From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.0 required=5.0 tests=MAILING_LIST_MULTI autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 16636 invoked from network); 11 Feb 2023 02:53:23 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (2600:3c01:e000:146::1) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 11 Feb 2023 02:53:23 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2306441CA2; Sat, 11 Feb 2023 12:53:20 +1000 (AEST) Received: from lists.tip.net.au (pasta.tip.net.au [IPv6:2401:fc00:0:129::2]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 07DDA41C7B for ; Sat, 11 Feb 2023 12:53:13 +1000 (AEST) Received: from [192.168.1.5] (ppp118-208-189-220.cbr-trn-nor-bras39.tpg.internode.on.net [118.208.189.220]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mailhost.tip.net.au (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 4PDFXQ08L7z9QWs; Sat, 11 Feb 2023 13:53:08 +1100 (AEDT) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Mime-Version: 1.0 (Mac OS X Mail 12.4 \(3445.104.21\)) From: steve jenkin In-Reply-To: <98FF7DD9-2CA4-4347-85B9-5D8B99395712@iitbombay.org> Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2023 13:53:06 +1100 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-Id: References: <6f278982-4616-7fe0-ef2f-37ecd4f2ff23@gmail.com> <98FF7DD9-2CA4-4347-85B9-5D8B99395712@iitbombay.org> To: coff@tuhs.org X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.3445.104.21) Message-ID-Hash: J3CXXTZWERXARRJOHI5UG3G5NLRIPADB X-Message-ID-Hash: J3CXXTZWERXARRJOHI5UG3G5NLRIPADB X-MailFrom: sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; emergency; loop; banned-address; member-moderation; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.6b1 Precedence: list Subject: [COFF] Re: Music! List-Id: Computer Old Farts Forum Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: In 1996, a Unix conference in Melbourne had a visit to the reconstructed = first (valve) computer in Australia, CSIRAC. [ last extracts all about There was a reconstructed audio of =E2=80=99tunes=E2=80=99 played in = 1951 at a conference. I recall at the time being told that an AM radio had, at one time, been = used to play tunes from the beast. They controlled square waves produced by ALU for different amplitudes on = a single frequency to approximate AM.=20 Can=E2=80=99t find a reference to that now :( Dave Horsfall, IIRC, was at that event & knows radio. Might correct my recollection. There was a loudspeaker connected to the machine, which seems to be all = that=E2=80=99s written about. CSIRAC is the only pre-1950 computer in the world to be preserved. All others were broken up for scrap - their useful life over. IIRC, the console of the Manchester Mk 1 was found near a railway line, = used as part of a retaining wall. It was preserved accidentally, not for any good reason but the lack of = industry / imagination of Australia bureaucrats and cheap wharehouse storage :) When I worked on early IBM 370=E2=80=99s, older operators talked about = tuning in (AM) radios to systems to monitor operation - no refs, sorry. Exactly what=E2=80=99s mentioned in this note and another with the line = spooler. > On 11 Feb 2023, at 06:05, Bakul Shah wrote: >=20 > Somewhat related: there was enough RF leakage when the Fortune = motherboard was not in the case. I could "tune into it" near a Jazz FM = station. > That was quite useful because the noise pattern changed depending on = what the system was doing.=20 =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Long article by working expert, well illustrated. CSIRAC Since I deal with the history of computer music as I could not = dedicate an article to this subject also?=20 For many readers far from new but definitely important to form a = complete picture of what happened at the turn of the fifties. In the last months of 2014, I worked to put together the facts = of some pioneering experiences of computer music=20 that took place in the United States, more or less in the same = years of CSIRAC.=20 =46rom this point of view, the Australian experiment completes = the path that I presented in October 2014=20 at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome on the = occasion of the 20th Colloquium on Music Informatics. =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D CSIRAC links The Computer CSIRAC, Film, 1965. CSIRO Film Unit [ on occasion of decommissioning ] 15 min =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D The music of CSIRAC This is a very brief extract from the book Australia=E2=80=99s = First Computer Music,=20 available in Australia through Common Ground Publishing=20= and internationally through Amazon. Used with kind permission. Paul Doornbusch=20 =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D The loudspeaker: The music of CSIRAC Although the musical developments with the CSIR Mk1 were = accomplished in isolation and with no precedence,=20 it was not unique at that time.