BBC Click were at the Vintage Computer Festival at Bletchley Park the other weekend and were speaking to some of the chaps from RCM (Retro Computer Museum).
Here’s the link -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/8782344.stm
Well done Richard, Karl & Andy…you did a great job!
This morning, I’d managed to edit the last three videos i’d taken at the vintage computer festival last weekend at Bletchley Park. After returning from my nieces first birthday party it looks they’d finished processing therefore have uploaded them to Youtube.
For the first, I happened to be in the same room with Tony Sale just as he was about to be interviewed for BBC radio regarding the rebuild project of the famous Colossus.
..and the final two, are the RCM (Retro Computer Museum) guys that held an introduction to RCM and Q&A session. Well done to Karl, Andy & Dave!
Although I’ve only managed to upload two of my VCF videos to YouTube, it looks like many more from other folk have been uploaded too. One of the best ‘walkaround’ video is by TheIntrepifLadyFox.
My own are here -
..and here -
Just a quick update to say that i’ve uploaded the photo sets to my flickr account.
Video will follow later
Regards
StiGGy
Set in the beautiful mansion and gardens of Bletchley Park, it was the perfect venue to hold the first Vintage Computer Festival mixing early 8-bit/16-bit computers with even older technology going back to the 1920′s.
Station X.
I arrived very early before most of the general public and headed on in to find the RCM chaps as they gave their systems one final check before the doors opened.
Andy, Richard and Karl from the Retro Computer Museum.
As i wandered around the various rooms, catching up & chatting with a few familiar folk, it was just so amazing to see so many computers, consoles and homebrew devices on display.
Richard’s DIY made Acorn Atom
DIY Sinclair/Science of Cambridge MK14.
..and some rather oddballs! like this 1980′s ZX Spectrum, running a homebrew Twitter client! – a very popular item throughout the festival, with scores of people using it to post twitter updates.
Guitar Hero… Commodore 64 style 
..and the truly beautiful, like this 1940 Digital Clock
The festival was opened by the Chris Serle who co-hosted the classic ‘The Computer Programme’ which aired on the BBC back in the early eighties.
Heading on over to the main marque where it was practically all Commodore (my kind of place!) and had every model of Amiga on display as well as plenty of items to buy to pimp your Amiga.
At around lunchtime, the eagerly anticipated launch of the new Amiga X1000, although after chatting with bit with fellow Amiga fans, it did receive mixed reviews.
Throughout the course of the afternoon I spent most of my time hanging out with the RCM chaps playing everything from Chuckie Egg to Soul Caliber. At the end of day one, I’d clocked up 100′s of photos & quite a bit of video. By 5pm, day one was over and although extremely tired, could wait for day two to start.
On the second day, I spent a few hours wandering around the Bletchey Park museum, attending various lectures (the one with Sophie Wilson was just brilliant) and got to see some awesome technology. Eager to get back to the main events, i’ve mentally noted that i must revisit Bletchley Park museum to give the exhibitions the time they truly deserve.
Colossus
This hard drive was about the same size of a modern washing machine and they had about x20 of them.
Over the next few days I’ll post photo/video links for those that wish to see more but here’s a few that I’m particular pleased with.
Karl, Dave, myself, Andy, Jimbob and Richard.
This weekend it’s the Vintage Computer Festival and Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes. I’ve been looking forward to this all year and can’t wait to see everything that’s on offer. The chaps at RCM will be there too so plenty of retro gaming action to be had (and competitions). Throughout the day there’ll be exibitions, lectures and machine demonstrations and a few I’m particularly looking forward to is the lecture by Sophie Wilson, one of the brains behind Acorn Computers as well as the ARM/RISC processor. The world unavailing of the new Amiga X1000 and the Colossus demostrations.
Here’s the full program -
************************************
11.00 Welcome from the Trustees – Kevin Murrell, Tony Sale and Andy Clark in Marquee 1
12.00 Christine Finn in The Mansion
13.00 David Ahl in The Mansion
13.30 Amiga X1000 Launch in Marquee 2
14.00 Karl Pantling-James of RCM in The Mansion (StiGGy – will be filming this one
15.00 Dylan Smith in The Mansion
16.00 Pixelh8 Chip Tune Q&A in The Mansion (ticketed event)
19.00 OMD in The Mansion (SOLD OUT)
11.30 Tony Frazer on the Harwell-WITCH restoration
12.15 Peter Onion on the Elliott 803
13.00 Tony Sale on Colossus
13.45 Delwyn Holroyd on the mainframes of 1970s and 1980s
14.30 Tony Frazer on the Harwell-WITCH restoration
15.15 Peter Onion on the Elliott 803
16.00 Tony Sale on Colossus
16.30 Delwyn Holroyd on the mainframes of 1970s and 1980s
13:00 EDSAC (13 mins) & Ferranti Pegasus (12 mins)
13:40 LEO (25 mins)
14:20 EMIDEC 1100 (24 mins)
15:00 EDSAC (13 mins) & Ferranti Pegasus (12 mins)
15:40 LEO (25 mins)
16:20 EMIDEC 1100 (24 mins)
11.00 Welcome from the trustees in Marquee 1
12.00 Adam Bradley in The Mansion
13.00 Chris Smith in The Mansion
14.00 Sophie Wilson in The Mansion
16.00 Pixelh8 Obsolete? Q&A (ticketed event) in The Mansion
11.30 Tony Frazer on the Harwell-WITCH restoration
12.15 Peter Onion on the Elliott 803
13.00 Tony Sale on Colossus
13.45 Delwyn Holroyd on the mainframes of 1970s and 1980s
14.30 Tony Frazer on the Harwell-WITCH restoration
15.15 Peter Onion on the Elliott 803
15.30 Retro Gaming Competition – Lecture room
16.00 Tony Sale on Colossus
16.30 Delwyn Holroyd on the mainframes of 1970s and 1980s
11:45 EDSAC (13 mins) & Ferranti Pegasus (12 mins)
13:00 EDSAC (13 mins) & Ferranti Pegasus (12 mins)
13:40 LEO (25 mins)
14:20 EMIDEC 1100 (24 mins)
15:00 EDSAC (13 mins) & Ferranti Pegasus (12 mins)
15:40 LEO (25 mins)
16:20 EMIDEC 1100 (24 mins)
***************************************************
So…plenty to see and do. I’ve got my camera gear packed and have plenty of spare storage for pictures and video. I’m also taking my laptop so if the hotel wifi is good enough i’ll post updates and flickr links over the weekend (prob have to wait until i get home to upload video to Youtube).
