Computer Conservation Society

 

CCS Projects

All of the practical work organised by the society is through project groups. Below is a list of the current projects, and a short summary of the sort of work they are undertaking.

Currently Active Projects

Group Name Summary   Based at Chair
Manchester Baby The project to build , demonstrate and maintain a replica of the Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM)- the world's first computer.
For more see the SSEM volunteers website , and also the webpages about the project about Rebuilding the Baby 
  MOSI Chris Burton
 
     
Pegasus

The Pegasus computer on display at the Science Museum was, for many years, the oldest extant working electronic computer in the world. Members of the CCS maintain and operate the Pegasus - and aim to demonstrate it running every fortnight at the museum.
Demonstrations were temporarily suspended in July 2009 following a electrical fault. Conservation work has now been re-started prior to resuming demonstrations.

  Science Museum Len Hewitt
 
     
Bombe Rebuild Project The rebuilt machine is now operational and can be seen at Bletchley Park. Please see the BP web site for more details. For more information about the rebuild project, click here.   Bletchley Park John Harper
 
     
ICT 1301 An original 1961 machine is being brought back to life - see the ICT 1301 Resurrection web site for more details.
Adopted by the CCS in 2009, and demonstrated to them in May see CCS 1301 visit report
  Currently in store awaiting a new home Rod Brown
 
     
Elliott 401 The CCS is restoring an Elliott 401 computer. This machine is not available to be seen by the general public at the moment.   Blythe House Rod Brown
 
     

Elliott

This project team is responsible for a collection of Elliott 803, 903 and 905 computers. The TNMOC 803 and 903 machines can be seen working most weekends.   TNMOC Terry Froggatt
 
     
DEC The DEC project team is currently restoring a desktop 'straight' PDP8, the PDP11 Blacknest system, and the last remaining PDP11 based air traffic control system from LATCC, West Drayton.
See The National Museum of Computing for more details
  TNMOC Kevin Murrell
 
     
The Harwell Computer
aka The WITCH Computer

This CCS project team was set up to restore the original Harwell computer to working order, and to maintain it for display to the public at the National Museum of Computing.

For more information about this machine click here.

  TNMOC Delwyn Holroyd
 
     
ICL 2966

This project team is restoring an ICL 2966 mainframe at  the National Museum of Computing.  It became a CCS project in 2010, and we are pleased to support the team.

  TNMOC Delwyn Holroyd
 
     
EDSAC Replica

This is a CCS project team set up to build a replica of the original Cambridge University EDSAC computer

  TNMOC Andrew Herbert
 
     
Software Conservation The mission is the preservation of historic software in machine readable form, ideally along with execution capability. The focus is on long-term preservation rather than special effects on a PC.      David Holdsworth
 
     
The Tony Sale Award

The CCS set up a project in 2012 for an annual award to recognise engineering achievement in the area of computer conservation - see the Sale Award website.

An award application form is available to download from that site.

    Peta Walmisley
 
     
         
Previous restoration and preservation projects
         
Mil-DAP Distributed Array (Parallel) Processor