Thanks to the Peter(fibble) over at the stairwaytohell.com BBC Micro forums, he gave The Centre for Computing History a Bush IBX200. The internet service hosted by Bush and Virgin.net is no longer available – so the box is quite useless…. or is it?
Comments rss
Trackback
RCM are proud to announce their 5th Retro Gaming Day
Venue is:- The Institute, Main Street, Swannington, Coalville LE67 8QL
Date and Time:- Sunday 31st October 2010 from 10.30am – 5.00pm
Ticket Prices:- £5.00 for adults, £1.00 for children for pre-ticket sales and £7.00 for adults, £2.00 for children on the day ticket sales.
Tickets will be available from August 1st and can be purchased either by clicking on our donate button which is at the top left hand side of our website, which will in turn take you to our paypal account or on the day at the venue (at the higher cost). If you wish to pay by other means please contact us via the RCM Website http://www.retrocomputermuseum.co.uk. The closing date for pre-ticket sales will be October 14th. We will send out the purchased tickets two weeks before the event. If anybody needs any more information please do not hesitate to ask!
Comments rss TrackbackManaged to pick up a rather special machine last week – a BBC Model A. It looks like this one has not been upgraded as it only has the printer port. No tube, disk drive, RGB, Econet, user or analog ports either!
Im still in the process of cleaning it. I’ve run out of my ‘special’ cleaning stuff. It was brown with over the top school markings on.
You can see the rest of the photos on Flickr! and read more about the BBC Model A here.
Comments rss TrackbackLast weekend saw the first Vintage Computer Festival in the UK. It was hosted at Bletchley Park by The National Museum of Computing.
Over the weekend, I was volunteering for The Centre for Computing History who are a computer museum that is currently situated in Haverhill, Suffolk.
Comments rss TrackbackHere is a video of a real Sinclair ZX80 computer playing Space Invaders at the Vintage Computer Festival 2010 at Bletchley Park. You can see that the screen does not flicker when a key is pressed.
This computer was on “The Centre for Computing History” display. See http://www.computinghistory.org.uk
Comments rss TrackbackThis weekend (19th and 20th June) sees the Vintage Computer Festival visiting the UK for the very first time. This event has been held in the United States and Germany in the past.
The event will be held at a very important place that helps us deeply during the second world war – Bletchley Park. The event is being organised by “The National Museum Of Computing” who are based at Bletchley Park. Chris Searle, presenter of BBC’s 1980s The Computer Programme will be opening the event.
There are many fun and interesting things to see and do during the two day event. Highlights include…
There are a few speakers who I would like to go and see if I get the time. They are
…and many more. (If I can briefly leave my display!)
Another highlight of the weekend that I will be definitely attending is the OMD session on Saturday. I was very lucky to obtain a ticket as they sold out very quickly – many thanks to Dave Moore for getting mine.
Be sure that you come and say hi to me if you are at the event. I will be working on The Centre for Computing History stand in the Mansion. We will have a excellent display of computers from Amstrad and Sinclair. We will have some of the more popular machines from these companies, and a few rarities too!
You can read more about the event on the following website.
Comments rss TrackbackI’ve just updated my list of computers to include the following machines.
A couple of machines have also been removed. See http://www.retrocomputers.eu/?page_id=9 for the updates.
Comments rss Trackback
I have been donated a fantastic ‘little’ machine today. I’ts a Research Machines 380Z. This machine is based on the Z80 CPU running at 4mhz. My machine has 64k of RAM installed and 2 5 1/4″ floppy disk drives. This machine runs the CP/M operating system.
There is more information about this machine at Wikipedia. I will be powering up this system over the weekend so I will upload more photos soon. I may need this Research Machines 380Z service manual!
I have more photos available on Flickr.
Comments rss TrackbackComputing history have a new and interesting addition to their collection – the Sinclair ZX Spectrum+ PBS Executive IV.
ZX Spectrum+ planning started in June 1984, and was released in October the same year.This 48 KB Spectrum (development code-name TB) introduced a new QL-style enclosure with a much needed injection-moulded keyboard and a reset button, retailing for £179.95. Early on, the machine outsold the rubber-key model 2:1; however, some retailers reported very high failure rates.
- CPU Zilog Z80A
- SPEED 3.5 MHz
- RAM 48k
- ROM 16k
The Spectrum+ was taken by Portable Business Systems Limited in 1985 and incorporated in a large briefcase style which incorporated the ZX Intercae I, ZX Microdrive, power supply and the Alphacom 32 printer. Our unit is type: 230186 with a serial number of 1376
Comments rss TrackbackSean from http://vintagecomputerclub.org.uk/ is organising their first meetup. Here are the details from the clubs website. I may be able to attent this meetup myself.
For enthusiasts and collectors of vintage computers Especially of 1980′s vintage and early 1990′s.
Aim
My aim is to resurrect the feel of the old computer clubs from the 80′s and early 90′s, I intend to start in my local area (Suffolk) and I hope that as the club grows other members take on the mantle and run local versions in their own area.
Topics
Any topics go but below is a list to get the ball rolling:
Collections
I know a lot of people have their own private collections, maybe concentrating on a specific brand or era, and then probably (like me) expanding to others. If you do have your own collection then please join and get in touch.
Read more about the event at http://vintagecomputerclub.org.uk/, follow them on Twitter or visit their Facebook page.
Comments rss Trackback
