We lived in Manchester from 1976 to 1979 working at Risley on the ICL project to deliver and commission a flagship 2980 “New Range” computer to the UKAEA.
The project started in winter 1976 with portakabins in a sea of mud…
A new building was requied to house the computer, which was delivered just before Christmas 1976.
Risley Gazette, January 1977.
This is the Central Processor (CPU/OCP) which had the power of an Intel 286 (PC circa 1992).
There were 20 x EDS200, each the size of a washing machine, gives a total disc capacity of 4 Gigabytes.
The dream of the project was to have an ICL machine in all the Generating boards.
When the machines reached the end of their life, they were sold for scrap – the gold used in the electrical contacts was the only thing of value.
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