1. 程式人生 > >Tell HN: I went and saw CSIRAC, the only first

Tell HN: I went and saw CSIRAC, the only first

Australia doesn't do enough to preserve its surprisingly rich computing history.

Back in grad school at Adelaide uni, my office was in the bowels of the CS building, and just outside was a really old piece of equipment that I didn't really know what it was. I walked past it every day for several years without thinking much about it.

One day, my father came to visit. He had studied there 35 years before me. He saw this thing and said "oh wow, that's CIRRUS!". It turned out this was the first computer he ever used, way back at a university open day in 1968. Adelaide uni designed & built the entire thing in the late 50s/early 60s, including a time-sharing, multi-user operating system.

It should be in a museum, but was sitting, partly dismantled, in a hallway at the back of the building few people ever ventured to or even knew about. It's something the university should take pride in and have on display, even if not in working form.