Whitechapel Computer Works
Encyclopedia
Whitechapel Computer Works Ltd. (WCW) was a computer
workstation
company formed in the East End of London
, United Kingdom
in April 1983, with investment from the Greater London Enterprise Board and the Department of Trade and Industry.
Their first workstation model was the MG-1 (named after the Milliard Gargantubrain from The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy). The MG-1 was based on the National Semiconductor
NS32016 microprocessor
, with a 1024 × 800 pixel
monochrome
display, a 40 MB Rodime
SCSI
hard disk and an optional Ethernet
interface. Initially, NatSemi's GENIX operating system
, a port of 4.1BSD UNIX
, was provided; this was later replaced by a port of 4.2BSD called 42nix. The MG-1 also had a partially kernel-based graphical user interface
called Oriel.
The MG-1 first shipped to customers in 1984, with a base price of around £10,000, although Oriel was not released until the following year. A colour version, the CG-1, was also announced in 1986, followed by the MG-200, with an NS32332 processor, in 1987.
WCW went into receivership
in 1986, but were soon revived, as Whitechapel Workstations Ltd., only to go into liquidation
in April 1988. The new company launched the Hitech-10 and Hitech-20 workstations with R2000
and R3000
MIPS architecture
processors respectively. These ran the UMIPS variant of UNIX, with either X11 or NeWS
-based GUIs, and were aimed at computer animation
applications.
Some ex-Whitechapel engineers went on to form Algorithmics Ltd., specialising in MIPS-based embedded systems. Algorithmics was later acquired by MIPS Technologies in 2002. The rights to the Hitech workstations were acquired by Mistral Computer Systems Ltd. in June 1988.
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
workstation
Workstation
A workstation is a high-end microcomputer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by one person at a time, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems...
company formed in the East End of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in April 1983, with investment from the Greater London Enterprise Board and the Department of Trade and Industry.
Their first workstation model was the MG-1 (named after the Milliard Gargantubrain from The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy). The MG-1 was based on the National Semiconductor
National Semiconductor
National Semiconductor was an American semiconductor manufacturer, that specialized in analog devices and subsystems,formerly headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA. The products of National Semiconductor included power management circuits, display drivers, audio and operational amplifiers,...
NS32016 microprocessor
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
, with a 1024 × 800 pixel
Pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel, or pel, is a single point in a raster image, or the smallest addressable screen element in a display device; it is the smallest unit of picture that can be represented or controlled....
monochrome
Monochrome
Monochrome describes paintings, drawings, design, or photographs in one color or shades of one color. A monochromatic object or image has colors in shades of limited colors or hues. Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale or black-and-white...
display, a 40 MB Rodime
Rodime
Rodime was an electronics company specialising in hard disks, based in Glenrothes, Scotland. It was founded in 1979 by several Scottish and American former employees of Burroughs Corporation and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1986, becoming Rodime PLC....
SCSI
SCSI
Small Computer System Interface is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, and electrical and optical interfaces. SCSI is most commonly used for hard disks and tape drives, but it...
hard disk and an optional Ethernet
Ethernet
Ethernet is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks commercially introduced in 1980. Standardized in IEEE 802.3, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies....
interface. Initially, NatSemi's GENIX operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
, a port of 4.1BSD UNIX
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
, was provided; this was later replaced by a port of 4.2BSD called 42nix. The MG-1 also had a partially kernel-based graphical user interface
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
called Oriel.
The MG-1 first shipped to customers in 1984, with a base price of around £10,000, although Oriel was not released until the following year. A colour version, the CG-1, was also announced in 1986, followed by the MG-200, with an NS32332 processor, in 1987.
WCW went into receivership
Receivership
In law, receivership is the situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver, a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in...
in 1986, but were soon revived, as Whitechapel Workstations Ltd., only to go into liquidation
Liquidation
In law, liquidation is the process by which a company is brought to an end, and the assets and property of the company redistributed. Liquidation is also sometimes referred to as winding-up or dissolution, although dissolution technically refers to the last stage of liquidation...
in April 1988. The new company launched the Hitech-10 and Hitech-20 workstations with R2000
R2000 (microprocessor)
The R2000 is a microprocessor chip set developed by MIPS Computer Systems that implemented the MIPS I instruction set architecture . Introduced in January 1986, it was the first commercial implementation of the MIPS architecture and the first merchant RISC processor available to all companies...
and R3000
R3000
The R3000 is a microprocessor chip set developed by MIPS Computer Systems that implemented the MIPS I instruction set architecture . Introduced in June 1988, it was the second MIPS implementation, succeeding the R2000 as the flagship MIPS microprocessor...
MIPS architecture
MIPS architecture
MIPS is a reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by MIPS Technologies . The early MIPS architectures were 32-bit, and later versions were 64-bit...
processors respectively. These ran the UMIPS variant of UNIX, with either X11 or NeWS
NeWS
NeWS was a windowing system developed by Sun Microsystems in the mid 1980s. Originally known as "SunDew", its primary authors were James Gosling and David S. H. Rosenthal...
-based GUIs, and were aimed at computer animation
Computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics. The more general term computer generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images....
applications.
Some ex-Whitechapel engineers went on to form Algorithmics Ltd., specialising in MIPS-based embedded systems. Algorithmics was later acquired by MIPS Technologies in 2002. The rights to the Hitech workstations were acquired by Mistral Computer Systems Ltd. in June 1988.