61-year-old computer springs back to life

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/21/tech/innovation/witch-computer-restoration/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

by brequinn • 14 years ago

70 23 14 years ago

edition.cnn.com

jgrahamc• 14 years ago

The BBC has a video of it in operation. Wonderful to hear the sounds of this machine: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20395212

mhurron• 14 years ago

The sound is great. Its a shame when you walk into a server room now you don't hear anything except the AC running. It just doesn't have the same feel.

Peroni2• 14 years ago

"Springs back to life"... talk about sensationalism.

It 'sprung' back to life after a three year restoration project.

The original article is a much more appropriate read: http://www.tnmoc.org/news/news-releases/worlds-oldest-origin...

The tech spec is brilliant:

    Power Consumption: 1.5kW
    Size 2m high x 6m wide x 1m deep
    Weight: 2.5 tonnes
    Number of Dekatron counter tubes: 828
    Number of other valves: 131
    Number of relays: 480
    Number of contacts or relay switches: 7073
    Number of high speed relays: 26
    Number of lamps: 199
    Number of switches: 18

DanBC• 14 years ago

>"Springs back to life"... talk about sensationalism.

[...]

>The original article is a much more appropriate read

From your the first line (in bold) of your link:

> The world's oldest original digital computer springs back into action at TNMOC

Peroni2• 14 years ago

The original shares the same ridiculous title but the article itself is a much better read.

primitur• 14 years ago

I believe, when they first turned it on and it powered up and booted after not really having been booted for decades .. this is a fair spring, dear fellow..

incision• 14 years ago

Talk about misuse of the of the word sensationalism.

The CNN article mentions the restoration and links to your linked article all but immediately.

I'm having a hard time understanding your issue here.

Were you let down by expecting to read about a machine that had mysteriously repaired and reanimated itself based on the headline?

miahi• 14 years ago

I would say "springs" is a pun referring to the actual springs inside the relays, switches and valve sockets.

brudgers• 14 years ago

"At a time when iPhones are swapped out every 12 months, the TI-83 calculator and this computer are among the only pieces of technological machinery that have survived for decades."

The TI-83 with a graphic display is recent by comparison to the venerable HP12C.

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&keywords=hp12c&page=...

shawn-butler• 14 years ago

I found it interesting that they compare the ouput to a man with a pocket calculator when the people these devices replaced were overwhelmingly female. I can remember reading respected mathematicians approximating the problem-solving power of early computing machines in “girl-years” and describing machine labor in “kilo-girl” units.

hayksaakian2• 14 years ago

Its crazy that calculators have essentially been immune to the turbulence of the mobile industry of the past several years.

Jach• 14 years ago

The chief reason (at least in the US) is probably due to standardized testing having a white-list of allowed calculators. Your phone can emulate the TI-89 just fine (and run other tools like LAPACK, PARI, Octave, etc.) but good luck getting it approved for a test.

hayksaakian2• 14 years ago

Just goes to show that the US government is not the only organization capable of crippling progress.

waivej• 14 years ago

I was chatting with my dad about this today. (He teaches classes that use graphing calculators.). It's cheap to buy a calculator emulator app so they must allow it soon. Though students sometimes use the camera and email to cheat.

perssontm• 14 years ago

Anyone know how this really could be useful? If it took the thing 5-10 seconds to multiply two numbers, and it also needed input as of punch cards. How could it at any point be faster than doing calculations manually? I'm genuinely interested in how it was really used, any hints?

anonymouz• 14 years ago

The BBC article claims that its advantages over humans were that it didn't make mistakes and would happily churn on for quite a while, with a running time of up to about 80 hours per week.

I don't know how large the numbers were that needed 10 seconds to multiply, but even if it is not much faster (or even if it is slower) than a human for a single operation, a human won't be able to reliably do arithmetic over any comparable time frame.

im3w1l• 14 years ago

How often would you need to feed it new cards?

Luyt2• 14 years ago

I found some manuals on how to program this computer:

Programming manual:

http://www.computerconservationsociety.org/Wolv-Manual.pdf

Example programs:

http://www.computerconservationsociety.org/witch4.htm http://www.computerconservationsociety.org/witch14.htm

Source: http://www.computerconservationsociety.org/witch.htm

Luyt2• 14 years ago

It had a built-in watchdog with automatic restart of the program: "The normal alarm gives a warning if the computer is inactive for 30-60 seconds. The delayed alarm returns the computer to the beginning of the programme when a period of inactivity is detected if the inactivity is not due to either Signal order."

Rudimentary 'stack trace': "When the computer stops owing to a programme error on a faulty tape it is useful to know what order is stored in the control section of the computer or the address from which an order is being read. Five keys on the Control racks switch in a lamp display showing this information."

Programs were written, debugged and staged on paper tape, then went into production: "The normal procedure is to make a paper original using the keyboard perforator. From this a printed slip is produced and checked against the manuscript programme. Any errors are marked up and if necessary a corrected paper copy is made. The paper original or copy may then be proved in the computer and any further corrections inserted. Where the final loops of tape are required to pass through the computer more than a few dozen times linen copies are made from the paper originals."

Typing errors on the tape were corrected by backspacing over the error, then punching all holes open. I guess the reading unit recognized this as a NOP or NULL character.

Deployment of programs were done by glueing both ends of the tape together, so it formed a loop: "Splice the tape into loops by cutting the ends to a blunt point, allowing an overlap of two or three rows. Coat both ends sparingly with thick paste on one side and join, with the leading end on top. The joint should be lined up carefully to ensure that there is no discontinuity at the edges and that the feed holes are clear. Press the joint together firmly and dry thoroughly before use. Avoid excess paste on the linen tape as the starch impregnation is easily removed by moisture."

gldnspud• 14 years ago

I went looking for more footage of this computer, sans commentary and heavy editing, and found this gem: http://youtube.com/watch?v=OmNRl9hydmw

61-year-old computer springs back to life

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