World’s oldest digital computer boots up

21 November 2012

The world’s “oldest working digital computer” has been rebooted in its home in The National Museum of Computing in Buckinghamshire, England.

The 61-year old computer is known as the Wolverhampton Instrument for Teaching Computing from Harwell, or WITCH.

“In 1951 the Harwell Dekatron was one of perhaps a dozen computers in the world, and since then, it has led a charmed life surviving intact while its contemporaries were recycled or destroyed,” trustee of the museum Kevin Murrell said in a statement.

Restoration of the computer began three years ago to get the device in working order. In its prime, it ran on telephone exchange relays, gas-filled tubes, and paper tape used for input and output on the machine.

Visitors of the museum can now see the 3-ton machine rattle and light up.

“To see it in action is to watch the inner workings of a computer — something that is impossible on the machines of today,” Murrell said.

Source: National Museum of Computing

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  1. TehBrad
    21.11.2012 at 10:43

    I bet there is porn on it.

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