly mentioned in a PCMag article as the “ultimate platform for vicarious, vulgar jokes” due to the ability to record pranks on them and send them into another room. 

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: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Tuesday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Wednesday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Thursday: 1:00pm-3:00pm

Friday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

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

Entries, Fall 2024, Newsletter

Media Archeology Newsletter Week 16: Happy Labor Day! & Movie Screening on 9/3 @ 7pm

Hello World and Happy Labor Day!

For all new students, welcome! For all returning students, welcome back! The Media Archeology Lab is once again open to visitors for the semester. 

New Open Lab Hours

As is typical at the start of a new semester, our open lab hours have been updated. You may find the updated hours at the end of this letter, or on our website’s home page! 

New Website

We’ve had an informational webpage up in the past, but over summer we designed and finalized a complete website! You can visit us at https://labs.utdallas.edu/mediaarchaeologylab/ and find information about upcoming events/exhibits, items in our collection, as well as read every archived newsletter entry.

Upcoming Events: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy!

Tomorrow (Sept. 3) at 7pm in room ATC 3.705, the lab is collaborating with the Games & Media Library to host a movie screening! More details are provided in the poster below.

Demo of the Week

This week we will be demoing Prince of Persia on the iMac G3 Grape! 

Object of the Week

The object of the week for this week is the Star Adding Machine! 

The Star Adding Machine is an analog calculator from around 1925. This machine is definitely heavier than it looks; I was not able to weigh it, but it felt about the same weight as one of our iMac G3s. In order to use it, it seems that you would find the digit you want to add and then pull it down to the bottom. This number is then added to the top register; if you pull down a digit in the same column as one you’ve already added, it will add that number to the top register, automatically handling carrying digits as needed. The red lever on the right resets the register to 0. 

If you’re interested and want to learn more, this page by Jaap Scherphuis explains how it works and showcases a video demonstration. You can also find one located in our lab! 😊  

Lab Hours and Room Number

We are located in ATC 1.705, right next to ATC’s welcome center. Our open lab hours are: 

Monday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Tuesday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Wednesday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Thursday: 1:00pm-3:00pm

Friday: 2:00pm-4:00pm

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