Steam age lap-top
Discussion
Was this a real advert of some sort of joke though?
I'm just wondering because that seems rather cheap for a laptop in 1988, it was a bit before my time, but by the mid 90s i'm pretty sure you'd have struggled for get a laptop for less than £1k so even adjusting for crazy 80s inflation it seems like they would have been way more than £500
I'm just wondering because that seems rather cheap for a laptop in 1988, it was a bit before my time, but by the mid 90s i'm pretty sure you'd have struggled for get a laptop for less than £1k so even adjusting for crazy 80s inflation it seems like they would have been way more than £500
Morgan was a typical discounter back in those days. Dual single density floppies, sweet!
We had some of these things back in the day, 2 at the Pru IIRC:

My first love was one of these:

Note the mouse/trackball thing. Don't be a leftie with one of these....the mouse buttons were on the outside of the lid
We had some of these things back in the day, 2 at the Pru IIRC:
My first love was one of these:

Note the mouse/trackball thing. Don't be a leftie with one of these....the mouse buttons were on the outside of the lid

After my father-in-law died we have started clearing out his office. So far, we have found a Toshiba T1200, Epson PX-8, Siemens Nixdorf 385sx-16 and an AST 386 laptop. All dead with missing power supplies.
The Epson has a Z80 based RAM drive attached.
Hopefully will be able to get £50 each on ebay.
The Epson has a Z80 based RAM drive attached.
Hopefully will be able to get £50 each on ebay.
e-honda said:
Was this a real advert of some sort of joke though?
I'm just wondering because that seems rather cheap for a laptop in 1988, it was a bit before my time, but by the mid 90s i'm pretty sure you'd have struggled for get a laptop for less than £1k so even adjusting for crazy 80s inflation it seems like they would have been way more than £500
Morgan did a lot of ex-Corporate refurbs I think. I remember getting a 'lovely' Toshiba Satellite Pro as my first laptop back in 1998 or so...I'm just wondering because that seems rather cheap for a laptop in 1988, it was a bit before my time, but by the mid 90s i'm pretty sure you'd have struggled for get a laptop for less than £1k so even adjusting for crazy 80s inflation it seems like they would have been way more than £500
ArsE82 said:
Morgan did a lot of ex-Corporate refurbs I think. I remember getting a 'lovely' Toshiba Satellite Pro as my first laptop back in 1998 or so...
wasn't there a Morgan shop just near the Maccie D on the corner of Tottenham Court Rd and Oxford Street? I think I bought some stuff from them too 
eeLee said:
Morgan was a typical discounter back in those days. Dual single density floppies, sweet!
We had some of these things back in the day, 2 at the Pru IIRC:

My first love was one of these:

Note the mouse/trackball thing. Don't be a leftie with one of these....the mouse buttons were on the outside of the lid
The pru wasn’t much better when i joined them in 97We had some of these things back in the day, 2 at the Pru IIRC:
My first love was one of these:

Note the mouse/trackball thing. Don't be a leftie with one of these....the mouse buttons were on the outside of the lid

eeLee said:
ArsE82 said:
Morgan did a lot of ex-Corporate refurbs I think. I remember getting a 'lovely' Toshiba Satellite Pro as my first laptop back in 1998 or so...
wasn't there a Morgan shop just near the Maccie D on the corner of Tottenham Court Rd and Oxford Street? I think I bought some stuff from them too 
A couple of years ago I was clearing out a load of crap from the office at work, amongst all of it I found all the contract paperwork dated mid-80's from when I guess the company purchased it's first computer. Judging from the amount of spiel contained in the welcome packs, contract and other documentation you'd have thought the CEO of IBM had personally sold, delivered and set up the machine 

gmaz said:
After my father-in-law died we have started clearing out his office. So far, we have found a Toshiba T1200, Epson PX-8, Siemens Nixdorf 385sx-16 and an AST 386 laptop. All dead with missing power supplies.
The Epson has a Z80 based RAM drive attached.
Hopefully will be able to get £50 each on ebay.
Always worth sticking on ebay.The Epson has a Z80 based RAM drive attached.
Hopefully will be able to get £50 each on ebay.
Some companies have very old legacy control systems that needed specific models and they search for them.
This thread inspired me to dig out and fire up ( first time since ~1998 ) my Chicony NB 6600 C Notebook,
it was sold in 1992 to a powerful on-site director at HOCHTIEF construction who used it on building sites.
He gave it to me ca. 1995 and first I used it in DOS mode for some drag racers "info cards",
then I managed to install Win95 on the 386 system, I also found the 20(?) 3,5" discs Win95 had.
Now it fires up, battery gets charged ( I replaced that in 1998 ) but the black & white DOS lines tell me
that the "system battery is dead", I think this is the small button cell on the motherboard ?
The system wants me to install disc.......hmmmm..... has it forgotten the Win95 system,
or is that a consequence of the dead little battery ?
Sorry, I know a bit about bikes and nitromethane, but am a PC user and tech n00b.
it was sold in 1992 to a powerful on-site director at HOCHTIEF construction who used it on building sites.
He gave it to me ca. 1995 and first I used it in DOS mode for some drag racers "info cards",
then I managed to install Win95 on the 386 system, I also found the 20(?) 3,5" discs Win95 had.
Now it fires up, battery gets charged ( I replaced that in 1998 ) but the black & white DOS lines tell me
that the "system battery is dead", I think this is the small button cell on the motherboard ?
The system wants me to install disc.......hmmmm..... has it forgotten the Win95 system,
or is that a consequence of the dead little battery ?
Sorry, I know a bit about bikes and nitromethane, but am a PC user and tech n00b.
if you cannot press something to get beyond that point, usually by setting time and date in the CMOS settings, then you need to replace the little battery as you point out. The hard drive, whatever it might be, should not forget things - it's non-volatile 
Doubtless it could be easy-access under one of the panels on the bottom of the device. But you should be able to press F1, F2, DEL or something to set the data and time and then it'll "fly"


Doubtless it could be easy-access under one of the panels on the bottom of the device. But you should be able to press F1, F2, DEL or something to set the data and time and then it'll "fly"


Edited by eeLee on Friday 21st May 05:41
gmaz said:
After my father-in-law died we have started clearing out his office. So far, we have found a Toshiba T1200, Epson PX-8, Siemens Nixdorf 385sx-16 and an AST 386 laptop. All dead with missing power supplies.
The Epson has a Z80 based RAM drive attached.
Hopefully will be able to get £50 each on ebay.
I had a Toshiba T1200 once. I'm almost tempted to ask you for a price for yours... almost. Something like this:The Epson has a Z80 based RAM drive attached.
Hopefully will be able to get £50 each on ebay.
https://images.app.goo.gl/9qQwi7ePRir5DCuU8
Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff


