Ferranti? Re: Modern Electronics (was Re: List charter mods & headcount... ; -))

[post reordered] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joe R." <rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> Sent: Sunday, June 20, 2004 6:51 AM Subject: Ferranti? Re: Modern Electronics (was Re: List charter mods & headcount... ; -)) the At 19:28 20/06/2004, ed sharpe wrote: They did. As an apprentice, I used to work for Ferranti Computer Systems, Cheadle-Heath Division. The computer systems were used in various applications, including the central control computers for various Police and Fire authorities (I actually had my hands inside North Yorkshire Police computer in Bradford once. Apparently it had an adventure game on it too, the operators could swap into when they were otherwise idle.) They did a lot of military stuff too. I was particularly impressed by one simulator system for subs - it created a picture of ships and stuff on the ocean, as you would see looking up the periscope. Very realistic graphics - certainly very impressive in 1983 or thereabouts. (though a gamecube would blow it away these days!) Not counting a scrolling LED sign I made myself as a project, my sole surviving Ferranti computer relic from those days is a badge from a cabinet (found new unused, and applied to a disc storage box) marked "Ferranti EWTS". I think it is Early Warning Tracking[or maybe Training] System. I think my ex-wife has thrown out the "Ministry of Aviation" serialised filing cabinet I also had until a few years ago when we parted company.. I left at the end of my apprenticeship to join Micronet in London, at the start of the on-line revolution. Ferranti's demise came a few years later, I believe, when they paid over the odds to acquire some US based company, only to discover it was an empty shell... Banks then pulled the plug. I'm sure there will be articles about it on the web somewhere.. Rob