Retro Computers
Discussion
I remember my mate Chris getting a ZX81 and thinking that it was, by and large a bit s
t until he loaded an adventure type game and I saw the point.
We had an Atari 2600 which was great but I got a 64 a bit later, with no tape deck just the unit and the manual, had to save up for the tape deck, ordered one that was slightly cheaper and it took weeks if not months to come, wasnt like Amazon then.
Anyway, had the 64 for ages, loads of games, my Auntie worked at the library and they rented games so when they came back missing inlays or boxes we got them so had loads. My cousin and mates had Spectrums so played on them quite a lot and loved them, but for different reasons, the Ultimate games were the main draw, so cool and as good as the C64 stuff despite being limited in terms of sound and graphics.
Few games I remember
TLL
Falcon Patrol
Nodes of Yesod
Month on the Run
Humphrey - Qbert knock off
Chiller - Mastertronic
Krystals of Zong
Monty Mole, played both versions and the C64 one was so different,
Suicide Express
Loco
Hovver Bovver
3D Death Race
Manic Miner and JSW
Super Huey
Kokotoni Wilf
Hunchback and Hunchback 2
Lazy Jones
Attack of the Mutant Camels
Raid over Moscow
GhostBusters
t until he loaded an adventure type game and I saw the point.We had an Atari 2600 which was great but I got a 64 a bit later, with no tape deck just the unit and the manual, had to save up for the tape deck, ordered one that was slightly cheaper and it took weeks if not months to come, wasnt like Amazon then.
Anyway, had the 64 for ages, loads of games, my Auntie worked at the library and they rented games so when they came back missing inlays or boxes we got them so had loads. My cousin and mates had Spectrums so played on them quite a lot and loved them, but for different reasons, the Ultimate games were the main draw, so cool and as good as the C64 stuff despite being limited in terms of sound and graphics.
Few games I remember
TLL
Falcon Patrol
Nodes of Yesod
Month on the Run
Humphrey - Qbert knock off
Chiller - Mastertronic
Krystals of Zong
Monty Mole, played both versions and the C64 one was so different,
Suicide Express
Loco
Hovver Bovver
3D Death Race
Manic Miner and JSW
Super Huey
Kokotoni Wilf
Hunchback and Hunchback 2
Lazy Jones
Attack of the Mutant Camels
Raid over Moscow
GhostBusters
I also had a Ti99/4a - there were 2 of us at school. Good job we were mates.
Was stored in my father-in-laws loft for years when I was first with my now wife.
Got cleared out without my knowledge - I did occasionally check what they were fetching, hoping that it would be worth retrieving and flogging. Never happened.
Had Parsec (as mentioned above) - great game
Had a game program I wrote published in C & VG - still got a copy of that edition!
Later an Amiga 500 bought 2nd hand with loads of games - great fun
Was stored in my father-in-laws loft for years when I was first with my now wife.
Got cleared out without my knowledge - I did occasionally check what they were fetching, hoping that it would be worth retrieving and flogging. Never happened.
Had Parsec (as mentioned above) - great game
Had a game program I wrote published in C & VG - still got a copy of that edition!
Later an Amiga 500 bought 2nd hand with loads of games - great fun
Happy days.
We had a VIC20, replaced with an Acorn Electron. Saved my pocket my money and bought a Spectrum 48k+, then replaced with an Atari ST and ultimately an Acorn Archimedes. Upgraded all extensively and learned to program on them.
Still have the Spec & ST at my parents', and the Arc under the desk in the office!
We had a VIC20, replaced with an Acorn Electron. Saved my pocket my money and bought a Spectrum 48k+, then replaced with an Atari ST and ultimately an Acorn Archimedes. Upgraded all extensively and learned to program on them.
Still have the Spec & ST at my parents', and the Arc under the desk in the office!
Found my old Acorn Atom a couple of years ago at my parent's place, and got the thing going - took off the dodgy internal voltage regulator and installed a regulated external supply.
The keycap from the 'Delete' key is broken, but apart from that it still works as perfectly badly as it did when I bought it, back in 1981 (I think). The keyboard was knackered from new, went back to the factory twice (in the days when you had to get your mum drive from Tiverton to Tavistock for the courier to accept it for return). Did get an AtomMMC card loaded with all the software I could never afford back in the day.
