crazylegs
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Colossus cracks codes again
A code-cracking computer developed during the Second World War to intercept encrypted Nazi messages has returned to action.
Colossus, the world's first programmable digital computer, will begin the task of unravelling an encoded message transmitted from the continent.
The historic exercise marks the launch of the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, where Colossus was created in the 1940s.
The 10 Mark II Colossus machines made enabled code breakers at Bletchley to decipher top-secret communications sent by the Nazi high command, leading to the war being shortened by many months and saving thousands of lives.
The machines, which began operating in 1944, were so fast that a mid-range modern PC programmed to perform a similar code-breaking task would take as long as Colossus to achieve a result, the museum said.
Owing to the secrecy surrounding Colossus at the time, Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered the destruction of all the machines in 1945 following the Allied victory.
Over the past 14 years, experts have painstakingly rebuilt a Colossus Mark II computer using stolen design plans and by gleaning information from those involved in the creation of the original.
A message will be sent from Paderborn in Germany after having been encoded by a 1938 Lorenz cipher machine, the same as that used by the Nazis in the war.
Unlike war-time, however, the transmission will be entirely peaceful in content.
The rebuilt Colossus machine will then endeavour to decipher the message. A group of amateur code breakers using modern equipment will also try to unravel the code.
http://tech.uk.msn.com/news/article.aspx?cp-documentid=6698020
Cannot believe that some of these machines are not so out of date as we think they are..Go Collossus....
A code-cracking computer developed during the Second World War to intercept encrypted Nazi messages has returned to action.
Colossus, the world's first programmable digital computer, will begin the task of unravelling an encoded message transmitted from the continent.
The historic exercise marks the launch of the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, where Colossus was created in the 1940s.
The 10 Mark II Colossus machines made enabled code breakers at Bletchley to decipher top-secret communications sent by the Nazi high command, leading to the war being shortened by many months and saving thousands of lives.
The machines, which began operating in 1944, were so fast that a mid-range modern PC programmed to perform a similar code-breaking task would take as long as Colossus to achieve a result, the museum said.
Owing to the secrecy surrounding Colossus at the time, Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered the destruction of all the machines in 1945 following the Allied victory.
Over the past 14 years, experts have painstakingly rebuilt a Colossus Mark II computer using stolen design plans and by gleaning information from those involved in the creation of the original.
A message will be sent from Paderborn in Germany after having been encoded by a 1938 Lorenz cipher machine, the same as that used by the Nazis in the war.
Unlike war-time, however, the transmission will be entirely peaceful in content.
The rebuilt Colossus machine will then endeavour to decipher the message. A group of amateur code breakers using modern equipment will also try to unravel the code.
http://tech.uk.msn.com/news/article.aspx?cp-documentid=6698020
Cannot believe that some of these machines are not so out of date as we think they are..Go Collossus....
