Hi

Sorry... missed a few days. Too much work. As ever.
Time to reflect again on the past treasures of the
scuzz collection and in this case the long and difficult
journey that the said item travelled to get here.... 

This was a puzzle...

http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/amiga_scuzz259.htm

The BBC Master System...

And the puzzle... Well I just can`t figure out how it ever
got to the house in one piece. And I mean one piece
cus it was all connected and put in a box just as though
the guy switched it off, pulled out the plug and dropped
it into a box. Sounds easy but consider that the monitor
wasn`t attached to any stand and didn`t have any packing
around it. The double 5.25" disk drive is seperate from the
computer and all the connections were in place. The computer
was connected to the drives and monitors. It came in one
massive box with very little packing. Inside also were all the
disk boxes, books and various other bits and pieces. And
I just couldn`t fathom fow the beast was ever placed in my
storage area for new arrivals, cus it took me an age to get
it out and conveyed to the house. Nearly crippled me. And
yet I simply plugged it in and it worked.... All the way from
Scotland. This was the pride and joy of someones grandfather
and they were clearing out his computer kit and the offer
was for the whole package. The seller corresponded
through the whole process and was very happy when
it arrived... I was simply amazed that it did... Postie
didn`t talk to me for weeks.

Nearly as amazing as the safe arrival of the Amiga 1000
all in its original box from Canada which travelled across
the Atlantic wrapped in one single layer of bubble wrapp.

http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/amiga_scuzz18.htm

Anyway .. I was very glad to eventually get a BBC that worked.
I had received a number of faulty units.. But not this one.

[ quote ]

The BBC Master and Master Compact could be considered the 
most accomplished 8-bit 'home' computers and among the last 
mass-produced 8-bit machines. Production ended in 1993.

While developing and marketing the BBC Master, Acorn realized 
the PC world was moving on from 8-bit to 16-bit processors and 
started developing their own 32-bit chip, the Acorn RISC Machine, 
or ARM. 

NAME   BBC Master 
MANUFACTURER   Acorn Computer 
TYPE   Home Computer 
ORIGIN   United Kingdom 
YEAR   February 1986 
END OF PRODUCTION   1993 
BUILT IN LANGUAGE   BBC BASIC IV interpreter 
KEYBOARD   Full stroke 93 key with numeric 
keypad and 10 function keys 
CPU   65C102 (an evolution of the 6502) 
SPEED   2 MHz. 
RAM   128 KB 
ROM   128 KB (Expandable) 
TEXT MODES   40/80 x 25 lines, 20/40/80 x 32, 
Teletex mode (40 x 25 x 8 colours) 
GRAPHIC MODES   160/320/640 x 256 dots in 2 to 8 colours 
COLORS   8 among 16 
SOUND   4 chanels, 8 octaves - SN76489 sound generator 
SIZE / WEIGHT   46.7 (W) x 34.5 (D) x 7.5 (H) cm. 
I/O PORTS   Tube expansion, BBC High Speed Bus, 
FDD interface, User interface, RS423 serial, Analog, 
Econet network, Parallel, tape recorder, TV/RF, RGB & 
Composite outputs, 
BUILT IN MEDIA   Cassette & FDD interfaces 
OS   MOS 
POWER SUPPLY   Built-in switching power supply unit 
PERIPHERALS   External FDD unit, processor card, etc. 

[ end quote ]

Well there you have it .. Day 11. Better do Day 12 and 13
before the money runs out of the meter.

scuzz
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com

Hi

Brushed up tonight on one of the archiving techniques for
the Amiga, and just for filing purposes I will recall what I
did here....

I inserted a disk... lets say IDEFix97 ( just as an example )
I then fired up the SHELL and with a known tool in C called
Yadi ( free from Aminet ) I typed in...

yadi r tst.dsk df0:

[ press return ]

Then ... the Amiga made an image of the disk called tst.dsk in
my Workbench partition. pretty close thing that as there was 
only 9K left space on that drive. I then fired up DOpus and 
moved the disk image from Workbench to Acumastore... ( my
name of my transporter folder on the Amiga ) Then renamed file to...

say IDE_Fix.adf

I then decided to check if working, so I Quick Formatted a disk
and stuffed that in the drive ( df0:) I then used my ToolsDaemon
drop down from the menu and fired up ADFBlitzer V1.2 ( again
free from Aminet ) and simply clicked... ' Write '
and selected the file say IDE_Fix.adf .... Like magic it created
a perfect copy of the disk.

What I could have done then was transfer this to say a PC formatted
ZIP disk ( or floppy ) , then popped it in say a PC and then if I had
been so minded mailed it to someone. But hey.. who would do that.
Especially when I also have the all important key code... Not
something I would even contemplate...

