18 Nov
2012
18 Nov
'12
11:43 a.m.
On 18 November 2012 19:14, Ed Spittles <ed.spittles at gmail.com> wrote:
On 16/11/2012 08:13, ben wrote:
Fantastic! I got in touch with Hector Parr, and he directed me to a
memoir he's written, and I now have a story: One Alan Wilkinson wrote
the book 'Computer Models' (a copy is now on its way to me) which is
most likely inspired by Brian Crank's article series. Alan was
teaching at Spennymoor Grammar School, and Hector was teaching at the
nearby Darlington Grammar School. Hector read Alan's book and
proceeded to get the Maths department and pupils to finance and build
a machine called DENICE, designed from scratch but with inspiration
On 11/16/2012 12:50 AM, Ed Spittles wrote:
How come this was never posted when you still could get germanium
transistors. :)
Ben.
There was a dire shortage of the very rare round tuits during that
period of my life, plus no access to a decent scanner. I actually wrote
my first program when I was 17 or 18 years old ( so 1971/2) on a
germanium transistor computer that had been built by my school derived
from the wireless world design. I was taught by the school Music
Teacher Hector Parr (http://www.hectorparr.freeuk.com/) who learnt to
program so he could calculate tables of Organ Pipe lengths to assist in
re-building the School pipe organ.
Dave Wade G4UGM
[conversation about Wireless World articles - a digital computer
built from reject germanium transistors]
Aha: here's an online version of a pamphlet reprinting that article
series, which gives credit to Brian Crank:
http://www.smrcc.org.uk/members/g4ugm/Manuals/wirelessworldcomputer.pdf
from the book.
Alan moved on to Teesside Polytechnic where he looked after an IBM
1620, which was made available to schoolchildren.
Hector later taught at Barnard Castle School, where he was
photographed in 1978 with a different computer:
http://ww2.durham.gov.uk/dre/pgDre.aspx?ID=DRE10345&PIC=Y
His memoir can be bought at
http://www.lulu.com/shop/hector-c-parr/music-maths-and-machines/paperback/p…
- there's a copy of this too on its way to me.
I now discover that Alan's book has been referenced at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor_computer#cite_note-15
since Nov 2010.
(As for the reported cost of ?50 in the late 60's, I'm told a weekly
shop for a couple would be ?2 and a pint of rough cider would be 1/9d
(that is, 21 old pence, which were 240 to the pound.) According to
http://safalra.com/other/historical-uk-inflation-price-conversion/,
the project would cost ?750 today, although those anecdotal prices
suggest rather more.)
I wrote up some notes on the WW machine here:
http://forum.6502.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2333
Cheers
Ed
18 Nov
18 Nov
2:18 p.m.
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org
[mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Ed Spittles
Sent: 18 November 2012 19:43
To: cctalk at classiccmp.org; cctech at classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: discrete transistor computer
On 18 November 2012 19:14, Ed Spittles <ed.spittles at gmail.com> wrote:
There was a dire shortage of the very rare round tuits during that
period of my life, plus no access to a decent scanner. I actually
wrote my first program when I was 17 or 18 years old ( so 1971/2) on a
Hector has also been helpful when I spoke to him, but sadly he had no cards
or listing from the 1620 days...
On 16/11/2012 08:13, ben wrote:
> On 11/16/2012 12:50 AM, Ed Spittles wrote:
>>> [conversation about Wireless World articles - a digital computer
>>> built from reject germanium transistors]
>>
>> Aha: here's an online version of a pamphlet reprinting
that article
>> series, which gives credit to Brian
Crank:
>>
http://www.smrcc.org.uk/members/g4ugm/Manuals/wirelessworldcomputer.
pdf
How come this was never posted when you still could get germanium
transistors. :) Ben.
germanium transistor computer that had been built
by my
school derived
from the wireless world design. I was taught by
the school Music
Teacher Hector Parr (http://www.hectorparr.freeuk.com/) who
learnt to
program so he could calculate tables of Organ
Pipe lengths
to assist
in re-building the School pipe organ.
Dave Wade G4UGM
Fantastic! I got in touch with Hector Parr, and he directed
me to a memoir he's written, and I now have a story: One Alan
Wilkinson wrote the book 'Computer Models' (a copy is now on
its way to me) which is most likely inspired by Brian Crank's
article series. Alan was teaching at Spennymoor Grammar
School, and Hector was teaching at the nearby Darlington
Grammar School.
This is now the 6th form college, and was where I met Hector
Hector read Alan's book and proceeded to get
the Maths department and pupils to finance and build a
machine called DENICE, designed from scratch but with
inspiration from the book.
Alan moved on to Teesside Polytechnic where he looked after
an IBM 1620, which was made available to schoolchildren.
This is the one I used
Hector later taught at Barnard Castle School, where he
was
photographed in 1978 with a different computer:
http://ww2.durham.gov.uk/dre/pgDre.aspx?ID=DRE10345&PIC=Y
His memoir can be bought at
http://www.lulu.com/shop/hector-c-parr/music-maths-and-machines/paperback/pr
oduct-1021349.html
- there's a copy of this too on its way to me.
I now discover that Alan's book has been referenced at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor_computer#cite_note-15
since Nov 2010.
(As for the reported cost of ?50 in the late 60's, I'm told a weekly shop
for a couple would be ?2 and a pint of rough > > cider would be 1/9d (that
is, 21 old pence, which were 240 to the pound.) According to
http://safalra.com/other/historical-uk-inflation-price-conversion/,
the project would cost ?750 today, although those anecdotal prices suggest
rather
more.)
