Some of our latest additions are shown below - clicking on the link will take you to the items main page and will also show any further photographs
The Atari 810 Disk Drive was Atari's first disk drive for its line of Atari 400/800 computers. Providing 88K of storage per disk side, the 810 gave Atari computer users the ability to quickly store and retrieve documents and program files to and from the storage device. Up to 4 Atari 810's could be daisy chained together via the Atari SIO bus for a total of almost 360K of on-line random access file storage and retrieval. The Atari 810 came in two different versions; the Tandon mech version and the MPI mech version.
The Atari 810 is rather large compared to other companies disk drives and has an external 9Vac power supply. The reason why the drive is so large is that there is no disk drive controller in any of the Atari 400/800 computers, instead each device that connects to an Atari computer through its SIO bus is actually an intelligent device with its own intelligent communications controller and floppy disk controller.
The case design was conceived by Kevin McKinsey of Atari's Home Computer Industrial Design group. The case is interesting in that the top and bottom covers are actually the same part made to assemble the top and bottom sides. Adhesive labels on the back of the 810 would block unused ports on the topside of the cover.
Our unithas a serial number of AZ038501 and was kindly donated by Geoff Lambert
This Hollerith Card Guage is suitable for either 38 or 80 column cards and was kindly donated by Julia Haylett on behalf of her husband Albert John Haylett who worked for ICT
The Tandy 1000 HX, released in 1987, was designed as another entry level IBM compatible personal computer
The Tandy 1000 was followed by a series of models which appended two or three letters to the name, after a space, (e.g. Tandy 1000 EX, Tandy 1000 SX, Tandy 1000 TX, Tandy 1000 RL, Tandy 1000 RLX). In a few instances, a slash and a number or additional letters were appended to these letters (e.g. Tandy 1000 TL/2, Tandy 1000 RL/HD
The Tandy 1000 HX was the bigger brother of the EX. It was mostly the same machine, but had a 3.5" floppy instead of a 5.25" one, and also had DOS 2.11 in ROM, which could be accessed by starting the computer with no bootable disk present. Like the EX, the clock speed of its 8088 CPU was increased to 7.16 MHz, providing a large performance benefit; although it could clock down to 4.77 MHz for compatibility with older applications)
YEAR 1987
KEYBOARD Full stroke keyboard, 92 keys, 12 function keys
CPU Intel 8088
SPEED 4.77 MHz / 7.16 MHz
RAM 256 KB (up to 640 KB)
ROM 16 KB
Ouir unit has a moderl number of 25-1043A and a serial number of 110146 and complete with
Tandy RGB Color Monitor No. 25-1043A eith a manufactured date of July 1988 and
Tandy 55.25" 360K external disk dive: model number 25-1060
The Commodore 128 (C128, CBM 128, C=128) home/personal computer was the last 8-bit machine commercially released by Commodore Business Machines (CBM). Introduced in January of 1985 at the CES in Las Vegas, it appeared three years after its predecessor, the bestselling Commodore 64. The primary hardware designer of the C128 was Bil Herd.
The C128 was a significantly expanded successor to the C64 and unlike the earlier Plus/4, full compatibility with the C64 was retained. The new machine featured 128 KB of RAM, in two 64 KB banks and an 80-column RGBI video output (driven by the 8563 VDC chip with 16 KB dedicated video RAM), as well as a substantially redesigned case and keyboard, which included a numeric keypad. While the 128 still had a 40 column mode, an extra 1K of color RAM was made available to the programmer, as it was multiplexed through memory address 1. The 128's power supply was vastly improved over the 64's unreliable design, being larger and equipped with cooling vents and a replaceable fuse. Instead of the single 6510 microprocessor of the C64, the C128 incorporated a two-CPU design. The primary CPU, the 8502, was a slightly improved version of the 6510 capable of being clocked at 2 MHz. The second CPU was a Zilog Z80 which was used to run CP/M software, as well as to initiate operating mode selection at boot time. The two processors could not run concurrently, thus the C128 was not a multiprocessing system.
Our machine has the model number: C128 and a serial number of EA0106648 and is complete with the original box, cables and packaging.
Acorn Risc PC 600
The Risc PC (codenamed Medusa) was Acorn Computer's next generation RISC OS/Acorn RISC Machine computer, launched in April 1994, which superseded the Acorn Archimedes.
Like the Archimedes, the Risc PC continued the practice of having the RISC OS operating system in a ROM module. Risc PC augmented the ROM-based core OS with a disk-based directory structure containing configuration information, and some applications which had previously been kept in ROM. In July 1995, with the launch of the Risc PC 700 , the Risc PC 600 was upgraded to use a 33MHz ARM610 CPU, 16bit sound and RISC OS 3.60. This machine is an ACB60 - Acorn Risc PC600, 0/4/425Mb, 33MHz ARM610, Risc OS 3.6, Single Slice Further information is available at http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/Computers/RiscPC600.html
We are extremely grateful to Robert J Davis for donating this machine which is in excellent condition
Our unit has a serial no of 72-ACB4560-1010789
Sun Enterprise is a range of UNIX server computers produced by Sun Microsystems from 1996 to 2001. The line was launched as the Sun Ultra Enterprise series; the Ultra prefix was dropped around 1998. These systems were based on the 64-bit UltraSPARC microprocessor architecture and related to the contemporary Ultra series of computer workstations. Like the Ultra series, they ran the Solaris Operating Environment. Various models, from single-processor entry-level servers to large high-end multiprocessor servers were produced. The Enterprise brand was phased out in favor of the Sun Fire model line from 2001 onwards.
The Sun Enterprise 450 was a popular rack-mountable entry-level multiprocessor servers launched in 1997, capable of up to four UltraSPARC II processors. The Sun Enterprise 250 was a two processor version launched in 1998. These were later joined by the Enterprise 220R and Enterprise 420R rack-mount servers in 1999. The 220R and 420R models were respectively based on the motherboards of the Ultra 60 and Ultra 80 workstations. The 250 was replaced by the Sun Fire V250, the 450 by the Sun Fire V880. The 220R was superseded by the Sun Fire 280R and the 420R by the Sun Fire V480.
Architecture: 250-,300 or 400MHzUltraSPARC[tm]-II with onboard e-cache
X1190A - 250MHz / 1MB Cache Processor
Cache Memory:1-MB external cache per processor with 250-MHz CPU
Our Unit has the following Reference numbers
S.N. 104M28CD
P.N. 600-8923-01
The unit is complete with Sun keyboard & mouse, Sun Enterprise 250 Server Documentation Set and the Sun Developer Essentials Kit which includes software and manuals.
Further information on Sun systems is available at http://www.e250.net/
he MicroVAX was a family of low-end minicomputers developed and manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). The first model, the MicroVAX I, was introduced in 1984. The MicroVAX family used processors that implemented the VAX instruction set architecture (ISA) and was succeeded by the VAX 4000.
The MicroVAX 3100 Series was introduced in 1987. These systems were all packaged in a desktop enclosure.
