History of computing Videos Recommended on Hacker News (188)
History of computing is one of the 150 topics Hacker News readers organize their video recommendations around. These 188 videos each earned real recommendations in real HN threads between 2007 and 2026 — 537 recommendations in total — and they're ranked by how many separate months the community kept coming back to them, not by view count.
Computing history: early computers, mainframes, Bletchley Park, ENIAC, Xerox PARC, Unix history, minicomputers, personal computer revolution, historical lectures and museum restorations.
Why HN keeps sending people here — on AT&T Archives: Similiarities of Wave Behavior (Bonus Edition): “By far the best introduction to the subject of waves of any sort.” — an HN commenter, 2019.
Type
TalkLectureDocumentaryExplainerDemoTutorialInterviewCommentaryComedyMusicPodcastsNews & reportingCoursesFeatures
Evergreen only
14 mo on HNMicro Men - 720p (2009)
12 mo on HNMechanical Computer (All Parts) - Basic Mechanisms In Fire Control Computers
12 mo on HNProject Code Rush - The Beginnings of Netscape / Mozilla Documentary
8 mo on HNAT&T Archives: The UNIX Operating System
6 mo on HNApollo Guidance Computer Part 1: Restoring the computer that put man on the Moon
5 mo on HNJames Burke Connections, Ep. 4 "Faith in Numbers"
5 mo on HNBuilding The World's First Computer - Greeks, Clocks and Rockets - Antikythera Mechanism Episode 1
5 mo on HNUNIX: Making Computers Easier To Use -- AT&T Archives film from 1982, Bell Laboratories
5 mo on HNMiniDisc - An Appreciation
5 mo on HNGET LAMP: The Text Adventure Documentary
4 mo on HNDoomed: The Embers of Amiga FPS
4 mo on HNBBS The Documentary: Episode 1 of 8: BAUD (The Beginning)
4 mo on HNJames Burke Legend Connections 1 The Trigger Effect
3 mo on HNThe REAL Story On Why Space Cadet Pinball Was Removed (ft. Windows on Itanium)
3 mo on HNBirth of BASIC
3 mo on HNThe KGB, the Computer, and Me.
3 mo on HNEdsger W. Dijkstra on Dutch TV
3 mo on HNThe Computer Chronicles - Gary Kildall Special (1995)
3 mo on HNBirth of The Transistor: A video history of Japan's electronic industry. (Part 1)
3 mo on HNSeymour Papert
2 mo on HNPart 1 - Training Video for Bell Labs' Holmdel Computing Center - AT&T Archives
2 mo on HNBBS The.Documentary Part 4 - Fidonet
2 mo on HNApollo Core Rope Memory (Apollo Guidance Computer Part 30)
2 mo on HNGENERAL MAGIC - Official Trailer
2 mo on HNThe KGB, the Computer, and Me (Complete)
2 mo on HNThe Computer Chronicles - Hypercard (1987)
2 mo on HNGeneral Magic (1080p) FULL DOCUMENTARY - History, Technology, Business
2 mo on HNMaking of Second Reality / Future Crew
2 mo on HNThe Secret Life of the Radio - Remastered
2 mo on HNCommodore 64—25th Anniversary Celebration
2 mo on HNSpringboard: the secret history of the first real smartphone (Full Documentary)
2 mo on HNBBS the Documentary [Full HD]
2 mo on HNSpeedy Cutover Service, SXS switching cutover to ESS filmed live at Glendale CA central office, 1984
2 mo on HNQuick Start, Episode 7: Crimes... And Felonies.
1 mo on HNDouglas Adams - Hyperland
1 mo on HNThe CED: RCA's Very Late, Very Weird Video Gamble (Pt. 1)
Also discussed on Hacker News (43)
Mentioned in HN threads about history of computing, though never formally recommended:
1984 Apple's Macintosh Commercial (HD) · Lucid Energize Demo VHS 1993 · Automatic Hamburger Machine - 50 Years Ahead of Its Time! · The Final Demonstration of the Xerox 'Star' computer · Steve Jobs - NeXT marketing strategy video 1991 · Steve Jobs and Bill Gates Together at D5 Conference 2007 · Xerox Star User Interface (1982) 2 of 2 · The IBM 1401 makes "music" · Ernst Dickmanns’ VaMoRs Mercedes Van, 1986-2003 · GE Walking Truck - Cybernetic Anthropomorphous Machine (CAM) 1969. · The Machine to Build the Machines - NeXT · Xerox Star User Interface: An overview · ALAIN COLMERAUER L'AVENTURE PROLOG · Flashback! The Internet In 1995 | Archives | TODAY · 1968 “Mother of All Demos” by SRI’s Doug Engelbart and Team · Bill Gates demonstrates Visual Basic (1991) · Bill Gates, Windows 98, Blue Screen of Death · How Steve Jobs got the ideas of GUI from XEROX · Apple - 1984 · The Computer Chronicles - The Internet (1993) · Oral History of Bjarne Stroustrup · Why You Can't Name A File CON In Windows · An Earthshaking Announcement · Bill Gates explains this “internet” thing #letterman · Mercury-Redstone 1 Launch failure (MR-1) · Upgrading From Windows 1.0 to Windows 8 On Actual Hardware · SGI IRIS 2400 (1985) · Etak Navigator Tour & Demo · LGR Oddware - MiniDisc Data Storage: Sony MDH-10 · The Computer Designed To Die In Microseconds · KIDS REACT TO OLD COMPUTERS · The Voder: 1939, the worlds first electronic voice synthesizer · The Editor of a Lifetime · Apple II Forever · The World Premiere of the Amiga (1985, Andy Warhol, Debbie Harry) · Penn and Teller's Lab Scam · Introduction to Microsoft Excel 1990 with Jan Brehm · Oral History of Steve Naroff Part 1, Session 1 · Symbolics Space Cadet keyboard review (Honeywell Hall effect 4B3E) · LilithComdexDemo · Steve Jobs The Lost Interview · Microsoft Windows 1.0 with Steve Ballmer (1986) · Tomorrow's World: Mobile Phone 13 September 1979 - BBC