Through the cooperation between the Interim Computer Museum (ICM) and SDF.org, 28 classic computer systems have recently been put on the Internet and are open to the public for free online use. Users can not only log in to these old systems remotely, but also directly experience the operating systems, architecture and software environments of decades ago in the browser.

access:

https://connect.sdf.org/

Unlike traditional digital exhibitions that only show screenshots or static interfaces, this project provides a real system that is "online, running, and operable." Visitors can log in through connect.sdf.org, browse the complete system list in the text menu, and enter various historical operating system environments.

According to reports, these 28 systems have different shapes, some rely entirely on simulation, some have a hybrid architecture of simulation and hardware, and some run on the original old machines after repair. Unlike academic-level simulations that were mostly closed within research institutions or firewalls in the past, this project directly exposes these historical systems to the Internet as interactive nodes, opening a window into the early computing world for ordinary users.

Among the systems on display, there are many landmark works that only appear in literature or research institutions. The Multics operating system, jointly developed by MIT, General Electric and Bell Labs in the 1960s, was "power-on" on a virtualized Honeywell 6180, recreating the operating scene of the 1970s. Multics' innovations in segmented memory, dynamic linking, etc. profoundly influenced subsequent Unix, and Unix became the basis for many Unix-like operating systems since then. For those studying the history of computing, seeing Multics bootstrap in real time helps understand the origins of modern infrastructure design concepts.

Also included in the collection are three systems running TOPS-20 to recreate the look of the PDP-10 era. This type of mainframe was once one of the backbones of the early ARPANET, and users today can still see the classic "@" prompt - a very symbolic image for those familiar with the history of network computing. TOPS-20 provided interactive features such as command completion and directory context long before Unix shells became widely available.

One of the most ambitious nodes, a Control Data Corporation 6500 system running NOS 1.3, is based on an architecture designed by Seymour Cray before he founded Cray Research. CDC 6500 uses a main CPU with 10 peripheral processors. It is regarded as an important step towards parallel design, and parallel design still has a profound impact on the field of high-performance computing.

Another high-profile machine in the project was the PDP-11/70, nicknamed "MissPiggy," which ran Version 7 Unix. This version is regarded as the common starting point for most Unix systems since then. The current online instance supports full interactivity, allowing users to log into the system, browse the directory structure, and even run early terminal programs such as the original chess engine.

The construction of this online museum continues SDF’s consistent philosophy. As one of the oldest public Unix systems still running, SDF has a long-standing commitment to making computing resources available to the public, encouraging experimentation, and preserving software history. This interactive exhibition hall launched by the Temporary Computer Museum in partnership with SDF further expands this concept from "preserving code and documents" to "keeping the entire computer alive and open to the public", allowing more people to experience the world before modern computing.