Retrocomputing
Early Electronic Computing in Belgium: Analysis and Simulation of the IRSIA FNRS Mathematical Machine
<p>The first generation of computers (vacuum tube-based) emerged from WWII for scientific, military, or business purposes. In this pioneering time, the term “mathematical machines” was also used to distinguish them from human computers.
This talk presents a working software simulator of the Belgian Mathematical Machine (MMIF), a little-known computer funded after WWII by IRSIA-FNRS and inaugurated 70 years ago at the Bell Company in Antwerp. We will show, including using the stepping mode, how it deals with programs and data using separate "RAM" drums (Harvard-style) and carries out computations with a high-precision floating-point calculation unit. You will discover the not-so-odd instruction set, coding style and how complex functions required for applications in ballistics and thermodynamics were implemented as a specific library. In addition to releasing the simulator as Open Source, the NAM-IP museum also publicly archived the available technical documentation.</p>
Additional information
| Live Stream | https://live.fosdem.org/watch/h1302 |
|---|---|
| Type | devroom |
| Language | English |
More sessions
| 2/1/26 |
<p>Introduction & Welcome to the Retrocomputing devroom</p>
|
| 2/1/26 |
<p>When the Eliza psychotherapist chatbot was released by Joseph Weizenbaum, in 1966, people believed it real. Even the secretary of its creator thought the machine had feelings, as they discussed relationships and personal issues. But why? How could a simple computer text interface act so human?</p> <p>In this session our speaker, a computer historian and associate at the Centre for Computer History, uncovers the workings of Eliza, the Eliza effect, and its impact in the modern world and films ...
|
| 2/1/26 |
<p>The talk covers an evolution of widget toolkits, which have been started 40 years ago along with the historical changes in a desktop GUI. Widget toolkits are reviewed from three points of view: architecture, user experience, and programming principles. More than 90% of historically significant widget toolkits have open source licenses: some are opensourced after decrease of their commercial demand (like OpenLook and Motif), others are developed as a part of FLOSS world (Tcl/Tk, GTK+, Qt) or ...
|
| 2/1/26 |
<p>About one month after I was born in 1983 a company called MCI introduced their "Electronic mail" system. Originally a BBS-style system, where users dialed into MCI to edit, send, and receive mail. Users could send electronic mail to each other, send a physical letters, and even manage their telexes without ever leaving the comfort of whatever room they had with a telephone and an acoustic coupler.</p> <p>It became necessary to have offline email clients. Rather than use SMTP or POP they came ...
|
| 2/1/26 |
<p>The Neo Geo, the classic cartridge-based arcade and home video game system turned 35 in 2025. By now, it has been thoroughly reverse-engineered and documented online. Recently, there has been a surge in homebrew demos and newly published homebrew games for the Neo Geo. And although development in 2026 is way easier than it was in the 90's, too many available tools are still GUI-only, closed-source or Windows-only binaries, which leaves a lot to be desired. ngdevkit [1] was born out of this ...
|
| 2/1/26 |
<p>In this talk we'll explore the fascinating world of emulators and recompilation, by building together a dynamic recompiler for NES games, which will translate in real time code written for the game system into machine code directly executable by our host computer.</p>
|
| 2/1/26 |
<p>The Z80 CPU has been extremely popular in home computers of the eighties, but as 16-bit and 32-bit processors became more popular, the only new computers built using the Z80 were continuations of some legacy lines (like the Amstrad PCW).</p> <p>And yet, in 1999 a company named Cidco unveiled a completely new computer line named the MailStation. with a Z80 CPU clocked at 12 MHz and 128 kB of RAM. It was a specialized machine for sending and receiving emails, addressed at people for whom ...
|
