[HN Gopher] This G15 is the Oldest Running Digital Computer in A...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       This G15 is the Oldest Running Digital Computer in America [video]
        
       Author : hggh
       Score  : 74 points
       Date   : 2024-11-24 15:53 UTC (5 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.youtube.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.youtube.com)
        
       | 404mm wrote:
       | What kinds of programs were available for this machine? I'm
       | really curious what kind of complexity was it capable of running.
        
         | dillera wrote:
         | It's been said on previous YT videos - the system probally ran
         | civil engineering calculations for building bridges and roads.
         | They may have even been for work in Maryland (the state) where
         | the Bendix 'lives' - at the System Source Museum outside of
         | Baltimore MD. It's down in Texas to get fixed by Usagi.
        
           | forinti wrote:
           | I'm curious about the economics of this machine.
           | 
           | Wikipedia says it could be rented for $1485/mo, and the
           | average salary in 1956 was $3600 or $300/mo, so it would have
           | to replace 5 people (engineers must have earned more), if you
           | don't count the extra cost of software, power, and
           | maintenance.
           | 
           | I remember from a book on Richard Feynman that a classroom
           | full of bright students was about as fast as the computer the
           | Manhattan Project got, except, of course, the computer didn't
           | get tired.
        
             | tengwar2 wrote:
             | Not really a computer though - they didn't exist in the USA
             | at the time. If I remember correctly it was a series of IBM
             | calculating devices chained together.
        
       | oidar wrote:
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bendix_G-15 is the computer that
       | has been restored.
        
       | johnklos wrote:
       | His excitement is infectious. It's hard to not feel giddy at
       | seeing it finally run after all that hard work!
       | 
       | I can't wait to see the kinds of programs we can run on a machine
       | like that, along with discussions about tricks when writing
       | programs for serial memory computers :D
        
         | soneil wrote:
         | He's been plugging away at this machine for a year and a half -
         | the excitement is well-earned!
        
       | broswell wrote:
       | At System Source, we have a large collection of software (hard
       | copy, mag tape, paper of software for the Bendix. Many of the
       | manuals have been scanned by our wonderful volunteers
       | https://rbk.delosent.com/g15doc.html
        
         | bn-l wrote:
         | Is anyone immature enough to giggle when they hear the name of
         | the computer?
        
       | rootbear wrote:
       | I've been to the System Source Museum many times and it's well
       | worth the visit if you are in the area. The G15 is a fascinating
       | system, small and compact compared to the huge mainframe-sized
       | contemporaries of the era.
        
       | renw0rp wrote:
       | On the topic, the oldest original running computer[1] can be
       | found in the UK in the National Museum of Computing based in
       | Bletchley Park (where Alan Turing and many others worked breaking
       | German cryptography). The museum requires a separate ticket from
       | the "main" Bletchley Park museum. It's around 1h trip from London
       | Euston. Well worth a visit! Among other items, they have a
       | working "Bombe" replica
       | 
       | [1]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harwell_computer
        
         | cjs_ac wrote:
         | When I visited a couple of years ago, it was quietly clicking
         | away, computing prime numbers.
        
           | tengwar2 wrote:
           | Not sure if it's still the case, but when I visited, they
           | handed you a button to single-step through the program. You
           | actually get to operate it, at some level.
        
       | mongol wrote:
       | The oldest running computer anywhere is apparently in one of the
       | Voyager probes. Source: a video about troubleshooting one of them
       | that was posted on HN a while ago.
        
         | doormatt wrote:
         | They were only launched in 1977. I can guarantee you there are
         | 100's of computers that are older than 1977 that are still in
         | active use.
        
           | tengwar2 wrote:
           | Vastly more than hundreds. For instance I have an HP-65
           | (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-65), a programmable pocket
           | calculator from 1974. It's collectable, but not rare. It is
           | built with similar objectives: low power numerical
           | applications. Of course it has substantially less memory,
           | buit then it was substantially cheaper!
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2024-11-29 23:02 UTC)