Jim Austin Computer Collection


EDSAC II Module from a valve computer	IBM 3084 mainframe	IBM BlueGene/L supercomputer	Cray T3E AC supercomputer	mits altair 8800b	1970 Drum store

We now have a great exhibition of machines, including the IBM mainframe, NEC, Cray, SGI, Sun and Fujitsu supercomputers, calculators - over 250 on show.

Drop me a line if you would like to visit. If you would like to stay for a holiday, we have a holiday cottage next to the collection.

An IBM BlueGene/L has been donated from the collection from Edinburgh University, this is the fastest machine in the collection at over 3 Tf (3,000,000,000,000 floating point operations per second). Also a Cray XD1 to add to the growing collection of crays.

I have given a short overview of the collection here to help you see, and understand the best machines in the collection.

These pages describe a large collection of computers that has been built over the last 25 years by me, Prof. Jim Austin.. The collection holds over 500 machines and focuses on small machines to very large main frames and super computers. The aim has been to save machines that would otherwise be forgotten! The collection is unique from others on the Internet as it concentrates on machines from each generation - these are defined by the technology they are based on i.e. mechanical, relay, valve, transistor, small scale integration, medium scale integration and large scale integration. The machines are from 1960's onwards, often used only for scientific research and many of which you won't find anywhere else on the web. Many of the machines are not indexed here, I will get around to it some day.

All the systems shown on the site are real and in the collection. These range from mechanical machines, relay machines, parts of valve based machines, through transistors to VLSI.

I'm looking for information on all the machines in the collection, as there is very little on them at the moment, please use this form if you have any information on the computers, I am looking for both technical information and your own personal thoughts, so if you have any experience with these machines please get in touch.

I hope you enjoy the site and will see some of the machines from the past are worth collecting!

Thanks to loads of people who have helped, donated, shifted the machines, most notably Gary Morgan who has loaned me some of the machines!

If you want to see what I do as a day job, please visit my site at the University of York and the company I run Cybula Ltd.

The Jim Austin Computer Collection