The National Museum of Computing has built the “Million Measure,” a simple benchmark designed to run across wildly different machines—from Colossus to a Raspberry Pi—while also helping the museum verify which items in its collection are still working. Tests sp
A computer can count to a million fast. But “how fast” has never really been the point—at least not for the National Museum of Computing. The museum wanted a benchmark that could travel across decades and architectures without losing its meaning.
That’s how the “Million Measure” was born.
The museum’s goal was straightforward: create a test that could run on nearly anything that could reasonably be called a computer. In a recent talk. it explained that the benchmark can be executed simply on systems ranging from the World War II computer Colossus to a modern Raspberry Pi. There’s no heavy algorithmic work to optimize, and there’s no architecture-specific code required to make the job run.
The Million Measure has a second practical purpose inside the museum itself. Beyond comparing performance across eras. it can also show which computers in the museum’s collection are actually working at any given time. The test becomes a kind of reality check for old hardware—less theory, more whether the machine still moves.
The results underline the scale of change. Computers from the mid-20th century were reported as taking benchmark times in minutes. A 1995 BeBox is described as the fastest machine tested so far, clocking in at 0.004 seconds.
For modern machines, though, that speed becomes its own problem. When today’s computers fly through tasks. a benchmark built around counting to a million stops giving an intuitive sense of difference. The museum notes the Million Measure isn’t especially useful for modern systems for exactly that reason. even as it remains a workable standard for comparing older equipment.
If you’re working with today’s hardware, the museum says there are other techniques you can use—because for the fastest machines, counting to a million stops being a story you can easily read.
Million Measure National Museum of Computing benchmark Colossus Raspberry Pi BeBox computer performance software benchmark digital heritage
So it’s just… counting to a million? Sounds like a weird way to “test” computers.
I saw Colossus mentioned and immediately assumed it’s like breaking cryptography or something. But nah it’s a museum benchmark? Also the BeBox being 0.004 seconds feels fake, like cmon.
Wait so the point is to see which old machines still work by making them count? That’s kinda cool but also kinda pointless if modern computers do it instantly. Like if my phone counts to a million in 2 seconds then what’s the point of comparing eras.
Raspberry Pi should be the benchmark king then right? If it runs on anything from WWII to now, doesn’t that mean it’s basically the same software everywhere? Also “million measure” sounds like they’re measuring memory, not speed, idk.