Alan Turing's ACE computer is a legendary computer that is particularly special for I Programmer - our account of it was the first ever history article on the site when it launched in 2009. Now this iconic machine is being rendered as a fully working virtual machine. Once it's complete we'll be able to interact with it.

This project is been undertaken by Martin Gillow and is the latest in a series of virtual reality experiences of the historic computing machines curated by TNMOC, the UK's National Museum of Computing.

The original was Gillow's Virtual Colossus, which was brought onto our radar again by this item on Boing Boing. What we discovered when we followed the link to Virtual Colossus is that a lot of work has been done in the last few years.

It has a revamped website which showcases the latest 3D versions of both Virtual Colossus and Virtual Lorenz, which we've met previously.

There are also six new Virtual machines you can interact with.

For more about these machines on I Programmer, follow the links in Related Articles.

The website also reveals that the software used for the latest versions include three.js, a free-to-use cross-browser JavaScript library for creating 3D computer graphics in a web browser and Blender, a free and open source 3D creation suite which was used to create the models. 

More Information

Tinker with a virtual Colossus (Boing Boing)

Virtual Colossus

Virtual Colossus on Facebook

The National Museum of Computing

The Colossus Gallery

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