MicroVAX 3100 systems offer enhanced distributed computing capabilities and flexibility. They support more than 10,000 commercial and technical applications across local or wide area networks. MicroVAX 3100 systems support add-on synchronous options for wide area communications and asynchronous options, including modem options for terminal and printer connections. Networking allows communications in a variety of environments. PC clients based on MS-DOS, OS/2, and Macintosh can be connected to the MicroVAX 3100 system, enabling the entire business to share information. Digital's advanced client/server computing, based on NAS (Network Application Support), delivers a wide range of solutions to help integrate desktop workstations and PCs.
Our unit has a model number of: DV-31BTI-A and a serial number of AY02100839 and is complete with Digital VT420 monitor, Digtal RZ-55-F3 SCSI drive unit and Digital keyboard LK401-AA Rev A02
All were very kindly donated By Peter Salt
Olivetti Personal Computer M24.
Olivetti's first modern personal computer, the Olivetti M20, featuring a Zilog Z8000 CPU, was released in 1982. In 1983 Olivetti introduced the M24, a clone of the IBM PC using DOS and the Intel 8086 processor (at 8 MHz) instead of the Intel 8088 used by IBM (at 4.77 MHz).
This was a very fast IBM compatible PC of its time. With its 16 bit databus width it was about twice as fast as the PC-XT. They would usually have a 20MB MFM harddisk and have 512K RAM
The Olivetti M24 was a successful product and became a reference in Europe. However, as Intel moved on to the faster Intel 386 CPU, Olivetti failed to deliver reliable new products based on the new processor.
Our unit is complete with the original keyboard and monitor. The reference types of the machine is: BU 2455, the model number is XP1050 and has a serial number of AY02100839. This was kindly donated by Peter Salt
Our Toshiba 3300SL/80 has a model number of PA1066E and a serial number of 03213689E and was kindly donated by Peter Salt
Processor
Intel 386SL, 25/12.5/6.25MHz 64 KB cache memory, Intel 3875X numeric coprocessor socket, Reset button
Memory
2 MB RAM standard (supports up to 18 MB) LIM-EMS 4.0
XMS support
Toshiba HardRAM
Storage
80MB HDD (less than 19 ms average access time) 3.5" 1.44 MB/720 KB FDD with media type checking
Interfaces
Centronics parallel/FDD port
RS-232C serial port
Numeric keypad port
VGA external monitor port
PS/2 mouseport
Toshiba 150-pin connector for DeskStation
Expansion
DeskStation IV (option)
Memory card slot
PCMCIA 2.0 industry standard credit card size expansion slot
Display
Sidelit Supertwist LCD
640 x 480 pixels
9.5" diagonal size
Graphics Adaptor
VGA compatible
32 greyscales
256 colours (external)
Size
297 x 210 x 45 mm
(11.7" x 8.3" x 1.8")
Weight
2.7 kg/5.9 lb (including battery)
The Tatung Einstein was realeased in 1984 costing about £500.
It uses a 3" disk drive (the same used by Sinclair and Amstrad) but I have read somewhere that with a bit of 'handy andying' you can fit a standard 720k 3.5" floppy drive quite easily.
Is it me or does this machine have quite a lot of physical similarities to the Acorn BBC computer? I never had one of these machines but did have a beeb for a long time, and when I took the Einstein out of the box there were several similarities that hit me :
- Similar keyboard action
- Similar expansion connectors
- Similar power supply
- Similar moulded mains plug
- Similar plastic strip above the functions keys
... but techinically the machines are very different - The BBC computer being 6502 based and the Einstein being Z80 based for a start!
I've done quite a bit of looking round the web and can't find any other references to these similarities except to say that they are both British computers.
Unusually, the machine boots up into MOS (Machine Operating System) and you need to load a high level language like BBC Basic to use it. Yes, the machine was (I think) supplied with BBC Basic - a strange coincidence bearing in mind the similarities to the beeb ...
The fact that it booted into MOS made it ideal for hardcore programmers to write software and it was apparently on this machine that copy protection systems were developed for other computers due to the fact that you could program the disk controller chip directly.
Our model is in excellent condition and is complete with the original box and manual. The model number is TCS-256 with a serial number of 151005.
This model was the successor to the Einstein TC01 and as is smaller in size and is complete with a purpose built 14" high definition colour monitor which is with the original Tatung box. The processor is Z80A running at 4MHz. As its name suggests, Einstein 256 has 256K of RAM. A 3" disc drive unit is mounted on the top of the machine
Mitac 3025F laptop Model: 3025F-001-2luk-2. RO2-1C-1B
Serial No. 004L240884
Processor: 80386SX
Memory: 1MB, 64KB System ROM, 64KB Video ROM
LCD display: FTN Monochrome VGA. 640 x 480 resolution
25 Lines x 80 characters, 16 grey scales
Disk Drive: 135TPI double sided + Hard Drive
Our machine complete with software and manual were kindly donated by Peter Salt
The BT Merlin M2105 was manufactured by Acorn for British Telecom as a dedicated communications terminal. It is essentially an Acorn Electron and an expansion box that contains a modem, voice synthesizer, serial port and printer port.
The expansion box is bolted to the Electron and attaches to the expansion port.
They were supplied by BT to thier engineers to allow them to communicate with each other and BT in a bulletin board and basic email way. However, this was pre internet and email as we know it today.
They may also have been supplied to BT customers including Interflora.
When the Acorn Electron Merlin computer is connected up on its own the message that comes up on the screen reads: "Acorn Electron" and underneath: "BASIC" When the BT Merlin expansion box is connected to the Acorn Electron Merlin computer the following message appears on the screen: MERLIN BUSINESS SYSTEMS M2105 Terminal 1 Version V3.50 16/02/87 (c) British Telecommunications plc 1986 sc21302130 sc21302130 _ printer (to remind operator to connect a dot matrix printer)
 We have a scanned version of the BT Merlin M2105 User Guide available to download. Click on the PDF icon.
Casio FT-21 Fortune Teling Calculator with clock and alarm
Casio are one of the world's largest manufacturers of pocket calculators. The company was founded in Japan in 1946 (originally called Kashio Seisansho) and has its headquarters in Shibuya, Tokyo. As well as calculators, the company manufacturers a wide range of electronic equipment including electronic musical instruments, cameras and watches.
Exists in pink (for women) and in blue (for men).
1981
Type 4 function +biorhythm
Microprocessor Hitachi HD43566
Size (length x width x thickness) 92x59x7
Weight 41gr
Batteries 1x3Vcell
Our calculator is complete with instructions and the original box
Texet B50 Calculator
Texet was, and still is, a calculator and office equipment marketing company. Based in Manchester, England, it has been owned for many years by the family run Hira Company Limited.
In late 1973, Commodore introduced the Minuteman 3 series. This was a popular model and there are numerous variations:
The Commodore Minuteman 3 had an 8 digit LED display, 4 function calculator. 6V, .2amp, 1.2 Watts. Made in Japan.
