According to the BBC's technology website, Britain's oldest computer, the Harwell, is being reported to be undergoing a reboot for the first time in decades. Plans are being made to transport it to the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley where it is to be restored to working order.The computer was originally built and used at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Harwell, Oxfordshire. Construction started in 1949, and became operational in April 1951 and remained in use until 1957. The computer used dekatrons for volatile memory (similar to RAM in a modern computer) and paper tape for both input and program storage. Its purpose was to perform mathematical equations. Gargantuan in size compared to our greatly powerful modern day equivalents, the computer stands at 2.4m x 5m.
Built by a small team of three people, the device was capable of doing the work of six to ten people and ran for seven years until the establishment obtained their first commercial computer. One of the designers who helped build the Harwell computer, told the BBC the research was officially "for civilian nuclear power projects."
"Officially it was to help with general background atomic theory and to assist in the development of civilian power," he said. Of course, it [the Atomic Energy Research Establishment] had connections to the nuclear weapons programme," he added."
Although having quite a short service to the nation, the computer continued to be a popular piece of technology, if only as a prize. Retired from service at Harwell, the system was offered as a prize for colleges, with Wolverhampton and Staffordshire Technical College (later Wolverhampton University) taking ownership and renaming it as the WITCH (Wolverhampton Instrument for Teaching Computing from Harwell). It was used in computer education until 1973.
Since then, the computer has been on display inside Birmingham's Science Museum but more recently retired into storage at Birmingham City Council Museums' Collection Center. There have been some important predecessors to the Harwell - for example the EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator) and the commonly nicknamed 'baby' (Manchester's Small-Scale Experimental Machine ) which has also been rebuilt, but not using original parts.
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PRE MIcrisoft operationg system for the long haul
PRE MIcrisoft operationg system for the long haul
The word reboot in this context is extremely misleading -- it hasn't actually been powered on that long. The reboot they are talking about is more like a rebuild -- it's just a misnomer from typical non-technical news sources... I'm a little disappointed Neowin didn't pick it up.
Agreed. I was thinking exactly the same thing. The first thought that came to mind is how reliable their power is to not have even an accidental reboot in decades! UPS or not. Then come to find out it's not "reboot" it should be titled "Oldest computer BOOTED for first time in decades".
On a side note, I hope they don't find out the oldest computer has the oldest virus that's going to unleash armageddon with the most diabolical evil viral code that no AV can protect against bringing the world's computer systems to the ground. BWAH-HA-HA-HA!!!!
Last edited by Tim Dawg on 06 Sep 2009 - 09:06
What will the computer be doing once re-started? HTTP server explaining itself? Running a small "Blinkenlights" display? Obviously it won't be running "Rogue" or "Sail" (ever try to paper tape in commands for those games? me neither)... and I'm fairly sure graphics aren't going to be that great either- imagine 6-10 people (that's the number of people it replaced) running around with pencils and erasers.
Maybe it will join the grid and contribute that last little bit of proof to the anthropogenic global warming theory... yeah, maybe....
Otherwise, great news and a tremendous waste of electricity.
(the above is meant as humor and infers a realistic question about the how's and why's we do some of the things we do)
+1 i say get rid of that rubbish and not only save power but space
That's what I said here: http://www.neowin.net/news/main/09/09/05/c...cted?cid=885446
yes it is a waste of good electrical power....
plus....is there anyone ALIVE who can still use/program it (must be a dead language/instructions knowledge) or are they just booting it up and pretending it's working by the sound or screen output. haha
plus....is there anyone ALIVE who can still use/program it (must be a dead language/instructions knowledge) or are they just booting it up and pretending it's working by the sound or screen output. haha
it doesn't have a screen
I'm sure by 1949 they had thought of writing stuff down
it doesn't have an operating system. It just takes bytecodes (fed via paper tape) as input and outputs the result (also via paper tape). No operating systems involved, no programs, no drivers, pure hardware baby
i think the question is but will it blend?
You'd have to use a big blender, haha.
the folding screensaver would be too much for it lul
any screensaver would be too much code...lol...that and it doesn't have a screen...just a ticker tape output...
This story will turn out to be as misleading as all the others I've read about... Servers that have never been re-booted in decades.
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