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Colossus has been Rebuilt

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the no-not-the-one-in-sardia dept.

Max Driver writes "In celebration of D-Day, "Colossus", one of the earliest electronic code-breaking machines, has been rebuilt after ten years of effort by computer conservationists. Colossus was used to break the Lorenz cipher. This story is being reported by the BBC. Remarkably, the use of parallel processing (five tape channels) and short gate delay time (1.2 microseconds) allows the Colossus to match the speed of a modern PC."

11 of 279 comments (clear)

  1. The Forbin Project by Seumas · · Score: 5, Funny

    Phew. For a moment, I thought they were talking about this Colossus.

    An artificially intelligent supercomputer is developed and activated, only to reveal that it has a sinister agenda of its own

  2. Colossus of Rhodes by The+Original+Yama · · Score: 4, Funny

    When I read the headline I thought it was about the Colossus of Rhodes!

    This is cool too :)

    --
    OLPC Australia
    1. Re:Colossus of Rhodes by ComaVN · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yeah, good for trade, but that is obsoleted by electricity, so why would anyone want to build that now.

      --
      Be wary of any facts that confirm your opinion.
  3. (sigh) by Lobo_Louie · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... and the IRS still uses it to this day.

  4. Re:Reminder: by noidentity · · Score: 3, Funny

    It only matches the speed of a modern PC at the single task it was designed for.

    Yeah, they're still trying to figure out how to make it crash as often.

  5. Re:Reminder: by The+Original+Yama · · Score: 3, Funny

    They had to wait for Bill and Paul to "develop the first programming language" before that was even possible.

    --
    OLPC Australia
  6. Re:Go and visit Bletchley Park! by pklong · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh great, a load of Slashdotters turning up. I can just imagine the poor guides when they ask the obligatory "Does anyone have any questions?".

    Also they had better rope off the area properly or for some reason the machine will print out "Visit my 1337 site goatse" or "First Post" constantly.

    --

    Philip

    Signatures are broken

  7. UK track record by pommiekiwifruit · · Score: 3, Funny
    OK, so we tossed away the computer, aerospace, and other industries.

    But look at the popularity of the ideas we exported; why, in central London a pub has a sign outside saying it was where the Communist Manifesto was launched, and offering themed lunches (borscht etc.) (oddly I can't remember a similar sign outside the hofbrauhaus in Munich). Who would have thought that would take off?

  8. Re:Not really by arevos · · Score: 5, Funny

    I really put that down to two things:

    1) Most people in England still only have 486 computers
    2) He's talking about deciphering stuff off a paper tape, something a modern PC can't do at any speed
    3) An old guy bragging about life's accomplishments (which is okay).

    At least we can count.

  9. If You RTFA, You'd Get This by Luigi30 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Fatal error on tape0 - unknown error, paper exploded?

    --
    503 Sig Unavailable

    The Signature could not be accessed. Please try again later or contact the administrator
  10. Re:Wait! Wait! there's a pattern here by corbettw · · Score: 3, Funny

    Either way we would have ended up with a continent of people with one muscular arm.

    Wait, I'm confused. You'd end up with a continent of Slashdot readers?

    --
    God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.