Bletchley Park is a site steeped in history. In World War II it was the centre of operations to crack the Enigma code used by the German military to send messages to their troops. The code was eventually successfully hacked with the aid of the Colossus machine, which was designed as a mainframe valve-driven computer to perform thousands of calculations every minute in order to test all the possible permutations of code automatically.
Today, it is a site dedicated to the memories of those days, with a fully restored Colossus machine at the centre of the display, together with many other standing exhibitions (spies and double agents, toys of the era, railway memorabilia and more). (TNMOC) has its base in the grounds and its members are responsible for the upkeep of the vast range of computers, mainframes and other vintage electronic machinery on show there. These range from business mainframes to early Commodores, a Cray, a Wang, a room of punch-card machines and many more, joined for the weekend by a motley collection of lovingly restored retro personal computing equipment and a few other surprises.
The National Museum of Computing
An Annual Pass to Bletchley Park
Entry to the festival was offered for the price of an annual pass to this fascinating location (£8.50 online or £10 on the door for as many visits as pass holders care to make in a year). The place would be worth several visits for the standing exhibitions alone, never mind the specialist marquees and rooms full of vintage computers brought in especially for the weekend.
A ZX Spectrum Twitter client
The first collection of note was in the main marquee where the weekend stall holders were exhibiting their wares, from a 1940s digital clock to a number of ZX Spectrums running a Twitter client, examples of the SpectraNet project, the Dragon archive, Decs and IBMs as well as games, keyboards and parts. All were for sale to raise funds for TNMOC along with the more traditional souvenirs of retro gamer themed T-shirts and mugs. Even the steam punks made an appearance, with a display of the kind of retro-modern equipment that the Victorians would have had if they had been able to call upon the advanced technology we can today.
Amiga X1000 Launch
Not all names from the early 80s have been consigned to history, however. Amiga chose the event to launch their new X1000 machine, and invited a number of enthusiasts from the Lincolnshire Amiga Group to show off their collections as well.
The Amiga enthusiasts had a marquee to themselves by the lake and much fun appeared to be had there by people reliving their youth and rediscovering games they thought they would never play again.
Acorn, the Centre for Computing History and Retro Computer Museum’s displays
In the Mansion some of the rooms were temporarily transformed into bleeping, flashing, hands-on exhibition (read wall-to-wall retro gaming) space for a number of organisations including Acorn, the Centre for Computing History and two rooms dedicated to some of the Retro Computer Museum ’s (RCM) collection of gear.
Amongst the collection on show from the combined might of the Centre for Computing History and RCM were a Sinclair ZX80 with a screen inside a bubble, several souped up and modified machines including a Commodore 64 playing Guitar Hero (yes, really!), an old Oric, a ZX81 to run a high resolution demo and a Thomson machine with a 6809 processor, the same processor used by the Dragon kit being exhibited in the main marquee.
Computer-themed Talks
Throughout the weekend there were opportunities to hear a variety of talks. Some were given by the project managers behind the restorations of some of TNMOC’s computers and offered a chance to ask questions as desired. Each talk lasted between 30 and 45 minutes and although visitors were not allowed to touch the exhibits they did have a chance to see them in action (or in the case of the Harwell Witch, in inaction, as it decided to cease working during one of the Sunday afternoon talks.)
Guest speakers in the Mansion included Sophie Wilson of Acorn fame and chip tune musician Pixelh8. Recording of all kinds was banned, as the guests had given their time for free, but the talks were popular and often sold out or close to capacity for the room in which they were held.
The National Museum of Computing
Together with TNMOC’s displays, the range of speakers and concerts which they organised plus the existing exhibitions at Bletchley, a busy weekend was had by the 2000 visitors who flowed steadily through the gates.
It is hoped to hold another Vintage Computer Festival next year, in the meantime TNMOC is open at various times during the week and Bletchley Park is open daily for guided tours and walks. For details on RCM’s and Centre for Computing History’s next events, please refer to their websites.
Paula Thomas - Paula is, among other things, an editor & proofreader. She also enjoys technology - retro or modern - travel, music, motorsport and ...
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