InSync News desk

ummer Bytes is upon us. From TNMOC’s You Tube channel is 26th July to 2nd September, expanding with some fascinating Featured Machine S the whole Museum is open videos. Recent additions include every day from 11am to 5pm with two videos of TNMOC volunteers. digital fun and games for all the Machine People was made by a family. See page 16 for more details group from Queen Mary University and keep up-to-date on the web at of and a video on two www.tnmoc.org/bytes EDSAC volunteers has been made by David Allen. Summer Bytes is being supported by Bloomberg and there will be There are now 13 videos tracing some fascinating special events the development of the EDSAC including a retro games weekend, project. The latest one gives a creating your own special effects great overview of progress by and a look back at effects pre-GCI Andrew Herbert and a first switch- with Mat Irvine of Blake’s 7 props on event is planned for the autumn. fame. At the beginning of September, The TNMOC shop has been watch out for an announcement of refurbished and is beginning to stock sponsorship from Ocado lots of new merchandise. An Technology to introduce youngsters example of the new items will be a to coding. reproduction of the Colossus infographic that appeared in The We welcome your suggestions Times earlier this year. and comments. Contact us via After the highly successful Colossus [email protected] Robinson at 70 event in February and the May or via regular post to: There’s a new project at TNMOC: to BBC TV One Show programme on recreate the Robinson. the Colossus veterans, more InSync Editor Colossus veterans and relatives Robinson was an early attempt to have made contact with the The National Museum of mechanise code-breaking and pre- Museum. We plan another reunion Computing dated Colossus. It wasn’t entirely event for September. satisfactory because it broke down a Block H lot, so the team has the odd task of The Winter Lecture Series is taking reconstructing a machine that doesn’t work that well! shape and places for some of the Milton Keynes lectures are about to go on sale — Progress can be seen in the Tunny see p10 and the website for details. MK3 6EB gallery.

Connecting with the Museum of Computing Keep up to date with the latest information from the museum by visiting our various social media and website presences. The handy QR codes below will connect you to our website, Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, Flickr and YouTube sources. If you are reading this newsletter on a or tablet device, the you can tap on the QR codes below or if you are reading a printed version, then you can scan these codes with a QR reader on a smart phone or tablet device. TNMOC also has an iPhone navigator app that is a great introduction to the experiences in store if you visit the museum. More details can be found later in this edition of inSync. QR scanners are readily available from your app store (iTunes, Google Play, Windows phone stores). Just search for and install a free QR code reader and start using these handy codes:

TNMOC newsletter 2 Q2 2014 n 4th June 2014, a Memorial Service for Capt Jerry O Roberts MBE was held in St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square, London. The achievements of Captain Raymond "Jerry" Roberts MBE, code breaker in the were recalled in a touching Memorial Service led by the Reverend Katherine Hedderly. Professor Susanne Kord, Lord Charles Brockett (pictured above)and Sir rofessor Brian Randell, who John Scarlett spoke of Jerry's work and achievements through a long life brought news of Colossus to that passed from linguist, code breaker, war crimes investigator, market P public view in 1975, visited research entrepreneur and culminated in his tireless campaign to ensure China recently to talk about that the code breakers of Bletchley Park would be remembered by future uncovering Colossus. Visiting generations. Beihang University in Beijing with his wife Liz, he faced a Colossal Jerry's fondness of classical music was reflected in the Choir's singing of surprise. We do hope the poster Mozart's Laudate Dominium and Brahm's Geistliches Lied. didn’t confuse Lorenz with Enigma! Jerry's grandsons, Ben and Sammy Sarfas, performed a remarkable jazz- Professor Randell's talks were very influenced version of We'll Meet Again to a backdrop of a photo montage of well received, although he did face a Jerry's life compiled by his loving wife Mei. rather unusual first question which was actually more of a statement of After a reading from Dora Roberts, a tribute and reading by Jerry and Mei's incredulity: "You wrote to the Prime daughter Chao and closing music of Ode by Brad Mehldau played by Ben Minister!?", exclaimed a Chinese Safras on violin accompanied by Mark Edwards on piano, the congregation student who couldn't begin to retired to the Crypt to reflect on and celebrate the long and hugely imagine writing to the present productive and influential life of Captain Raymond "Jerry" Roberts MBE. Chinese equivalent, Li Keqiang, the Anyone wishing to contribute to a planned annual code Premier of the People's Republic of breaking workshop at his old school Latymer Upper School may do so China. Professor Randell wrote to online at http://www.latymer-upper.org/jerryroberts. UK Prime Minister Edward Heath in 1973 seeking permission to reveal We at The National Museum of Computing will greatly miss Jerry's the existence of Colossus. The recounting of his code breaking days and his determination to ensure that request was refused, but two year's the story of the breaking of Lorenz, Hitler's vital secret cipher, is properly later was granted via another route. told. He has been an irreplaceable key source of knowledge for the displays in the Tunny and Colossus Galleries. The existence of Colossus was unknown to the audience but the TNMOC's tribute to Captain Roberts can be found on its website at http:// TNMOC may now see an influx of www.tnmoc.org/news/news-releases/capt-raymond-jerry-roberts-mbe-1920- Chinese visitors. 2014 with a series of video clips of Jerry recalling various code breaking activities. Professor Randell's talk can be seen on You Tube: http:// Leaving Trafalgar Square, some of us wondered if Jerry's vision of a statue www.youtube.com/watch? of Bill Tutte on the Fourth Plinth would ever come to fruition. It should!. v=Yl6pK1Z7B5Q#t=2593.

