Vintage Computers Are Cool!

Photos from my recent trips to Manchester’s Science and Industry Museum and Cambridge’s Centre for Computing History and Computer Laboratory.

Published

I’ve been captivated by the historical computers showcased in John Alderman’s Core Memory, Gordon Laing’s Digital Retro, and Jens Müller’s The Computer. Notably, The Computer features the work of James Ball, or Docubyte. His Guide to Computing1 and I am a Computer2 are both really quite marvelous.

Left wanting to see some of these for myself, I’ve recently been to Manchester’s Science and Industry Museum and Cambridge’s Centre for Computing History and Computer Laboratory. I’m yet to go to Bletchey Park’s National Museum of Computing or Mountain View’s Computer History Museum, but would like to. I hope to go to the former soon but the latter may have to wait, being some 5,000 miles away.

Below are my favourite photos I took through these trips:

Manchester Baby Manchester Baby Manchester Baby
Manchester Baby, 1948
Science and Industry Museum, Manchester
Magnetic Core Memory
Magnetic Core Memory, 1955
Computer Laboratory, Cambridge
Edsac 2
EDSAC 2, 1958
Centre for Computing History, Cambridge
Leo 3
LEO III, 1961
Centre for Computing History, Cambridge
Titan
Titan, 1963
Computer Laboratory, Cambridge
Ferranti FM1600 B
Ferranti FM1600 B, 1965
Centre for Computing History, Cambridge
Elliot 903
Elliot 903, 1965
Centre for Computing History, Cambridge
GEC 4100
GEC 4100, 1973
Centre for Computing History, Cambridge
PDP-11/35
PDP-11/35, 1973
Centre for Computing History, Cambridge
Cambridge Ring Cambridge Ring Cambridge Ring
Cambridge Ring, 1974
Computer Laboratory, Cambridge
APPLE-1
APPLE-1, 1976
Centre for Computing History, Cambridge
HP 3350 Laboratory Automation System HP 3350 Laboratory Automation System
HP 3350 Laboratory Automation System, 1981
Centre for Computing History, Cambridge
BBC Micro
BBC Micro, 1981
Centre for Computing History, Cambridge
IBM Personal Computer AT
IBM Personal Computer AT, 1984
Centre for Computing History, Cambridge
Apple Macintosh
Apple Macintosh, 1984
Centre for Computing History, Cambridge
One Per Desk
One Per Desk, 1985
Science and Industry Museum, Manchester
IBM RS/6000 SP
IBM RS/6000 SP, 1990
Centre for Computing History, Cambridge
Megaprocessor Megaprocessor Megaprocessor
Megaprocessor, 2016
Centre for Computing History, Cambridge