4 ms·

I hope a museum gets it, but I think it will probably go for much more than the estimate. By the way, any UK HNers should definitely try to get down to the mus

by user24 16y ago

I hope a museum gets it, but I think it will probably go for much more than the estimate. By the way, any UK HNers should definitely try to get down to the museum at Bletchley park and the national computing museum. Geek heaven :) edit: wow, they also have the first published ENIAC patents: http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot_details.aspx?from=salesummary&intObjectID=5370963&sid=b1077a41-474f-47b4-8f48-25f5c24fca97 http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot_details.aspx?from=sal...

Throlkim 16y ago
I live quite close to Bletchley Park; we used to go on school trips there when I was a kid. :)
shrikant 16y ago
Visitors might want to be a bit patient on the guided tour - largely seems a waste of time initially, with the guide talking a lot about the history of the land/park itself, and the WW2/code-breaking info being somewhat superficial. Then he takes you into the National Museum of Computing and demonstrates the machines, and sometimes lets you touch and feel as well - awesome! The guided tour ends on quite the high!
- user24 16y ago
  depends on the guide I guess, I've been there about 4 times (used to live just down the road, and the ticket is for a whole year!) and took the tour twice, the code-breaking content wasn't highly technical, but it was covered in a decent amount of depth I felt. Riddle from the tour: What must you add to nine to get six? (and no, it's not -3)
  - user24 16y ago
    replying in case someone years from now reads this: Gur nafjre vf f. avar va ebzna ahzrenyf vf vk, nqq na f naq lbh trg fvk ;)
akamaka 16y ago
I went there on my last trip to the UK, and had a chance to talk to a 92 year-old gentleman who had helped build some of the machines during the war, and had been involved the project to reconstruct the Colossus machine. There isn't the huge throng of visitors and high security like at other museums. I was able to walk behind the cordon and get a up-close view of a running Colossus machine. It feels like a place with living history, and I highly recommend visiting! Edit: There is no shortage of Enigma machines in museums, by the way. I know there are ones at the NSA museum, the Imperial War Museum in London, and Bletchley Park has several. If someone wants their own for home use and they can afford it, I am all in favour of that.

by user24 16y ago

Throlkim 16y ago

I live quite close to Bletchley Park; we used to go on school trips there when I was a kid. :)

shrikant 16y ago

Visitors might want to be a bit patient on the guided tour - largely seems a waste of time initially, with the guide talking a lot about the history of the land/park itself, and the WW2/code-breaking info being somewhat superficial. Then he takes you into the National Museum of Computing and demonstrates the machines, and sometimes lets you touch and feel as well - awesome! The guided tour ends on quite the high!

user24 16y ago
depends on the guide I guess, I've been there about 4 times (used to live just down the road, and the ticket is for a whole year!) and took the tour twice, the code-breaking content wasn't highly technical, but it was covered in a decent amount of depth I felt. Riddle from the tour: What must you add to nine to get six? (and no, it's not -3)
- user24 16y ago
  replying in case someone years from now reads this: Gur nafjre vf f. avar va ebzna ahzrenyf vf vk, nqq na f naq lbh trg fvk ;)

akamaka 16y ago

I went there on my last trip to the UK, and had a chance to talk to a 92 year-old gentleman who had helped build some of the machines during the war, and had been involved the project to reconstruct the Colossus machine. There isn't the huge throng of visitors and high security like at other museums. I was able to walk behind the cordon and get a up-close view of a running Colossus machine. It feels like a place with living history, and I highly recommend visiting! Edit: There is no shortage of Enigma machines in museums, by the way. I know there are ones at the NSA museum, the Imperial War Museum in London, and Bletchley Park has several. If someone wants their own for home use and they can afford it, I am all in favour of that.