Computer History Museum Slovenia

The Slovenian Computer History Museum's collection of old hardware and software has grown since 2004. It kicked off in the now-defunct Cyberpipe community hackerspace, where the exhibited configurations were also interactive. Many in-kind donations helped build a remarkable collection of computer hardware and software items, computer magazines, manuals, etc. A non-profit association was established in 2013 to open the museum as a permanent venue with its own educational and participatory programmes, focused on the challenges of the information society's fast changes. Since getting its own permanent venue in Šiška in 2019 and officially opening in 2022, the collection has grown to more than 6,500 objects.

Exhibitions

Usually open three days a week, the museum's permanent exhibition, "What about the software?" holistically presents interesting aspects of software, from technical to social impact. The thematic and interactive exhibition enables the public to try out many computer programs from different periods on more than 30 working machines. The oldest exhibited interactive software piece dates back to 1986.

In addition to the exhibitions, the museum hosts various information technology-related events, meetups and conferences every week (space is always available to rent). It also offers in-house programming lessons for children aged 7–13, pre-arranged guided tours of the exhibitions and various workshops related to computer science and emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence.

Background

The collection grew out of the Cyberpipe activities. This community hackerspace, focused on open source and other free technologies, was established in 2000. It was managed by the K6/4 Institute until 2013, when the association, established by the museum's founders, took over the museum collection. Two years later, Cyberpipe dissolved.

Cyberpipe housed the first computer museum in Slovenia and organised many events and projects related to computer history. The museum was interactive, so visitors could use Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Atari 1040ST, Macintosh SE, IBM PS/1, IBM PC XT, etc.