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The Computers That Made Britain [message #408954] Mon, 14 June 2021 21:21 Go to next message
RobertB is currently offline  RobertB
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I just found this out today. The book, "The Computers That Made Britain," is available as a free e-book or you can purchase a hardcopy at:

https://wireframe.raspberrypi.org/books/computers-that-made- britain

Among the various platforms, CBM computers that are covered are the PET 2001, VIC-20, C64, and the Amiga.

Leaving out other CBM computers,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group -
http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network -
http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan
Nov. 6-7 Commodore Los Angeles Super Show 2021 -
http://www.portcommodore.com/class
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #408965 is a reply to message #408954] Tue, 15 June 2021 02:09 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Ahem A Rivet's Shot is currently offline  Ahem A Rivet's Shot
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On Mon, 14 Jun 2021 18:21:41 -0700 (PDT)
Robert Bernardo <rbernardo@iglou.com> wrote:

> I just found this out today. The book, "The Computers That Made
> Britain," is available as a free e-book or you can purchase a hardcopy at:
>
> https://wireframe.raspberrypi.org/books/computers-that-made- britain
>
> Among the various platforms, CBM computers that are covered are the PET
> 2001, VIC-20, C64, and the Amiga.

Strange that those are all American computers. With that title I'd
expect SoC MK14, Acorn Atom, Sinclair ZX80/81, Spectrum, Acorn BBC B, BBC
Master, Archimedes and maybe the more obscure like the Jupiter Ace,
Camputers Lynx and Torch Communicator.

--
Steve O'Hara-Smith | Directable Mirror Arrays
C:\>WIN | A better way to focus the sun
The computer obeys and wins. | licences available see
You lose and Bill collects. | http://www.sohara.org/
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #408968 is a reply to message #408965] Tue, 15 June 2021 03:42 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Andy Leighton is currently offline  Andy Leighton
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On Tue, 15 Jun 2021 07:09:41 +0100, Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> wrote:
> On Mon, 14 Jun 2021 18:21:41 -0700 (PDT)
> Robert Bernardo <rbernardo@iglou.com> wrote:
>
>> I just found this out today. The book, "The Computers That Made
>> Britain," is available as a free e-book or you can purchase a hardcopy at:
>>
>> https://wireframe.raspberrypi.org/books/computers-that-made- britain
>>
>> Among the various platforms, CBM computers that are covered are the PET
>> 2001, VIC-20, C64, and the Amiga.
>
> Strange that those are all American computers. With that title I'd
> expect SoC MK14, Acorn Atom, Sinclair ZX80/81, Spectrum, Acorn BBC B, BBC
> Master, Archimedes and maybe the more obscure like the Jupiter Ace,
> Camputers Lynx and Torch Communicator.

Yep. We had some PETs when I was at school around 1978-81, but they
were soon replaced with Beebs. But our school computer club had UK101s,
NASCOMs, an Acorn System/1 and a Microtan 65. Those were all early
systems and maybe only remembered by people like us. But as we go into
the 80s you would have to also include the Oric machines and the Dragon.
I would add in the Newbrain, the Enterprise, and MTX 512 into the more
obscure items (which didn't do so well in the market). Also I think that
it would have to cover Psion who absolutely owned the PDA space.

--
Andy Leighton => andyl@azaal.plus.com
"We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!"
- Douglas Adams
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #408969 is a reply to message #408968] Tue, 15 June 2021 03:55 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: Jeff Gaines

On 15/06/2021 in message <slrnscgmen.pfq.andyl@azaal.plus.com> Andy
Leighton wrote:

> Also I think that
> it would have to cover Psion who absolutely owned the PDA space.

Way ahead of their time!

I have a Psion netBook with Orinoco gold card, still works, must dust it
off. I was surprised when so called Netbooks appeared a few years ago that
Psion didn't complain about the use of the name.

