I made the pilgrimage to Bletchley Park. It may have been because it was Remembrance Day, but it seemed to emphasize the war memorial aspects with an acknowledgment to the origins of electronic computing.
I did not see the Disneyland aspects, and there were no actors in period clothes speaking English from the mid-20th century. There were helpful and friendly people who answered visitors’ questions. They also had videos and mockups of the Colossus. I also went to the National Museum of Computing, also on the grounds of Bletchley Park, but with a separate admission. The collection is extensive, but the display was constrained by the pre-existing layout of the building. Also, I do not remember seeing any non-electronic calculation devices like Napier’s bones, abacuses, slide rules, etc. They had a number of early electronic calculating devices including Bombe, EDSAC, and Colossus (although this may have been a reproduction instead of a restoration). Of particular interest to this group is the Harwell WITCH, consisting of relays and dekatrons. It seemed to be running when I was there (flashing lights and clunking relays), but I did not talk to anyone with an intimate familiarity of the machine. The point is that the dekatrons you guys donated went to a good home. It felt like a volunteer operation manned by people interested in the technical aspects of the restoration, and relatively little interest in the administration of the project. This is not an excuse, but it may explain why they were remiss in expressing their gratitude. My peripheral concern is that they may be consuming the useful life of the dekatrons and replacements may become more difficult to acquire. Overall, I found this to be a worthwhile day trip from London. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/327fabb7-80ac-4c11-aec8-409b13f6eec7%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
