1980's computers

@skully - google for 'Theodore Kaczynski' aka the Unibomber.

thanks Andy that will be dinner time viewing on the PS3 tonight.

i still have my (parents') zx spectrum!! although haven't got it out of the box for quite a while... fav program was manic miner - i found a linux emulator again a few years ago that let me run it, although i've lost it again now. brilliant! we had a zx81 before that, with the plugin 4k extra ram module at the back.

does anyone remember prestel? kind of like the precursor to the internet: you got it via the phone line onto your computer and were able to browse through it on the tele?

My mate was a ZX 128k man, I'd go round there in the holidays to play Gauntlet, A Bard's Tale and Manic Miner. We'd have to both use the keyboard for two-player games because his Kempston interface was shit. They all were, they had the structural integrity of an Indian skyscraper.

I had a ZX 80 and 81 as a kid. Moved onto an Acorn Electron, Commodore 64, Atari 520, and then onto our first PC - 386 DX40!

Now I'm an IT bod for a living and it's lost all it's magic :(

ha! remember these C64'S bbc Micros and Spectrums, I had bikes instead, dad wasnt into it.
but the thing I really remember was loading games by cassette, now that was some time deepening going on there, took ages, and even then it wasnt garunteed to work. Seems ironic that what was supposed to be rapid was actually painfully slow at the time.

hmmmm? I don't get that.

The Unabomber used to write 'FC' on all his explosive devices = 'fuck computers'

You iz like well brainy innit.

Yes.

I have to say I don't really care about all this who did what and who made a million out of it and who didn't, the why's and wherefores. They can't take it with them, and I doubt very much that Bill Gates has any more friends than when he started. In fact its likely to be a lot less. Like, none. Don't envy the rich, kids, they're wankers now.

What matters is loving each other and cooking and being able to do things like mend your roof when it leaks, or shear sheep.

Fuck computers. In fact, I'm going to flounce. Right now.

@ skully: you rock! :)

yeah sheep rule and skully knows it.

ahh i loved my C16! ...oh shit i fast forweded the tape to far! 'rewind'

One day I will see these guys live, they do an awesome version of Monkey Island and Cannon Fodder too.
YouTube - PRESS PLAY ON TAPE Bubble Bobble

I watched this, it was great actually.

I remember our Spectrum 48 had to be taken back to the shop 2 or 3 times due to bugs. Apparently Sinclair is still 'researching'. He came out with a folding bike a few years ago, and reckons flying cars are a possibility.

first computer was the Atari 600xl with optional tape player. It ran cartridge games like the 2600. We also had one of those pong games where the controller was just a dial

Amstrad CPC 128k. Tape and disk.

how d you right it? In assembly?

Nah, I wrote a variant on Standard ML, it was written in Java.

Very few languages are written from the bits up, so to speak. Only back in the day would you have to start from assembly (or even pure machine) code.

In fact, a significant milestone in the maturity of a computer language is when it is powerful enough to write a compiler or interpreter for itself.

e.g. - You can write a Java compiler in Java.

This is a very simple, and not particularly mind bending, example of the kind of stuff that goes on the whole time inside computer science. Beautiful.

FWIW - BBC Model B, 32k

I started programming when I was about 10.

Made me the (boring, nerdy, vaguely well off) man I am today.

BBC B with duel 5&1/4 inch floppy drives, a green screen monitor, and a hardware hack that added a switch to make the sound so loud that it jangled your nerves when the pirate's laser fire cut through your shields and started blasting away your energy banks.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00n59t4/Electric_Dreams_1980s/
is fascinating too. I love the bit where they haven't made the tape drive work yet, so have fun by programming.

This is good stuff on youtube: Should be on telly!

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=spectrum+rock+and+roll+years&search=Search

ZX81 and Spectrum here.

Manic Miner, Frogger and mostly Chukkie Egg.

Missed opportunity not going on to invent the internet or Skype or Twitter or something after that early exposure.

Sinclair Spectrum and managed to write a program to find prime numbers.

Foolishly I shied away from computers, went into the motor trade and then into the building lark.

Idiot, idiot, idiot........

did anyone else think the screens that came with the bbc micro looked rather sexy

i dunno but they just looked different to most tv screens / computer screens

they also had a lovely colour to them all 256 colours that is

cyan where else in the world would you get cyan ?

BBC B with duel 5&1/4 inch floppy drives, a green screen monitor, and a hardware hack that added a switch to make the sound so loud that it jangled your nerves when the pirate's laser fire cut through your shields and started blasting away your energy banks.

heh, Elite rocked. I may have to go and find an emulator and an image.

cyan where else in the world would you get cyan ?

It had Magenta, yellow and Black as well.

As in Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key.

As in CMYK - the inks used in printing.

cyan where else in the world would you get cyan ?

I think I might have some in my spice rack hang on.

My father still uses his Archimedes- I remember when he upgraded the RAM and you could have more than (three?) four programs running at the same time.