he spectacular Bletchley Park Maze which disappeared at the beginning of World War II has been recreated digitally for visitors to T explore at The National Museum of Computing on Bletchley Park over the Easter Bytes event. Children of all ages enjoyed activities such as searching for Easter eggs in the maze, building LEGO EV3 Mindstorms robots, using the SketchBot sand table robot to draw their face in the sand, create computer music, see a demonstration of 3D printing by BlackCountryAtelier and got to use the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. The event returns as Summer Bytes over the Summer holiday (see back page) for more details.

TNMOC newsletter Q2 2014 3 n the weekend of 14th-15th June, TNMOC took part for the first time in the International red Harris and David Allen (pictured above, photo O Museums On the Air Weekend and made courtesy Ian Pare) visited TNMOC in June to recall contact with museums in the UK and abroad. F their time on the BBC TV ground-breaking computer literacy programmes of the 1980s. Members of the Milton Keynes Amateur Radio Society set up a radio station in the TNMOC meeting room and David was the producer of the full series of programmes erected a temporary aerial above the museum building and Fred was the presenter on . Their combined chemistry on the day showed exactly why the The station used the unique call sign GB2NMC (Golf series proved so popular. Bravo 2 National Museum of Computing) We learned a few secrets of the programme including Over the weekend over 200 stations were contacted, the barely controlled panic that was going on off Sunday being the busiest day. From our initial call at microphone when Micro Live s email was being hacked about 10am Sunday morning a very large number of during a live programme. stations were trying to contact us, amongst them one at the Museum of Flight, North Weald Airfield and a Secret We also saw the emergency prop that Fred would keep Nuclear Bunker! below his seat in case they had to come up with an item to fill a space on the live programme. It was a 5.25” Contact was also made with many French, Belgium and floppy disc with a special tool to enable it to be used on Dutch radio amateurs. Berne, Switzerland was the most both sides. distant contact. David Allen’s talk for the TNMOC Winter Lecture series International Museums on The Air is an annual event is available on the TNMOC channel on You Tube: and has been running since 2002 for more information www.youtube.com/user/tnmoc. see www.radio-amateur-events.org/IMW/.

he TNMOC Video Running time Number of views channel on TYou Tube has Harwell Dekatron / WITCH Reboot 00:50:00 1,024,854 several videos tnmoc.org available for free viewing. The table lists the top EDSAC Re-creation Overview 00:07:10 22,959 five most viewed videos:

All videos can be PDP8 - Presentation #1 00:02:44 21,974 accessed at: http:// The reboot of the Harwell Dekatron / www.youtube.com/ WITCH computer, the world's oldest 00:21:07 16,297 user/tnmoc/videos working computer

Uncovering Colossus - Prof Brian 01:03:22 9,193 Randell

TNMOC newsletter 4 Q2 2014 Rediscovered EDSAC diagrams

giving us some fascinating insights about how EDSAC was built and show that we are very much in tune with the original engineers: both teams have been exercised by the same concerns! "Importantly, the drawings clearly show that the aim of EDSAC's designer, Sir , was to produce a working machine quickly rather than to create a more refined machine that would take longer to build. The refinements could come later -- and many did as the sequence of diagrams over the five- year period shows." Elements that were modified even Chris Burton, John Loker and Andrew Herbert with one of the after the machine was up and diagrams running in May 1949 include redesigning the circuitry to obtain stronger signals and improvements ome of the earliest diagrams of and are in remarkably good to the instruction set and error a computer have been condition. correction so that programming S rediscovered more than sixty errors could be distinguished from The diagrams form an important years after they were drawn and are machine malfunction. giving the EDSAC team at The extra source of information for National Museum of Computing today's EDSAC team which has The most significant discrepancy fresh insights into their ongoing been reconstructing the computer between the original and the reconstruction of one of the world's using incomplete evidence. The reconstruction that the papers reveal first general purpose . documents confirm that the team is in the "initial orders" (boot ROM in has been correct in most of its re- modern terminology). In the absence EDSAC, the Electronic Delay engineering assumptions, but the of fuller information, today's Storage Automatic Calculator, was drawings have thrown up a few reconstruction team had considered originally built in the University of surprises. and rejected one possibility which Cambridge immediately after World was in fact the one that was used by John Loker, who has brought the War II. It was the first practical the original engineers. That will now diagrams to light, explained how he general purpose computer and be rectified in the reconstruction. transformed research possibilities came across them: "I started work for many academics and even as an engineer in the Maths Lab in Herbert concluded: "Very few helped three in their Nobel-prize 1959 just after EDSAC had been artefacts of EDSAC remain. winning work. The EDSAC design decommissioned. In a corridor However these papers give a clue was later developed to create LEO, there was a lot of stuff piled up as to why a few such as a chassis the world's first business computer. ready to be thrown away, but do exist. We think that the existing amongst it I spotted a roll of circuit artefacts were discards from a very The 19 very detailed circuit diagrams for EDSAC. I'm a early version of the machine!" diagrams that have just been collector, so I couldn't resist the rediscovered have been given to the urge to rescue them. It wasn't until I The reconstruction of EDSAC is due EDSAC team by a former engineer visited TNMOC recently and for completion late in 2015 and can in the learned about the EDSAC Project already be seen as a work in Mathematical Laboratory. Many of that I remembered I had the progress by visitors to The National the diagrams, which date from diagrams at home, so I retrieved Museum of Computing. between 1949 and 1953, were them and gave them to the EDSAC was based on the ideas of drawn after EDSAC had been Project." and others constructed, probably as some sort who in 1945 suggested that the of aid in refining the original machine Andrew Herbert, leader of the future of computing lay in and in designing the next. They EDSAC Project, said: "Thankfully, computers which could store sets seem to have been part of a much the documents confirm that the of instructions (programs) as well larger set numbering at least 150 reconstruction we are building is basically correct, but they are as data in a memory. TNMOC newsletter Q2 2014 5 Pilossus

