In Montreal, the journalist Louis-Philippe Messier is mainly on the run, with his office in his backpack, looking for fascinating topics and people. He speaks to everyone and is interested in all areas of life in this city chronicle.
The free exhibition of computers before the year 2000 testifies to the dazzling development of computer technology.
A 55-pound 1974 laptop, a 1980s RadioShack servant robot, a replica of the 1976 Apple I and a range of long-forgotten computers await visitors to the Etek store in Saint-Laurent.
The owner, Elie Karam, not only sells or repairs computers, he collects them. And he doesn’t just accumulate them, he makes them work again… even the ones from 1974!
And recently his collection has been open to visitors.
“All the devices here work, I can switch them on, use them and it wasn’t always easy to get them back in shape,” boasts the 46-year-old.
“I started my company in my parents’ basement in 1993 and I could never bring myself to throw away the old models…then I wanted the other, rarer old models.”
The Etek store suffers from a rarely split personality: the right half is the actual shop that repairs and sells used computers, and the left half is a small private museum next to which the Commodore 64 (1982) and the Amiga (1985) There are Atari ST computers (1985) and Intellivision consoles (1979), hard drives from the 1960s and old video game joysticks.
Photo Louis Philippe Messier
The Commodore Amiga has already competed with IBM and Apple of this world before it disappeared.
There’s even a 1989 Atari Portfolio, a surprisingly compact handheld for the time, the model John Connor’s character uses to hack into an ATM in Terminator 2.
“I would like to get a PDP-11 from 1970, it would be a nice addition to the collection.”
web 1.0
Take a look at Mr. Karam’s Museum website (emusee.org) and you’ll see a very, very “Web 1.0” graphic design reminiscent of the web in 1992.
“My entire collection is listed on my website, I have over 350 computers and 150 old parts like old motherboards, hard drives, 8″ floppy disks.”
Photo Louis Philippe Messier
This Commodore PET 2001 dates from 1977 and works with an audio cassette.
The oldest computers on display, like the Commodore 77 and the IBM 5100 and 5110 (which cost $13,000 each), used audio cassettes.
“Every week the doorbell rang, I opened the door and there was a new box with a new old computer that had to be put somewhere,” recalls Mr. Karam’s wife Rola with a laugh.
Photo Louis Philippe Messier
A lot of space and effort went into this “homemade museum”.
“My collection filled several rooms in my house, I was about to ask friends to host some of my computers or rent storage space, but set up a showroom instead to share with interested people… and I know very well that people are interested!” “
The sluggish business during the pandemic gave him time to realize this “homemade museum” with the available funds.
Mr. and Mrs. Karam paid approximately $185,000 to furnish the museum and approximately $20,000 to set it up.
real museum
“It would be really nice if a real museum organized a big exhibition about the history of computers with my collection,” Mr. Karam dreams.
“It would be very educational for children or young people, it would expose them to the history of computer technology,” says Ms. Karam.
- The Etek store and its eMuseum: 1055 rue Bégin in Montreal