My ICT 1301 restoration is now officially a working group of the Computer Conservation
Society. The Science Museum's Ferranti Pegasus and Elliott 401 have been shut down for
over 18 months and the Harwell Witch project has not returned the machine to a working
state yet. Though I don't believe its true, I was told my machine is currently the
oldest original working computer. Not counting replicas or machines which don't have
stored programs. My machine was installed in 1962 (and designed in the late 1950s).
I'm sure some of you know of earlier machines which can still run programs, even if
the peripherals don't all work. I would like to establish if mine is the oldest in the
UK, in Europe or whatever and where it stands in the world rankings, like is it in the top
ten? It looks like the IBM 1620 in the states is probably older but when was that
particular machine (rather than the type) first installed? The 1401 of course is another
candidate but I think the particular one being restored was first installed in 1964. Are
there other? I'm not counting the Zuse in Germany as its not a stored program machine,
and anyway I'm not sure if it is a replica or the original. It is surprising if it
survived the extensive bombing by the USAF and RAF during WW2 unless it was stored in a
bunker/cave/mine.
There is an older machine in Australia which was working but apparently it too is
currently has not run for some time. Many museums seem to be either afraid of damaging
their machine by powering them up or unwilling to pay the operating expenses (electricity,
paper, paper tape, punched cards etc). There are machines like the ICT1200/HEC in museums
here in the UK but no plans to restore them, and the very early machines were broken up
years ago and the CCS has been building replicas of several, including the Manchester
Baby.
Can anyone on the list help with details of working machine of the first and second
generation?