--
Jeff Gaines Wiltshire UK
I can please only one person per day. Today is not your day.
Tomorrow, isn't looking good either.
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #408970 is a reply to message #408968] Tue, 15 June 2021 04:28 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Ahem A Rivet's Shot is currently offline  Ahem A Rivet's Shot
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On Tue, 15 Jun 2021 02:42:15 -0500
Andy Leighton <andyl@azaal.plus.com> wrote:

> Newbrain, the Enterprise

How did I leave out the 68 Regent Street pair ? I was there for
both of them, that was weird being in the same small building for two
different companies one after the other. I worked on the Newbrain as
student hardware engineer and a little later Nick Toop was upstairs
designing the Flan while I was downstairs making remote debuggers for video
game consoles. Fun days.

--
Steve O'Hara-Smith | Directable Mirror Arrays
C:\>WIN | A better way to focus the sun
The computer obeys and wins. | licences available see
You lose and Bill collects. | http://www.sohara.org/
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #408989 is a reply to message #408965] Tue, 15 June 2021 15:52 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Andreas Kohlbach is currently offline  Andreas Kohlbach
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On Tue, 15 Jun 2021 07:09:41 +0100, Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote:
>
> On Mon, 14 Jun 2021 18:21:41 -0700 (PDT)
> Robert Bernardo <rbernardo@iglou.com> wrote:
>
>> I just found this out today. The book, "The Computers That Made
>> Britain," is available as a free e-book or you can purchase a hardcopy at:
>>
>> https://wireframe.raspberrypi.org/books/computers-that-made- britain
>>
>> Among the various platforms, CBM computers that are covered are the PET
>> 2001, VIC-20, C64, and the Amiga.
>
> Strange that those are all American computers.

Same here.

> With that title I'd expect SoC MK14, Acorn Atom, Sinclair ZX80/81,
> Spectrum, Acorn BBC B, BBC Master, Archimedes and maybe the more
> obscure like the Jupiter Ace, Camputers Lynx and Torch Communicator.

Wasn't the Ace not the only home micro not coming with BASIC?

Torch Communicator I never heard of. According to Wikipedia was a
combination of a BBC Micro with a Z80 processor.

Also the Tatung Einstein comes as an obscure computer to my mind.

And there's so much more most won't ever have heard about
< https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Computers_designed_in _the_United_Kingdom>.
--
Andreas

PGP fingerprint 952B0A9F12C2FD6C9F7E68DAA9C2EA89D1A370E0
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #408993 is a reply to message #408965] Tue, 15 June 2021 17:27 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Quadibloc is currently offline  Quadibloc
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On Tuesday, June 15, 2021 at 12:30:02 AM UTC-6, Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote:

> Strange that those are all American computers.

It does mention the ZX80, the Spectrum, the Sinclair QL, and several other
British computers. But indeed, the Apple II and the IBM PC are also
mentioned, and those are certainly American computers.

I don't know, perhaps they're the "computers that made Britain" because
the British used 8-bit micros to liberate themselves from the Norman
Conquest, or perhaps to crack the Enigma? Or is it just that they influenced
the Beatles and helped to create the cultural changes that led to the miniskirt,
thus helping to create modern Britain?

I guess the book's intent is to portray the microcomputer scene in Britain
from the user's point of view, and so while British computers featured more
prominently in the possible choices than elsewhere, American computers
also played a role.

John Savard
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #408994 is a reply to message #408989] Tue, 15 June 2021 17:46 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Ahem A Rivet's Shot is currently offline  Ahem A Rivet's Shot
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On Tue, 15 Jun 2021 15:52:16 -0400
Andreas Kohlbach <ank@spamfence.net> wrote:

> Torch Communicator I never heard of. According to Wikipedia was a

Not surprised, it was not a great success.

> combination of a BBC Micro with a Z80 processor.

Wikipedia is correct as far as it goes, the "communicator" part was
the built in 1200/75 or 300/300 modem, the rest of it was a steel case,
colour monitor, a pair of floppies and a CP/M clone.

It was my first job out of college, I did the Z80 card because
Acorn couldn't deliver in time and I opened my mouth then designed the CP/M
clone because I thought the CP/M filesystem was a dog's dinner and it had
to be split across the two processors anyway. Ray Anderson and Dave Oliver
did most of the code.

Fun fact, the Newbrain (vac job during college), ZX80/81, BBC Micro
and Torch were all spawn of the same government project.

