[jaws-uk] Re: Collossus at Bletchly Park
- From: "Brian Lingard" <b.lingard@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <jaws-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2007 10:15:22 -0500
Ottawa Canada
One reason why Colossus was so big was it used vacuum tubes and
relays. In terms of computing power, probably a modern pocket
calculator would run rings around it.
But in its time, it was a marvel of engineering.
I attended a lecture about it by one of the men who had worked on
the project at York University. He had asked to be released from
his oath under the Official Secrets Act in 1976 I think it was,
and the Prime Minister at that time had advised him that certain
of the secrets about Colossus were still of military importance
and he could not divulge them.
Seems Colossus was extremely advanced for its time!
Perhaps this is why British computer firms were selling mainframe
computers with virtual memory and other features IBM only started
offering in the late 1970's!
Brian
Brian K. Lingard
email: b.lingard@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Skype: ve3yiab2ji15
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