First trip to London: Computer museums

[badaman]

I recently went on a family trip to London and I think I made good use of my time.

Gallery: https://javguerra.badared.com/galeria/? ... TER-LONDON

The United Kingdom is the country that saw the birth of computing as we know it today and the Second World War and Bletchley Park, the base where Turing and the women of army intelligence deciphered the Enigma and Lorenz codes, are largely to blame for this. There I was able to see these machines and those that were used to decipher.



Speaking of codes, the original Rosetta Stone is in the British Museum.



Just behind Bletchley Park, a few meters away, is The National Museum Of Computing, with great surprises, such as a reconstructed working version of The Bombe, as well as reconstructions of the Tunny machine and Colossus that helped decipher the German army's codes in WWII.



There is also the WITCH machine, which is one of the oldest first-generation computers still in operation, and the EDSAC machine.

In addition to a couple of mainframes, a couple of CRAYs computers and a good collection of PCs, disks, valves and calculators, I found, of course, a Sinclair QL and its two brothers, the OPD and the Merlin TONTO.



This museum is very small, but it has volunteers who passionately explain what is there, and it is worth spending the time necessary to appreciate everything it has in such a small space. I left there somewhat disenchanted because of that, but one is not aware of the wonders that this museum holds.

You can visit it on an online 3D tour at: https://www.tnmoc.org/3d-virtual-tour2

Notice: The museum is looking for volunteers: https://www.tnmoc.org/recruitment

Before returning, after seeing the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum, we visited the little we could see of the Science Museum, due to lack of time, which in addition to things from space, includes machines as interesting as the Lyons LEO, an IBM 360 or a Control Data 6600.



You can see the complete photo gallery here: https://javguerra.badared.com/galeria/? ... TER-LONDON

I wish I could have met some of you there in London. I hope this can happen next time, probably when my English is more fluent.

It was a wonderful trip.

[NormanDunbar]

I wish I could have met some of you there in London. I hope this can happen next time, probably when my English is more fluent.

Or, perhaps, when our Spanish is more fluent!

It appears that you had an enjoyable trip.

Cheers,
Norm.

[badaman]

I wish I could have met some of you there in London. I hope this can happen next time, probably when my English is more fluent.

Or, perhaps, when our Spanish is more fluent!

It appears that you had an enjoyable trip.

Cheers,
Norm.

Yes! I was delighted with the Christmas atmosphere in the city. Thank you!

[dilwyn]

You clearly had a great time, thank you for the pictures badaman.

If ever we manage to get a QL event in the UK off the ground (we failed this year), I will look forward to meeting all our European (and other areas!) QL friends I've spoken to online only over the years!

[badaman]

You clearly had a great time, thank you for the pictures badaman.

If ever we manage to get a QL event in the UK off the ground (we failed this year), I will look forward to meeting all our European (and other areas!) QL friends I've spoken to online only over the years!

Thanks Dilwyn. We must hurry, because we are getting older, and a big meeting is something that cannot be missed for any reason . I would like to be able to attend one like this. If necessary, I promise to learn mime soon. hahaha

I can already tell you that this year, in Spain, we will meet again, near Madrid, at «Retro Parla» And of course, everyone is invited to come. This time it is time to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the QL version MGE.

[Peter]

Planning for the international QL meeting in Germany is also ongoing. After the great success last year, we expect a similarly illustrious attendance. It will be in the same western Germany area, located between the Cologne and Duesseldorf airports, probably in May. It will also reflect the 25th anniversary of the Q60.

[napsternds]

Planning for the international QL meeting in Germany is also ongoing. After the great success last year, we expect a similarly illustrious attendance. It will be in the same western Germany area, located between the Cologne and Duesseldorf airports, probably in May. It will also reflect the 25th anniversary of the Q60.

This is great news. We'll try to have some representation from the Spanish QL group

[Peter]

That would be wonderful, given the great interest in QIMSI and QIMSI Gold coming from Spain.
Which reminds me that we still need to add Spanish QL keyboard support.

[badaman]

It would be a pleasure to go to Germany for the event, but I think it will be difficult for me.

The event I mentioned before will not be exclusive to QL, and will take place on March 15 and 16. But we have another event, just for QL friends, in February. We will repeat it at the Museum of Computer History in Majadas de Tiétar, Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain.

The museum is finally going to open its doors. I'll show you a preview of how it is right now. The video shows the work that Carlos, its Director and Founder, has carried out, but if you want to see the interesting stuff, go to minute 2 onwards.



Video

I hope you can come and see it someday. The museum has interesting pieces such as, for example, Programma 101, several Mainframes, and all the PCs you can imagine.

[badaman]

Finally the Museum of Computer History opens its doors in Extremadura.

In this post (in spanish) I tell the story of the visit that a group of friends of the Museum made last Saturday, which includes a mini-photo gallery.

See entry: https://javguerra.github.io/blog/mhc/

See small photo gallery: https://javguerra.badared.com/galeria/?dir=2025-01-MHC



Facade and access door to the museum.