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Engineer Identifies and Explains Every '90s Computer Seen in Jurassic Park
Everything in the set was real. We couldn’t fake any of it, because audiences are so sophisticated now in their knowledge of computers. All told, $875,000 worth of computer hardware loaned by Silicon Graphics, $350,000 worth from Apple and some $500,000 in additional hardware and software went into equipping both the set and off-stage control room.
TL;DR
- Fabien Sanglard, a Google software engineer, identified specific computer hardware used in Jurassic Park.
- The production team meticulously sourced real PCs and hardware, reflecting writer Michael Crichton's computing background.
- Identified hardware includes Thinking Machines CM-5 systems, a Motorola Envoy PDA, SGI workstations (IRIS Crimson, R4000 Indigo), and Apple Macintosh Quadra 700s.
- The computer hardware on set was valued at over $1.7 million, including loans from Silicon Graphics and Apple.
- Software like QuickTime and the FSN 3D file system browser were also featured, with FSN being the basis for the "Unix system" line.
- A collection called the 'Virtual OS Museum' by Andrew Warkentin includes some of the software seen in the film.