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Old 7th Dec 2019, 3:14 pm   #1
AC/HL
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Default Leo the Lyon!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07w35tw
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Old 7th Dec 2019, 8:19 pm   #2
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Default Re: Leo the Lyon!

I bet all that could be built into a single laptop, possibly even a mobile phone now.....!
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Old 7th Dec 2019, 8:37 pm   #3
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Default Re: Leo the Lyon!

I t has 2k of 35 bit words, call that 10k bytes and ran at 500kHz, a 50p PIC has lots more power and the same ram plus lots of ROM. Leo had the programme in RAM, now that's proper programming!
 
Old 7th Dec 2019, 10:12 pm   #4
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Default Re: Leo the Lyon!

So, who on here is going to build a replica?
Who's got a big enough house?
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Old 7th Dec 2019, 10:36 pm   #5
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Default Re: Leo the Lyon!

I borrowed a book from the library about Lyons Tea Houses and their computer system. So interesting. Way ahead of their time!
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Old 8th Dec 2019, 12:04 am   #6
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Default Re: Leo the Lyon!

Demo software available from British Computer Society
http://sw.ccs.bcs.org/leo/
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Old 8th Dec 2019, 12:09 am   #7
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Default Re: Leo the Lyon!

I bought a few 1/2 inch tape reels from M&B in the seventies with LEO in that typefont on them, intending to machine the spacer for 1/4 tape. Should have kept them. I knew Leo was an old computer but knew nothing further at the time.

David
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Old 8th Dec 2019, 12:27 am   #8
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Default Re: Leo the Lyon!

What a lovely and clearly smart lady.
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Old 8th Dec 2019, 7:51 am   #9
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Default Re: Leo the Lyon!

Quote:
Originally Posted by wireless_john View Post
I borrowed a book from the library about Lyons Tea Houses and their computer system. So interesting. Way ahead of their time!
This one? :- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Computer-Ca...r%2C158&sr=1-1

It`s excellent.
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Old 8th Dec 2019, 12:28 pm   #10
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Default Re: Leo the Lyon!

Quote:
Originally Posted by merlinmaxwell View Post
I t has 2k of 35 bit words, call that 10k bytes and ran at 500kHz, a 50p PIC has lots more power and the same ram plus lots of ROM. Leo had the programme in RAM, now that's proper programming!
I recall learning about Leo in school science lessons. It was the latest innovation at that time.

Then at university, our computer lectures were mainly about analogue differential analysers, which were far from the latest thing!

Martin
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Old 8th Dec 2019, 2:45 pm   #11
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Default Re: Leo the Lyon!

And those analogue computers were an awful lot harder to learn about than the new-fangled digital stuff.

Setting up to solve a differentia equation meant starting from understanding the differential equation and what it described.

Exercises on the digital machines were relatively trivial.... write a little programme to calculate 19*X-27 for X=0 to X=100 and display 6 digits with two decimal places.
Easy!

Too easy! these digital things just didn't have the sophistication of the analogue machines. Any fool could programme them. They'd never catch on!

David
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Old 9th Dec 2019, 8:40 am   #12
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Default Re: Leo the Lyon!

Hi

The description of the system includes an 'Assembler' which gets all the input ready for processing - is this the origin of the name for machine code porgramming - is assembly language?

Also just found a reference to C-Lines, the origin of 'C' perhaps though the generally accepted reason appears to be it was affer B!

Also interesting was that the format for the processing could be decimal or sterling! But I suppose not that surprising given its prime function.


Cheers
James

Last edited by jamesinnewcastl; 9th Dec 2019 at 9:09 am. Reason: Reference to B added
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Old 9th Dec 2019, 1:58 pm   #13
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Default Re: Leo the Lyon!

A few years ago I bought a book about the development of LEO. Fascinating reading, although it seems to be missing from the bookshelf.
Another good one is ELECTRONIC BRAINS: Stories from the Dawn of the Computer Age, by Mike Halley.
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