--
Steve O'Hara-Smith | Directable Mirror Arrays
C:\>WIN | A better way to focus the sun
The computer obeys and wins. | licences available see
You lose and Bill collects. | http://www.sohara.org/
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #409005 is a reply to message #408993] Wed, 16 June 2021 04:16 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: Bob Eager

On Tue, 15 Jun 2021 14:27:24 -0700, Quadibloc wrote:

> On Tuesday, June 15, 2021 at 12:30:02 AM UTC-6, Ahem A Rivet's Shot
> wrote:
>
>> Strange that those are all American computers.
>
> It does mention the ZX80, the Spectrum, the Sinclair QL, and several
> other British computers. But indeed, the Apple II and the IBM PC are
> also mentioned, and those are certainly American computers.
>
> I don't know, perhaps they're the "computers that made Britain" because
> the British used 8-bit micros to liberate themselves from the Norman
> Conquest, or perhaps to crack the Enigma? Or is it just that they
> influenced the Beatles and helped to create the cultural changes that
> led to the miniskirt,
> thus helping to create modern Britain?

Probably more relevant:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/3030151026/
ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_4K8GABM4W7DB7X54104Y





--
Using UNIX since v6 (1975)...

Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #409006 is a reply to message #408989] Wed, 16 June 2021 04:31 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Andy Leighton is currently offline  Andy Leighton
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On Tue, 15 Jun 2021 15:52:16 -0400, Andreas Kohlbach <ank@spamfence.net> wrote:
> On Tue, 15 Jun 2021 07:09:41 +0100, Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote:
>> With that title I'd expect SoC MK14, Acorn Atom, Sinclair ZX80/81,
>> Spectrum, Acorn BBC B, BBC Master, Archimedes and maybe the more
>> obscure like the Jupiter Ace, Camputers Lynx and Torch Communicator.
>
> Wasn't the Ace not the only home micro not coming with BASIC?

No, I believe that some of the French Hector machines also had
Forth in ROM.

--
Andy Leighton => andyl@azaal.plus.com
"We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!"
- Douglas Adams
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #409010 is a reply to message #409005] Wed, 16 June 2021 06:35 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Ahem A Rivet's Shot is currently offline  Ahem A Rivet's Shot
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On 16 Jun 2021 08:16:00 GMT
Bob Eager <news0009@eager.cx> wrote:

> Probably more relevant:
>
> https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/3030151026/
> ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_4K8GABM4W7DB7X54104Y

That subtitle sums up the background to first few years of my
career, dominated by Ferranti ULAs that didn't work as well as hoped and
government funded projects that morphed and twisted in the hands of
entrepreneurs.

--
Steve O'Hara-Smith | Directable Mirror Arrays
C:\>WIN | A better way to focus the sun
The computer obeys and wins. | licences available see
You lose and Bill collects. | http://www.sohara.org/
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #409011 is a reply to message #409010] Wed, 16 June 2021 07:49 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: Bob Eager

On Wed, 16 Jun 2021 11:35:11 +0100, Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote:

> On 16 Jun 2021 08:16:00 GMT Bob Eager <news0009@eager.cx> wrote:
>
>> Probably more relevant:
>>
>> https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/3030151026/
>> ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_4K8GABM4W7DB7X54104Y
>
> That subtitle sums up the background to first few years of my
> career, dominated by Ferranti ULAs that didn't work as well as hoped and
> government funded projects that morphed and twisted in the hands of
> entrepreneurs.

My first PC had Ferranti ULAs. They retrofitted heatsinks - I invented a
fault for an engineer visit so that I got mine done!

That was an Advance 86B - an almost-compatible 8086-based PC.

--
Using UNIX since v6 (1975)...

Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #409040 is a reply to message #409006] Wed, 16 June 2021 22:22 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Andreas Kohlbach is currently offline  Andreas Kohlbach
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On Wed, 16 Jun 2021 03:31:09 -0500, Andy Leighton wrote:
>
> On Tue, 15 Jun 2021 15:52:16 -0400, Andreas Kohlbach <ank@spamfence.net> wrote:
>> On Tue, 15 Jun 2021 07:09:41 +0100, Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote:
>>> With that title I'd expect SoC MK14, Acorn Atom, Sinclair ZX80/81,
>>> Spectrum, Acorn BBC B, BBC Master, Archimedes and maybe the more
>>> obscure like the Jupiter Ace, Camputers Lynx and Torch Communicator.
>>
>> Wasn't the Ace not the only home micro not coming with BASIC?
>
> No, I believe that some of the French Hector machines also had
> Forth in ROM.

