Ancient Computer To Be Rebooted

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To the extent that one would have booted such a machine.

Britain’s oldest original computer, the Harwell, is being sent to the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley where it is to be restored to working order.

The computer, which was designed in 1949, first ran in 1951 and was designed to perform mathematical calculations; it lasted until 1973.

Details here at the BBC

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5 thoughts on “Ancient Computer To Be Rebooted

  1. Ah, the nice warm glow of nostalgia. Oh wait, that’s the multiple kilowatt radiation of the power supply and electronic tubes.

    Having it run would be a truly underwhelming experience; Texas Instrument pocket calculators from the early 1970s were far more capable and they ran off a 9V battery.

    The paper tape storage will have to be faked (or at least not entirely the original); paper tape was awful.

    I love these modern computers that fit in my pocket and can run for almost a month off a 3V battery; they’re the equivalent of almost 40 Apple2e’s – try stuffing those beasts into your pockets.

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