 | THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF COMPUTING | | | | | 12 good reasons to visit ... | Posted by Andrew Spencer on 12/12/2011 @ 21:23 |
As well as providing interim management services at Workload Innovation, I spend a considerable amount of time as a volunteer at the National Museum of Computing, which is based in one of the historic wartime buildings in Bletchley Park ...
 our own icl 2966 which takes up a huge amount of floor space!
The Museum is almost as well kept a secret as the code breaking that went on at Bletchley Park in the war. But it is a fun and very informative place to visit, explaining and demonstrating the history of computers and computing from way back to the present day.
And it's not just for the geeks and nerds amongst us - there is so much to learn about the human aspects of using computers as well as about the machinery and software.
So what is there to see and do?
- Pride of place goes to Colossus - the world's first digital electronic computer - built to crack the German High Command's ciphers in WW2, the Mark 2 version went live just before D-Day in June 1944. The Colossus at the Museum is a rebuild that took 16 years to complete. This machine and the story behind its development are fascinating. The building that houses the Museum - H Block - was built specifically to house 6 of the Colossi at Bletchley Park and is the world's first purpose built computer centre.
- The Harwell Decatron (aka the Witch) - the world's oldest surviving original computer. Designed in 1949, went live in 1951 and now almost restored to full working order!
- A big range of 1960s computers from Elliott, Marconi and IBM that chart the transition to transistor based machines at the beginning of the decade and on to printed circuit boards by the end. One aspect of that decade that fascinates me is the development of storage devices including solid core storage (amazing hand wiring!) and early hard drives.
- The ICL 2966 mainframe, one of only two left in the world, and it works. The Inland Revenue had 40 of these monsters in the 80s to process your tax returns.
- Personal computers - lots of them in the PC gallery including 9 machines (popular home computers of the 80s) that you can play hands on with! Jet Set Willy, Lemmings and many other games of the era.
- The story of the ACORN computer and the ARM processor. The great majority of mobile phones, the iPAD and many other mobile devices use the ARM processor - a great British success story. Remember the BBC micro?
- The 1980s classroom. Try your hand programming the BBC micro, just as many did in the 80s at school and at home. Great for young adults - experiencing real computing, many for the first time.
- There are many people that remember the Domesday Project, launched by the BBC in 1986. An incredible multimedia snapshot of life in the 80s with interactive maps, photos and text from the period, long before the Internet, Google Maps and digital photos. Very recently launched is a brand new version of the Domesday Project with all the information from 1986 plus updates from 2011, housed in an interactive 52 inch touch screen table! Great fun.
- The analogue computers. I never knew such things existed until I went to the Museum! Find out why they existed and how they worked. So different to the digital world we know.
- The Cray super computer. Not many people have seen a Cray!
- There is a gallery devoted to the building of the Internet and Britain's involvement in that - a very significant involvement both right at the beginning in the mid sixties and at the beginning of the 90s in the creation of the World Wide Web as we know it now.
- Above all there is fun for all ages; for younger children flight simulators and PC games if they get bored looking at exploring the more adult machines.
The National Museum of Computing is truly worth a visit. I visited once and I now work there! Go to www.tnmoc.org for opening days and times over the holiday period and of course through the year.
See you there!
Until next time ... 
ANDREW SPENCER
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 | During Andrews extensive business career he has worked in a wide cross section of companies, specialising in the creation of contact centres and business systems, software development, telecommunications and project management. Andrews key skills are:
Business planning and strategy
Matching technology to business needs
Project management
Software development and implementation
Designing and implementing business systems
His work has included sourcing and implementing a new integrated telecoms system for National Energy Services, designing and project managing a new IT and telephony structure for the Greyhound Racing Association, and directing technology development for Wembley plc.
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