Retro Computers

The Centre for Computing History has again been asked to supply retro computer items for the set of the forth series of The IT Crowd. We have supplied the same set of machines and gadgets as we did for the last series plus some new items …

Curator Jason Fitzpatrick said : “Being a bit of a fan of the show, I thought it was a great chance to be involved and help populate the set with some true computing history. The number one item that I thought just HAD to be there was the Altair 8800 computer – widely considered the first commercial personal computer. Kye Mackintosh-Smith, the set designer for the show agreed and placed the machine carefully behind Moss’s desk – a centre point for the show.”

“They asked for ‘a few feet’ of books and manuals to leave around the set, so I searched though piles and piles of manuals looking visually appealing or highly recognisable ones. I found one particular folder that had neither of these characteristics but did have ‘MOSS’ in big grey letters down the spine. This HAD to be featured surely …”

Visit http://www.computinghistory.org.uk for more information about the musuem.

The March 2010 edition of the Retrogaming Times Monthly has been published.

Welcome to Spring everyone! Even though it does not feel like Spring at the moment, with snow falling all around me, I have faith that it will get here sometime before the end of the month (at least I hope!). Anyway, this month we have a HUGE surprise, and I mean HUGE. Remember back in the early days of Retrogaming Times when there was a column called “The Many Faces Of…” which was originally written by Tom Zjaba himself (upon getting the idea from future columnist Doug Saxon)? Doug Saxon eventually picked up the column before Alan Hewston made it his own and added his personal touch to what was then already the most popular column in the magazine. Anyway, the reason I bring up this historical tidbit is because the column is officially back and in business! This is after I got countless e-mails asking for it to return as well as seeing posts on on-line message boards saying that RTM was not the same without “The Many Faces Of…” It was hard finding someone that would be able to step in and fill Alan Hewston’s shoes, but Sal Esquivel seems to be up to the challenge. He has a massive classic gaming collection and will be working with Alan himself to make sure each “Many Faces Of…” lives up to its name. Even though Sal is now at the helm of the main Retrogaming Times Monthly column instead of Alan Hewston, it should prove to be just as good if not better than it was in days past.

Read the whole magazine at http://www.retrogamingtimes.com/rtm70/

Ive picked up the following machines over the last few days. They are

• Atari 800
• BBC Model B with Econet
• Z80 Co Processor for the BBC Micro
• Commodore PC-I

Ive also managed to get ahold of a Multiface 2 for the Amstrad CPC. Ive wanted one of these since I was about 7. Im now 31!

The Multiface was a hardware peripheral released by Romantic Robot UK Ltd. for several 1980s home computers. The primary function of the device was to dump the computer’s memory to external storage, and featured an iconic ‘red button’ that could be pressed at any time in order to activate it. As most games of the era did not have a save game feature, the Multiface allowed players to save their position. However, this feature also allowed users to create backups or pirate copies of software. Copyright infringement was discouraged, yet possible in earlier models, but was made more difficult in later models by requiring the Multiface to be present when re-loading the dumps into memory.

Welcome to a new year and a new decade! The first issue of Retrogaming Times Monthly is now on-line, the first of the decade with hopefully many more to come. Here are the highlights from this month:

• What’s On Tap? Rec.Games.Video.Classic Is!
• Press Play On Tape: Denial Collection 3
• Apple II Incider – Thexder
• Obscure Output: The Rainbow Goes Digital
• Dual Perspective – Sonic The Hedgehog
• Modern Retro – Vagrant Story
• Old Wine in New Bottles: Pinball Edition
• A Pixilated 21st Century!
• Video Game Tattler

You can read the magazine at http://www.retrogamingtimes.com/rtm68/

Ive updated my “About Me” page. Feel free to take a look.

http://retrocomputers.wordpress.com/about-2/

Just found this in a box of stuff I got with a Power Mac a few weeks ago. This is a software emulator that allows you to run Windows 95 on a Apple Mac. Check out how much it cost new – £327! Ouch….

There is a better picture of the box on Flickr.