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When Exploring Grandparents’ Basement, Young Man Finds Rare Computers From The 1950s And 1970s, Revealing Forgotten Technology Relics
When exploring his grandparents’ basement, a young man made a surprising discovery. Instead of common antique objects, he found extremely rare and old computers, some with over six decades of existence. The find drew attention because these were machines not usually seen in homes.
The highlight is the Librascope LGP-30, released in 1955. With over 66 years of age, this machine weighed 362 kilograms, measured about one meter wide, and had only 15.8 KB of storage.
Despite its technical limitations by today’s standards, at the time it was considered an advancement. Only 45 units were produced in Europe. The estimated value today, adjusted for inflation, exceeds 2.4 million reais.
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Another curious piece of equipment is the Flexowriter. At first glance, it looks like a common typewriter.
However, it was an input device used to control calculators. In other words, it was a direct predecessor of modern keyboards. Its presence reinforces the historical value of the collection found.
The collection also included two examples of the PDP-8/e, a line of minicomputers launched between 1970 and 1978.
Each of them weighed about 41 kilograms and was capable of performing 385,000 additions per second. At the time, they cost $6,500, which today corresponds to approximately 214 thousand reais per unit.
The PDP-8/e is considered a milestone for making computing more accessible for universities and research centers.
These computers, in the 1960s, were mainly used in areas such as medicine and science.
It was not common to find them in homes due to their high cost and size. That is why the find attracted so much attention among technology history enthusiasts.
According to the grandson, his grandfather used the equipment for civil engineering calculations. The discovery was shared on Reddit by the user c-wizz, two years ago. He reported that he was looking for a museum that could take in the old machines.
To this day, it is unclear whether the computers were preserved, donated, or sold. The fate of these computing relics remains a mystery.
With information from Xataka.
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