I need a new computer :(

Demon said:
He skipped the ZX81 and went straight for a ZX Spectrum (Can't remember if it was the 16K or 48K) with Flight Sim being the first game we bought (from WHSmiths!), and getting Jet Set Willy for my birthday was a real treat!
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I'm pretty sure the Speccy was 48k, which was quite high for early 1980s :-) Manic Miner was the other classic, similar to Jet Set Willy but it was multiple levels with 1 screen per level.

Here's a computer question guys, could be a nostalgia thing: do you prefer the 1980s where it was lots of different makes of computers (Amstrad, Speccy, Beeb, Electron, Archimedes, Dragon, C64, Apple, early DOS PCs), or do you prefer the 1990s where most machines were just Windows and Mac?

I'm a bit two ways about it. 1980s, chances were that all of your mates down your road would have different computers from each other... could be a good thing or bad thing. Most games from the amusement arcade were cloned onto the computers with varying degrees of accuracy. I found it easy to program on a 1980s computer to the point that it was a hobby. 1990s with PCs, the biggest selling point was the internet. Games were becoming more established and sophisticated e.g. Doom/Quake etc, Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy, Warcraft, Age of Empires, Need for Speed and so on. However, if a PC crashed, it would usually crash big time and you had to reinstall Windows which took about half of your day up (drivers, programs, settings).
 
I collect vintage computers, over 40 at the last count, all boxed, most mint, most sitting waiting for the prices to go up. I must get them all photographed at some point...but here are a couple I have short before reboxing.

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I had Star Raiders on my Atari 400 in 1980! I remember that Christmas and the costs of it like it was yesterday!

Atari 400 £299
Basic Cartridge £99
Tape £100

In 1980 that was a big save for my mum and dad. Think Star Raiders was £49 I think, on cartridge of course for INSTANT loads :D
 
I remember we had a Jupiter Ace for short period of time.....it disappeared to be replaced by a Spectrum which we thought was great. Then that went and was replaced by a BBC B.
 
gettothechopper said:
WTF

page 2 and no bbc micro

not real computer nerds after all them ... :p
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Actually to be honest most computer 'nerds' back in the day had C64s and were into assembly programming, especially making demos/intros. The BBC 'nerds' could be described as the clueless rich kid whose parents bought them because they used them at school. :p

My parents bought me an Amstrad CPC-464, I've still not forgiven them.
 
my first computer my dad bought us was an atari 520 st when i was about 7. im guessing the 520 was for 520k ram my mate had a 1040. ive noticed in all the above adverts its all ram being the selling point nothing else mentioned.

we had such classic games as: carrier command (they tried to remake it for xbox360 and i didnt like it), jimmy whites whirlwind snooker, ghostbusters 2, robocop, super hang-on, outrun, teenage mutant hero turtles, an athletics game featuring daley thompson possibly called daley thompsons decathlon. you had to fill up your lucozade bottle for stamina and choose the correct shoes for each event. you dont get that feature on the xbox! f-16 simulator was pretty good. i remember playing a game that wore out 3 joysticks because you had to move it as fast as possible from left to right. i remember having afterburner which was also in arcades, gauntlet 4 (which is now about gauntlet 40million. my surname is gaunt and at primary school my mates calle me gauntlet haha). going through wikipedia its coming flooding back now, bombuzal, a game like dominoes with colin curvy quaver, microprose soccer where you play oman in the first game and i was little thinking i was winning 20-0 when i was losing 20-0, powerdrift racing game, i think we had space harrier and whilst looking through the list i found this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A320_Airbus_(video_game)

all this makes me want another one........
 

Fascinating (IMO) film about the rise and fall of Sinclair, Acorn and the start of Lord Sugar's Amstrad.


Scary thing is I remember it all from my youth, makes me feel old.
 
Pawnless Endgame said:
I'm pretty sure the Speccy was 48k, which was quite high for early 1980s :-) Manic Miner was the other classic, similar to Jet Set Willy but it was multiple levels with 1 screen per level.