Modern recreation of a well- known wartime photo of WRENS working the Colossus. Photo courtesy of David Sims.

spark, the world changed forever. All the operations of Bletchley Park were protected by the highest level secrecy laws the Government could impose. It wasn’t until 1975 that the first details of this incredible machine came to light. Not long after that, a technical engineer turned museum curator, , decided to rebuild one of these machines at its spiritual home of Block H, Bletchley Park. (Ok, ok, the true home of the original Colossus is Block F. However, it was demolished in the 1980s and some of the later Colossi were based in H, so that would do nicely.) eventy years ago, there was a breakers, Brigadier , computer. Well, certainly one had already figured a way to break The Mark II Colossus (the 2,500 S amazing machine. You see, Lorenz and Bill Tutte had reverse- valve version) was operational by computers back them were people engineered the machine so BP 2007. Tony wanted to show the and that wouldn’t do for a collection could build their own version of world that Bletchley Park could still of wires, valves and relays. So, they Lorenz known as ‘Tunny’. However, break codes and so the ‘Colossal called it an analytical engine, each message would take weeks Cypher Challenge’ was born. The dropped it in the middle of Bletchley on end to break by hand, providing last known fully operational Lorenz Park and pressed the On switch. no mistakes were made. machine was taken over to Paderborn, Germany, and used to You see, after several months of An initial attempt to hasten this encrypt a message. That message soldering, welding and electrocuting process was dreamed up by Max was then transmitted over short- apprentices, the fine men of the Newman and his team (the wave radio using the same protocols General Post Office’s research ). The resulting collection used in 1944 (and still today!). The department at had built a of relays, spools and wires quickly National Museum of Computing machine its creator called ‘Colossus’. gained the nickname ‘Heath eventually received a successful was head of Robinson’ due to the enormous transmission at around 3pm due to ‘switching’ for the GPO, the complexity of its construction. unusual weather conditions, and a organisation that was also Although they did speed the code- few hours later, to everyone’s responsible for the UK’s telephone breaking process up considerably delight, the decrypted, plain-text network at the time and had come up (but still measured in weeks), the message was sent back to with a remarkable idea to help the Robinsons did have the nasty habit Germany. equally fine people of Bletchley Park. of catching fire. The competition was open to Tommy was approached with a Tommy’s solution was a revelation. anyone. Joachim Schueth, an secret need: to perform a given Colossus employed 1,500 values enterprising young German student mathematical algorithm across (and soon after 2,500 values) to run resident in Bonn, successfully millions of permutations as quickly as the crucial algorithm as quickly as received the transmission and possible. Then performed by hand, it possible. Decrypts once measured recorded it. This was them played was taking six to eight weeks to in weeks soon took only a few back to his laptop on which he had complete a single ‘run’. It’s safe to hours and the cluster of ten Colossi written custom software to attack the assume that Tommy was not told the at Bletchley Park helped break Lorenz cypher. The result? A real purpose of this: to break the thousands of high-level Nazi complete and correct answer in just German ‘Lorenz’ encryption system messages from 1944 onwards. 46 seconds! used by the high-command on their What was then a clever teleprinter radio network. mathematical machine is now Let’s look at that again. To break recognised as the world’s first Lorenz by hand, six to eight weeks. One of the brightest Bletchley code- electronic computer. From this With a Heath Robinson that wasn’t TNMOC newsletter 6 Q2 2014 on fire, maybe a few weeks. Colossus could help you get part of the answer in a few hours, but a 2007 laptop did the equivalent job in 46 seconds. I had to know how that would play today. In 2013, the Raspberry Pi appeared. If you’ve not met this little beastie, imagine a small computer circuit board with connectors for a screen (HDMI), keyboard/mouse (USB) and network (Ethernet). This little beauty has enough horsepower to run a variation of the Linux , surf the Internet, play HD video and best of all costs about £25. It’s aimed at the education sector; a great way to teach kids about coding and also use its versatile I/O port to control LEDs, motors or, well, anything. But could it break Lorenz? Eben Upton of the Raspberry Pi Foundation with a Raspberry Pi Luckily, Herr Schueth published his source code and the audio recordings of the original mistakes). Only then was it ready nothing special, standard from the transmission on his web site. After for Colossus. Our modern-day shop. The Colossus equivalent ran some fiddling about I was able to get version required none of this. in 3.8 seconds. It took 3-5 hours in 1944, 48 seconds in 2007 and 3.8 the original, unaltered source code To my amazement, I got the code seconds in 2014. running on a Pi. It’s actually when running and was able to reproduce playing around with this code that Joachim’s code-break from 2007. Want to try it yourself? I’ve you realise how impressive it is. The £25 Raspberry Pi cracked the packaged together Joachim’s code To break Lorenz you and the audio need to find the recordings along with starting positions of In 1944, Colossus took 3-5 hours to break only the Chi some scripts to all twelve of its rotors. wheels using sophisticated statistical analysis. automate the process Colossus targeted so you can see it for In 2007, a standard PC took 48 seconds to perform the full only the locating of yourself. end-to-end decode process using brute force attack. the first five wheels, In the great tradition the most difficult. The In 2014, a Macbook Pro took a mere 3.8 seconds to do the of ‘Pi’ puns, its called remaining seven same process. ‘Pilossus’. If you have were either broken by a Raspberry Pi you hand or later on with can download the the help of a machine files on my web site along with Nazi’s high-command code in just called ‘Dragon’ of which precious instructions on how to run them: little is known. over four minutes. If you include the entire parsing of the audio signal http://mrpjevans.com/2012/07/ Joachim’s code not only replicated and breaking of the remaining colossus-on-a-raspberry-pi/ the work of Colossus (albeit taking a rotors, it took ten minutes. Imagine Hopefully within minutes you’ll be different approach to defeating if Bletchley Park had had a handful replicating the decryption work that Lorenz), but it also handled the or Raspberry Pis in 1944. entire process from the audio to had such a profound effect on the plain-text output. In 1944, the The story doesn’t end there. The outcome of the Second World War. transmission would be recorded onto point is that the Raspberry Pi is What times will we be able to post an undulator, producing a wavy line cheap because it isn’t high- ten years from now? powered, just very, very clever. I that represented the high and low P J Evans (TNMOC guide) tones of the signal, then transcribed ran the same code on the laptop by WRENs working in pairs (to avoid I’m using now. It’s a Macbook Pro, TNMOC newsletter Q2 2014 7 Marconi TAC

