11 Feb
2023
11 Feb
'23
10:20 a.m.
On Sat, 11 Feb 2023, steve jenkin wrote:
In 1996, a Unix conference in Melbourne had a visit to
the reconstructed
first (valve) computer in Australia, CSIRAC.
[...]
Can’t find a reference to that now :(
Dave Horsfall, IIRC, was at that event & knows radio.
Might correct my recollection.
My ears are burning :-)
No. I don't recall that, but I may have written about it in AUUGN (I wrote
heaps of articles in those golden days).
I do recall a visit to KRE's machine room, though; the PIN for his machine
room was "1428" (the first four digits of the fractional part of 22/7, of
course).
I don't recall going to Monash, though; umm, remind me? The bloke with
the TTY driver hangup? He spoke at a few AUUGs.
CSIRAC is the only pre-1950 computer in the world to
be preserved. All
others were broken up for scrap - their useful life over.
Sacrilege...
IIRC, the console of the Manchester Mk 1 was found
near a railway line,
used as part of a retaining wall.
Heh :-) I'm currently writing an emulator for that thing (just for fun, of
course); now, where the hell can I find some sample programs to verify the
thing?
-- Dave (VK2KFU for the radio bit)