The GEC 4000 Series Minicomputers - Where did they go?

By Bassoonbloke.

The GEC 4000 series minicomputers were probably going to be the big British computers for science and industry, however they seem to have vanished from history. As far as i can determine, they were only just on a par with the systems that were available when they were released and were quickly beaten by the DEC mini's coming from the USA.

I am the prowd owner of a GEC 4070 system that was retired (after approx 30 years) from the RAL site in the UK. My system is not complete, but i have enough to be going on with. The main problem is still a lack of in depth technical details (the manuals on this site were supplied by myself and are everything i have managed to get together!).

I am currenty running my system (Processor Crate and 512K Memory Storage crate) using 2 times 5V 60A PSU's and a couple of small SM PSU's for ancilliary +/- 15V -5V.

If anyone out there has any additional information, or has worked on these computers i would very much appreciate it if you could contact me.

More to follow as and when things go forward.

Alan Harradence.