he Marconi Transistorised Automatic Computer (TAC) is in T the Large Systems Gallery at TNMOC co-located with the ICL 2966. It looks like a row of grey Portaloos with a Control Desk at the end. The TAC was designed in 1959/1960 at Marconi Chelmsford as a RADAR processing engine. It was first used in an Early Warning System code named “Fur Hat” which was installed in the base of a mountain in northern Sweden. The TAC that we have at the Museum is one of two that were in a resilient configuration monitoring the Magnox Nuclear Power Station at Wylfa on the island of Anglesey, North Wales. They were used at Wylfa solely for monitoring and alarm purposes. Although it was trialled for use for running up the turbines, it was never fully deployed for this purpose. The two TACs at Wylfa ran continuously from 1968 to 2004 and hence are both candidates for the title of “Longest Continuously Running Digital Computer in the World”. The other TAC from Wylfa is now in the Jim Austin collection at the University of York. The TAC consists of four Cubicles and a control desk. Cubicle 1 contains the magnetic core memory (two banks of 2k x 20 bits) and driver circuits and the Master Clock. The Master Clock actually consists of two interleaved 500kHz clocks – each instruction Top photo: the TAC in the Large systems gallery of the TNMOC. starts on an A clock pulse and ends Lower photo: the TAC’s control desk. on a B clock pulse. Photo opposite: A fast logic module. Cubicle 2 can be considered as the CPU as it contains the ALU input / output circuitry. convert the thermocouple (Arithmetic Logic Unit) plus the The Control Desk has an Operator temperature signals and a “Turbine Registers. The TAC can be used for Panel plus, hidden behind a cover, Run Up” rack that interfaced with the general computing, but was too an Engineer's Panel. The two turbine control gear. Unfortunately, expensive to use for this in practise drawers in the desk contain the we didn't receive any of this ancillary as it was optimised in hardware for Control Logic for the Paper Tape equipment (although we have its specific task. Reader and Punch. masses of spare parts for them!). Cubicle 3 contains the hardware When the TAC was in situ at Wylfa, At the time of TAC's inception, Microprogam – this consists of many it was connected to a Magnetic germanium transistors were quite diode boards which Drum Store which was shared with common, but silicon transistors were implement complex instructions such the second TAC. This was later new and expensive. The table below as . replaced with a shared Magnetic compares the amount of draught beer you could buy in 1964 (at 1s Cubicle 4 contains the majority of Core Store. There was also an 10d a pint — about 9p) for the price the DC Power Supplies plus the Analogue to Digital converter to

