A once leading edge computer called the CSIRAC, which is claimed to be the first computer in the world to play music, is on its last legs in an Australian museum..
The machine was built in 1949, weighs a few tons, and consumed enough electricity to light up a street!
The machine was the fourth computer to be built anywhere in the world, ran at 0.001MHz, and had a massive 2000 bytes of memory and a behemothic 2500 bytes of storage.
And it's still running, now safe in the Melbourne Museum, in Australia.
The music programs were stored on hand punched paper tapes and have recently been decoded, over half a century later.
You can listen to the computer's version of Colonel Boogey here
CSIRAC was used to perform a variety of useful tasks. These tasks included:
· parabolic antenna studies
· compilation of astronomical tables
· cloud droplet dynamics
· compilation of aircraft tables
· X-ray crystallography analysis
· design of water storage systems
· coal processing experiment analysis
· weather prediction
· skyscraper design
· Fourier analysis research
The age old machine is now reportedly on its last legs.
News source: Inquirer
