Micro Men
in [UK Mac]
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From: jonny on 11 Oct 2009 12:03 D.M. Procida wrote: > jonny <jonny(a)dontmailme.org> wrote: > >> The Personal Computer handbook price list (September 1983) > > Is that the one with the brown vinyl cover? I had that! > > Daniele No it has a picture cover featuring BBC Micro Commodore VIC-20 and 64 Oric 1 (not mentioned in the book!) TI-99/4A ZX Spectrum The book has articles and B&W photos of: Apple //e Atari 400/800 BBC Micro Commodore VIC-20 Commodore 64 Commodore PET (4000/8000 Series) Cromenco C-10 DAI DEC Rainbow/325/350 Epson HX-20 Exidy Sorcerer Genie (TRS-80 II Clone) IBM Personal Computer Nascom 2/3 NEC PC-8001 North Star Horizon/Advantage Osborne-1 Research Machines 380Z/480Z Sharp MZ80A Sharp MZ80B Sinclair ZX81 Sinclair ZX Spectrum SuperBrain II Tandy Colour Computer Tandy TRS-80 Texas TI-99/4A Xerox 820 It also has a section featuring games in BASIC, a history of computers and a user group section with contacts and address!
From: Steve Firth on 11 Oct 2009 12:10 Jaimie Vandenbergh <jaimie(a)sometimes.sessile.org> wrote: > >At least back then there was editorial content wirth reading, written by > >people who knew what they were talking about and (mostly) able to > >communicate it to others. > > > >I learned a great deal about fractal landscapes, handy algorithms and > >structured programming from magazines at the time. I imagine that in the > >majority of current magazines I'm not going to find a single line of > >code. > > I've not read any for some time, but PC Pro used to have ye > olde-fashioned CompSci pages at the back, with actual code and > articles about interesting algorithms in. I'm going to pretend that "Wirth reading" wasn't accidental. I'll have a look at PC Pro, but I stopped reading it because I started to feel physically ill after putting up with the anti-Apple diatribe it printed for decades.
From: Steve Firth on 11 Oct 2009 12:18 Jim <jim(a)magrathea.plus.com> wrote: > David Kennedy <davidkennedy(a)nospamherethankyou.invalid> wrote: > > > <http://www.sharpmz.org/mz-700/first700.htm> > > I've got one of those. And an immaculate MZ80K. I always fancied an MZ80K but ended up with a PET instead. IIRC the PET was actually cheaper although still cost one arm, one leg and several internal organs. The context of wages was missing from Micro Men, but at that time I was paid as a University Demonstrator - one rung below Lecturer and had a salary that was lower than probationary Teacher's pay at the time. They got �3000(ish) pa, I got �2700 and the PET cost me �600. I also failed to impress the taxman with my argument that it was "tools of the trade". > > I often wondered if I should have gone with the BBC... > > Depends, although I'd tend to say 'yes' due to being highly biased in > favour of the Beebs. Mmmmm... at the time, we used to get applicant for Secretarial jobs who when asked if they had WP experience would mention something on the BBC. "View" was it? Anyway whatever it was they didn't get the jobs. The BBC Micro did people wanting to use a computer for work no good at all, unless that work involved blowing EEPROMs. TBH for me it was tried one, it wasn't much cop, I stuck with an Apple IIe which did the job better. IMO etc.
From: Ian McCall on 11 Oct 2009 13:12 On 2009-10-11 15:10:16 +0100, tim(a)nospam.demon.co.uk (Tim Gowen) said: > Yeah but how many people in their thirties now, who were doing little > bits of programming when they were 10-15, can actually still remember > that it's better to use for...next loops than GOTO statements! Unless > they're still in the business! True, but conversely the business is heavily populated with people in their 30s who initially got into it through home computing. I speak as one of them, and we're definitely an over-represented section of the population in professional computing. Cheers, Ian
From: Woody on 11 Oct 2009 13:25
Steve Firth <%steve%@malloc.co.uk> wrote: > Jim <jim(a)magrathea.plus.com> wrote: > > > David Kennedy <davidkennedy(a)nospamherethankyou.invalid> wrote: > > > > > <http://www.sharpmz.org/mz-700/first700.htm> > > > > I've got one of those. And an immaculate MZ80K. > > I always fancied an MZ80K but ended up with a PET instead. IIRC the PET > was actually cheaper although still cost one arm, one leg and several > internal organs. That can't be true. My MZ80K cost me �2. -- Woody www.alienrat.com |