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The top shelf contains remnants of the Nova 1220 that was the main computer at SAAO in the 1970s. Its magnetic core memory was 16KB. It had many accessories: paper tape, magnetic tape and casette, punched cards and a 2.5 MB disc. Also shown are a primitive card punch and several media. The 80-column cards were ubiquitous in the early days of electronic computers.
The next shelf has many items that would have been on computers' desks. The oldest is a very early multi-hole punch that was designed by GB Airy, quondam UK Astronomer Royal. On the right is a cylindrical slide rule from 1900 that offered a long spiral scale and relatively high accuracy.
The third shelf down has a copy of Crelle's tables and an electromechanical calculator.
The bottom shelf has a manual calculating machine and another electromechanical one.
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