John Kavanagh looks at the work of the BCS Computer Conservation
Society
The UK's early and pioneering contributions to world computing are
being kept alive not by government grants or National Lottery
hand-outs but by a small band of volunteers who give up much of
their time to get historic machines back into live operation and
public display.
The BCS Computer Conservation Society has largely been
responsible for rebuilding the code-breaking Colossus from the
Second World War. The machine, now on display at Bletchley Park,
was put together mainly from a few preserved rough drawings and
people's memories, because the machine was so secret that all
records were destroyed after the war.
The first computer to run a program stored in its own memory,
developed at Manchester University in 1948, was also rebuilt from
notebooks, photographs and personal recollections. This machine is
now at Manchester Museum of Science and Industry.
A Ferranti Pegasus computer, which is due to go on display at
London's Science Museum in November as a working exhibit, has been
rebuilt by society members - who will also take turns to run the
computer and explain it to visitors.
The Ace computer, based on the designs of Alan Turing, a
mathematician and early advanced thinker about computing, will be
part of the Making of the Modern World exhibition at the Science
Museum.
Work is continuing on the Bombe, an early decoding machine at
Bletchley Park.
"Britain has a lot to be proud of from that early period," says
Brian Oakley, who has just completed a spell as chairman of the
Computer Conservation Society.
"It is really important to show young people and other visitors
that Britain played a major part in the development of computing.
It is also important to preserve the heritage of the machines, if
only via emulators."
The society is now also turning its attention to old
software.
"There is a very distinguished British history in operating
systems in particular," Oakley says. "Paging, virtual memory and
other concepts were developed here."
Most of the work is done with no formal funding, although the
Bombe project - expected to cost £250,000 - has found industry
support, especially from Nortel, which also has got its retired
staff club to give practical help.
Oakley also pays tribute to the Science Museum, which provides
premises for some of the work, and encouragement through Doron
Swade, who is responsible for all the museum's collections.
But his greatest tribute is reserved for the volunteers, "We are
absolutely dependent on members," he says.
- Membership of the Computer Conservation Society is free. The
society publishes a quarterly newsletter and holds regular free
meetings in London and Manchester. The secretary is Hamish
Carmichael.