TNMOC newsletter 8 Q2 2014 of each transistor. Remember that a through diodes. Early pre- typical working man was only taking production TACs used all plug-in In-flight computing home around £10 per week in wages modules, but some of the edge at that time. connections were found to be nyone who has recently taken unreliable so were replaced with a long-haul flight has seen the Hence the TAC utilises a mix of soldered-in modules. The A cliché laptop-user: anonymous germanium and silicon transistors – photograph shows a Fast Basic suit, little bag on wheels, laptop case silicon is used where speed and Logic Module using silicon diodes under the arm and a purposeful reliability are required and and transistors. expression of corporate ambition. germanium is used everywhere else But after he’s got the thing through to keep the overall price down. The PCB has been removed from baggage weigh-in and customs, its black plastic cover so you can There is an additional cost involved what is it actually used for? see it clearly. Note: the flying leads in using both types of transistor (no edge connector); the mass of In first class, there might be space because they typically run from input diodes on a small daughter and time to read some downloaded different voltage rails – so the TAC board; the five silicon transistors. mails or reports (or, given the space runs rails for -5V, +10V, -10V and - provided: play the cello or learn to 20V. Further, because the (linear) This particular board is a “5NF5” unicycle). But what of the mortals in DC power module the remainder of this overcrowded, supply Transistor Price Comparison which overheated, sweat-flavoured, modules in Transistor Price in UK Beer decodes thrombosis generating machine? TAC use Type 1964 Equivalence as:5 gates; germanium NAND; Fast Germanium £0 7s. 0d. 3.5 pints An economy class passenger has power logic (i.e. (OC42m) less space than the occupant of a transistors silicon); 5 public toilet cubicle. The ‘tray table’ (the inputs per Silicon £1 13s. 6d. 17 pints barely fits an A4 folder and stowage ubiquitous gate (hence has been used up by those to whom 2N3055 (Dat1A) the total of ‘baggage allowance’ is a minimum, silicon power 25 diodes – not a limit. So your laptop ends up transistor wasn't available yet!), they some of these have been replaced on your lap, generating heat, in a play safe with the risks of thermal with a different type on this board, climate already approaching tropical runaway and use lots of small power so some are black and some are (or ‘wrestler’s armpit’) temperatures. supply modules. Indeed, there are a white). total of 40 power supply modules in Ready to switch it on and the Steve Kay is a TNMOC volunteer. the TAC, and each of them is rated inconsiderate slob in front of you Prior to retirement Steve’s career up to 2A load current. with a diploma in ‘lack of empathy included computer field for fellow travellers’ fully reclines his The basic logic of the TAC is Diode servicing, network management, seat. The available space has just Transistor Logic (DTL) where the network consultancy and test reduced by half. Your choices are to transistor is the switching element engineer on Network Security embed the keyboard in your torso to and all the inputs are presented Products. get the screen/lid fully open or contort your spine to bring your eyes down to the level of your navel. Typing involves either getting awfully friendly with your neighbours or by swiftly evolving three more wrists. Assuming you have achieved all this, then the in-flight meal is delivered. Turbulence tries to shake the bolts out of the airframe, the fillings out of your teeth and the plasti-cheese out of your ‘sandwich. I’m actually on a long-haul flight as I write this with my laptop safely stowed in the hold in my (rigid) suitcase. I’m writing on paper, with a pencil. Remember those? Myk Dormer, TNMOC member

TNMOC newsletter Q2 2014 9 Winter Lectures Update

he Winter Lecture Series for Signals in War and Peace, there 2014 / 2015 will soon be will be three short talks: T announced on the website and Intercepting Lorenz signals by John members will be able to book priority Pether; 100 years of Electronic places. Here’s a taster of what’s in Warfare by Steve Roberts; and store. Liberating the Laptop: an overview of cellular data communications by On 13th November, Sophie Wilson Andy Sutton. will make a welcome return to talk about her gigapixel photography. We We are hoping to start the series had a glimpse of her stunning with a lecture on computers in photographs at the end of her much entertainment. acclaimed talk on micro-processors in the last series. Members are invited to put forward suggestions of speakers they would On 27th November, there will be a like to hear at TNMOC. Please special event run in conjunction with email any suggestions to Sophie Wilson running a BBC Cambridge Wireless. Entitled [email protected] micro emulator on her smartphone

Museum Locator

he articles in this newsletter reference several of the EDSAC T exhibitions within TNMOC. To Acorn / ARM learn more about these systems, this room plan will help you locate the specific exhibits. WITCH Alternatively, if you own an iPhone, iPad or iPod device, you could Marconi TAC download TNMOC app from the Apple iTunes app store. The app provides additional information about the galleries on display and other information to help you make the most of your visit to the museum. Just search for TNMOC in the iTunes store:

Museum Entrance

The Tunny story entrance

Museum Robinson Exit Shop

Colossus

TNMOC newsletter 10 Q2 2014 Deep Dish ft. TNMOC all stars

arlier this year design team Humanstudio visited The National Museum of Computing E and spent the day filming exhibits across the collection. Working with videographer Shaun Bloodworth, the footage was integrated into clips exclusively made for the band Deep Dish (from Washington, USA) who have reformed after a gap of eight years. The visuals were first shown as part of the Deep Dish performance at Ice Palace Studios, Miami on Saturday 29 March during Winter Music Conference (WMC) and Ultra Festival weekend.