Ours is complete with a soft pouch: Serial No. 69788
Oregon Scientific Electronic Organizer AM-080C
Released in 1996 with a 34 KB memory
Graphic display, 6 lines x 16 chars. HiGlo backlight Keyboard 63 rubber keys, numeric keypad
Batteries 3 x CR-2032 (1 for backup) PC-Sync By a serial cable or Infrared LED's
Size/weight 13.9 (W) x 9.6 (D) x 1.6 (H) cm / 131 g
Functions 3 x Phone books, Memo, Todo, Schedule, Expenses, Home/world clock, Calendar, 10-digit calculator
Casio Digital Diary SF-4000
The Casio SF-4000 ($109.95) is a "digital diary" with a large, six-line LCD screen that displays any full month from 1901 to 2099. The schedule display indicates month, date, day and year. You can enter names, phone numbers, schedules, appointment notes. etc., into the SF-4000's 32K memory. The search function gives you six different ways to retrieve and store information in seconds. The SF-4000 also functions as a full-featured calculator with independent memory, percentage, square root and full-floating decimal. The SF-4000 is 5/8 x 3 X 5 inches, weighs six ounces and operates on three lithium batteries.
November 1988
Our 80 Column Blank BCL Punch Cards came with our BCL Susie Mark 2 machine courtesy of Tony Fairhead.
BCL Susie (Stock Updating Sales Invoicing Electronically) used a magnetic drum store and the Molecular18 computer system which was was an 18 bit, dual accumulator, programmable computer, with a typical minicomputer architecture. The Molecular could address up to 64K words of memory. In later models, memory extensions were made available by the use of bank switching.
The top 32K memory could be switched between four banks, giving an overall memory limit of 160K words. There was a complex (for the time) instruction set, a simple interrupt system, multiple input/output ports, and Direct Memory Access or Data Channel for high speed peripherals.Susie was primarrily a stock control machine in 1967 which used a Nickel Delay line and Magnetic Drum for storage.
The only system controls are the keys of the typewriter keyboards on the input/output writers, apart from a few switches for program selection and automatic input and output. Therefore, any reasonably intelligent typists could soon learn to operate the equipment.
The system had automatic Input and Output using either punched paper tape or edge-punched cards, a great deal of information which would otherwise have to be inserted by the typist, can be fed in automatically at far greater speed and with absolute accuracy, Susie can generate statistical information for further processing on a customers own computer or by a computer bureau as part of another operation, or for future use as standard input material. Susie can accept such items as customers' names and addresses, account numbers and so on, on one card, and standard item descriptions and prices on another. Fed into Susie either individually or automatically by hopper, these cards make it unnecessary for the operator to type anything other than the variable information. Automatic input can increase Susie's memory capacity to virtually limitless proportions by replenishing it in sections from stored punched tape or cards.
Independent Operation of Readers and Punches and Input/Output Printers. These two units are completely independent of each other. The ability to use them together or independently facilitates the rejection of wrong edge-punched cards or tape sequences without producing hard copy. Susie has the ability to re-generate punched paper tape without producing hard copy printout. This enables the typist to 'dump' data from the memory, completely by-passing the print unit. The input of fresh data or of a programme can be carried out at the same speed. Susie programmes are fed in on paper tape or typed in via the keyboard.
A hopper fed edge-punched card reader is available, capable of processing automatically up to 200 edge-punched cards without the typist's intervention or handling.
The system is complete with a high speed GNT Model 34 Tape/Punch reader. It punches standard 1" paper tape with 8 information channels according to one of the three standard codes namely ASCII. Fridens Flexowriter, or IBM TTC/8.
Our BCL Susie Mark 2 machine was very kindly donated and built up for us by Tony Fairhead who knew and used the machine for many years.
The Acorn Archimedes was Acorn Computers Ltd's first general purpose home computer based on their own 32-bit ARM RISC CPU. The name is also commonly used to describe computers which were based on the same architecture, even where Acorn did not include 'Archimedes' in the official name.
The first models were released in June 1987, as the 300 and 400 series. The 400 series included 4 expansion slots (although a 2 slot backplane could be added to the 300 series as an official upgrade, and third parties produced their own 4 slot backplanes) and an ST506 controller for an internal hard drive. Both models included the Arthur OS (later replaced by RISC OS as a paid-for upgrade), BBC BASIC and an emulator for Acorn's earlier BBC Micro, and were mounted in two-part cases with a small central unit, monitor on top, and a separate keyboard and three-button mouse. All models featured onboard 8 channel stereo sound and were capable of displaying 256 colours on screen.
Four models were initially released with different amounts of memory, the A305, A310, A410 and A440. The 300 and 400 were followed by a number of machines with minor changes and upgrades:
The Archimedes A305 is the same as the A310, but with only 0.5MB RAM instead of the 1MB RAM in the A310
This model is the 305 (Serial No. 27-AKB10-1002793 which was kindly donated by Derek Tate togther with software and manuals
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd. Referred to during development as the ZX81 Colour and ZX82, the machine was launched as the ZX Spectrum by Sinclair to highlight the machine's colour display, compared with the black-and-white of its predecessor, the Sinclair ZX81. The Spectrum was released in eight different models, ranging from the entry level model with 16 KB RAM released in 1982 to the ZX Spectrum +3 with 128 KB RAM and built in floppy disk drive in 1987.
The Spectrum was among the first mainstream audience home computers in the UK, similar in significance to the Commodore 64 in the USA. The introduction of the ZX Spectrum led to a boom in companies producing software and hardware for the machine. The Spectrum is based on a Zilog Z80A CPU running at 3.5 MHz (or NEC D780C-1 clone). The original model Spectrum has 16 KB (16×1024 bytes) of ROM and either 16 KB or 48 KB of RAM. Hardware design was by Richard Altwasser of Sinclair Research, and the machine's outward appearance was designed by Sinclair's industrial designer Rick Dickinson.
Our Spectrum is part of a console manufactured by Griffin & George of London and was kindly donated by Andrew Borkett of the Faculty of Education in Cambridge University.
Commodore CBM 3016 or PET 2001-16N
The first all-in-one home computer fro Commodore was the PET. The first model was the PET 2001, including either 4 KB (the 2001-4) or 8 KB (2001-8) of 8-bit RAM. It was essentially a single-board computer with discrete logic driving a small built-in monochrome monitor with 40×25 character graphics. Designed on an appliance computer philosophy similar to the original Macintosh the machine also included a built-in Datassette for data storage located on the front of the case, which left little room for the keyboard. The data transfer rate to cassette was 1500 baud, duplicated for safety, giving an effective rate of 750 baud. The 2001 was announced at the '77 Winter CES in January 1977 and the first 100 units were shipped in mid October 1977. However they remained back-ordered for months, and to ease deliveries they eventually cancelled the 4 kB version early the next year.