But say if someone wanted an image of a disk then that is how you
would do it. Others will have shorter versions. Quite important for
disks that have been released into the public domain... er not like
IDE-Fix which I have no idea how you get now... Elaborate Bytes
if I recall.

scuzz
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com

Hi

My most fondly remembered accelerator card was the
GVP 1230 Turbo plus. When I finally saved enough
money to expand my A1200, I recall travelling to
Silica in Southampton and exchanging £350 for this
card. I was so nervious about damaging the card when
first installing it I dropped it on the floor... Worked fine.
Did one or two strange things to games like Uridium
and Sensi, but on the whole a fantastic card. Anyway
tonight before I switched the office machine off I nudged
a bid in for another, and was surprised to discover when
I got home that I won it. Not expensive. Trouble sadly
with these cards is the memory Simms as they are unique
to the GVP card... I'm sure I'll find some.

I also won... A compilation of Amiga board games boxed,
170 disks for the Amiga, Lotus III, and disk expander boxed.
Not a computer in sight... er that was last night. ( stop it )

scuzz
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com

Hi

Not all the stuff I get is the real hardware. Today I got a very
informative sales brochure for the ORIC 1 dated 1982. Inside
it sets out all the great advantages of owning the ORIC and
describes all the wonderful accessories for the machine.

The computer itself was £99.95 base level and £169.95 with 48K.
You could also buy the ORIC modem for £79.00

For Home Computing ' experience full colour, high resolution
space invaders with arcade hi-fi sound... Plus chess that never cheats
the simulator.

As a business machine... The ORIC 1 should be on the desk of
every informed executive.

Educationally the ORIC 1 is based on real computing systems
and will allow the family to understand the heart of the new
technology.

Communications with the ORIC 1 .. Telesoftware enables ORIC
users to download very cheaply software direct from Prestels'
Aladdins Cave via the telephone. Electronic Mail  - The communication
system of the future enables ORIC users via Prestels Mailbox System to
send and receive information.

In the brochure they refer to Fintel .

The ORIC pedigree... whilst the styling is Scandinavian, the computer
design is all British. The computer keyboard has been ergonomically
designed to enable the user to learn and remember the layout quickly.

The 57 moving keys have only two functions each ( not 6 or 7 as
some micros )

CPU/Memory 6502A MicroProcessor with 16K ROM containing
BASIC interpreter. RAM uses state of the art dynamic memories for
high board density and low power dissipation....

Well there you go... ORIC Products International Ltd Cowerth Park
London Road Ascot Berks... Rush out and get one yesterday.


scuzz
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com

Hi

Had to go back to an earlier post today regarding the
Commodore C386-LT Laptop, which I will need to explain
in a later post, a the one I just won isn`t the same
as the one I got earlier in the year..

This is what I said then.........

In the post today was my Commodore laptop. Cost
me all of £5. Very worn this and missing the large panel
from the rear. Made again during the Escom era I would
guess. Maybe wrong. Ref C286-LT


1 Mbyte RAM (expandable to 5 Mbyte), 128 kbyte ROM
9,75" monochrome LCD (VGA)
640 x 480 pix
80 x 25 chr
8 gray shades
Beep
Parallel, Serial, VGA, Expansionport for modem
312 x 254 x 52 mm
Commodore

er... was wrong about the date... Interesting...

[ quote ]

UK: Commodore unveils its first PC laptop - Commodore Business 
Machines U.K.Ltd.'s C286-LT laptop computer product 
announcement Newsbytes News Network,  Oct 1, 1990  by 
Steve Gold UK: COMMODORE UNVEILS ITS FIRST PC LAPTOP 
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1990 OCT 1 (NB) -- Confirming promises 
made a year ago when the "new" PC range was first unveiled, 
Commodore UK has unveiled its first laptop PC, the C286-LT.
The UKP 1,999 machine was shown for the first time at the 
Business Computing Show in London last week.

Like most portable PCs currently being unveiled, the C286-LT 
is a notebook unit, tipping the scales at 3.2 kilos (7 pounds). 
It comes in executive grey with a textured, non-slip casing.
The machine is based around a 12.5MHz 80C286 microprocessor 
driving a VGA screen and up to 5MB of RAM (expandable from 
a base of 1MB of RAM). Data storage is via 1.44MB 3.5 inch 
floppy drive and an integral 20MB hard disk. External ports 
include serial, parallel and a modem slot. Battery life is
estimated at two hours, with up to six hours using the power 
save facility, which shuts down various functions when not 
in use.

Steve Franklin, Commodore UK's managing director, is 
enthusiastic about the new machine. "It's stylish and small 
and light enough to carry anywhere. With this price/performance 
ratio and widespread availability through our dealer channels,
Commodore has become a strong competitor in the portable
marketplace,"

[ end quote ]

scuzz
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com

Hi

Just spent an enjoyable time with cuppa going through
Aminet disks 9 and 11. The AmigaGuide browser is
so much more friendly than the HTML on the web, 
and obviously having on disk is much faster. I kinda
get lost in these disks, and finish up filling up RAM with
tons of apps that I then have to play with....

There is this one application to make your old A1200
run like a new one. Hadn`t realised there had been 
that many changes. 

scuzz
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com

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Master System