The band have subsequently performed in Montreal and the show will be moving to Vegas, Toronto, EXIT festival (Serbia) and other venues across the world as the summer unfolds. Nick Bax, Creative Director of Humanstudio, said “We were thrilled to visit The National Museum of Computing and see important historical exhibits such as Colossus, the first electronic computer, and WITCH, the oldest original working computer in the world. I also really liked the huge mainframes and all the machines from the dawn of home computing. We used footage of all these items in our work for Deep Dish - it was a great addition to their visual material.” (Photos by Human).

TNMOC newsletter Q2 2014 11 The birth of Fuze

y first computing experience was not! I spent a year messing At the end of 1986, aged twenty, I was a ZX81 a friend of mine around in Minehead, playing in the moved to Fulham in London. I took a M used to bring home from arcades and generally getting into job in Tottenham Court Road selling school. It was glued and nailed to a trouble. But by night I played, early Amigas, Toshiba laptops, wooden tray so it wouldn’t suffer the programmed and learnt. At Amstrad PCWs and many other RAM pack wobble and to keep it all eighteen I got a job teaching a popular items of the time. A couple tidy. Colin quickly convinced his classroom of kids and adults how to of years later I was shop manager parents that a BBC Micro was the program. It still seems odd today and in 1992 I left and set up my own way to go as it was being used in that tourists (or Grockles as we’d shop, PC Deals Ltd. A while after I schools and Colin was obviously call them!) would invest one and a went into software publishing and very academic so it would be put to half hours a day, every day, tapping more recently back into hardware good use to further his education. in a Lander game or a rudimentary and programming. database program. I’m not sure how quickly after the Did the early years on the Beeb, machine arrived that Snapper, I did this for two years. At the start Spectrum and Atari shape my Arcadians, Meteors, Planetoid, of the second year I bought an Atari career? It was very much a Monsters and If I remember correctly 130XE, the last of the great Atari 8 cornerstone of the FUZE project a rather good version of Scramble bit computers. Quite honestly I’d today. called Rocket Raid, followed but have given my right arm to have they sure put an end to the Beebs had a machine with BBC BASIC During those early years and for educational uses – or so we thought. and the Atari chipset. My interest many more before, I achieved very little. My father died when I was We typed and we typed and we aged one, my home life was typed and then we ran, then we unsettled and my school corrected errors and ran again. I’d achievements were appalling. The chap we lived with was, I guess it’s best to say, somewhat aggressive and vindictive. When I finally moved away to Minehead in Somerset with just our mum and grandparents, a lot of damage had been done. I was bullied frequently throughout school and could never seem to get started. By the end of school which I’d practically stopped going to anyway, I was getting into trouble with the police. Up until the point Colin acquired his was developing rapidly so by the BBC Model B, I was pretty much a end of the season I’d reached a lost cause. Colin and I were like reasonable level in 6502 Assembly chalk and cheese and so it’s a generally read out the program (Machine Code). Enough at least to testament to his parents, Elizabeth listing and Colin would type. write a full sprite editor in ASM. and Graham, that I was even allowed anywhere near Colin, let Thinking about the number of errors Actually this really does bring back alone in their house and lavished we had to debug, maybe Colin a cool memory. I remember trying every evening with sandwiches, wasn’t the better typist after all! to get a sprite to move across the cakes and pop (bring back Enid screen. I spent hours, in fact a Then came Elite and a ludicrously Blyton)! addictive Star Trek game typed in couple of days just trying to get the from a magazine. We were truly thing to display. I was at my What would have happened if I hooked. absolute wits-end when I caught a hadn’t got into programming? I hate glimmer of the sprite on screen and to contemplate but I know for sure I Soon after, I managed to scrape the figured out that all I needed was a would not have had the confidence funds together to buy a Sinclair delay. That early insight as to how to walk into that shop on Tottenham Spectrum 48K and learnt enough many instructions were taking place Court Road and demand a job. BASIC to get a game published in in a single second changed my Programming taught me not just how ZX Computing – it was terrible! perception of computing forever. to program, that goes without That was, until very recently, the saying, but that I was not as dumb At this point, aged seventeen, Colin last ‘real’ programming I ever did! as I thought I was, which gave me was off to higher education and I confidence and led me to move to TNMOC newsletter 12 Q2 2014 aluminium with a number of folds to increase its rigidity. It feels like you could drive over it – please don’t do this! The Beeb never felt this solid. The black colour of the FUZE definitely nods its head to the Beeb and the red to the Raspberry Pi. No cream though, no sir! (Although I am very, very tempted to produce a limited edition unit in cream and black with red function keys – watch this space as they say.) I feel the need to be bold and passionate here so I’d better cover myself first. It is MY opinion that BASIC is the easiest to both teach and learn computer programming. There… I said it. BASIC worked wonders back in the eighties and it is going to do so again. London and make a proper go of nothing else so that was the first In the beginning there were a few things. prototype we built. Based on the languages designed for very specific fantastic Maximite board designed Since then I’ve managed, bought purposes – Fortran for scientific by Geoff Graham in Australia. We and sold a business, set up many applications for example. Over time carved out a fully working foam- others and now continue to run three a new language was needed that board prototype with a sunken tray companies. From ‘lost cause’ to was both easy to understand and to house a breadboard. The FUZE ‘doing just fine thank you’. It’s not all flexible enough to suit many types of was born and the rest, as they say, down to the BBC though, as the application. Enter BASIC. The er ... are current events! ZX 81, Spectrum and the Atari all evolution of BASIC in those early played a part, but it was the BBC We approached a metal fabricator years peaked, I think it is safe to with BBC BASIC that lit the FUZE! who thankfully supported us in say, with the release of BBC BASIC. those early prototypes and at the Commodore, Atari, Sinclair, Tandy, Recently, I don’t remember why same time the Raspberry Pi was Microsoft and of course Apple all exactly, but I’d brought down one of announced. While it wasn’t going to had their own versions. These my Beebs from the loft and set it up boot to BASIC, it did offer many computers sold in their tens of in my study. I wanted to show my other advantages so we adopted it millions across the globe and BASIC children how computers looked back as the main board for the FUZE was established as the most popular -in-the-old-days, but to my from an early date. The only language of the time. amazement both my girls, Molly, problem was that it was missing eight, Gracie, seven and my son, Because it was so easy to grasp it BASIC so we’d need to do David, seventeen, were all caught on like wildfire. Hundreds something about that! fascinated by it. From playing simple upon hundreds of computing education games to writing small The shape of the FUZE is magazines were available offering programs, they were totally completely practical. It needs the listings in BASIC of everything from engrossed in it. Like most others sunken electronic tray so it has to simple games to sophisticated these days we have all the modern be a wedge. It also needed a full applications. toys in the house but It was a real size keyboard so it is the size that it It was this mass exposure to surprise that something thirty years is. Anyone who honestly thinks programming through BASIC that old could stop them in their tracks. programming on a tiny, cramped gave birth to an industry of keyboard is a good idea is not This was the very moment the FUZE computing platforms and serious about programming? Sir was first conceived. What if we could applications that are now a Clive, what would you say? Even make a new computer with the fundamental part of our daily lives. the Spectrum went full size accessibility of the BBC and the eventually and that was well before electronic features of devices like Back then, once you’d got to grips Sir Alan got his hands on it! the Arduino and Maximite. Originally with BASIC you would move up the ladder to Pascal or C or if you were I had wanted it to boot to BASIC and The FUZE is made from sheet

