Vintage computer fun
- Thread starter Tony L
- Start date
Tony L
Administrator
I hadn’t realised in my previous post on the Furber, Hauser and Curry interview that it was actually the second part of two and that the first was the three of them giving a running commentary/fact checking on the BBC’s Micro Men drama which portrays them. It is here:
They add much factual info as one would expect plus a lot of it is rather amusing too! Well worth a look if interested in this area of computer UK history. Shame Clive Sinclair wasn’t there to give the other side, though I get the impression he is not especially well these days.
They add much factual info as one would expect plus a lot of it is rather amusing too! Well worth a look if interested in this area of computer UK history. Shame Clive Sinclair wasn’t there to give the other side, though I get the impression he is not especially well these days.
chartz
If it’s broke fix it!
Just joining the fun.
My vintage stuff is the Apple //e. My example is the heavy unscratchable grey one.
Many cards, Z80, serial, Chat Mauve graphics, mouse, DuoDisk, printer, etc. Never fails to boot, that little thing.
Original manuals and system disks.
Might have a little red cassette-driven Oric somewhere too... not a fan of basic these days!
My vintage stuff is the Apple //e. My example is the heavy unscratchable grey one.
Many cards, Z80, serial, Chat Mauve graphics, mouse, DuoDisk, printer, etc. Never fails to boot, that little thing.
Original manuals and system disks.
Might have a little red cassette-driven Oric somewhere too... not a fan of basic these days!
Jim Audiomisc
pfm Member
Again, thanks. I'd not realised that they'd been commenting during the film.
Now seen the 'afterwards' video and was struck by the comments re Olivetti and the vultures who tricked them wrt the Electron pile.
Back at the end of the 1990s Hauser told me he was planning to write a book about events as he saw them. But so far as I know, this never appeared. Have I missed it?
Tony L
Administrator
I’m not aware of a Hermann Hauser book and a quick google and search of Amazon brings up nothing. There was of course the Active Book:
An item I have never seen in the wild at all!
PS The whole Electron story is a mess. It could have been such a great little computer if it had landed on the market at the intended time. The thing that strikes me is just how well made it is, a remarkably solid thing with a great keyboard that would have brought much of the BBC Micro’s power into the affordable home environment. I guess its problem was its real competition was the Commodore 64 which would have appeared long before the time Ferranti had sorted out the ULA. The Spectrum was never really competition outside the games market due to the utterly terrible keyboard (even on the Plus version like mine).
An item I have never seen in the wild at all!
PS The whole Electron story is a mess. It could have been such a great little computer if it had landed on the market at the intended time. The thing that strikes me is just how well made it is, a remarkably solid thing with a great keyboard that would have brought much of the BBC Micro’s power into the affordable home environment. I guess its problem was its real competition was the Commodore 64 which would have appeared long before the time Ferranti had sorted out the ULA. The Spectrum was never really competition outside the games market due to the utterly terrible keyboard (even on the Plus version like mine).
MJS
Technical Tinkerer
Thanks for the video links Tony, it was great seeing these legends talk about the era. It would have been good if Sophie Wilson had been there too as she had so much to do with implementing BBC Basic, the ARM etc..
As a heads-up the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park is having another electro-jumble on Sunday. https://www.tnmoc.org/events/2019/10/13/electrojumble
If it's anything like the last one there will probably be more radio surplus kit than vintage computing parts, but I thoroughly enjoyed it last time and I suspect I'll be there on Sunday.
As a heads-up the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park is having another electro-jumble on Sunday. https://www.tnmoc.org/events/2019/10/13/electrojumble
If it's anything like the last one there will probably be more radio surplus kit than vintage computing parts, but I thoroughly enjoyed it last time and I suspect I'll be there on Sunday.
Tony L
Administrator
Tons of classic vintage DOS games have appeared on Archive.org, only had a very quick look, but some classics there for sure e.g. Pac Man, Prince Of Persia, Doom, Heretic, Sim City, Leisure Suit Larry etc.
Jim Audiomisc
pfm Member
Yes. I noticed the comments about her doing a cameo at the end of 'Micro Men'. Which chimed with I'd heard other Acorn people say about her being keen on 'AmDram', etc. Flamenco and Panto have been mentioned! 8-]
It would be excellent if she wrote or talked about the Acorn and early ARM era.
Tony L
Administrator
There are a lot of interviews with Sophie Wilson up on YouTube, many hours worth if you search, here’s one to start:
YouTube really is stunningly good for computer history, restoration etc. Everything is up there somewhere with all the main computer conservation organisations (TNMOC etc) having channels, plus yards of stuff from enthusiasts.
YouTube really is stunningly good for computer history, restoration etc. Everything is up there somewhere with all the main computer conservation organisations (TNMOC etc) having channels, plus yards of stuff from enthusiasts.
Sophie Wilson, she is a star!
I bet if you asked a 10000 people if they knew the name, not a single one would know who she is or what she has achieved.
Cheryl Cole? Katie Price? Kerry Katona? that one with the BJ video and drug offences who keeps trying to be relevent again, everyone knows thier names. Pretty sad that women that have shone in the IT industry, I guess the lefties would say is predomantly run by `old white males` get next to no `air time`
I dont know what the girls of today think of computers or IT as a career path when they are at school, mid 80`s when I was at secondary school, 99.9% of girls I knew hated anything to do with computers, it was just boring to them.
Recently I bought a CBM Amiga CD32, working but needs a recap, my first foray into SMD soldering will soon commence.
