The National Museum of Computing needs some rent money

[tggzzz]

The National Museum of Computing, next door to the bog-standard boring Bletchley Park museum, has no visitors at the moment and needs financial help to pay the rent.

TNMoC is one of the few museums I really like:

• The subject matter is superb, including the world's oldest operating computer, several working "big iron" machines, mechanical computers, personal computers, calculators, magazines etc etc.
• You can get up close, touch and play with some of the exhibits, e.g. the noise and feel of an ASR33 is extremely evocative - but don't expect to be able to touch type!
• And, most notably, the attendants actually know about the exhibits. The first time I saw a working Elliott 803 in 40 years, the attendant whipped out the circuit diagrams and we discussed them. The logic gates are typically a single transistor plus some magentic components

So, when I received a post brazenly asking for help, I actually did make a small donation. Thanks MosherIV

So my small contribution is to ask others to contribute, as per MosherIV's post and/or via the TNMoC link above.

[pamphonica]

Good call.  I've also made a small donation.
It's a fantastic place.  Orphaned from Bletchley Park itself when they went all posh with Lottery Funding.  But who laughs last?  TNMoC has the Tunny, Heath Robinson, Bombe and Colossus machines which sit at the core of Bletchley Park's success. 
If anyone plans to visit Bletchley Park when it re-opens, think about making it a long day and save a few hours to visit The National Museum of Computing as well.

[tggzzz]

If anyone plans to visit Bletchley Park when it re-opens, think about making it a long day and save a few hours to visit The National Museum of Computing as well.

Wrong priority and wrong order

[bd139]

Indeed. I hit TNMoC first and skipped Bletchley afterwards

An excellent cause and an excellent day out 

[tggzzz]

I first hit TNMoC after the Dunstable Hamfest.

The next year I hit Bletchley Park, and there was still time for a quick visit to TNMoC.

'Nuff said.

[bd139]

Also a point: if you're an RSGB member you get free entry into Bletchley [1] leaving you more money to donate to TNMoC 

[1] https://rsgb.org/main/myrsgb-2/bletchley-park-free-visitors-voucher/

[Syntax Error]

Donations to pay the rent? So nice to see that during this global crisis when almost everyone is having their incomes destroyed by their own government's, that landlords are helping themselves to other people's charity. Greedy fat cat profiteers, and that's me being polite.

[tggzzz]

Donations to pay the rent? So nice to see that during this global crisis when almost everyone is having their incomes destroyed by their own government's, that landlords are helping themselves to other people's charity. Greedy fat cat profiteers, and that's me being polite.

Clearly you've never been to TNMoC. That colours how your statement should be evaluated (in addition to its heavily political slant).

[schmitt trigger]

Before the Covid-19 hit, I had a scheduled trip to London.

Don't know when that trip assignment (or if at all) will be fulfilled, but in case it does, how difficult is to get from London to the museum?

BTW, I can navigate my way around the Tube.

[bd139]

It's walking distance (10 mins I reckon) from Bletchley station which is 40 minutes out of Euston station.

[chriva]

If I ever get the chance, I intend to visit it.

Spoke to one of their workers a while back when he streamed some gameplay for us on YouTube. Nice chap

[DmitryL]

IMHO the post about this on TheRegister might help a lot.

[Syntax Error]

Clearly you've never been to TNMoC. That colours how your statement should be evaluated (in addition to its heavily political slant).

Yes I have and TNMoC is a very sacred place to all computer geeks.

However, my point echoes the wider issue of what makes landlords exempt from incurring losses at this time? The UK goverment does offer financial assistance to corporate landlords, so I doubt any will have to join the socially spaced queue at the local food bank. Maybe think about donating to your local food bank as well?

[bd139]

Can we keep politics out of this thread at least. They were running a deficit before this shit show on the last accounts filed of £33k so I fail to see the relevance of turning this into a discussion of landlords.

Donate, promote. That's the best outcome for all involved. Politicising it detracts from the cause.

[themadhippy]

Must get over there once its re opened,if only to see if our garden shed is still around and remind myself exactly how long that trench was we hand dug around an old accommodation block that BT decided to knock down .

[tggzzz]

Can we keep politics out of this thread at least. They were running a deficit before this shit show on the last accounts filed of £33k so I fail to see the relevance of turning this into a discussion of landlords.

Donate, promote. That's the best outcome for all involved. Politicising it detracts from the cause.

Seconded, wholeheartedly.

[schmitt trigger]

Went for the limited "virtual tour" available at its website.

Even though what one can see is limited, one can easily see that this is not only UK's heritage, this is really a World heritage site.

Thus, even though my chances of ever seeing it personally are measured at the PPM level, I still made a small donation.

Technical history worth conserving.

BTW, there is a very good Youtube video:

[tggzzz]

Even though what one can see is limited, one can easily see that this is not only UK's heritage, this is really a World heritage site.

Thus, even though my chances of ever seeing it personally are measured at the PPM level, I still made a small donation.

That is true, and it is a shame you probably won't get to see it. But there's always hope.

What the video can't show is the atmosphere of the place: a bunch of very knowledgeable enthusiasts who want to share that with others. I don't know what will happen as they die off

Thanks for the donation!

[ADJohnson]

Let me chip in (I volunteer there in a number of capacities):

• TNMoC should always be visited before Bletchley Park.  As has been pointed out, it has working exhibits and extremely knowledgeable people who know more about The Bombe, Collossus, Tunny, Heath Robinson, Enigma, Lorenz and so on than any of the BP guides, except for those who are also TNMoC guides.
• The train from London Euston is pretty much every 30minutes.  Get off at Bletchley station and Bletchley Park is pretty much in front of you.  Once through the barriers (for vehicles) keep going and follow the road around the corner, all the way to the top past the roundabout.  If you walk as far as you until you bump into a building, you’ve arrived.
• Plan for about 4-4.5 hours.  Really.
• Weekdays are quieter but there are more guides on Weekends.  There are always guides for the Bombe and Colossus every day except Monday
• Because it is closed Mondays!  Don’t come on a Monday UNLESS it is a Bank Holiday Monday.  Open on Bank Holidays.
• Become a member for £45 a year and you get free entry for the year and, Covid lockdown notwithstanding, two meetings a year with presentations as well as some social events if that rocks your world.  Seriously, this is excellent value for money and really helps the museum.
• Consider volunteering.  You don’t need to know specifics, or anything really, just be willing to get involved.  You will get a mentor to help you and if you fancy getting to grips with maintaining a machine, you’ll get support to do it.  You don’t have to be close, or come in every day - we have volunteers from Cumbria (about 4-5 hours away by car) and Austria!
• We have an excellent library that volunteers have access to.  Want to learn how to program EDSAC?  We have a first edition programming book by Maurice Wilkes to learn from.  In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it is the first ever programming manual.
• You get to see decimal memory.  Read numbers directly from The Witch’s memory (possibly faster than the machine itself!)

[tggzzz]

A couple of days ago they were, IIRC, around £30k pledged against a £50k request.

I've just received an email that they have reached the £50k, so that's one piece of good news.

[bd139]

Excellent news. Thanks for the update