Never heard of. But some googling confirms it. My multi-emulator also
runs it. Otherwise that machine was similar unsuccessful like the Ace I
suppose. There is not even an English Wikipedia page but a thin French
page <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector_HRX> and one in SR
(Serbia?). Apparently manufactured by Micronique. Amazingly (most of the
companies of the day no longer exist) the company is still around today.
--
Andreas

https://news-commentaries.blogspot.com/
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #409043 is a reply to message #409040] Wed, 16 June 2021 23:28 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Quadibloc is currently offline  Quadibloc
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On Wednesday, June 16, 2021 at 8:22:17 PM UTC-6, Andreas Kohlbach wrote:
> On Wed, 16 Jun 2021 03:31:09 -0500, Andy Leighton wrote:
>> On Tue, 15 Jun 2021 15:52:16 -0400, Andreas Kohlbach <a...@spamfence.net> wrote:

>>> Wasn't the Ace not the only home micro not coming with BASIC?

>> No, I believe that some of the French Hector machines also had
>> Forth in ROM.

> Never heard of. But some googling confirms it. My multi-emulator also
> runs it. Otherwise that machine was similar unsuccessful like the Ace I
> suppose. There is not even an English Wikipedia page but a thin French
> page <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector_HRX> and one in SR
> (Serbia?). Apparently manufactured by Micronique. Amazingly (most of the
> companies of the day no longer exist) the company is still around today.

I noticed it had a resemblance to an American computer, even though it had
a real keyboard and not a chiclet keyboard.

I googled for images, and found this page on old-computers.com:

https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=1004

This is their page about the Interact - remember it? The Hector HRX with
Forth is a machine based on the Interact, after the French company bought
the rights to the design when the original Interact went under.

Unfortunately, the link to the 'rest of the story' is broken, so here are instead
links to the old-computers.com pages on the Hector machines:

https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=142
https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=152
https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=427
https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=151

John Savard
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #409254 is a reply to message #408969] Wed, 23 June 2021 14:54 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Andreas Eder is currently offline  Andreas Eder
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On Di 15 Jun 2021 at 07:55, "Jeff Gaines" <jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> On 15/06/2021 in message <slrnscgmen.pfq.andyl@azaal.plus.com> Andy
> Leighton wrote:
>
>> Also I think that
>> it would have to cover Psion who absolutely owned the PDA space.
>
> Way ahead of their time!
>
> I have a Psion netBook with Orinoco gold card, still works, must dust it
> off. I was surprised when so called Netbooks appeared a few years ago
> that Psion didn't complain about the use of the name.

+1

'Andreas
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #409341 is a reply to message #409254] Sat, 26 June 2021 12:46 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: Richmond

Andreas Eder <a_eder_muc@web.de> writes:

> On Di 15 Jun 2021 at 07:55, "Jeff Gaines" <jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> On 15/06/2021 in message <slrnscgmen.pfq.andyl@azaal.plus.com> Andy
>> Leighton wrote:
>>
>>> Also I think that
>>> it would have to cover Psion who absolutely owned the PDA space.
>>
>> Way ahead of their time!
>>
>> I have a Psion netBook with Orinoco gold card, still works, must dust it
>> off. I was surprised when so called Netbooks appeared a few years ago
>> that Psion didn't complain about the use of the name.
>
> +1
>
> 'Andreas

What about Colossus?

"But the success of D-Day and other Allied operations also owed much to
telecoms engineer and computer pioneer Tommy Flowers, who designed and
built the world’s first electronic computer, Colossus, while working at
the Dollis Hill research station, predecessor of BT’s Adastral Park
research laboratories."