Although the machine was fairly successful, there were frequent complaints about the tiny calculator-like keyboard, often referred to as a "chiclet keyboard" because the keys resembled the popular gum candy. This was addressed in upgraded "dash N" and "dash B" versions of the 2001, which put the cassette outside the case, and included a much larger keyboard with a full stroke motion. Internally a newer motherboard was used, along with an upgrade from static memory to dynamic memory and 8, 16, or 32 KB, known as the 2001-N-8, 2001-N-16 or 2001-N-32, respectively.
Sales of the newer machines were strong, and Commodore then introduced the models to Europe. However, there was already a machine called PET for sale in Europe from the huge Dutch Philips company, and the name had to be changed. The result was the CBM 3000 series ('CBM' standing for Commodore Business Machines), which included the 3008, 3016 and 3032 models. Like the 2001-N-8, the 3008 was quickly dropped.
Our model is the 2001-16N BS and was kindly donated by Andrew Borkett of the Faculty of Education in Cambridge University.
Tyco 1 kB magnetostrictive delay line memory
One kind of "delay line" memory is the so called magnetostrictive memory. This technique is based on the idea of the propagation of ultrasonic waves through a thin wire. The information to be stored is fed into a long wire by the effect of magnetostricion (the wire contracts when exposed to a strong magnetic field – this in turn yields an acoustic wave traveling across the wire). A bit pattern created by this effect travels along the wire to its end where the information is picked up by a piezo electric element. The output of this pickup will be amplified and fed back into the beginning of the wire loop.
This basically yields a sequential storage circuit - an impulse pattern will run in an endless loop through the wire. To insert information into the loop some (simple) additional circuitry is necessary. To delete bits, the feedback loop will be opened while setting bits requires an OR gate at the input of the wire loop.
This type of memory is volatile and has a rather long access time – on the other hand, its capacity depends mainly on the length of the wire and the basic clock of the surrounding circuitry so it may easily expanded. In addition to this it is relatively inexpensive and rugged making it suitable for applications like desktop calculators and the like.
Our unit was kindly donated by William H L Williams
This plug-in module may be from Control Data Corporation Terminal 200 launched in 1968 and was kindly donated by William H L Williams. Dimensions 6.5 inches by 4.6 inches
This logic card (4.6" X 5.6") is from the Control Data Corporation Terminal 200 launched in 1968 and was kindly donated by William H L Williams
P217 Classic Series 1 Slide Rule
Made in England
Front Scale
5inch // A [ B, C ] D || 13cm
Back: Conversions
The only difference between the Classic illustrated on http://sliderulemuseum.com/British.htm#Classic is that our model does not have the Classic logo on the left of the centre section. Complete with the original box.
360 A W Faber Castell Slide Rule
Appears to be model S329
complete with leather case
Patent No: 206408
Our Nascom 1 kit is in excellent cpondition and complete with expansion boards, manuals and circuit diagrams.
The Nascom-1 sold over 12,000 units in the first 18 months of being on sale and was the brain child of Kerr Borland and John Marshall.
The Nascom 1 was a single-board computer kits issued in 1978 and officially launched in Januaty 1978, based on the Zilog Z80 and including a keyboard and video interface, a serial port that could be used for storing data on a tape cassette using the Kansas City standard, and two 8-bit parallel ports. The inclusion of a full keyboard and video display interface was uncommon in this era, most microcomputer kits at the time only being delivered with a hexadecimal keypad and 7-seg display. In order to keep the cost down, the purchaser had to assemble their Nascom by hand-soldering approximately 3,000 joints on the single circuit board.
Why Nascom? Because the idea of a low cost computer intended for U.K. hobbysts was originated by an American company called Nasco. However, the board was designed in the U.K. by Shelton Instruments Ltd that, later, also designed and sold the Sig-Net.
Introduced December 1977
MSRP (price) £197.50
CPU (µP) Zilog Z80
CPU speed 2 MHz
Monitor/OS* NAS-BUG 1 (1 KB EPROM)
Discontinued 1979
Our Nsacom 1 was very kindly donated by Geoff Clark
Sanyo MBC-555 (1982)
The Sanyo 550 & 555 were the first MS-DOS compatible computers that retailed for under US$1000. It was also quite possibly the only (somewhat) IBM-compatible system that was actually slower than an IBM PC (the PC clocked at 4.77 MHz, while the Sanyo clocked at 3.6, giving it a Norton SI rating of 0.8).
it's the only IBM clone that runs at a lower speed than the original: 3.6 MHz instead of 4.77 MHz. It has a matching keyboard with reset-button on it. The board includes a pin out on which a 5 MB hard disk drive can be attached.
Processor Intel 8088 @ 3.6 MHz
Memory 128 KB
Media 2 5.25" floppy drives (160 KB)
Graphics RGB graphics adapter (no text mode available)
Power Built-in power supply on AC power (with power cord attached to the machine)
Connectivity 1 parallel port
Operating system Sanyo Basic
Base price < $1000,
Further information is available at http://www.seasip.info/VintagePC/sanyo.html
Our MBC-555 with a serial number of 14541476 is complete with the original CRT 36 Sanyo Monitor and Sanyo keyboard. All were very kindly donated by Geoff Clark
The Sharp Font Writer FW-560 UM was a personal word processor as well as a having a Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet facility. It had an internal memory of 30K and a 3.5" 720k disk drive.
General Features for Font Writer "FW-560"
High Quality LCD Screen
• Easy to read with adjustable LCD Screen
• WYSIWYG on 480x64 Dots resolution Large Size Screen
Variety of Fonts for Outstanding Presentations
• 5 Built-in Fonts (Courier, Dutch, Swiss, Script, Futura)
• 20 Selectable Sizes (from 8 to 48 Point with Condensed)
• 5 Text Styles, 5 Shading Patterns and 5 Varieties of Underline. **
• 512 characters plus 216 symbols /'
Built-in 3.5" Disk Drive
• MS-DOSC1) Compatible with 1.44MB and 720KB Disk Format
High Speed Silent Printing
• 70cps (Normal) and 40cps (Fine) Printing with 11.7" Paper Capacity
Enhanced Word Processing Features
• Word Perfect) File Conversion Capability
• Built-in Spell Checker with 80,000 Word Dictionary and Powerful Thesaurus
• Selectable Border for Presentation Documents
• Cut/Copy/Paste/Find/Replace
Powerful and Easy to Use Spreadsheet
• Lotus l-2-3(*3) Data Conversion Capability
• Auto Sum, 27 Functions and Sorting
Address Book
• Easy to use Personal Data Base with 32 Fields
Label Printing
• Powerful Tool for Creating Address Labels
Documentation includes:
Font Writer Easy Start Guide
Font Writer FW-560 Operation Manual
Original invoice and October 1995 price list
Our Font Writer is in excellent condition and complete with the original box and packaging. This was very kindly donated by David Robertson.
An ICT Manual Paper Punch and Splicer.
