Slashdot Mirror
How Volunteers Rebuilt WW2 Computers
nk497 writes "A single photograph, scraps of circuit diagrams drawn from memory and a pile of disused components – it isn't much to go on, but from such meager beginnings, engineers rebuilt one of the precursors to the modern computer. The Tunny decryption machine – on display at The Museum of National Computing at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire in the UK – was a feat of engineering both during World War II when it was created, and over the past five years when it was rebuilt by retired BT engineers."
TFA, on one page - http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/369397/how-volunteers-rebuilt-world-war-ii-computers/print
That could be complete B.S. of course, but it looks better to me.
"Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
Sebastian Anthony at Extremtech has written a very nice, seven page article named "6 computer labs that gave birth to the digital world". Bletchley Park is included, as expected.
What both the original engineers and the restorers accomplished given what hey had to work with.
OK, so I haven't RTFA... I read someplace this computer (was it called Colossus?) was first digital computer (processer, I/O, memory, etc) and not the USA's ENIAC. And that this was so ultra secret, Churchill ordered it destroyed and team members disbanded with orders to never talk about it. Thus ended the Britain's number one position in computer science and engineering. What if, this did not happen? IBM would never been regarded as the number one computer power, and we would have brought in computer people from England for the Apollo program (they would join the Germans from the V-2 program and the Canadians from the Avro Arrow and Avrocar program to help put US first to the moon). Image that!
mfwright@batnet.com
"Thus ended the Britain's number one position in computer science and engineering. "
The University of Manchester produced the first stored program digital computer "the Baby"
and the English produced many innovative machines through the 50's. It was only in the 60's
that IBM steamrollered the world in computing with the Sytem 360.
The nerd won the second world war and they surly win the third.
But will there be enough nerds left for our side to win ? If we continue to dumb down the curriculum in all levels of education, probably not.
Jehovah be praised, Oracle was not selected
From TFA:
The Tunny is an emulator of the German 12-rotor Lorenz cipher machine, which encrypted messages from the German high command using a new machine-generated code each time
The "original" can always be "just one more iteration back" in history.
And a few million grunts on the ground as well.
Stop being a bitter old fuck QA. You still want life extension? 'Cuz you don't seem to be enjoying your life.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
I always admire people who can rebuild thing with really little information. I gives me hope in humanity.
Maybe the humanity could survive another WW.
The article indicates one of the under-appreciated values of printed circuit boards (and, later, integrated circuits): The ability, at one process step (lithography), to connect all circuit components in a system.
Whetter spent 18 months working alongside a volunteer on the wiring alone. “The wiring has to go between the sections, between where the rotor switches are, down to the patch panel and then to the relay control links at the bottom,” he explained. “You don’t just wire from A to B thousands of times. You have to plan it carefully and form what’s known as wiring looms.”
To do that, precise measurements are made of the path the wires take. That’s then mapped out on a large plank of wood, with the wires threaded around nails to create the right shape. “It all sounds rather crude,” Whetter admitted.
The 200 to 400 wires that make up each loom are laced together and then lashed to the main rack, where the soldering work starts. Whetter estimates there are 5,000 solder joints on the Tunny. “It sounds monotonous, but it’s quite an adventure, because you’re never sure if it’s going to work out,” he said. “Fortunately, we didn’t make any serious mistakes.”
Printed circuit board techniques were just being developed at the time the original Tunny was built, and it is interesting to speculate on just how much time could have been saved had that technology been just a few years more advanced, and available to the original designers. Of course, having components designed for PCB use, rather than point-to-point wiring, would have been required, but all that laborious, and error-prone, manual construction of wiring harnesses would have been avoided.
I am laughing everyday at you fruitcakes while I do things you could never do in space, like walk around in a t-shirt, adopt stray cats, go kayaking, eat out and cook, go camping, biking, hiking and meet people. I just wish I could cure you of your mental illnesses, that's how nice I am. I am not enjoying the fact that I can't get through to you.
Great but I believe this story is nearly 3 months old by now. Do you guys even bother to do even the simplest of dupe checks?
The nerd won the second world war
The nerds also lost the war, there were nerds on both sides. Nerds were responsible for mass genocide, nerds were responsible for unmanned drones and ballistic missiles landing in civilian neighborhoods, nerds/hackers created manned missiles and manned torpedoes, etc.
But will there be enough nerds left for our side to win
The losing side may have had the smarter nerds. The bad nerds invented the unmanned drone, ballistic missile, jet aircraft, assault rifle, night vision scope, etc. The good nerds had the advantage of laboratories that were not under attack and whose supplies were not disrupted. The bad nerds had their supplies of heavy water for atomic research interrupted by mere grunts on the ground, the good nerds were not slowed down by such activities. The bad nerds were also sheltered and protected by their enemies at the end of the war, and some went on to be the foundation of the US space program.
IIRC, "valve" is British for "vacuum tube". When the article says the timing circuits are controlled by valves, I'm pretty sure they're talking about the electronic kind.
Prov 9:8 Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you.
Just looking at all the wire used in those wire harnesses gives me a headache.
Never mind that they had digital voice encryption in WWII (SIGSALY)...
In "Hitler's Spies," David Kahn (of "The Codebreakers" fame) says the Germans regularly broke encrypted transatlantic radio voice traffic during WWII. Not sure if this was SIGSALY, as he doesn't mention that moniker.
Circle the wagons and fire inward. Entropy increases without bounds.
Yes, and he submitted the story to Slashdot, where it appeared two days ago.
Technology....vacuum tubes (valves), hundreds of feet of wire, mechanical connections to break a 5 rotor cypher. Now, 70 years later, you can do the same thing basically with a small computer, laptop, tablet or smart phone.
just 45 minutes out of london on the london midland intercity train. i saw all this stuff up close and met tony sale, the guy who rebuilt collossus. i also saw a bunch of old grey haired engineers working on a turing bombe replica. a totally worth it day excursion if you're ever in london, even if the food at the cafeteria is crap.
And it was a terrible article with many inaccuracies.
If Space Nutters are informed about space and technology, how come they have so many deluded beliefs about space and technology?
If there's one place you should visit when you're in the UK, it's Bletchley Park.
Seeing the Colossus and their other rebuilt equipment in action is fabulous, and even better, some of the tour guides are the same guys who rebuilt these machines. More knowledgeable than that they don't come.
That's... a lot of mental energy to devote to people whom you disagree with, one might even say it's an obsession. That said, are you really so psyched to get up everyday and wear a t-shirt, or go hiking? Some of us would say your life is mundane, and quite boring, and that's leaving your "space nutters" at the door.
Because they're "Nutters"? The argument is hilarious to me as you paint the entirety of those who support more responsible exploration and experimentation in space using unmanned drones, and so forth, As opposed to flying people to this or that body as a PR stunt with the same brush as you paint those who believe we're just a hyper drive away from light saber fights with giant cat men. It's no more honest an argument than to accuse you and your ilk of being luddites or anti-intellectuals for not supporting these specific technologies.
The National Museum of Computing
See also one man bravely trying to restart a 1980's mainframe without letting all the magic smoke escape and many other death defying feats.
Watch this Heartland Institute video