Two-tonne Witch computer gets a reboot, BBC
“The world’s oldest original working digital computer is going on display at The National Museum of Computing in Buckinghamshire. The Witch, as the machine is known, has been restored to clattering and flashing life in a three-year effort. In its heyday in the 1950s the machine was the workhorse of the UK’s atomic energy research programme. A happy accident led to its discovery in a municipal storeroom where it had languished for 15 years.”
World’s oldest original digital computer WITCH returns to life, ZDnet
“WITCH has 828 flashing Dekatron valves, 480 relays, 18 switches, and consumes 1.5kW of power. Remarkably, the restoration team said that the majority of parts in the machine are original. “The restoration was quite a challenge requiring work with components like valves, relays and paper tape readers that are rarely seen these days and are certainly not found in modern computers,” said Delwyn Holroyd, a TNMOC volunteer.”
Lunar Orbiter 3 Image 3111_H2
This newly retrieved high resolution image, frame 3111_H2, was taken by Lunar Orbiter 3 on 19 February 1967 at 04:28 GMT LPI reference. Images: [large at LOIRP] [Very Large at NASA NLSI]
Lunar Orbiter 3 Image 3111_H3
This newly retrieved high resolution image, frame 3111_H3, was taken by Lunar Orbiter 3 on 19 February 1967 at 04:28 GMT LPI reference. Images: [large at LOIRP] [Very Large at NASA NLSI]
Lunar Orbiter 3 Image 3099_H2
This newly retrieved high resolution image, frame 3099_H2, was taken by Lunar Orbiter 3 on 18 February 1967 at 11:01 GMT LPI reference. Images: [large at LOIRP] [Very Large at NASA NLSI]
Lunar Orbiter 3 Image 3099_H3
This newly retrieved high resolution image, frame 3099_H3, was taken by Lunar Orbiter 3 on 18 February 1967 at 11:01 GMT LPI reference. Images: [large at LOIRP] [Very Large at NASA NLSI]
Lunar Orbiter 3 Image 3033_H3
This newly retrieved high resolution image, frame 3033_H3, was taken by Lunar Orbiter 3 on 15 February 1967 at 13:32 GMT LPI reference. Images: [large at LOIRP] [Very Large at NASA NLSI]
Lunar Orbiter 3 Image 3032_H1
This newly retrieved high resolution image, frame 3032_H1, was taken by Lunar Orbiter 3 on 15 February 1967 at 13:32 GMT LPI reference. Images: [large at LOIRP] [Very Large at NASA NLSI]
Lunar Orbiter 3 Image 3012_H2
This newly retrieved high resolution image, frame 3012_H2, was taken by Lunar Orbiter 3 on 15 February 1967 at 10:00 GMT LPI reference. Images: [large at LOIRP] [Very Large at NASA NLSI]
Lunar Orbiter 3 Image 3012_H1
This newly retrieved high resolution image, frame 3012_H1, was taken by Lunar Orbiter 3 on 15 February 1967 at 10:00 GMT LPI reference. Images: [large at LOIRP] [Very Large at NASA NLSI]
Lunar Orbiter 3 Image 3006_H1
This newly retrieved high resolution image, frame 3006_H1, was taken by Lunar Orbiter 3 on 15 February 1967 at 10:00 GMT LPI reference. Images: [large at LOIRP] [Very Large at NASA NLSI]
Technoarchaeology: Restoring 134 Year Old Audio Recordings
Researchers successfully restore 134 year-old audio recording, The Verge
“Researchers at California’s Berkeley Lab have restored one of the oldest known audio recordings, a 78 second tinfoil recording from 1878. It was one of the first recordings made on Thomas Edison’s newly invented phonograph, which is composed of a cylinder covered in a small sheet of tinfoil that recorded sound on the foil’s surface using a stylus. However, the stylus tears the tinfoil after just a few replays. To recreate the sound and preserve the artifact, researchers scanned it and created a 3D model, which was then used to replicate the original recording.”
Soundtrack to History: 1878 Edison Audio Unveiled, ABC
“Haber and his team used optical scanning technology to replicate the action of the phonograph’s stylus, reading the grooves in the foil and creating a 3D image, which was then analyzed by a computer program that recovered the original recorded sound.”
The History of the Edison Cylinder Phonograph
Lunar Orbiter 3 Image 3080_H3
This newly retrieved high resolution image, frame 3110_H3, was taken by Lunar Orbiter 3 on 17 February 1967 at 21:09 GMT LPI reference. Images: [large at LOIRP] [Very Large at NASA NLSI]