Toshiba Satellite 110CS/810 - Model No: PA1224E - Introduced 17th June 1996
With this new notebook, Toshiba brings a wide range of advanced features to the value segment, including a fast 100MHz Pentium processor and 8MB of EDO memory, expandable to 40MB.
The CT65548 graphics accelerator supports display on the 11.3-inch color LCD at 800 x 600 dot SVGA resolution. The TFT LCD version can display 65,536 colors at one time, the DSTN version 256 colors from a palette of approximately 220,000 colors. Both models support display of 256 colors at 1,024 x 768 resolution when attached to a external monitor.
Advanced nickel metal hydride (NiMH) battery and power-saving technologies for the CPU and HDD combine for 2.5 to 4.5 hours of operation from a single charge. A built-in AC adapter improves portability and ease-of-use.
An 810MB hard disk drive meets the Enhanced-IDE (Integrated Device Electronics) standard, for approximately double the data transfer rate of HDD to the IDE standard.
Microsoft Windows95 (Window95) and Microsoft WindowsVersion3.1. (Windows3.1) are pre-installed for one-time user selection.
Two PC card slots allow use of two Type II cards or one Type III card.
CPU: Pentium Processor 100MHz (VRT)
Memory: 8MB (EDO, expandable to 40MB)
Optional Expansion memory (8, 16, 32MB)
Mass Storage: HDD: 2.5-inch 810MB x 1
FDD: 3.5-inch drive (1.44MB/1.2MB/720KB) x 1
Display: 11.3-inch TFT color LCD (CT/810 model)
800 x 600 resolution with 65,536 simultaneous colors
11.3-inch DSTN color LCD (CS/810 model)
800 x 600 resolution with 256 simultaneous colors
Graphics accelerator: CT65548
Video RAM: 1MB
External color CRT monitor connectable
Expansion: Standard Interfaces: Serial (16550UART), Parallel (ECP),
external monitor, PS/2 keyboard/mouse, port replicator,
PC Card Slots: PC card Type III x 1or Type II x 2
Power: NiMH rechargeable battery
Battery life:
Operating time: approximately 2.5 to 4.5 hours
Recharge time: approximately 2 hours
Weight: Approximately 3.2kg
Dimensions: 299mm (W) x 235 mm (D)x 55mm (H)
Our machine ewas very kindly donated by John Thompson
Compaq Computer Corp. introduces the new 20-MHz 386SX-based laptop, the SLT 386s/20. The PC processes data up to 50% faster than 16-MHz 386SX-based systems, such as the desktop IBM PS/2 Model 55 SX, and nearly twice as fast as 12-MHz 286-based systems.
System performance of the Compaq SLT 386s/20 laptop has been enhanced by combining the 20-MHz Intel 386SX microprocessor with a 4-kbyte four-way set associative cache memory design, high-speed fixed-disk drives, a high-performance 16-bit graphics controller and support for an optional 20-MHz 387SX …
Model No: 2680A. Serial number: 8144HAP30086
Compaq Computer Corp. Compaq Computer Corp.. (Houston, Texas, USA)
Release date 1990 (date du BIOS) 1990 (BIOS)
Model: SLT 386s/20 SLT 386s/20
Processor i80386SX à 20 MHz i80386SX 20 MHz
Memory: 2048 KB RAM Storage Floppy 3 "1 / 2 1.44 MB. IDE Hard Disk 20 MB
Interfaces : Interfaces Video externe VGA External VGA Video
Software: Ms-Dos 3.31 Compaq MS-DOS 3.31 Compaq
This machine was very kindly donated by John Thompson
Our Marchant Figurematic SD-X is an electro-mechanical calculator which was manufactured between 1950 and 1952
The Marchant Figurematic uses a complex and unusual mechanism based on proportional and differential gearing. Some of its distinguishing features include:
Our model was distributed by Block & Anderson in the UK and carries the following marks:
Model SD-X
ARC J/0/13
10SD-X-371054
We are thankful to Alan Thompson for his very kind to donation.
Casio FX-730P Personal Computer often referred to as programmable calculator
RAM (total):8 / 16 Kb (0 or 1 ramcard of 8 Kb)
RAM available 7,520 / 15,712 bytes
Text screen: 1 line of 24 characters
Dimensions: 165 x 77 x 13 mm
Weight: 139 g. with batteries and a ramcard
Year: 1986
Power: 2 CR-2032 + 1 CR-1220 lithium batteries
Our FX-730P was kindly donated by Tony Allen
A copy of the 730P manual can be found at http://www.engineeringsurveyor.com/utilities/index.htm#Casio_Utilities
The Compukit UK101 microcomputer (1979) was a kit clone of the Ohio Scientific Superboard II single-board computer, with a few enhancements for the UK market - notably replacing the 24x24 (add guardband kit to give 32x32) screen display with a more useful 48x16 layout working at UK video frequencies. The video output was black and white with 256 characters generated by a 2 KiB ROM. It had no bit-mapped graphics capability. The video was output through a UHF modulator, designed to connect to a TV set.
An assembled UK101, with original manual.It was powered by a 6502 microprocessor CPU running at 1 MHz, and was equipped with up to 8 kibibytes of RAM using 2114 static RAM chips of 1024x4-bit. An additional memory-mapped 1 KiB of RAM was used for the video display. It had the 8K Microsoft BASIC interpreter stored in ROM. In addition to Basic, a 6502 machine code monitor (2Kb) was built into ROM. It allowed programmimg by entering sequences of 6502 operational codes. Later a two pass assembler was available which allowed the use of assembly language.
In common with other home computers of the time, software could be saved and loaded on standard cassette tapes. The UK101 uses the Kansas City standard tape format. I/O was managed by a Motorola 6850 ACIA. This allowed a full RS232 port to be implemented, with the addition of a few extra components and minor modifications to existing jumpers on the board.
The 40 pin expansion socket opened up the world to the UK101. One could attach a dual floppy disk controller (5.5") and a memory expansion card (40K max) to allow faster and reliable save/load of programs/data.
Made in the UK by Compukit in New Barnet, North London, the UK-101 was originally a copy of the Ohio Scientific Superboard II. Two years and various legal battles later the UK-101 became, technically, behind its erstwhile rival.
You could buy the UK101 as a kit or as ready made for an extra fee. The kit came in a cardboard briefcase, in which there were anti-static tubes containing the 65+ ICs, a box of IC sockets, and bags containing passives (mainly 0.1uF ceramic decoupling capacitors) and keyboard bits (the keyboard switches were soldered directly to the PCB).
Our UK101 is mounted in a wooden box and is complete with original A4-size book authored by Dr. A.A. Berk, covering assembly, trouble-shooting, and circuit diagrams with descriptions as wellas the original box
We are extremely grateful to Derek Tilford for very kindly donating this machine
the Microcomputer Kit 14 (MK 14) was Sinclair's (at that time called “Science of Cambridge”) first computer. Based on the National Semiconductor SC/MP processor, the MK 14's capabilities were minimal by today's standards - modern digital watches are considerably more powerful!