I remember writing a snottogram to Hermann Hauser on a manual typewriter the second time it went back, and did get a personal letter of apology in return, but that has long since disappeared. Ironically, in more recent times I discovered when getting very drunk in a restaurant in Belgrade - never touch the schnapps, they make it with petrol - with the founder of a company we were considering buying into based in Novi Sad that Hauser had been one of her angel investors. Small world.
I did indulge myself in nostalgia by buying a BBC micro from eBay. The power supply exploded in a cloud of foul smelling smoke inside of 10 minutes of plugging it in, and once that was fixed the video was shagged - spent a week of evenings with an oscilloscope probing every last trace by way of retro geek therapy only to find the eBay video cable had also broken, and the Beeb itself was fine, if honking of blown capacitor juice.
These chaps are great for all things Acorn / BBC retro: https://stardot.org.uk/forums/
The keycap from the 'Delete' key is broken, but apart from that it still works as perfectly badly as it did when I bought it, back in 1981 (I think). The keyboard was knackered from new, went back to the factory twice (in the days when you had to get your mum drive from Tiverton to Tavistock for the courier to accept it for return). Did get an AtomMMC card loaded with all the software I could never afford back in the day.
I remember writing a snottogram to Hermann Hauser on a manual typewriter the second time it went back, and did get a personal letter of apology in return, but that has long since disappeared. Ironically, in more recent times I discovered when getting very drunk in a restaurant in Belgrade - never touch the schnapps, they make it with petrol - with the founder of a company we were considering buying into based in Novi Sad that Hauser had been one of her angel investors. Small world.
I did indulge myself in nostalgia by buying a BBC micro from eBay. The power supply exploded in a cloud of foul smelling smoke inside of 10 minutes of plugging it in, and once that was fixed the video was shagged - spent a week of evenings with an oscilloscope probing every last trace by way of retro geek therapy only to find the eBay video cable had also broken, and the Beeb itself was fine, if honking of blown capacitor juice.
These chaps are great for all things Acorn / BBC retro: https://stardot.org.uk/forums/
Edited by eharding on Monday 8th April 22:09
shed driver said:
Typing in computer games from magazines, I learnt an awful lot that way and suspect many others are only in computing now due to this.
SD.
I got into it properly due to Chicken Pox, aged about 12/13 I had it and it was pretty bad, all calamine lotion, soluble Co Codamol and Smoky Bacon crisps I remember, the latter as I got a taste for them and everyone felt sorry for me so brought me some, I was a mass of scabs, even more than normal, some were probably crisps.SD.
Anyway, can remember sitting in bed feeling itchy and a bit s
t, apparently, Brian, my brothers mates dad had been having a clear out and had a massive stack of computer magazines, some PCW which was a bit businessy for me, but mainly they were "Popular Computing Weekly" which was a general/hobbyist magazine, printed on non glossy paper and always had an advert for a strange but intriguing software house called "Automata".Anyway, I was hooked, I digested every single one, skim read at first and then in more detail, dont know what happened to them but it was a fantastic time in computing, it was going from enthusiasts into the mainstream. I think that was a big part of me getting into computing. It looked like this,
So much more variety then, obviously the main stuff but all sorts of other Micros that were discussed but largely disappeared without trace, MSX's, Sam Coupe's and various things named after fruit.
I just had no money to lavish on computing so typed stuff in, messed about trying stuff, we turned a commercial adventure game to something much ruder as it was in basic.
Next doors dad was a copper and his mum had left, dad was out all the time either working or womanising so we had the plce to ourselves, was the time of the miners strikes and various riots so loads of Overtime and he spent loads on computers, they had a BBC B, with twin disk drives, a monitor and various other add ons so spent a lot of time round there, his uncle was well into it so he got loads of games like Frak ! and demos. He also had a cupboard full of grot
colin_p said:
Yes, having a D32 was lonely. It did have a few stunning games though like Donkey Kong which was almost arcade quality.
