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Colossus Cracks Again

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the now-yer-playing-with-power dept.

BOfH writes "The BBC is reporting that following a 14-year rebuild project, the Colossus computer is once again cracking codes at Bletchley Park." They will crack WWII-era encrypted messages, and compete against modern PCs. Fun stuff for crypto nerds and history buffs.

5 of 88 comments (clear)

  1. And how is this different. . . by smooth+wombat · · Score: 2, Interesting

    than this article from 2 days ago?

    --
    We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
  2. Re:Link to Bletchley Park by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Not all of us are fortunate neough to be able to travel to London. But earlier this year when I was obsessively reading about Colossus, I contented myself with Paul Gannon's Colossus: Bletchley Park's Greatest Secret . It does a great job of explaining how that whole big centre of operations worked. It made me wonder, though, how similar today's military codebreaking centres like Ft. Mead are in terms of comaraderie.

  3. Re:I Want a Babbage Engine, Dammit! by BigBadBus · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There is a full scale replica, at London's Science Museum, made by their own technicians. Its a lovely mesh of bronze and brass cogs and gears, and yes, it does work. I worked there years ago and was told something interesting: Bill Gates funded the construction of the display model on the condition that afterwards, they build him one too. Which I presume they did.

    --
    My web domain.
  4. Re:Link to Bletchley Park by pev · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I had an amazing day there a few years back - one of the most amazing things was that many of the volunteers were connected to Bletchley Park originally and you could talk to them to get their stories first hand. There are very few opportunities for such things these days and well worth taking the opportunity to meet them (and have a nice cup of tea!)

  5. One of The First Clockless Systems by TheHawke · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Colossus ran as fast as the tape reader could scan and compare tapes. They estimated that the unit could do as much as 10,000 to 15,000 Characters Per Second (CPS). Material issues kept the machine running dependably at 5,000 CPS. As the story goes, the inventor cranked the tape scanner up to 10,000 CPS and the paper tape failed, sending ribbons flying across the room. At 60MPH, paper flies very fast!

    --
    First rule of holes; When in one, stop digging.