Byte By Byte

The Port Huron Museum will be opening the newest exhibit Byte by Byte: The Story of Computer Innovation on  March 8 through April 28, 2013.  Showcasing this exhibit the Museum is proud to partner with local expert, instructor and collector Mr. Rob Borsuk who will present the story of computer innovations from its earliest days of concept and development to the computer machines and software we all use everyday. Mr. Borsuk has a collection of machinery and artifacts dating from the 1950’s to today’s iPods and Tablets that he will share to show the progression of the development of these machines.  Before electronic computers, mechanical devices from the abacus, to slide rule, to punch card technology; were used to aid calculations.  In the United States the development of electronic computers was mostly driven by the military during World War II and the Cold War.  Electronic computer development moved from mere computing to process automation, electronic communication, equipment control, entertainment, education, etc. Large mainframe computer development progressed to personal computers. At this time, most of our present personal digital computers can perform complex calculations and data manipulation that were not even possible for the early large sophisticated (for their day) mainframe computers.