and now for something completely difference
No time to write about what's going on in general right now, but here are some pictures from my trip to the computer history museum last weekend, and a short video clip of the Babbage Difference Engine #2 in operation.
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I also got to play spacewar on a working PDP-1, supervised by one of the original authors of the game (Steve Russell). I really appreciate the fact that even the people volunteering there at the museum are a part of history.
I brought my Curta Type II mechanical calculator with me to show off to my friends who came with me. I was going to hold it up next to the Babbage engine, but never got a chance to. It turns out they had a couple of them in a display cabinet, including some that had the case cut away so you could see the insides.
A couple of the visitors did seem to get a kick out of my demonstrating my curta, since you couldn't play with the ones on display.
Anyway, there are more pictures of the exhibits.