TNMOC newsletter Q2 2014 13 really keen, . Those that did went on to develop the very powerful and versatile, but to many also very technical, languages in use today. Because programming has been off the radar for a while now, the entry point requires a high level of computing and programming knowledge which can be off putting for many. For the last few years the lack of exposure to an accessible, flexible and immediate language like BASIC has exacerbated the problem to such an extent that thousands of programming jobs are now outsourced overseas to cheaper and more capable resources. FUZE BASIC is a very modern take on BASIC, looking more like Python and similar languages. Gone are line numbers, GoTos and Gosubs and in are procedures, loops, advanced graphics like scrolling, blitting and sprites, Robot controls and very accessible electronic interfacing all directly supported in the language so there’s not an import in sight. I must add at this point that FUZE BASIC was originally developed as blitting, none of which were in the micros might be today at which point an exclusive port of RTB (Return to earlier . This makes FUZE my mind drifts and is lost in wonder. Basic) authored by the extremely BASIC ideal for creating games So many parts of our lives have talented and very likeable Gordon and graphical applications. been defined by the home Henderson. Once the relationship computers of the eighties and the was in place Gordon quickly added One thing we are missing is the in- late seventies. It would be very many of the new features at our line assembler – this was an unfair to omit Apple from all of this request including, sprites, scrolling, incredible feature in BBC BASIC and no… I don’t own one! I do robot controls, analogue support, the where you could include machine however own a number of Beebs, program editor and mouse support code programs listed in your Spectrums and Ataris. to name but a few. This has BASIC programs – genius, pure continued to the extent that FUZE genius! At this point we don’t have For me, my biggest joy is that after BASIC must now be one of the most this and to be honest it is much thirty something years, it’s back, it’s functional versions of BASIC ever harder to implement these days as all back and we can pass on the devised. Gordon also bakes it is so platform specific, but if enjoyment and empower children to delicious cakes. No kidding, he is as there’s one thing I personally would learn, just as we did and hopefully to good a baker as he is a coder. love to see, it’s that. So watch this the same end. There, you didn’t see that coming space! did you! Thank you. Thank you to the teams First off and I know this is behind those great machines, you The most obvious ‘visual’ difference specifically a book about the BBC actually changed the world and then is the omission of line numbers and Micro but I’m afraid the legacy is some! the inclusion of a real editor. Saying more than this. It is impossible to that, line numbers, GoTo and GoSub separate all of the Micros of the Jon Silvera (BinaryDistribution commands are actually supported day as each played an equal role. Ltd / Downloadbuyer.com / but rarely used. FUZE BASIC Well, OK, maybe not all of them but FUZE.co.uk provides full support for all manner certainly the ‘brat-pack’ did. So I The TNMOC shop stocks the Fuze, of LOOPs, fantastic graphic think it would be fairer to ask what both with and without a Raspberry commands for sprites, scrolling and the legacy of the eighties 8-bit Pi. TNMOC newsletter 14 Q2 2014 BASIC @ 50