Despite the MK 14's severe limitations, it was one of the most important British computers ever produced. Its success in finding a previously untapped market was not lost on either Sinclair or his employees, notably Chris Curry, soon to break away and establish Acorn. Without the MK 14, there probably would never have been a ZX81, Spectrum, BBC Micro or Archimedes, and the British computer scene would have been very different.
The MK14 was a computer kit sold by Science of Cambridge of the United Kingdom, first introduced in 1977 for UK£39.95. The MK14 eventually sold over 50,000 units. It used a National Semiconductor SC/MP CPU (INS8060), 256 bytes of random access memory (RAM) which was directly expandable to 640 bytes on board and 2170 bytes total. It used an 8 or 9 red light-emitting diode (LED) seven segment display, there was also optional VDU supporting 32×16 text or 64×64 graphics. Input and output was a 20 key keyboard and reset switch, with an optional 128 bytes of RAM and 16 I/O lines available by adding an INS8154N RAM/IO chip. Cassette-based and PROM storage were optional extras, a sound card was not included but a design for one was provided.
The MK14 specification :-
1/2k ROM Monitor
256 bytes RAM (expandable to 640 bytes on board and 2170 bytes total)
8 (or 9) Red LED seven segment display.
20 key keyboard and reset switch
Optional 16 I/O lines available by adding a IC
No sound card (design provided)
No backing store (cassette and PROM storage an optional extra)
Optional VDU supporting 32x16 text or 64x64 graphics
Our MK14 was very generously donated by Geoff Clark
The Zenith ZFL-181-93 was quite a practrical laptop having two 'pop-up' 3.5" double density disc drives which made the unit neat, albeit bulky overall!
Zenith Data Systems
Model: ZFL-181-93
Type: 80C88
Speed: 8MHz or 4.7 MHz
RAM: 640KB
Disk Drives: (2) * 720KB Drives
Ports: 25 pin serial
25 pin printer
CGA video
external video
AC Adapter
Weight: 12 lbs
S/N 8361277202
Our Ferranti PPC-20 has 128k RAM, two 640k floppy discs and cost £3250.00 in November 1983. Ferranti made the transition from mini to microcomputers with this Argus Pro- Personal Computer (PPC)
Model No: MOE 2 and has a serial number of 6136-1F
Technical specifications
Processor: 8MHz Intel 8086
Memory: 128k expandable to 896k.
Screen: 12in green on black, 25 lines of 80 characters.
Keyboard: Low profile full ASCII, numeric keypad and 13 function keys and a command key that doubles their effect.
Disks: Two 640k floppy disk drives
Interfaces: Three RS232 serial interfaces .
Operating systems: F-COS86, will run CP/M-86 and MS-DOS software.
Languages: M-Basic, P-Basic, Cis-Cobol, MS-Pascal.
Dimensions: Main unit 178mm high and wide and 433mm deep.
Monitor 344mm high, 315mm wide and 330mm deep.
Keyboard 65mm high, 420mm wide and 210mm deep.
Total weight: 13kg (main unit) 8.5kg (monitor) 1 .8kg (keyboard) .
Our unit is complete with the original monitor and keyboard and was very kindly donated by Ian Marchant
The other 5 pictures are from a Benchtest in Personal Computer World's November 1983 issue
Commodore CBM 4032-32N
The final version of what could be thought of as the "classic" PET was the PET 4000 series. This was essentially the later model 2000 series, but with a larger black-and-green monitor and a newer version of Commodore's BASIC programming language. By this point Commodore had noticed that many customers were buying the "low memory" versions of the machines and installing their own RAM chips, so the 4008 and 4016 had the sockets punched out of the motherboard.
The 4032 was a huge success in schools, where its tough all-metal construction and all-in-one design made it better able to stand up to the rigors of classroom use. Just as important in this role was the otherwise underutilized IEEE 488 port the PET included. Used wisely, the port could be used as a simple "network" and allowed printers and disk drives (at this point in time, very expensive devices) to be shared among all of the machines in the classroom
The PET 4032 was released three years after the original PET 2001. Although it has the same CPU running at the same speed, improved circuitry allows the 4032 to run substantially faster. Other improvements include more memory and a better keyboard.
4032 refers to 40 character display, with 32K RAM memory. The 4032 has four port to the outside world. An eight-bit parallel port, a port for a cassette recorder, a port that brings out the system bus, and an IEEE-488 port. Still in use today, the IEEE-488 bus is relatively complex, allowing up to 15 devices on the bus, but is mostly used for laboratory and scientific instruments.
Commodore also released the CBM 8032 at about the same time as the PET 4032. It is almost identical, except for having a 12" screen instead of the 9" screen, displaying 80 characters per line of text.
Why is the 4032 a 'PET', and the 8032 a 'CBM'? Commodore apparently had legal issues with the "PET" abbreviation, and had to change it to something else. They chose "CBM", for Commodore Business Machines. It seems that in Germany, in 1976, there was already a PET - a "Programm Entwicklung Terminal", or "Programmer Development Terminal", based on a Philips X 1150 data pooling system.
Model: PET 4032
Introduced: May 1980
Price: US $1295.
CPU: MOS 6502, 1MHz
RAM: 32K
Display: 40 X 25 text
9" green screen
Ports: IEEE-488, Cassette
Peripherals: Cassette recorder
External floppy drive
OS: ROM BASIC
Specification from http://oldcomputers.net/pet4032.html
The Amiga 500, also known as the A500 (or its code name 'Rock Lobster'), was the first “low-end” Commodore Amiga 16/32-bit multimedia home/personal computer. It was announced at the winter Consumer Electronics Show in January 1987, at the same time as the high-end Amiga 2000, and competed directly against the Atari 520ST. Before A500 was shipped Commodore suggested that the list price of the A500 was 595.95 USD without a monitor. At delivery in 1987, Commodore announced that the Amiga 500 would carry a 699 USD list price.
The Amiga 500 represented a return to Commodore's roots, being sold in the same mass retail outlets as the Commodore 64 to which it was a spiritual successor, as opposed to the computer store-only Amiga 1000.
The original A500 proved to be Commodore’s best-selling Amiga model, enjoying particular success in Europe. Although popular with hobbyists, arguably its most widespread use was as a gaming machine, where its advanced graphics and sound for the time were of significant benefit.
IN October 1989, the A500 dropped its price from 499 GBP to 399 GBP and was bundled with the Batman Pack in the United Kingdom. This price drop helped Commodore to sell more than 1 million A500s in 1989. In late 1991, an enhanced model known as the A500 Plus replaced the standard A500
Release date 1987
Discontinued 1991
Media 880 kB floppy disks
Operating system AmigaOS v1.2~1.3
CPU Motorola 68000 @ 7.16 MHz (NTSC)
7.09 MHz (PAL)
Memory 512 kB (9.5 MB maximum)
Graphics 640 × 256, 6 bpp
Sound 4× 8-bit channels at max 28 kHz with 6-bit volume in stereo.
