Ferranti? Re: Modern Electronics (was Re: List charter mods & headcount... ; -))

From: Rob O'Donnell <classiccmp.org_at_irrelevant.fsnet.co.uk>
Date: Mon Jun 21 03:49:24 2004

[post reordered]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe R." <rigdonj_at_cfl.rr.com>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Sunday, June 20, 2004 6:51 AM
Subject: Ferranti? Re: Modern Electronics (was Re: List charter mods &
headcount... ; -))


> At 10:34 AM 6/20/04 +0100, Rob wrote:
> >
> >
> >Sadly this is true in computing as well. I don't have a degree, the only
> >college I went to was a technical college, one day a week sponsored by
the
> >company I was working for as an apprentice (Ferranti, may they rest in
> >peace).
>
> What happened to Ferranti? We used to use one of their RADARs on the
> system that I worked on but I haven't heard anything about them since the
> program was cancelled.


At 19:28 20/06/2004, ed sharpe wrote:

>Ferranti?
> they also made computers... we have some stuff on them around here
>somewhere....

They did. As an apprentice, I used to work for Ferranti Computer Systems,
Cheadle-Heath Division. The computer systems were used in various
applications, including the central control computers for various Police
and Fire authorities (I actually had my hands inside North Yorkshire Police
computer in Bradford once. Apparently it had an adventure game on it too,
the operators could swap into when they were otherwise idle.)

They did a lot of military stuff too. I was particularly impressed by one
simulator system for subs - it created a picture of ships and stuff on the
ocean, as you would see looking up the periscope. Very realistic graphics
- certainly very impressive in 1983 or thereabouts. (though a gamecube
would blow it away these days!)

Not counting a scrolling LED sign I made myself as a project, my sole
surviving Ferranti computer relic from those days is a badge from a cabinet
(found new unused, and applied to a disc storage box) marked "Ferranti
EWTS". I think it is Early Warning Tracking[or maybe Training] System. I
think my ex-wife has thrown out the "Ministry of Aviation" serialised
filing cabinet I also had until a few years ago when we parted company..

I left at the end of my apprenticeship to join Micronet in London, at the
start of the on-line revolution. Ferranti's demise came a few years later,
I believe, when they paid over the odds to acquire some US based company,
only to discover it was an empty shell... Banks then pulled the plug. I'm
sure there will be articles about it on the web somewhere..


Rob
Received on Mon Jun 21 2004 - 03:49:24 BST