....but nothing compared to the hankering I had to have a Spectrum and play Manic Miner / Jet set Willy, like my friends did!
Manic Miner was on the D32 with two extra levels over the speccy version. ....but nothing compared to the hankering I had to have a Spectrum and play Manic Miner / Jet set Willy, like my friends did!
I was still glad to get a C64 as well though.
eharding said:
Found my old Acorn Atom a couple of years ago at my parent's place, and got the thing going - took off the dodgy internal voltage regulator and installed a regulated external supply.
The keycap from the 'Delete' key is broken, but apart from that it still works as perfectly badly as it did when I bought it, back in 1981 (I think). The keyboard was knackered from new, went back to the factory twice (in the days when you had to get your mum drive from Tiverton to Tavistock for the courier to accept it for return). Did get an AtomMMC card loaded with all the software I could never afford back in the day.
I remember writing a snottogram to Hermann Hauser on a manual typewriter the second time it went back, and did get a personal letter of apology in return, but that has long since disappeared. Ironically, in more recent times I discovered when getting very drunk in a restaurant in Belgrade - never touch the schnapps, they make it with petrol - with the founder of a company we were considering buying into based in Novi Sad that Hauser had been one of her angel investors. Small world.
I did indulge myself in nostalgia by buying a BBC micro from eBay. The power supply exploded in a cloud of foul smelling smoke inside of 10 minutes of plugging it in, and once that was fixed the video was shagged - spent a week of evenings with an oscilloscope probing every last trace by way of retro geek therapy only to find the eBay video cable had also broken, and the Beeb itself was fine, if honking of blown capacitor juice.
These chaps are great for all things Acorn / BBC retro: https://stardot.org.uk/forums/
I got given a BBC micro a couple of years back, was a Master Compact, turned it on and it lasted 20 seconds and then it expired with a disgusting smell.The keycap from the 'Delete' key is broken, but apart from that it still works as perfectly badly as it did when I bought it, back in 1981 (I think). The keyboard was knackered from new, went back to the factory twice (in the days when you had to get your mum drive from Tiverton to Tavistock for the courier to accept it for return). Did get an AtomMMC card loaded with all the software I could never afford back in the day.
I remember writing a snottogram to Hermann Hauser on a manual typewriter the second time it went back, and did get a personal letter of apology in return, but that has long since disappeared. Ironically, in more recent times I discovered when getting very drunk in a restaurant in Belgrade - never touch the schnapps, they make it with petrol - with the founder of a company we were considering buying into based in Novi Sad that Hauser had been one of her angel investors. Small world.
I did indulge myself in nostalgia by buying a BBC micro from eBay. The power supply exploded in a cloud of foul smelling smoke inside of 10 minutes of plugging it in, and once that was fixed the video was shagged - spent a week of evenings with an oscilloscope probing every last trace by way of retro geek therapy only to find the eBay video cable had also broken, and the Beeb itself was fine, if honking of blown capacitor juice.
These chaps are great for all things Acorn / BBC retro: https://stardot.org.uk/forums/
Edited by eharding on Monday 8th April 22:09
Put some new ones in and swapped it with a collector for a BBC B with loads of disks and stuff, then he had it back when I got bored of it.
I want a C64.
Have a two slice Risc PC with 210Mb hdd, last switched on about 15 years ago. There is a load of games, I fondly remember losing many days to Dune - battle for Arrakis.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_II
SD.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_II
SD.
There are loads of youtube channels dedicated to finding, buying and bringing back to life Spectrums, C64s, BBC B and other old computers.
Just a few Spectrum examples - https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=spect...
Good example channel of fixing them - https://www.youtube.com/user/craig1black/videos They don't need to be working.
Just a few Spectrum examples - https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=spect...
Good example channel of fixing them - https://www.youtube.com/user/craig1black/videos They don't need to be working.
Edited by FourWheelDrift on Monday 8th April 23:11
I've started a bit of a collection of retro computers recently and had to spend Sunday building a rack to house them.
Restoration thread of the Commodore 64 I bought:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
It all started when my brother mentioned he got his old Commodore 64 and Amiga 1200 out of the loft, which prompted me to set up my old Amiga CD32. Since then the CD 32 has been upgraded with fast ram and a compact flash card.
