Colossus Cracks Again 88
Posted
by
CmdrTaco
from the now-yer-playing-with-power dept.
from the now-yer-playing-with-power dept.
BOfH writes "The BBC is reporting that following a 14-year rebuild project, the Colossus computer is once again cracking codes at Bletchley Park." They will crack WWII-era encrypted messages, and compete against modern PCs. Fun stuff for crypto nerds and history buffs.
The real question is.... (Score:5, Funny)
Even more important than that . . . (Score:3, Funny)
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You jest, but counting dupes is actually what it does [bromage.org].
How long (Score:3, Funny)
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Link to Bletchley Park (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/ [bletchleypark.org.uk]
It's a great visit. Go check it out. They don't get a lot of funding so they are very dependent on visitors (and volunteers if you live nearby) to help keep things going. They had to sell off some of their land recently to keep going (this is now getting turned into a local housing estate).
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Re:Link to Bletchley Park (Score:5, Funny)
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One of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen was Milton Keynes by the rear-view mirror.
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What military code breaking centres? There are none!
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They had to sell off some of their land recently to keep going (this is now getting turned into a local housing estate).
To be fair, they probably had a lot more land than they needed. I did my apprenticeship there in the 1970s; there was a huge field at the back where we had a whole pile of aviation navigation aids set up, as well as far more squat brick-built huts than anybody could want in peacetime. Of course, the issue with selling off the land is that it means they're living on capital rather than revenue, which I suppose is a problem.
Not as fast as it used to be. (Score:5, Funny)
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And as any fule kno, encryption==piracy.
Didn't know BT could use Lorentz encryption, though - hardcore!
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Old classics (Score:2)
And of course the Herb Alpert classic [franklarosa.com].
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And how is this different. . . (Score:3, Interesting)
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Linux port (Score:2, Funny)
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Cracking codes again (Score:2)
Colossus & Guardian live (Score:1, Funny)
So should we be running for cover?
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When Dr. Forbin says "Never!" he tries to project some hope but his face shows that he realizes it's probably futile and that mankind will have the "peace" they have long sought after.
Only on Colossus's terms.
Goddamn that movie was scary.
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http://www.the-earchives.com/earframe.asp?c=Colossus:%20The%20Forbin%20Project [the-earchives.com]
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I just found out that Paul Frees, who did the voice of Guardian (processed of course), also did Boris Badenov the Russian agent from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show as well as: (Gasp!)
The Pillsbury Doughboy!!!!
I Want a Babbage Engine, Dammit! (Score:2, Funny)
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http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects/computing_and_data_processing/1992-556.aspx?keywords=babbage [sciencemuseum.org.uk]
Re:I Want a Babbage Engine, Dammit! (Score:5, Interesting)
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"Bill Gates funded the construction of the display model on the condition that afterwards, they build him one too"
Do you have a citation for this interesting recollection
Re:I Want a Babbage Engine, Dammit! (Score:4, Funny)
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Bill Gates funded the construction of the display model on the condition that afterwards, they build him one too. Which I presume they did.
I don't know about Bill Gates, but when I was last there (about a year ago) the second one was at an advanced stage of construction. I got talking to a man who was oiling the big steam engine and said I'd noticed they were building a second one. His response was, "Actually, I'm building a second one". His explanation was that when they'd built the first one, enough parts had been machined for two and now they were putting together the second one to go to an American museum.
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See if it can crack this one (Score:1)
First result... (Score:1)
Reading the RSS title ... (Score:3)
Then I realized I have some code to debug.
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The only visuals I've seen of it were on TV or in a YouTube movie...
I've just got my creative moments every now and then!
The first message cracked (Score:4, Funny)
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But... (Score:2)
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It could theoretically be rebuilt to run Linux... but the boot times would be a bit slow? The nearest thing it has to a clock speed is the input rate (that was the limiting factor in decoding) normally 5000 characters/second, was run up to 9700 c/s but it effectively did parallel processing so....
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Ooh, I get to do it this time! (Score:2, Funny)
The 1940s called. (Score:1)
didn't Harvey Keitel crack Enigma (Score:2)
bloody pedant .. :) (Score:2)
Don't be a bloody pedant, the work on cracking Enigma went into designing Colossus. Who's going to play Alan Turing [slashdot.org] in the movie, Jeff Goldblum [imdb.com], or no wait, Turing was a woofter, it would have to be Harvey Fierstein [imdb.com].
Incidentally, Goldblum got the part of Seth Brundle in the Fly [imdb.com] because he once played James Watson [nobelprize.org] in a BBC documtary, once a mad scientist always a mad scientist appariently
was Re:didn't Harvey Keitel crack Enigma
Pedant (Score:2, Informative)
Also is doesn't crack the codes, merely gives the key to crack the codes from Enigma machines. Needs a separate machine to run the de-cypher...
Re:Pedant (Score:4, Informative)
They used bombes to crack Enigma. Colossus was for a completely different cipher called Lorenz
http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/content/machines.rhtm [bletchleypark.org.uk]
Phone exchange registers (Score:2)
Does Colossus work faster (Score:1)
Boom*Tish!
I'll be here all night..... (unfortunately)
In strange quirks of fate... (Score:2)
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OMG!!! (Score:1)
Had to.
One of The First Clockless Systems (Score:3, Interesting)
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At almost sixty miles per hour, one might assume.
Slight mismatch. (Score:1)
I like those odds.
Not competing against modern PCs (Score:1)
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It was built for a single purpose , but it wasn't hardwired for that purpose , it was programmable. In theory its CPU could have played chess instead (though the memory limitations would probably preclude that).
Operating errors essential (Score:1)
Enoch Root is Not Impressed (Score:2, Informative)
I would imagine (Score:1)
What's left? Hilter's laundry list?