This 1959 computer plays Boards of Canada’s “Olson”
In 1962, MIT student Peter Samson transformed a hulking DEC PDP-1 computer into a musical instrument. His ingenious “Harmony Compiler” program converted the machine’s four status lights into square-wave voices, with each flicker producing a distinct note.
Today, the Computer History Museum maintains what’s …
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Boing Boing to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.