Computer Museum

The Computer Museum is the UK's only hands-on exhibition of computing hardware and software technology. It traces the development of the computer from its origins with the Colossus, invented during the Second World War to break Lorenz codes through the mainframes of the 1960's, mini computers, homebuilt micros to the PC's of today. The vast majority of its exhibits are fully operational and students can try them out.

During a visit, many items can be switched on and run software (mostly games) typical of the period when the equipment was built.

The earliest computer on display is an Elliott 803B, built in 1962, the most successful British computer of the early 1960s. This particular machine was kept in a barn for many years awaiting a new home and has now been restored to full working condition. The 803 has 40,000 bytes of memory, can perform 2,000 instructions per second and consumes energy at the rate of about 3 kW. It required an additional 10 kW of electricity for the airconditioning plant and needed 300 square feet of floor space. Today’s laptop has 512,000,000 bytes of memory, performs over 1000 million instructions per second, operates at power of 250 W, requires just a little internal cooling fan and can fit inside a briefcase.

The collection includes a MITS Altair 8800, the machine that launched the PC in 1975; a working Commodore PET, one of the first serious desktop  computers; a North Star Horizon, one of the first small business computers in the UK; Sinclair ZX80 and ZX81, the first sub-£100 UK computers; a working BBC Micro; a Digital PDP 11 from the 1970s; and many other milestones in computer development.

Needless to say a visit to the Museum strongly supports the National Curriculum in Science, Design & Technology, ICT in general and Computer Science in particular.

Computer museum visits begin with a short talk on the History of computing.

Learning objectives for the Computer Museum

Students will be able to name historical objects linked to computing such as an abacus, slide rule and a floppy disk.

Students will be able to discuss the developments in computing over time with reference to memory size and capability.

Students will be able to compare and contrast computer systems from the past by interacting with them in a hands-on setting.