A recent news article on Tadao Hamada, who is keeping a FACOM128B operational.
The FACOM128B is a relay-based computer, so if you watch the embedded video, be prepared for a lot of noise!
From the article:
NUMAZU, Shizuoka Prefecture–Long obsolete and not just a museum piece, an early massive computer developed 60 years ago remains working, thanks to a technician dedicated to preserving it for future generations.
Tadao Hamada believes that keeping the historic FACOM128B operational will help hand down Japan’s technological heritage to posterity.“I will maintain it forever,” said Hamada, 49.
Hamada, an employee of Fujitsu Tokki Systems Ltd., a Fujitsu Ltd. subsidiary, works at a plant here to preserve the aged computer, which weighs three tons. It makes rattling sounds each time it makes a calculation by opening and closing switches using an electromagnet.
I have a copy of the Bell Systems history volume covering computing (unfortunately it’s in my office so I can’t look up the details right now), and they claim to have sold access to a number of relay computers via Teletype, as well as installed a few for customers. I think they were more along the lines of programmable calculators than stored program computers, of course.
