Micro Men
in [UK Mac]
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From: Duncan Kennedy on 12 Oct 2009 13:38 In message <1j7haj7.1im9c6r12rgbxpN%peter(a)cara.demon.co.uk>, Peter Ceresole <peter(a)cara.demon.co.uk> writes >Duncan Kennedy <obg(a)otterson-bg.co.uk> wrote: > >> >> Was the CPC the one with the ROM box that plugged in the back? I think >> it was - I had a full box of 6 with Protext and separate spell checker >> as I remember - can't remember the rest although one was tools I think. > >Mine were... Protext, an extension for that called Promerge, an Arnor >Utilities ROM called Utopia, which was very useful indeed... That's right - Utopia. > >> I also travelled with the Z88 for several years. > >That was a really nice machine. But my fave was the NC200. Apart from >the fact that it had Protext built in and an almost infinite battery >life (I cheated and built a battery pack with D cells and a Maplins >battery holder) it had, don't laugh, an almost perfectly functional >display. I had one of these running the Z88s (two of them) with a warning lead and 5 rechargeable AAs - 1.2v. They looked good on the train as the box fitted exactly into an old leather shirt stud box my grandfather left. But Pipedream was never Protext - though worked as a spreadsheet, WP and database depending on how you configured it - I think the basis was a spreadsheet. >Worked perfectly in bright sunlight and if the light fell, the >backlight was good. This from a Mac man? >For writing scripts in summer on a bench in Hyde >Park (I actually did this when there was an emergency request- it saved >me going back to Ealing Studios one Friday afternoon) I've never found >anythgin to equal it- even now. You may have been sitting on the next bench while I updated a client's web site - although I think I was later. I still have the two ZX88s and all the extras like an EPROM burner and a data link to a PC. -- Duncan K Downtown Dalgety Bay
From: Peter Ceresole on 12 Oct 2009 13:54 Duncan Kennedy <nospam(a)nospam.otterson-bg.couk> wrote: > I had one of these running the Z88s (two of them) with a warning lead > and 5 rechargeable AAs - 1.2v. I had a homebrew lead with a pack with 5 'D' cells. Massively heavy, overkill maybe, but they jolly well worked. I could put the pack down and the long lead meant I could move the NC200 about on my lap, as I wanted. Also, I could save to the floppy at any time, to transfer to the CPC. And, later, to a Mac (with an external 3" floppy drive). The built in comms meant I could fairly easily connect with the Mac, as well, but I always preferred to use the floppy. > >Worked perfectly in bright sunlight and if the light fell, the > >backlight was good. > > This from a Mac man? Oh yes. I never found a laptop I liked to use outdors in daylight, although they're a lot better now. But the funny dotmatrixy display on the NC was clear as a bell, always. > I still have the two ZX88s and all the extras like an EPROM burner and a > data link to a PC. I still have one (of two) working NC200s. Actaully I say 'working' but I don't really know as I haven't tried it recently. My days of alfresco word processing are fairly far away... And the external 3" drive has definitely evaporated. -- Peter
From: Woody on 12 Oct 2009 15:52 Peter Ceresole <peter(a)cara.demon.co.uk> wrote: > Duncan Kennedy <nospam(a)nospam.otterson-bg.couk> wrote: > > > >Worked perfectly in bright sunlight and if the light fell, the > > >backlight was good. > > > > This from a Mac man? > > Oh yes. I never found a laptop I liked to use outdors in daylight, > although they're a lot better now. But the funny dotmatrixy display on > the NC was clear as a bell, always. I used to love the powerbook 160 for outdoors in daytime. You just turned the backlight off (it didn't make any difference either way). Used to sit in the park writing on that. -- Woody www.alienrat.com
From: zoara on 12 Oct 2009 15:58 D.M. Procida <real-not-anti-spam-address(a)apple-juice.co.uk> wrote: > Jim <jim(a)magrathea.plus.com> wrote: > > > Not strictly on-topic but I know a few of us here are into computer > > history and/or/ Acorn/Sinclair stuff. > > > > Show last week sometime, repeated Monday, 10pm, BBC4. Also on BBC > > iPlayer. > > > > It depicts the battle between Clive Sinclair and Chris Curry in the > > early 80's. It spans the time from just before Chris left Sinclair, to > > the point that Sinclair Computers are bought by Amstrad. I rather > > enjoyed it. > > > > Although part of me thinks it should have been called 'Pirates of > > Silicon Fen'. > > It ended with a bit of heavy-handed metaphor, Sir Uncle Clive trundling > along in a C5, on what looked like a disused airfield, being overtaken > by giant trucks bearing the logos of US technology companies. It was heavy-handed but I actually laughed out loud. -zoara- -- "And the tiny universe compiles." http://powazek.com/posts/1655
From: T i m on 12 Oct 2009 16:18
On Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:52:34 +0100, usenet(a)alienrat.co.uk (Woody) wrote: >I used to love the powerbook 160 for outdoors in daytime. You just >turned the backlight off (it didn't make any difference either way). >Used to sit in the park writing on that. I re-discovered my PB 170 today. I just need to re-discover the PSU now. ;-( T i m |