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University of Manchester Computing Museum
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Author:  Muppz [ Mon Jun 15, 2015 9:56 pm ]
Post subject:  University of Manchester Computing Museum
I had a meeting at the University of Manchester computing department last week and I took the opportunity to visit their 'computer museum' which is spread out across the Kilburn building, there are some fine exhibits in there.

I took photos on my phone but they aren't great but I did find it facinating particularly the Atlas built in conjunction with Ferranti. In 1962 it had 48bit word size and 24 million word address bus!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_%28computer%29

There were also parts of 'Baby' which was built in 1948
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Small-Scale_Experimental_Machine

I've attached a few photos of the Atlas ROM. For an idea of scale this is a 2 metre high cabinet.

I hope I'm not breaking some post rule attaching the photos.

Regards,

Chris

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Author:  BigEd [ Tue Jun 16, 2015 5:18 am ]
Post subject:  Re: University of Manchester Computing Museum
Thanks for the trip report! I've been considering a trip to MOSI, where they have some computing exhibits (Hartree analyser and a replica Baby), but this sounds like a different place presumably nearby.
The Atlas is described as the first supercomputer - "The Atlas was 100x faster than its predecessors, and the deployment of the first Atlas increased the compute power in the UK by a factor of six." There are some relevant posts including some videos over at
https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities ... 53/s/atlas
Author:  Muppz [ Tue Jun 16, 2015 8:56 am ]
Post subject:  Re: University of Manchester Computing Museum
Thanks for the link Ed I'll take a look.

I found it fascinating that they used a group of weavers to make the wiring mesh but I guess it was taking advantage of an existing skill set just using the medium of wire instead of yarn, an idea that is quite innovate in its own right.
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