Predecessor Amiga 1000
The computer was used by film producer Roy Byrne and was very kindly donated by his wife Roberta and his daughter Jennifer Byrne.
The Amiga 1200, or A1200 (code-named 'Channel Z'), was Commodore International's third-generation Amiga computer, aimed at the home market. It was launched on October 21, 1992, at a base price of 399 GBP in the United Kingdom and 599 USD in the United States. Initially, only 30 000 A1200s were available at the UK launch.
Like its predecessor, the Amiga 500, the A1200 is an all-in-one design incorporating the CPU, keyboard, and disk drives (including the option of an internal 2,5" inch hard disk drive) in one physical unit. The A1200 was technically similar to the Atari Falcon, which was the A1200's most direct competitor, and shared hardware with the Amiga CD32 game console.
During the first year of its life the system reportedly sold well and the future looked good for the Amiga 1200, but Commodore ran into cash flow problems and soon went bankrupt.[3] World wide sales figures for the Amiga 1200 are unknown but there were 95,000 A1200 systems sold in Germany before Commodore's bankruptcy.[4]
After Commodore’s demise the A1200 almost disappeared off the market but the system was re-launched by Escom in 1995. The new Escom A1200 price was set to £399 and it came bundled with two games, seven applications and Amiga OS 3.1.[5] It was criticized for being priced 150 pounds higher than what the Commodore variant had sold for two years prior and was taken off the market some time during 1996 as the parent company folded.
Motorola MC68EC020 14.32 MHz CPU
2 megabytes Chip RAM on motherboard
Maximum 2 megabytes Chip RAM
Maximum 8 megabytes Fast RAM
512k ROM on motherboard
3.5 drive bays
2.5 drive mountable
3.5 880k internal floppy drive
2.5 40 megabyte IDE hard drive (optional)
Integrated keyboard
96 keys
10 function keys
Numeric keypad
Cursor keys (inverted T layout)
2 button mouse
A1200 trapdoor 150 pin local bus expansion
PCMCIA 2.0 expansion bus
Compact case
External power supply port
External floppy drive port
RS-232 serial port
Centronics parallel port
2 mouse/joystick ports
Colour composite video port
15kHz colour RGB analogue video port
31KHz SVGA video output
2 stereo audio output ports
32 BIT data path
24 BIT address space
Optional battery backed clock
Weight: 8 lbs.
9.5" deep x 18.5" wide x 3 high
110 volt/60Hz 23 watts power supply (external)
Our A1200 is on excellent condition and complete with the original box & pakaging.
The computer was used by film producer Roy Byrne and was very kindly donated by his wife Roberta and his daughter Jennifer Byrne.
AlphaServer was the name given to a series of server computers, produced from 1994 onwards by Digital Equipment Corporation, and latterly by Compaq and HP. As the name suggests, the AlphaServers were based on the DEC Alpha 64-bit microprocessor. Supported operating systems for AlphaServers are Tru64 UNIX (formerly Digital UNIX), OpenVMS and Windows NT (on earlier systems, with AlphaBIOS ARC firmware), while enthusiasts have provided alternative operating systems such as Linux, NetBSD, OpenBSD and FreeBSD.
Digital claimed Unprecedented performance
and headroom powered by
DIGITAL 64-bit Alpha technology
Exceptional complex database
applications capacity and
performance using VLM64™
(Very Large Memory) support
Unmatched I/O scalability
and investment protection
with next-generation 64-bit PCI
Optimized flexibility and application
migration with a choice
of three operating systems:
DIGITAL UNIX®, Microsoft®
Windows NT™, or OpenVMS™
Innovative configuration
flexibility with system drawer
design and DIGITAL UltraSCSI
StorageWorks™"
They had a clock speed upto to 600 MHz with a cache size via an on board chip of 8 KB I-cache, 8 KB D-cache, 96 KB secondary/ and 8 MB per processor. Maximum memory for 4000 4 GB 4 GB
for 4100 8 GB
Maximum disk capacity Pedestal: 380 GB/over 15 TB
(in-cabinet/total) Cabinet: 760 GB/over 15 TB
Maximum I/O bandwidth 500 MB/s (1 GB/s with I/O expansion)
I/O support (max. config.) for 4100 8 64-bit PCI slots (including 3 shared PCI/EISA slots), 2 64-bit PCI channels
Our unit is housed in a StorageWorks cabinet SW500-AD
The Tandata TD1600 was a viewdata Prestel system and was used for many applications and connected to the telephone system and television set.
The Tandata range of viewdata products includes the Td 1400 series of remote-controlled units (with a hand-held infra-red keyboard with 54 keys), the desk-top Td 1600 series (with the larger, 73 key, multi-function keyboard), and compact terminals such as the Td 2600 series.
All models are designed to provide a visually attractive and user-friendly connection with the majority of viewdata systems, including British Telecom's Prestel service. They can be used with a standard UHF television, or with a screen by means of Composite Video or RGB output (such as Tandata's range of 10" RGB monitors). In addition, data received can be passed to a printer, a cassette tape recorder or, through an RS232 interface, to various types of microcomputer.
Our machine is complete with power supply, manual and the original polystyrene packaging and was very kindly donated by David McClelland of http://techspot.tv/
The Compaq Deskpro was a line of business-oriented personal computers manufactured by Compaq, discontinued after the merger with Hewlett-Packard. Models were produced containing microprocessors from the 8086 up to the Intel Pentium 4.
A Compaq Deskpro 6333 from the late 1990s.The original Compaq Deskpro, available in several disk configurations, was equipped with an 8MHz 8086 CPU and Compaq's unique display hardware that combined Color Graphics Adapter graphics with high resolution Monochrome Display Adapter text. As a result, it was both considerably faster than the IBM PC and had a much better quality text display compared to an IBM PC equipped with graphics. It was first released in 1984
On June 28, 1984 Compaq released the Compaq Deskpro, a 16-bit desktop computer using an Intel 8086 microprocessor running at 7.14 MHz. It was considerably faster than an IBM PC and was, like the Compaq Portable, also capable of running IBM software. This was the first of the Compaq Deskpro line of computers
CPU (NPU) 8086 (n/a)
Classification 16-bit Computer AT
Clock 8 MHz
Address Space 1024 KB
Memory Size 1024 KB
2nd Level Cache What is this ? ;o)
Floppy A: 5.25" 360 KB
B: 5.25" 360 KB
HDD 20 MB
Operating System MS-DOS 2.12
MS-Windows 1.03
Our Compaq Deskpro Model 1 which has a serial number of 4720MF8F0380 and is complete with monitor, keyboard and manual was very kindly donated by David McClelland of http://techspot.tv/
The NEC PC-8201A personal computer was introduced in March 1983 as one of the world's first-ever lightweight, battery-powered notebook computers. Four years later (1987), it was replaced by an upgraded model, the NEC PC-8300. The PC-8300 sported a number of enhancements, but NEC decided not to market it through retail outlets. Instead, the PC-8300 was only available through special Value Added Resellers (VARs).
