World's oldest digital computer restored to life at age 60

[danrok]

The Harwell Dekatron computer is a 1950s computer having roughly the weight and size of a Hummer H3 and the computing power of a four-function pocket calculator. Having been restored to its original operating condition using 95 percent original parts, it is now the oldest functioning programmable digital computer in the world. Guinness might have been onto something, when, in 1973, they named the Dekatron the Most Durable Computer in the World.

More here: World's oldest digital computer restored to life at age 60

[Daniel ~]

Can only imagine the amount of care and cleaning it took to bring her back up. Let's hope we have the since not to let her fall behind again... This is part of where we come from...She goes back to where there were literally "bugs" in the system. Though as the article points out it only takes a speck of dust to bring her down, delicate and fragile..a precious thing...

[booman]

Wow, just wow.... thats a pocket calculator?
Amazing!
I love the bundled wires on the back shot. Someone truly has a passion and patience to work on something like a 60 year old computer.
I would love it if someone explained how tubes worked in a computer

[danrok]

A tube is an early form transistor which are found in their billions on modern microchips.

I'd assume the tubes on this computer can be in one of two states to represent a binary digit aka a bit.

So, they would be able to load numbers on to the memory tubes using ticker tape which is binary.

Other tubes can be used as logic gates to carry out sums on the stored numbers and output on to more ticker tape.

[Daniel ~]

It amazes me the way the evolution of Computing, hard and software has paralleled the evolution of DNA.

the gathering of insignificant datum, the sorting and dividing only to turn around and begin multiplying and reproducing....The way a successful piece of software finds its way onto hardware where it can be reproduced... and so on.

I really like the way hardware inmates software and software inmates hardware....and strangely the way bad code is represented in commuting as a virus, as illness....

It's like what we are is jumping out all over the place in our creation, daring us to look into it's mirror...

Ah! An early morning walk though my sleepy mind...":O}