A dedicated fan has meticulously cataloged all the computer hardware featured in the original Jurassic Park film, revealing the extent to which authentic technology was integrated into the movie's iconic sets. The project, undertaken by Fabien Sanglard, details the specific models and their usage by characters throughout the film.
Among the discoveries is the SGI Granite Keyboard (Indigo Style), identified as the input device used by Samuel L. Jackson's character. Dennis Nedry, the film's ill-fated programmer, was equipped with two Macs and an SGI Iris Crimson workstation, complemented by a Motorola Envoy personal digital assistant. These machines formed the backbone of the control room's computer systems.
The sheer scale of the technology on set was substantial. According to "The Making of Jurassic Park," the production utilized approximately $875,000 worth of hardware from Silicon Graphics, $350,000 from Apple, and an additional $500,000 in other hardware and software. This commitment to using real equipment aimed to satisfy the increasingly discerning expectations of audiences regarding computer depictions.
Even the seemingly real-time hurricane graphic displayed on the computer screens was generated using Earthwatch software, a tool originally developed for meteorologists. While visually impressive for its time, the software suffered from slow render times, requiring users to initiate sequences and wait for animations to play back, rather than rendering in real-time.
The main control room featured five machines beneath the primary display, each adorned with numerous blinking red LEDs. Given the extensive loan of expensive computing equipment, these are strongly believed to be genuine Thinking Machines CM-5 computers, which carried a price tag of $46,000 per unit at the time of the film's production. Sanglard's detailed breakdown offers a comprehensive look at the authentic technological landscape that brought Jurassic Park to life.