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/connecting-britain/am azing-story-d-day-colossus-tommy-flowers/
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #409345 is a reply to message #409341] Sat, 26 June 2021 14:02 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: J. Clarke

On Sat, 26 Jun 2021 17:46:48 +0100, Richmond <richmond@criptext.com>
wrote:

> Andreas Eder <a_eder_muc@web.de> writes:
>
>> On Di 15 Jun 2021 at 07:55, "Jeff Gaines" <jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>>> On 15/06/2021 in message <slrnscgmen.pfq.andyl@azaal.plus.com> Andy
>>> Leighton wrote:
>>>
>>>> Also I think that
>>>> it would have to cover Psion who absolutely owned the PDA space.
>>>
>>> Way ahead of their time!
>>>
>>> I have a Psion netBook with Orinoco gold card, still works, must dust it
>>> off. I was surprised when so called Netbooks appeared a few years ago
>>> that Psion didn't complain about the use of the name.
>>
>> +1
>>
>> 'Andreas
>
> What about Colossus?
>
> "But the success of D-Day and other Allied operations also owed much to
> telecoms engineer and computer pioneer Tommy Flowers, who designed and
> built the world’s first electronic computer, Colossus, while working at
> the Dollis Hill research station, predecessor of BT’s Adastral Park
> research laboratories."
>
> https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/connecting-britain/am azing-story-d-day-colossus-tommy-flowers/

Not really because it was so secret that it had no significant effect
on subsequent developments. It wasn't actually declassified until
micros were already available to hobbyists.
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #409383 is a reply to message #409345] Sun, 27 June 2021 09:09 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Quadibloc is currently offline  Quadibloc
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On Saturday, June 26, 2021 at 12:02:08 PM UTC-6, J. Clarke wrote:

> Not really because it was so secret that it had no significant effect
> on subsequent developments. It wasn't actually declassified until
> micros were already available to hobbyists.

That is indeed true for most ways in which it could have had an
influence, but not _all_.

Thus, one of the first British computers sold commercially was
a delay-line computer called the DEUCE. Who designed it?

Alan Turing.

John Savard
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #409384 is a reply to message #409383] Sun, 27 June 2021 10:17 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: Richmond

Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> writes:

> On Saturday, June 26, 2021 at 12:02:08 PM UTC-6, J. Clarke wrote:
>
>> Not really because it was so secret that it had no significant effect
>> on subsequent developments. It wasn't actually declassified until
>> micros were already available to hobbyists.
>
> That is indeed true for most ways in which it could have had an
> influence, but not _all_.
>
> Thus, one of the first British computers sold commercially was
> a delay-line computer called the DEUCE. Who designed it?
>
> Alan Turing.
>

I haven't read the book yet, but I was thinking if we hadn't won the war
then there might not be a Britain, nor any of those computers we call
British.
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #409385 is a reply to message #409383] Sun, 27 June 2021 10:30 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: J. Clarke

On Sun, 27 Jun 2021 06:09:39 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc
<jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:

> On Saturday, June 26, 2021 at 12:02:08 PM UTC-6, J. Clarke wrote:
>
>> Not really because it was so secret that it had no significant effect
>> on subsequent developments. It wasn't actually declassified until
>> micros were already available to hobbyists.
>
> That is indeed true for most ways in which it could have had an
> influence, but not _all_.
>
> Thus, one of the first British computers sold commercially was
> a delay-line computer called the DEUCE. Who designed it?
>
> Alan Turing.

But what does that have to do with Colossus? Did Colossus or anything
at Bletchley Park use delay lines?
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #409391 is a reply to message #409385] Sun, 27 June 2021 16:22 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Quadibloc is currently offline  Quadibloc
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On Sunday, June 27, 2021 at 8:30:28 AM UTC-6, J. Clarke wrote:

> But what does that have to do with Colossus? Did Colossus or anything
> at Bletchley Park use delay lines?

No, but Colossus and DEUCE both used logic circuits built from vacuum
tubes.