I've also picked up an Atari 800XL, Atari STE, Spectrum 128 +2B, Toshiba HX-10 and a Master System 1. I have SD card adaptors for the Spectrum, Commodore and the Master System.
I have also ended up with a Megadrive 1, but that was because I needed a compatible power supply for the Master System. The cheap power supply I first bought was rubbish and caused interference on screen. Then I was faced with paying £15 for an original power supply or £19 for one which included a Megadrive.
I also have an OSSC (Open Source Scan Converter), which works as a line doubler for RGB outputs and provides an HDMI connection to the TV. I also have a RetroTINK which does the same thing for S-video and composite outputs.
I've stopped short of buying a CRT TV at least!
My Atari 800XL came with a Space Invaders cartridge and it's so simple yet addictive. Things get very tense when that last space invader goes nuts and whizzes down the screen at you
Restoration thread of the Commodore 64 I bought:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
It all started when my brother mentioned he got his old Commodore 64 and Amiga 1200 out of the loft, which prompted me to set up my old Amiga CD32. Since then the CD 32 has been upgraded with fast ram and a compact flash card.
I've also picked up an Atari 800XL, Atari STE, Spectrum 128 +2B, Toshiba HX-10 and a Master System 1. I have SD card adaptors for the Spectrum, Commodore and the Master System.
I have also ended up with a Megadrive 1, but that was because I needed a compatible power supply for the Master System. The cheap power supply I first bought was rubbish and caused interference on screen. Then I was faced with paying £15 for an original power supply or £19 for one which included a Megadrive.
I also have an OSSC (Open Source Scan Converter), which works as a line doubler for RGB outputs and provides an HDMI connection to the TV. I also have a RetroTINK which does the same thing for S-video and composite outputs.
I've stopped short of buying a CRT TV at least!
My Atari 800XL came with a Space Invaders cartridge and it's so simple yet addictive. Things get very tense when that last space invader goes nuts and whizzes down the screen at you
Chicony is (was?) normally known for their keyboards, but they did notebooks in the late 80s / early 90s.
I got a NB 5620 as a present in the late 90s from a guy who got it as a work notebook,
he was building supervisor for Hochtief and that must have been quite expensive then.
It is a 386 color notebook with 20GB RAM, I managed to change OS from DOS to Win 3.1.
Was still running for 60 minutes on the battery, I printed some pages in the field ( Pits) with a little Olivetti battery printer.
This thing must be bulletproof, is about A4 size but weighs about 3 Kg.
I got a NB 5620 as a present in the late 90s from a guy who got it as a work notebook,
he was building supervisor for Hochtief and that must have been quite expensive then.
It is a 386 color notebook with 20GB RAM, I managed to change OS from DOS to Win 3.1.
Was still running for 60 minutes on the battery, I printed some pages in the field ( Pits) with a little Olivetti battery printer.
This thing must be bulletproof, is about A4 size but weighs about 3 Kg.
I learnt BASIC on a Vic 20 when I was 11 and then used it to write an assembler for my C64 in my early teens. The manuals for the C64 included a full assembly language reference and memory map, so it wasn’t hard to map mnemonics to opcodes and poke them in.
Then lost interest in computers, read biology at university and fell into programming for a living while I was writing up my PhD. Never did manage to crawl out again.
Then lost interest in computers, read biology at university and fell into programming for a living while I was writing up my PhD. Never did manage to crawl out again.
Benni said:
Chicony is (was?) normally known for their keyboards, but they did notebooks in the late 80s / early 90s.
I got a NB 5620 as a present in the late 90s from a guy who got it as a work notebook,
he was building supervisor for Hochtief and that must have been quite expensive then.
It is a 386 color notebook with 20GB RAM, I managed to change OS from DOS to Win 3.1.
Wow... that is an insane amount of RAM for that era, surprised they crammed it in! I got a NB 5620 as a present in the late 90s from a guy who got it as a work notebook,
he was building supervisor for Hochtief and that must have been quite expensive then.
It is a 386 color notebook with 20GB RAM, I managed to change OS from DOS to Win 3.1.
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