=20 The music played by the Ferranti Mark I was recorded by the BBC = in September 1951. Reconstruction of the music played by CSIRAC Audio reconstruction of CSIRAC playing Colonel Bogey = (MOV 76.5 KB) (c.1951) 77kB = Acknowledgements, The music of CSIRAC Sources & Links =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D The music played by CSIRAC The first programmers of the CSIR Mk1 were Geoff Hill and Trevor = Pearcey. Geoff Hill had perfect pitch and came from a very musical = family. Hill was the first person to program the CSIR Mk1 to play a = musical melody. It was played publicly for the first public exhibition of the = computer on the 7th to 9th of August in 1951, at the inaugural Conference of Automatic Computing = Machines in Sydney. Audio =E2=80=93 The technical feature more interesting, given = the subject of this site, was the presence of a speaker.=20 The fact that the CSIR MK1 was equipped with a device of this = kind was not a big news,=20 since also others computer in circulation in those years had a = pretty common thing. =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D The Last of the First, CSIRAC: Australia=E2=80=99s First Computer (PDF 4.9 MB) Book many images, many interviews. =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Geoffrey W Hill The CSIR Mk1 ran its first test programs in late 1949,=20 and it was the fifth electronic stored program computer ever = developed. It embodied many features novel at the time and was able to = operate more than 1000 times faster than the best mechanical = calculators.=20 The machine was officially opened in 1951 and used to solve = problems both for the Radiophysics Laboratory and outside organisations. It was decommissioned in 1955 and shipped to Melbourne. Geoff Hill was the main programmer at that time and he used the = machine to play musical melodies.=20 These melodies, mostly from popular songs, were; =E2=80=98Colonel Bogey=E2=80=99, =E2=80=98Bonnie = Banks=E2=80=99, =E2=80=98Girl with Flaxen Hair=E2=80=99 and so on. The CSIR Mk1 was dismantled in mid 1955 and moved to The = University of Melbourne.=20 On 14 June 1956 the Mk1 was recommissioned and renamed CSIRAC=20 and the new Computation Laboratory at the University of = Melbourne was officially opened.=20 CSIRAC was available as a general computing workhorse and in the = period from June 1956 to June 1964 processed over 700 computing = projects. In November 1964, Dr. Frank Hirst switched CSIRAC off for the = last time and it was donated to the Museum of Victoria. =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D CSIRAC Collection 5 images =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D CSIRAC, The First Computer in Australia, 1949-1964 CSIRAC, designed and built by CSIR scientists, was the first = stored-memory electronic computer in Australia. In 1996, CSIRAC was loaned to the Department of Computer Science = at the University of Melbourne=20 where it was reassembled and used as the centrepiece for a = conference=20 celebrating the 40th anniversary of its recommissioning in = Melbourne in June 1956,=20 which brought together computing pioneers who had worked with = CSIRAC.=20 The machine was again temporarily displayed by the Museum at its = Moreland store in November 1999, at a celebration to mark its 50th = anniversary.=20 Following several years of dedicated work by Museum staff and = volunteers from the CSIRAC history team at the University of Melbourne,=20= CSIRAC was placed back on public display,=20 forming the centrepiece of the @digital.au exhibition in the = Science & Life Gallery=20 when the new Melbourne Museum opened at Carlton Gardens in = October 2000.=20 The display presented the computer as it appeared when set up at = the University of Melbourne Computation Laboratory in 1956. In November 2010, CSIRAC was transferred to a smaller display on = the west side of the Lower Ground Floor Entrance Lobby at Melbourne = Museum In November 2017, CSIRAC was transferred to Scienceworks in = Spotswood,=20 where it was initially held in temporary storage, before being placed on public display once again in June 2018. =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D -- Steve Jenkin, IT Systems and Design=20 0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915) PO Box 38, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA mailto:sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin