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Darling Buds Classic Car show hosts second-generation UK mainframe computer
Visitors to an annual car rally in Kent will get the chance to meet 50-year-old Flossie, the oldest working original electronic computer in the UK.
The 1962 ICT 1301 mainframe computer – the first machine out of the factory – is the only example of second-generation British mainframe design that is still operative.Its original job was to print GCE pass slips at London University but was then used to process large club membership lists in the 1970s before arriving at the farm in Kent that was used to film the ITV television series, The Darling Buds of May.
A group of enthusiasts are reinstating the system to recover software contained in half-inch 10-track magnetic tapes and punched cards. It boasts pounds-shillings-and-pence arithmetic in hardware but no keyboards or screens.
It can be seen working during the Darling Buds Classic Car Show, which will be held on 8 July near Ashford in Kent.
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