Jim Austin's first computer
The majority of the items in the exhibition come from Jim Austin's personal computer collection. Jim was a member of the department of computer science for over 30 years and during this time took any defunct and unwanted computer that the department discarded.
Jim started his interest in computers by building his own computer when he was 16. He had an interest in electronics and saw the introduction of the microprocessor in 1972. He was reading the various magazines on the subject (no internet then!) and saw a computer kit called SCRUMPY (simple cost effective microprocessor). This is the board on the top of the computer. Jim then went on tp design interfaces to old teletype machines ( the ASR 33 and the one shown here), a computer screen from an old Wang computer, a digital cassette interface and EPROM programmer.
The SCRUMPY board turns out to be the first kit computer in the UK. Before that you had to buy a complete computer or get a kit from the USA. As such it has great historical significance.