rarest computers. was: RE: Xerox Alto Restoration + Emulation

From: Andy Holt <andyh_at_andyh-rayleigh.freeserve.co.uk>
Date: Wed Aug 4 00:42:54 2004

> > Arcturus, reputedly London University's first computer. CPU boards
> > in a small rack, all TTL as far as I can tell.
>
> I am supreised that London University didn't have any sort of computer
> before the late 1960s (that's when TTL came out IIRC).
>
When I was a student at Kings (KCL), London in the late 60s

The 6600 at ULCC (University of London Computer Centre) had just opened. In
a strict administrative sense this was the first University of London
computer - all previous having belonged to the Colleges or Institutes.

KCL acquired a CDC 1700 as a RJE station for this (they also had a (dumb)
RJE station for the Atlas - hidden in an obscure room in a basement corridor
along with a couple of Flexowriters). (and there were still rooms of
desk-top calculators)

The Atlas at ICS (Institute of Computer Science) was still running - and had
RJE entry from the major colleges). I did have a valid account code for this
and it is one of my regrets that I never used it.

UCL (University College) had an IBM 360/65 - served by a courier service
from most colleges. This was the first computer on which I ran a program.

Imperial (IC) had an IBM 7094 (think it was a 7094 II) and a few smaller
machines.

Queen Mary College (QMC) had just installed an ICT 1900 of some sort -
almost certainly their first 1905E.

[there would probably also have been a few PDP 8s and similar about the
University]

Note that most - if not all - of the above would have been based on discrete
components and none would have used TTL. DTL packaging looks just like TTL
(except for 3-digit type codes rather than 4) but I doubt if that was used
in any of the above either.

Andy
Received on Wed Aug 04 2004 - 00:42:54 BST

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