I think ?750 is probably about right, but comparisions are difficult as
prices havn't increased uniformly. My dad earned around ?22 a week. In my
first part time job at this time I earned 10/- (50p or ?0.50 in current
money) for 4 hours work at our local Woolworths. I seem to recall paying
?25.00 for a second hand motor bike around that time. I also remember
getting over time for swapping out around 100 tills that did the old style
?:s:D for new ones that did ?/P one Saturday night
I wrote up some notes on the WW machine here:
http://forum.6502.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2333
Cheers
Ed
If you find any mreo info about Denice I would be really interested...
Dave Wade G4UGM
Illegitimi Non Carborundum
4:52 p.m.
On 18 November 2012 19:14, Ed Spittles <ed.spittles at gmail.com> wrote:
Hector later taught at Barnard Castle School, where he
was
photographed in
1978 with a different computer:
http://ww2.durham.gov.uk/dre/pgDre.aspx?ID=DRE10345&PIC=Y
His memoir can be bought at
The "computer" in the photo is appears not to be a computer, but a
terminal.
It appears to be a Southwest Technical Products CT-64 terminal.
See:
http://www.swtpc.com/mholley/CT_64/CT_64.htm
This device was probably connected either to some form of microcomputer
(e.g., Altair, IMSAI, etc.), or potentially some home-built machine, or
was connected via modem to a remote timesharing service, as was common
in schools during the timeframe.
Rick Bensene
5:16 p.m.
On 2012 Nov 18, at 4:52 PM, Rick Bensene wrote:
On 18 November 2012 19:14, Ed Spittles <ed.spittles
at gmail.com> wrote:
In addition to the CT-64, on the left of the photo, you can just see
the corner of what appears to be a SWTP AC-30 cassette interface
(http://www.swtpc.com/mholley/AC30/AC30_Index.htm). This was
typically used with the SWTP 6800, it's quite possible or likely the
computer behind it all is a SWTP 6800.
Hector later taught at Barnard Castle School,
where he was
photographed in
1978 with a different computer:
http://ww2.durham.gov.uk/dre/pgDre.aspx?ID=DRE10345&PIC=Y
His memoir can be bought at
The "computer" in the photo is appears not to be a computer, but a
terminal.
It appears to be a Southwest Technical Products CT-64 terminal.
See:
http://www.swtpc.com/mholley/CT_64/CT_64.htm
This device was probably connected either to some form of
microcomputer
(e.g., Altair, IMSAI, etc.), or potentially some home-built
machine, or
was connected via modem to a remote timesharing service, as was common
in schools during the timeframe.
29 Nov
29 Nov
12:47 p.m.
Quick update:
On 18 November 2012 19:43, Ed Spittles <ed.spittles at gmail.com> wrote:
Fantastic! I got in touch with Hector Parr, and he
directed me to a
memoir he's written, and I now have a story: One Alan Wilkinson wrote
the book 'Computer Models' (a copy is now on its way to me) which is
most likely inspired by Brian Crank's article series.
I now think Alan started the whole thing, as his book was preceded by
articles in the magazine of the Association of Teachers of
Mathematics. His work would have inspired both Brian and Hector. Note
that Alan's book describes only a model - more or less an ALU -
whereas the others actually built computers.
Alan was
teaching at Spennymoor Grammar School, and Hector was teaching at the
nearby Darlington Grammar School. Hector read Alan's book and
proceeded to get the Maths department and pupils to finance and build
a machine called DENICE, designed from scratch but with inspiration
from the book.
Alan moved on to Teesside Polytechnic where he looked after an IBM
1620, which was made available to schoolchildren.
Hector later taught at Barnard Castle School
Where he again built a machine, this time called BRENDA (Barnardian
Electronic Numerical Demonstration Apparatus) - there are a couple of
Usenet posts by John Gilliver which tell us more about this.
I wrote up some notes on the WW machine here:
http://forum.6502.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2333
Updated.
Cheers
Ed
4 Dec
4 Dec
2:44 a.m.
Another quick update:
On 29 November 2012 20:47, Ed Spittles <ed.spittles at gmail.com> wrote:
And again.
Cheers
Ed
On 18 November 2012 19:43, Ed Spittles <ed.spittles
at gmail.com> wrote:
Hector has allowed me to distribute his BRENDA simulator (runs on
Windows and in WINE on Linux) - see
http://forum.6502.org/viewtopic.php?p=23070#p23070 - together with a
photo of the machine. There's a demonstration program included, and
another program described in the notes.
I have virus-checked the simulator, but as always run at your own risk.
Alan was
teaching at Spennymoor Grammar School, and Hector was teaching at the
nearby Darlington Grammar School. Hector read Alan's book and
proceeded to get the Maths department and pupils to finance and build
a machine called DENICE, designed from scratch but with inspiration
from the book.
Hector later taught at Barnard Castle School
Where he again built a machine, this time called BRENDA (Barnardian
Electronic Numerical Demonstration Apparatus) I wrote up
some notes on the WW machine here:
http://forum.6502.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2333
Updated.
4401
days inactive
4417
days old
5 comments
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participants (4)
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dave.g4ugm＠gmail.com -
ed.spittles＠gmail.com -
hilpert＠cs.ubc.ca -
rickb＠bensene.com