Here's a computer question guys, could be a nostalgia thing: do you prefer the 1980s where it was lots of different makes of computers (Amstrad, Speccy, Beeb, Electron, Archimedes, Dragon, C64, Apple, early DOS PCs), or do you prefer the 1990s where most machines were just Windows and Mac?

I'm a bit two ways about it. 1980s, chances were that all of your mates down your road would have different computers from each other... could be a good thing or bad thing. Most games from the amusement arcade were cloned onto the computers with varying degrees of accuracy. I found it easy to program on a 1980s computer to the point that it was a hobby. 1990s with PCs, the biggest selling point was the internet. Games were becoming more established and sophisticated e.g. Doom/Quake etc, Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy, Warcraft, Age of Empires, Need for Speed and so on. However, if a PC crashed, it would usually crash big time and you had to reinstall Windows which took about half of your day up (drivers, programs, settings).
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LOL, my memory failed, manic miner was indeed my first game I paid for on my birthday, jet set willy was a bit after that!

I liken the 80s computers more like consoles in terms of all being different and school ground rivalries!
 
Housey said:
I collect vintage computers, over 40 at the last count, all boxed, most mint, most sitting waiting for the prices to go up. I must get them all photographed at some point...but here are a couple I have short before reboxing.
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Have you got a camputers lynx? That was the first computer for me and you never forget your first :)
 
Cosimo said:
They were such fun, everything was exciting. I loved going to computer shows/fairs at places like Olympia and Wembley coming home with lots of goodies.
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Yes exactly. Even now when I look at pictures of the old PCs it brings back that little twinge of excitement. I used to go to those shows too. It also brings a little sadness that there doesn't seem to be anything around that excites me like that anymore.

Stars added.
 
Housey said:
I collect vintage computers, over 40 at the last count, all boxed, most mint, most sitting waiting for the prices to go up. I must get them all photographed at some point...but here are a couple I have short before reboxing.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that Elan Enterprise was so cool I drooled over as a kid!
 
Em3bbs said:
Actually to be honest most computer 'nerds' back in the day had C64s and were into assembly programming, especially making demos/intros. The BBC 'nerds' could be described as the clueless rich kid whose parents bought them because they used them at school. :p

My parents bought me an Amstrad CPC-464, I've still not forgiven them.
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I think you underestimate the seriousness of the market the BBC Micro was aimed at! The C64 was a very good games machine with good graphics and very clever sound for its time, but the real nerds, believe me, opted for BBC's if they could afford one.

Yes, it was expensive for sure, but it had capabilities way beyond almost anything of its day and was incredibly expandable, everything from second processors to different languages fitted to ROM expansion boards, the BBC was a superb programmers machine, in whatever language you fancied almost...

I had one (second hand, my parents were far from rich!) after a Spectrum, Electron and C64! - I preferred it to my later Atari 520ST and 1040(!) - I sold the Atari after a few years, but finally sold my beeb in 1990 and sorely wish now I'd kept it!

When you consider the ground breaking "Elite" game, I ended up with the enhanced second processor version which was absolutely stunning - for its day, you start to see how groundbreaking the BBC was, it had a very long life too, the first Model A was launched in December 1981, the last BBC Master Series went out of production in 1987 and was then followed by further -32bit- variants.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro Have a read, pay attention to the expand ability and programming languages that were available...
 
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UTmaniac said:
Just googled that game name, indeed it was one I had, the battling brothers had to collect herbs to cast spells on each other.

Where did the last ~27 years go?:eek:
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27 years? Blooming hell I'm older than I thought! Yeah Feud was the gathering game with the farmer chasing you for stealing his herbs!

The MSX version just had better music, graphics and gameplay than the others (I've played it pretty much on every other format). Fantastic game. There's just some games that fit the computer just right like Colony on the Spectrum. I used to love games by Odin as well on both the C64 and Spectrum - games like Nodes of Yesod consume far too much time (even now!)




M.
 
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