[NJARC] PC 1, Collosus 0

[amagoun]

I had an opportunity to see the Colossus or part thereof fired up during
an IEEE conference at Bletchley Park in 2004 for the IEEE Milestone
there.  There were a lot of valves glowing, but only 400 or so as I
recall out of the 1,500 used in the original machine.  Perhaps they
finished the reconstruction since then.  Any of you would have
appreciated what they were all doing, but I was fascinated by the
photocell reading the punch tape that ran a lot faster than a 35mm film
projector.  I should also note that BP and its pride and joy are
operated by a lot of mostly men like yourselves, on a similar budget,
scrabbling for some corporate and private contributions and relying on
volunteer labor/labour.

You can explore BP and its machines at the following sites:
www.bletchleypark.org.uk/, whose history page is buried a bit.

This site embellishes on that material pretty effectively:
www.lightstraw.co.uk/bletchley/mansion1.html

If you'd like to send Enigma-encrypted messages to keep the Federal
Government from snooping on your messages, use the virtual Enigma
machine here:
www.bletchleycovers.com/Virtual_enigma/Enigma_Machine_Applet.htm#

If you'd like to crack the Enigma messages of your fellow NJARC members,
go to the incredible Tony Sale's virtual Colossus page here:
www.codesandciphers.org.uk/colosmk2/cevent.htm

The rest of Tony's site is simply a tour de force of information and
explication of British code-breaking in proper British fashion, with
lots more DIY options, and not to be missed by Americentric computer
buffs: www.codesandciphers.org.uk/index.htm

cheers,

Alex

--
Alexander B. Magoun, Ph.D.
Executive Director
David Sarnoff Library
201 Washington Road
Princeton NJ 08540-6449

609-734-2636
amagoun at davidsarnoff.org
(f) 609-734-2339
www.davidsarnoff.org
www.davidsarnoff.blogspot.com