Speakers and exhibitors list growing rapidly
8 March 2010
One of the leading innovators of British microchip and computing technology will be a special guest at Britain’s first Vintage Computer Festival to be held at The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park on 19-20 June 2010.
Sophie Wilson, co-designer of the BBC micro – the machine that introduced computing to a generation – and developer of the RISC/ARM processor – the chip at the heart of over 90% of mobile phones – will talk about her time and experiences at Acorn, when British brains led the world in the microcomputer revolution.
“We are thrilled to have Sophie Wilson as a key speaker at this first British Vintage Computing Festival,” said Simon Hewitt, VCF Programme Co-ordinator at TNMOC. “Anyone whose first computing experience was on a BBC B, and anyone who uses a mobile phone will be familiar with her work. This is a rare opportunity to hear her speak.”
Hewitt continued: “The list of exhibitors, speakers and special guests is growing rapidly and we have some excellent surprises in store. Tickets, costing only £10, will be going on sale in April and we will be releasing more news as speakers and exhibitions are confirmed.”
Already other confirmed speakers include Christine Finn, print and broadcast journalist, and author of ‘Artifacts: an archaeologist's year in Silicon Valley’, ZX Spectrum expert and former games developer Chris Smith, and Karl Pantling-James from the Retro Computer Museum. TNMOC’s own system restoration experts including Tony Sale, leader of the Colossus rebuild project, and Tony Frazer, project manager of the Harwell/WITCH computer restoration, will also be in the line-up.
One of the largest exhibitors will be Acorn World which will also be there in force with a display including Acorn micros through the ages, BBC games, a fully working Domesday system, new and retro software and even a Beeb repair centre where visitors can bring faulty BBC Micros in hope and expectation of a quick fix.
Retro-gamers will be in their element at the Retro Computer Museum with an eclectic display of hands-on systems, consoles and a special gaming competition. Other exhibitors include Amiga and Atari user groups, the SpectraNet project, the Sundown Demoparty team, and the MK Amateur Radio Society.
To keep up-to-date with the rapidly expanding programme, see http://tnmoc.org/39/section.aspx/124.
For general enquiries and to join the mailing list, email vcf@tnmoc.org.
Media sponsors of the event are ZDNet. Companies interested in sponsoring other elements of the event should contact Kevin Murrell: email kevin.murrell@tnmoc.org
About The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park
The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park, an independent charity, houses the largest collection of functional historic computers in Europe, including a rebuilt Colossus, the world’s first electronic programmable computer.
The Museum complements the Bletchley Park Trust’s story of code breaking up to the Colossus and allows visitors to follow the development of computing from the ultra-secret pioneering efforts of the 1940s through the mainframes of the 1960s and 1970s, and the rise of personal computing in the 1980s. New working exhibits are regularly unveiled and the public can already view a rebuilt and fully operational Colossus, the restoration of the Harwell / WITCH computer, and an ICL 2966, one of the workhorse mainframes computers of the 1980s, plus many of the earliest desktops of the 1980s and 1990s. The latest display is the much-talked-about Technology of the Internet gallery. In June 2010 TNMOC will host Britain’s first-ever Vintage Computer Festival.
The Museum has recently launched a Foundation Sponsorship Programme for corporate. To date, funders of the Museum include BCS, PGP Corporation, IBM, NPL, HP Labs, InsightSoftware.com, Black Marble, and the School of Computer Science at the University of Hertfordshire.
The Museum is currently open on Thursdays and Saturdays from 1pm, and on Bank Holidays in spring and summer. Groups may visit at other times by arrangement.
For more information, see www.tnmoc.org and follow @tnmoc on Twitter.
Media Contacts
Stephen Fleming at Palam Communications
t +44 ( 0) 1635 299116
e sfleming@palam.co.uk