Got one of those cheap ` 858D ` hot air soldering stations. You may know them from the various utube videos where the wiring is shockingly(pun intended) bad, opened mine up, looks ship-shape! wiring is correct, heatshrink tubing present and the fan surround is built for this device not with the screw mounts ground off!
The `Amiga scene` is still quite active, heres a look round the recent Amiga34 event held near Düsseldorf, Germany.
(the Amiga3000 replica case at 6.12 looks particularly nice in Black)
I hope to pickup a Vampire standalone board next year, I dabbled in 68000 Assembly on the Amiga in the early 90`s
I couldnt be bothered to learn C at the time, too many curly brackets, too much typing for such little results and the resultant code was overly bloated and ineffcient. Shame, I might have been earning a decent wage these days!
It will be fun to tinker again and with a CPU that is 100`s of times faster too! Be fun to see what `Real` programmers can do with all that power too.
I bet if you asked a 10000 people if they knew the name, not a single one would know who she is or what she has achieved.
Cheryl Cole? Katie Price? Kerry Katona? that one with the BJ video and drug offences who keeps trying to be relevent again, everyone knows thier names. Pretty sad that women that have shone in the IT industry, I guess the lefties would say is predomantly run by `old white males` get next to no `air time`
I dont know what the girls of today think of computers or IT as a career path when they are at school, mid 80`s when I was at secondary school, 99.9% of girls I knew hated anything to do with computers, it was just boring to them.
Recently I bought a CBM Amiga CD32, working but needs a recap, my first foray into SMD soldering will soon commence.
Got one of those cheap ` 858D ` hot air soldering stations. You may know them from the various utube videos where the wiring is shockingly(pun intended) bad, opened mine up, looks ship-shape! wiring is correct, heatshrink tubing present and the fan surround is built for this device not with the screw mounts ground off!
The `Amiga scene` is still quite active, heres a look round the recent Amiga34 event held near Düsseldorf, Germany.
(the Amiga3000 replica case at 6.12 looks particularly nice in Black)
I hope to pickup a Vampire standalone board next year, I dabbled in 68000 Assembly on the Amiga in the early 90`s
I couldnt be bothered to learn C at the time, too many curly brackets, too much typing for such little results and the resultant code was overly bloated and ineffcient. Shame, I might have been earning a decent wage these days!
It will be fun to tinker again and with a CPU that is 100`s of times faster too! Be fun to see what `Real` programmers can do with all that power too.
Tony L
Administrator
Never used an Amiga, though they seem pretty cool. At that time the Atari ST was the right tool for me as it had built-in MIDI and the Cubase app. I used to have a ST hooked up to all manner of vintage analogue synths etc. To be honest I never really dabbled much with it beyond that, it was just the studio sequencer, and we had the high-res monochrome monitor so it was no good for games. A very reliable computer though, it always worked well.
Its a shame both went under, neither company `really` understood the value of these machines to their users, Atari with the Music side of business sewn up and CBM with the Desktop Video Editing as well as the gaming.
I have no idea if the engineers at Atari thought about the `15 Khz whistle` that monitors of the age made but the Hi-res Mono monitor run at a higher frequency IIRC so was perfect.
A friend of mine many years ago sold his Atari kit and bought a PC to mess about with all the emulated kit. Was cursing selling the Atari as the PC would always `hicup` small out of sync blips in all audio every now and then, the Atari was perfect.
If you need a project to solder in the Future, Exxos is working on Reproducing Atari STF motherboards, still a bit of routing to go, I dont think too long to wait
I have no idea if the engineers at Atari thought about the `15 Khz whistle` that monitors of the age made but the Hi-res Mono monitor run at a higher frequency IIRC so was perfect.
A friend of mine many years ago sold his Atari kit and bought a PC to mess about with all the emulated kit. Was cursing selling the Atari as the PC would always `hicup` small out of sync blips in all audio every now and then, the Atari was perfect.
If you need a project to solder in the Future, Exxos is working on Reproducing Atari STF motherboards, still a bit of routing to go, I dont think too long to wait
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
Atari built MIDI into the core spec of the ST so the timing was rock solid - certainly better than early applications of the MPU-401 on PCs which could often be a little bit 'free' with timing. My friend still uses it in his studio - he has a Mega ST as a main PC but has kept 3 or 4 standard STs as backup.
Tony L
Administrator
Agreed. I remember spending a bloody fortune on Cubase 3.0 for the PC to run at home and using it on my pretty high-spec self-built computer (I can’t remember the exact spec, but pretty much state of the art as I clone-built as a sideline so had access to good parts, certainly way above the recommended spec) and it was a total steaming pile of crap compared to the Atari. Just insane levels of latency and random crashing. I’ve still got it in its box somewhere with the manuals and parallel port dongle!
cutting42
Arrived at B4 Hacker Ergo
A good family friend worked at Sinclair Research in the early 80's and she has an excellent interview here:
Jim Audiomisc
pfm Member
Thanks for the link.
I had twigged after I'd written my earlier posting and found a couple of talks by her on YouTube. Very interesting to find more.
Tony L
Administrator
Cool, I’d actually found and watched that video! (I’m subscribed to the channel).
MJS
Technical Tinkerer
Some lovely kit there. I got into TV and Post-production in time to see the shift from mega-bucks custom hardware boxes to a single workstation and a decent Nvidia card. That transition took less than a decade. Everything is software defined nowadays but I do miss the elegance of the SGI Irix workstations and their interface.
When I left the cosy, hand-made, world of analogue audio at Naim I went straight into the deep end at this place:
When I left the cosy, hand-made, world of analogue audio at Naim I went straight into the deep end at this place: