On an Internet forum, a user posted what he found in his basement: a computer from 1956. Only 45 of the legendary computers were ever made.
Only 45 copies of the so-called European-made magnetic drum computer are said to have been produced. One of them is in the technology museum at the University of Stuttgart.
Despite its heavy weight of almost 400 kilograms and its enormous size, the computer is considered the first version of today’s personal computer. At $47,000, the computer was relatively cheap at the time.
According to “ArsTechnica,” the computer has 113 vacuum tubes, 1,450 solid-state diodes, and a rotating magnetic drum memory. It is a tube that reached 3,700 revolutions per minute and could store 4,096 words, which is equivalent to about 16 kilobytes.
Paper tape reader and input console
Next to the LGP-30 mainframe, the user found an input console for the computer, which looks like a typewriter and was responsible for input and output. He also discovered a tape reader for external data storage in the basement.
The Reddit user can’t explain why the rare computer was in his grandparents’ basement. He just wrote that his grandfather probably used it for structural calculations in the 1960s.
Judging by the images, the computer is not in good technical condition. “It would be great if someone could get this working again,” the Reddit user wrote. He found a museum in Germany that had a working LGP-30 and wanted to contact it. It probably refers to the technology museum at the University of Stuttgart.
In addition to the LGP-30, the Reddit user found another vintage calculator in his grandfather’s basement: a PDP-8 mini calculator made in the 1960s.
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