John Savard
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #409395 is a reply to message #409391] Sun, 27 June 2021 17:16 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: J. Clarke

On Sun, 27 Jun 2021 13:22:41 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc
<jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:

> On Sunday, June 27, 2021 at 8:30:28 AM UTC-6, J. Clarke wrote:
>
>> But what does that have to do with Colossus? Did Colossus or anything
>> at Bletchley Park use delay lines?
>
> No, but Colossus and DEUCE both used logic circuits built from vacuum
> tubes.

But so did EDVAC and UNIVAC in the same timeframe.
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #409403 is a reply to message #409395] Mon, 28 June 2021 00:16 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Quadibloc is currently offline  Quadibloc
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On Sunday, June 27, 2021 at 3:16:28 PM UTC-6, J. Clarke wrote:
> On Sun, 27 Jun 2021 13:22:41 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc
> <jsa...@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:

>> No, but Colossus and DEUCE both used logic circuits built from vacuum
>> tubes.

> But so did EDVAC and UNIVAC in the same timeframe.

In the United States, the earliest vacuum tube computers may have been
ENIAC and the SSEC. In Britain, the EDSAC was built according to the shared
blueprints of the EDVAC.

But one of the earliest British computers, before the EDVAC, was the SSEM
at Manchester University, the Small-Scale Experimental Machine, also known
as the Manchester Baby.

However, I see that the three engineers who constructed it got their experience
with vacuum tubes by doing radar work during the War instead of working on
Colossus.

John Savard
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #409404 is a reply to message #409403] Mon, 28 June 2021 00:31 Go to previous messageGo to next message
John Levine is currently offline  John Levine
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According to Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca>:
> However, I see that the three engineers who constructed it got their experience
> with vacuum tubes by doing radar work during the War instead of working on
> Colossus.

I get the impression that the people who worked on Colossus stayed out of the computer biz so they
wouldn't be tempted to "reinvent" what they knew.

As far as I know, Turing had nothing to do with Colossus. He worked on
the electromechanical Bombes that broke the Enigma codes, but they had
no vacuum tubes, just rotors and wires and gears.



--
Regards,
John Levine, johnl@taugh.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #409405 is a reply to message #409403] Mon, 28 June 2021 00:44 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: J. Clarke

On Sun, 27 Jun 2021 21:16:00 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc
<jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:

> On Sunday, June 27, 2021 at 3:16:28 PM UTC-6, J. Clarke wrote:
>> On Sun, 27 Jun 2021 13:22:41 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc
>> <jsa...@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
>
>>> No, but Colossus and DEUCE both used logic circuits built from vacuum
>>> tubes.
>
>> But so did EDVAC and UNIVAC in the same timeframe.
>
> In the United States, the earliest vacuum tube computers may have been
> ENIAC and the SSEC. In Britain, the EDSAC was built according to the shared
> blueprints of the EDVAC.
>
> But one of the earliest British computers, before the EDVAC, was the SSEM
> at Manchester University, the Small-Scale Experimental Machine, also known
> as the Manchester Baby.
>
> However, I see that the three engineers who constructed it got their experience
> with vacuum tubes by doing radar work during the War instead of working on
> Colossus.

And that is likely also where the delay lines came from.

Glide Path, not Ultra.
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #409425 is a reply to message #409403] Mon, 28 June 2021 15:41 Go to previous messageGo to next message
scott is currently offline  scott
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Senior Member
Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> writes:
> On Sunday, June 27, 2021 at 3:16:28 PM UTC-6, J. Clarke wrote:
>> On Sun, 27 Jun 2021 13:22:41 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc
>> <jsa...@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
>
>>> No, but Colossus and DEUCE both used logic circuits built from vacuum
>>> tubes.
>
>> But so did EDVAC and UNIVAC in the same timeframe.
>
> In the United States, the earliest vacuum tube computers may have been
> ENIAC and the SSEC.

