Last Operating ICT 1301 Mainframe Computer Set To Run Again

Zothecula writes "What weighs 5.5 tons and has less computing power than your watch? A pioneering piece of computing history call 'Flossie,' the last operating ICT 1301 mainframe. The National Museum of Computing recently took delivery of the dismantled computer, which needed three moving vans to bring it to the museum's storage facility in Milton Keynes, UK. Rod Brown, custodian of Flossie for the past decade, said: 'Flossie has had an extraordinary life -- or more precisely four lives. After it was decommissioned at the University of London in about 1972, it was purchased at scrap metal prices by a group of students who ran an accounting bureau for about five years. They then advertised it in Amateur Computer Club Magazine and it was bought — again at scrap metal value. After languishing for a period in a barn in Kent, it was restored with the help of the Computer Conservation Society. Visitors could then come and see, smell, and feel the vibrations of a remarkable 1960's computer. Last year, Flossie was again at risk of being scrapped, but thanks to The National Museum of Computing the machine is safe again. The team and I are delighted with this news — especially because TNMOC has such an outstanding track record of restoring computers and maintaining them in full working order. We look forward to the day that it can go back on display.'"

So, does it run Linux?

[GodfatherofSoul]

n/t

Re:So, does it run Linux?

[bobthesungeek76036]

With 12KB of memory I would think it would have a wee bit of trouble loading the kernel...

Re:

[SuricouRaven]

Linux has been run on 64k micros. Getting it down to 12k would be fiddley, yes. Extensive parts would need to be rewritten. But... it might just be doable.

Re:

[clickclickdrone]

Strange as it might seem, the correct answer to every computing related question isn't always Linux.

Re:

[SuricouRaven]

You don't do something like that to be useful. You do it to see if you can.

Re:

[Joining Yet Again]

OK, let's find 5 lines from the Linux kernel and recompile them for this architecture.

Linux is not the pragmatic but lean&mean beast it once was. It suffers the same problem as every big project: a cadre of developers so intimately familiar with the system that adding bits here and there fits neatly into their already excellent understanding, while to newcomers it just raises the barrier to entry.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Like landing a few test pilots in rubber suits on the Moon. I agree. But after you do it, you don't keep thinking about it do you?

Re:

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Strange as it might seem, the correct answer to every computing related question isn't always Linux.

You can always use the Forth, Luke! (Especially on very small systems.)

Re:

[gl4ss]

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2012/03/30/linux-atmel-microcontrollers/1 [bit-tech.net]

well, yeah. it hasn't. since the port needs external memory module..

Re:So, does it run Linux?

[gb7djk]

It does not have "12KB" of ram. It has 2K of 48 bit words. Each word can contain 2 instructions. It is a decimal machine so each word can contain 12 digits. It also has (only) one accumulator (of 12 digits). Whilst this particular example has an indexing mechanism (actually a "pre-modify" instruction) which was added from a 1302, the standard way of indexing is by using "live code" i.e. doing arithmetic on the code on fly. The "2 instructions per word" structure actually makes this very easy to do. It was designed in the late 1950s and built in 1961. One can program it in machine code (very easy instruction set), an assembler, various obsolete specialist languages and, of course, COBOL. There is no C compiler. Flossie is very musical. She can play many tunes.

Re:

[K. S. Kyosuke]

"kb"? kilobits? If it's a word-adressing machine, it might not even have bytes in the first place!

Re:

[K. S. Kyosuke]

The point is that "byte" is what the architecture defines it to be, and some architectures don't have bytes at all.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[gl4ss]

"Flossie will remain in storage against a time in the near future when, space permitting, the mainframe computer will be reassembled and set to running again."

it doesn't run at all currently.

Re:

[Christian Smith]

It doesn't even run binary arithmatic. The whole thing works in decimal units (using a 4 bit ALU) and does pounds/shilling/pence in hardware. Hence why it was originally retired in 1972 (when the UK currency went decimal) I guess.

Re:

[Anne Thwacks]

Why would you want to run Linux on an ICL mainframe. The real question is "Will it run George 2?" (or, for those who like GUIs, Maximop? (Minimop if you live in East London).

Re:

[Eunuchswear]

Lawn? I used an ICL 1903T. The 2904 was the wrong colour.

Re:

[Eunuchswear]

No, It won't run George (1, 2, 3 or 4) as it isn't an 1900.

(A Rasbery PI can run George 3 though).

And Maximop is a CLI based system, not GUI.

Re:

[gb7djk]

George 2 ???? George 3 for me! That's what Galdor moved onto after Flossie left and we moved on ICL 1905Fs.

Re:

[Hillgiant]

Of course it runs netBSD.

Less computing power than my watch?

[lxs]

I doubt it. My watch has only a crystal oscillator with a fixed frequency divider in it.

Re:

[troon]

I'm wearing a 1956 manual wind Longines. I'm pretty sure it cannot "compute" anything.

Re:Less computing power than my watch?

[VortexCortex]

It can surely increment a counter...

Re:

[lxs]

How do you set the time?

I turn a wheel on the side. That slowed down clock pulse ends up in a solenoid which drives the hands through a mechanical gear train like in a spring driven watch.I suspect that there's a friction coupling involved somewhere.

Re:

[intermodal]

Mine is fully mechanical...but it's Russian so it only works right in cold weather. I live in Texas.

Re:

[operagost]

Well, I'm sure someone here has a Galaxy Gear.

Get a room

[wonkey_monkey]

come and see, smell, and feel the vibrations

Sure, when it's a computer it's okay, but try that with the exercise bikes in the women's gym and suddenly you're branded a pervert.

Re:

[Joining Yet Again]

"Perversion", like "envy", describes something which may in fact be positive, neutral or negative, but which thanks to hypocritical puritanism nearly always comes with negative connotations. Their original words were respectively tied up in, "Don't stray from the Official (Church) message, heathen!" (do not be perverse) and, "Don't complain about your lot - God will reward your suffering after death!" (do not be envious)

We have the same two messages even in more secular society, respectively as: do not ques

Re:

[VortexCortex]

That's because the first word there is premature... Put it after the last one, and we're in business.

Re:

[K. S. Kyosuke]

try that with the exercise bikes in the women's gym and suddenly you're branded a pervert.

And you wonder why? Watching 5.5 tons work an exercise bike? That just screams "pervert". (Or "bizarre fetishist" at the least.)

proper answer

[Gravis Zero]

What weighs 5.5 tons and has less computing power than your watch?

your mom.

Re:

[hochl]

Clearly the answer must be "most women from North America" ;)

Re:

[Lisandro]

Give this man his prize. You know he earned it.

Milton Keynes, eh?

[Michael Casavant]

Is this how the FIA is going to limit Red Bull Racing next year? "The only computer you can use is this one" (Adrian Newey will still make it work)

(clears throat)

[CohibaVancouver]

Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these!