ASIC – the programming next 50 years of computing. programming’ and spaghetti-like language that brought code or loved because of it’s In a world when Fortran and Cobol Bcomputing to the people simplicity, ease of use and rapid were dominant forces of the turned 50 this year and its creators feedback of results. It helped a computer programming world, celebrated at its birthplace, generation learn programming as a BASIC introduced a more easily Dartmouth College in Hanover, tool to help with their work and New . not as a highly prized art form for a close-knit community. The first BASIC commands were executed in the predawn Love or hate BASIC, there is no hours of 1st May 1964 in the denying its popularity, wide- basement of College Hall. spread use and longevity. It From that quiet start, BASIC helped popularize many of the would go on to become the personal home computers that world's most widely-used burst onto the market in the late computer language. 1970s and early 1980s. Several examples can be seen in the PC Short for Beginners' All- gallery at the TNMOC. The purpose Symbolic Instruction language has been extended Code, BASIC was the over the years to include brainchild of Dartmouth compiled code, object-oriented mathematicians John Kemeny extensions, graphics, audio and and Thomas Kurtz, who Photo above: Math professor Tom Kurtz a whole variety of other commands. worked with numerous works with Michael Busch 9 (above) It is the behind-the-scenes testing the new GE-225 computer in the undergraduate students to bring workhorse for the popular Microsoft their vision to life. basement of College Hall in 1964. Busch, along with John McGeachie, worked out Office product. Prior to BASIC’s creation, advanced the process that allowed different GE Probably two of the most popular mathematicians had to wait their turn computers to communicate and helped build the original Dartmouth time-sharing forms have been the variant to feed decks of punch cards into a produced by in the computer run by professional system. (Photo by Adrian N. Bouchard/ courtesy of Rauner Special Collections popular BBC micro, electron and programmers. But Kemeny and Library) Archimedes computers that helped Kurtz were determined to make many people learn to program and computing available to all Dartmouth Photo below: Math professor and future the Microsoft variant of the undergraduates. BASIC's Dartmouth president John Kemeny language, Visual Basic, used straightforward structure – which teaches BASIC programming to students throughout industry alongside many used intuitive commands like LIST, in the Kiewit Computation Center. (Photo other computer languages. RUN and PRINT – made this courtesy of Rauner Special Collections possible. At the same time, Kurtz Library) Ask many programmers today what and Kemeny developed language they started with and Dartmouth's timesharing many would cite BASIC and system, which allowed more possibly the BBC Micro version. than one person to work on the They may have progressed to GE computer computer at a more sophisticated languages time. Thanks to BASIC and but still have fond memories of timesharing, even people with programming in BASIC. In fact, no math or science background BBC Basic is still available in a could learn to code computer form that can be run on modern programs. It was the beginning computers. BASIC has gained of computing for the masses new interest as the language to help a new generation of This spring Professor Emeritus programmers to start Kurtz, the students who helped programming, in the guise of the him develop BASIC, Dartmouth Fuze running on the Raspberry President Phil Hanlon and Pi. current industry leaders gathered to understand programming syntax to remember the language’s the world. BASIC has a reputation These products aim to reintroduce beginnings through a number of for polarizing the programming the fun of programming to inspire the talks and films on the subjects of community. It is either loathed for next generation of programmers to ‘Innovation today’, ‘Innovation its informal programming style and produce new software and not just to tomorrow’ and discussions of the ability to allow ‘sloppy consume it in the form of Apps. TNMOC newsletter Q2 2014 15 2014 Events

et ready for Summer Bytes 2014! G 26 July 2014 until 2 September 2014 Museum fully open every day from 11am - 5pm. Thanks to new supporters Bloomberg, activities and events are growing almost daily. See the day-by-day guide for the latest news and full details. Activities include:  LEGO EV3 Mindstorms Build EV3 robots! 26 July - 3 August plus 27 August - 2 September  LEGO competition - great prizes on offer 26 July - 3 Aug plus 27 Aug - 2 Sep  Young Rewired State get plugged in 28-31 Jul  A in 30 books 30-31 Jul  Reconstructing EDSAC - Andrew Herbert 3 & 10 Aug  Create your own Special Effects - virtual worlds 8 -12 Aug  Meet Mat Irvine, the man behind so many vintage BBC special effects  Computer Music - turn up and tune in 15 -17 Aug  Astronomy - daytime stargazing 23 Aug  Oculus Rift virtual reality headset 24-25 Aug  vintage computer games weekend 24-25 Aug  games creation with MissionMaker drop-in workshop 24-25 Aug  Technology Will Save Us workshops 8 and 23 Aug  Raspberry Pi - and with the new version B 4 Aug - 2 Sep  Fuze 4 Aug - 2 Sep  Coding - try your hand 4 Aug - 2 Sep  Minecraft with something very special 4 Aug - 2 Sep  Date Your Heritage Quiz for adults 28 Jul - 2 Sep And it’s all free to TNMOC members!

TNMOC newsletter The National Museum of Computing is the operating name of Codes and Ciphers Heritage Trust, charity number 1109874 16 Q2 2014