Only if you discount the ABC (Atanasoff-Berry Computer).
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #409435 is a reply to message #409391] Mon, 28 June 2021 22:30 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Robin Vowels is currently offline  Robin Vowels
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Senior Member
On Monday, June 28, 2021 at 6:22:42 AM UTC+10, Quadibloc wrote:
> On Sunday, June 27, 2021 at 8:30:28 AM UTC-6, J. Clarke wrote:
>
>> But what does that have to do with Colossus? Did Colossus or anything
>> at Bletchley Park use delay lines?
> No, but Colossus and DEUCE both used logic circuits built from vacuum
> tubes.
..
In the 1940s and early 1950s virtually all computers used vacuum
tubes, including the earlier EDSAC (1949), Pilot ACE (c. 1951).
From photographs, it can be seen that Pilot ACE used 7-pin glass types.
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #409442 is a reply to message #409404] Tue, 29 June 2021 06:48 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: greymaus

On 2021-06-28, John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> wrote:
> According to Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca>:
>> However, I see that the three engineers who constructed it got their experience
>> with vacuum tubes by doing radar work during the War instead of working on
>> Colossus.
>
> I get the impression that the people who worked on Colossus stayed out of the computer biz so they
> wouldn't be tempted to "reinvent" what they knew.
>
> As far as I know, Turing had nothing to do with Colossus. He worked on
> the electromechanical Bombes that broke the Enigma codes, but they had
> no vacuum tubes, just rotors and wires and gears.
>
>
>

AFAIK, it was a man called Flowers that did most of the work on
Collosus. Because of the secrecy, I would think that Colossus was a dead
end. Some of the details are still secret, as far as I know.

It was the US that drove the development of computers. It provided a
market that the UK did not have.


--
greymausg@mail.com
Down the wrong maushole.
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #409443 is a reply to message #409442] Tue, 29 June 2021 07:21 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: Jeff Gaines

On 29/06/2021 in message <slrnsdlukc.23p.maus@dmaus.org> greymaus wrote:

> AFAIK, it was a man called Flowers that did most of the work on
> Collosus. Because of the secrecy, I would think that Colossus was a dead
> end. Some of the details are still secret, as far as I know.

Tommy Flowers, from the days when the GPO did research:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Flowers

--
Jeff Gaines Wiltshire UK
If you ever find something you like buy a lifetime supply because they
will stop making it
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #409511 is a reply to message #409405] Thu, 01 July 2021 13:09 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: Vir Campestris

On 28/06/2021 05:44, J. Clarke wrote:
> And that is likely also where the delay lines came from.
>
> Glide Path, not Ultra.

A man named Clarke mentions Glide Path.

Any relation?

Andy
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #409522 is a reply to message #409511] Thu, 01 July 2021 18:34 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: J. Clarke

On Thu, 1 Jul 2021 18:09:43 +0100, Vir Campestris
<vir.campestris@invalid.invalid> wrote:

> On 28/06/2021 05:44, J. Clarke wrote:
>> And that is likely also where the delay lines came from.
>>
>> Glide Path, not Ultra.
>
> A man named Clarke mentions Glide Path.
>
> Any relation?

I wish.
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #410551 is a reply to message #409404] Wed, 18 August 2021 23:48 Go to previous messageGo to next message
rst is currently offline  rst
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In article <sbbjbj$1p26$1@gal.iecc.com>, John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> wrote:
> I get the impression that the people who worked on Colossus stayed out
> of the computer biz so they
> wouldn't be tempted to "reinvent" what they knew.

More like they weren't allowed to -- Tommy Flowers, design lead for
Colossus, tried to get funding for engineering large vacuum-tube based
computing gear after the war, but because his wartime experience was all
secret, potential funders rejected his plans as impractical.

Max Newman, one of the Bletchley Park managers who oversaw Colossus,
later played a similar role for early computer development at Manchester
-- didn't do any of the detailed engineering for the computer prototypes
there, but did a lot to make them possible.
--
Robert Thau
rst@alum.mit.edu
--
Robert Thau
rst@{ai,alum}.mit.edu
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #410560 is a reply to message #410551] Fri, 20 August 2021 12:07 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: maus

On 2021-08-19, Robert Thau <rst@panix.com> wrote:
> In article <sbbjbj$1p26$1@gal.iecc.com>, John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> wrote:
>> I get the impression that the people who worked on Colossus stayed out
>> of the computer biz so they
>> wouldn't be tempted to "reinvent" what they knew.
>
> More like they weren't allowed to -- Tommy Flowers, design lead for
> Colossus, tried to get funding for engineering large vacuum-tube based
> computing gear after the war, but because his wartime experience was all
> secret, potential funders rejected his plans as impractical.


