The Museo de Historia de la Computación has built a functional replica of the Cray-1 supercomputer. The system utilizes 30 vintage Mac Minis, providing a total of 70 processing cores and a performance of 1.5 TFLOPS. This setup is designed to demonstrate the evolution of computing power over the past 50 years.
Unlike the original Cray-1, which required a 20-ton refrigeration system, the replica uses passive convection cooling. The project includes a custom control terminal designed to mimic 1970s aesthetics. The system currently runs on macOS Mojave, utilizing the Message Passing Interface to distribute tasks across the Mac Minis.
The museum intends to launch a crowdfunding campaign to acquire 70 to 80 M4 Mac Minis. The goal is to expand the system's capacity and qualify for the TOP500 list of supercomputers. The replica is currently on permanent display, though public access is restricted to specific Saturdays and seasonal closures.
