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Photos: Missile detecting DEC computer
Handy for when Jaguars go missing...

By Andy McCue

Published: Tuesday 16 September 2008

This is a DEC seismometer array station processor, used to detect earthquakes, on display at the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park.

The DEC PDP 1134, pictured here, was a popular machine in the 1970s and was used widely in industry.

Kevin Murrell, trustee at the National Museum of Computing, told silicon.com: "When the nuclear test ban treaty was announced in the 1990s and air explosions of nuclear missiles were banned, everything was done underground and this machine was used to actually detect those underground explosions. Several of these machines were set up with seismic arrays around the world."

See the DEC PDP 1134 in action on video here…

Photo credit: Andy McCue/silicon.com