I have read several times that Flowers was disregarded because of his working-class London accent. That was a different time, unfortunatly still present in ways


>
> Max Newman, one of the Bletchley Park managers who oversaw Colossus,
> later played a similar role for early computer development at Manchester
> -- didn't do any of the detailed engineering for the computer prototypes
> there, but did a lot to make them possible.
> --
> Robert Thau
> rst@alum.mit.edu
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #410684 is a reply to message #410560] Thu, 02 September 2021 12:28 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: David Lesher

maus@smaus.org writes:

>> More like they weren't allowed to -- Tommy Flowers, design lead for
>> Colossus, tried to get funding for engineering large vacuum-tube based
>> computing gear after the war, but because his wartime experience was all
>> secret, potential funders rejected his plans as impractical.


> I have read several times that Flowers was disregarded because
> of his working-class London accent. That was a different time,
> unfortunatly still present in ways...

Ask Fiona Hill.
< https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/22/uk/accents-fiona-hill-uk-intl -gbr/index.html>
--
A host is a host from coast to coast.................wb8foz@nrk.com
& no one will talk to a host that's close..........................
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #410777 is a reply to message #408954] Mon, 06 September 2021 14:12 Go to previous messageGo to next message
usenet is currently offline  usenet
Messages: 556
Registered: May 2013
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Senior Member
Of possible relevance to this thread and of interest to the group:

Programmed Inequality
How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing
Mar Hicks
2017; MIT Press

https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/programmed-inequality

Summary

How Britain lost its early dominance in computing by systematically
discriminating against its most qualified workers: women.

In 1944, Britain led the world in electronic computing. By 1974, the
British computer industry was all but extinct. What happened in the
intervening thirty years holds lessons for all postindustrial
superpowers. As Britain struggled to use technology to retain its
global power, the nation's inability to manage its technical labor
force hobbled its transition into the information age.

In Programmed Inequality, Mar Hicks explores the story of labor
feminization and gendered technocracy that undercut British efforts
to computerize. That failure sprang from the government's systematic
neglect of its largest trained technical workforce simply because
they were women. Women were a hidden engine of growth in high
technology from World War II to the 1960s. As computing experienced
a gender flip, becoming male-identified in the 1960s and 1970s,
labor problems grew into structural ones and gender discrimination
caused the nation's largest computer user -- the civil service and
sprawling public sector -- to make decisions that were disastrous for
the British computer industry and the nation as a whole.

Drawing on recently opened government files, personal interviews,
and the archives of major British computer companies, Programmed
Inequality takes aim at the fiction of technological meritocracy.
Hicks explains why, even today, possessing technical skill is not
enough to ensure that women will rise to the top in science and
technology fields. Programmed Inequality shows how the disappearance
of women from the field had grave macroeconomic consequences for
Britain, and why the United States risks repeating those errors
in the twenty-first century.
Re: The Computers That Made Britain [message #410813 is a reply to message #410777] Tue, 07 September 2021 16:12 Go to previous message
Charlie Gibbs is currently offline  Charlie Gibbs
Messages: 5313
Registered: January 2012
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Senior Member
On 2021-09-06, Questor <usenet@only.tnx> wrote:

> Of possible relevance to this thread and of interest to the group:
>
> Programmed Inequality
> How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing
> Mar Hicks
> 2017; MIT Press
>
> https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/programmed-inequality

Sounds like an interesting read.

<snip>

> Drawing on recently opened government files, personal interviews,
> and the archives of major British computer companies, Programmed
> Inequality takes aim at the fiction of technological meritocracy.
> Hicks explains why, even today, possessing technical skill is not
> enough to ensure that women will rise to the top in science and
> technology fields. Programmed Inequality shows how the disappearance
> of women from the field had grave macroeconomic consequences for
> Britain, and why the United States risks repeating those errors
> in the twenty-first century.

The U.S. was already making those errors 50 years ago.
See the movie _Hidden Figures_.

--
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\ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | has stolen their car and parked
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | a taxi in their driveway.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Mayayana
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