Recently, I played a small part in a very exciting software archaeology project…
Professors David Duce and Bob Hopgood with help from Dik Leatherdale have ‘re-made’ The Flexipede, using the original punchcards.
This task involved a great deal of work and has shed new light on how the first computer generated cartoon character came into existence and opened it’s eyes for the first time.
You can read Professor Bob Hopgood’s full account here.
and an abridged version in The Computer Conservation Society’s ‘Resurrection Magazine’, here.
A huge thank you to Dik Leatherdale for publishing the below in the Spring edition, (Issue 89) of Resurrection Magazine:
I must add a thank you here to Dr. Victoria Marshall for all her help and for coming up with the idea in the first place.
Thanks also to Paul Hopgood for cleaning up the sound track.
By scrolling though the above carousel, you can access some of the manuals from the archive that were used.
Physical copies will be donated to Dr. Victoria Marshall at RAL on completion of this documentary project. These virtual versions were created by Prof. Hopgood.
Working with David and Bob has been an enlightening and humbling experience.
Re-creating ‘The Flexipede’ was not an easy task, even for the likes of the profs.
Their combined efforts shed new light on Tony Pritchett’s process.
Thank you David and Bob for showing a modern-day coding and animation audience what a huge achievement Tony Pritchett’s little film was.
For more information about Tony Pritchett’s work, please click here.