The NEC PC-8300 was discontinued in July 1990. In the years since then, NEC has introduced numerous notebook computers. However, none have proved as enduring and as extraordinary as the NEC PC-8201A and NEC PC-8300 computers still in use today by a surprising number of people.
Note: The NEC PC-8201A and PC-8300 computers share much in common with the Radio Shack Model 100 / Model 102, the Kyocera KC-85, and the Olivetti M-10.
The NEC PC-8300 computer measure approx. 8.5" x 11" x 1". It features an excellent LCD screen (with 40 characters by 8 lines in standard mode), weigh less than 3.5 pounds, and run for 18-20 hours on four AA batteries. Built-in firmware includes a BASIC language programmer, an ASCII text editor, and telecom software for use with a serial port and/or modem.
Our machine is in excellent condition and is with a soft case. This together with the software and nmanuals as follow was kindly donated by Christine Arrowsmith:
NEC PC-8300 Personal Application Kit software
NEC PC-8300 User Guide
NEC PC-8300 Text Manual
NEC PC-8300 Telecom Manual
NEC PC-8300 N82-BASIC Reference Card
NEC PC-8300 Personal Application Kit Guide
The Psion Revo, launched in 1999, is a PDA from Psion. It is the light version of Psion 5mx. It is software-compatible with the 5mx and has the same processor but is more lightweight (200g vs 354g of 5mx), and substantially smaller (157x79x17mm). In comparison with the Series 5/5mx, the Revo has a smaller screen (480x160 vs 640x240 of Series 5/5mx) and also lacks a flash-card slot and a backlight.
The Psion Revo comes in two main variants, Psion Revo and Psion Revo Plus having 8 and 16MB of RAM respectively. It is powered by a 36 MHz ARM 710T microprocessor. Among other things, the hardware is equipped with a short-distance irDA wireless infrared communication system and a touchscreen. Like its bigger counterpart Series 5mx, it comes with a small suite of office and communications programs built into the ROM chips. Other programs are user-installable by using a 'dock' to send Revo programs from a PC.
This unit is the REVO PLUS and its casing instead of the familiar dark blue the new casing is gray. In addition, where the Revo's name was proudly displayed on the original Revo, it now says REVO PLUS
The Revo Plus features 16 MB built-in instead of the 8 MB that the original Revo shipped with. In addition, the motherboard of the Revo Plus has been redesigned to accommodate the new memory chip. It has the ARM 710 running at 36 MHz and the Revo Plus uses two rechargeable batteries. The most notable difference from the Revo apart from the extra memory is the addition of some Web browsing software, for both standard Web pages in the form of the highly respected Opera Web browser and WAP (wireless application protocol) pages, more commonly associated with the new breed of mobile phones.
A green LED confirms that the Revo is properly docked and a red LED indicates that the battery is fast charging. The battery charges to 85 percent capacity in just 1.5 hours and fully charges in four hours, and the battery lasts about 12 hours.
The Revo Plus is based along the same lines as earlier Psion models, but with considerable cosmetic and technical improvements. You operate this organiser with the 14 touch-sensitive buttons that border its screen or by using the stylus to tap onscreen buttons and menus. Psion has made every effort to keep the operational controls above the keyboard, thus maximizing the space available for keys.
Technical data:
Standard memory: 16 MB RAM
Display type: LCD
Display colors: 16-level grayscale
Display: 480 x 160 pixel mono display
Keyboard: 53-key QWERTY keyboard
Processor: 36MHz ARM 710
Operating system: EPOC
Battery type: 2 built-in rechargeable 700 mAh AAA NiMH
Weight: 7.1 ounces
First released: September 2000 in Europe
Our unit was very kindly donated by Christine Arrowsmith
The E-m@iler Plus is a state-of-the-art digital telephone packed with features, making it the 'must have' product for home or office. Key features include:
Email
• Easy to use
• Send and receive email worldwide without a PC
• Register up to 8 different email addresses
• 'CopyMail' gives you the option of having all your incoming and outgoing email copied to an additional email address - free of charge!
• Email notification - red LED indicates new messages
• Slide out QWERTY keyboard makes composing email easy
Internet access
• Access the web without a PC
• 'Amsurf' home page for E-m@iler Plus users
• Pay-as-you-use service
SMS
• Send/receive text messages to/from mobile phones
• Slide out QWERTY keyboard makes composing texts easy
• Use contact details from the built-in address book
Polyphonic Ringtones
• Download great polyphonic ringtones for use on your E-m@iler Plus
• Change the ringtone whenever you want
• Large library to choose from
• Allocate different ringtones to different callers (Caller Display Service required)
LCD screen
• Large 480 x 320 pixel clear, bright LCD screen
Play Games
• Download and play great games with sound
Digital Telephone Answer Machine
• Green LED to indicate new messages
• Record your own outgoing message
• Remote access
Address Book
• Store up to 700 contact names
• Store Home, Office, Mobile numbers plus email and postal addresses
• Quick access keys
• Address Book Lookup - displays name of incoming caller (Caller Display service required)
Handsfree Phone
• Clear and convenient handsfree speakerphone
• Full duplex
Fax
• Send fax text messages
Easy Set-Up
• Quick set-up and registration
• Simple on-screen instructions
Costs
• Pay-as-you-use
• Call charges appear on your phone bill
Our e-m@iler is in pristine condition and was kindly donated by Christine Arrowsmith
The Marconi Myriad was an early computer designed by the Marconi Company in the 1963.
Myriad was a 24-bit machine largely built using integrated circuits from Ferranti. These were packaged in small "TO8" type cans. The architecture was "conventional", and was developed largely by the in-house Marconi team that designed similar, but physically larger computers based on SB345 discrete surface-barrier transistors. These machines were used successfully by the Royal Radar Establishment (RRE) in the UK, and by the Swedish Government in their "Fur Hat" defense system.
The Myriad computer was mounted in a small desk format, and was far smaller than any comparable machine at the time. 8-bit paper tape was (somewhat) standard input - but a high speed 600-characters/second (electrostatic) reader was capable of projecting paper tape across a room in spectacular fashion. A high-speed printer was provided. The major machine cycle time was around 800 nanoseconds, with inner cycles around 200 nanoseconds.
Most early programming was performed in very amenable and complete assembly code. The 24-bit architecture provided a logical and flexible address/data environment. The operating system allowed multiple programs to run concurrently. Addressing allowed easy integration of external computing and display equipment.
In 1964, a Myriad was displayed at a major computer show in London. To catch the public's attention, it was decided to deploy a model HO railroad layout containing numbered (1 - 10) rolling stock. The public were invited to enter the order in which they wanted to see the train assembled. Immediately Myriad developed a strategy for shunting trucks around the tracks to assemble the train correctly.
Marconi's Myriad out-performed most if not all US machines at that time.
The Myriad copntained core memory and this item is believed to be the corestore driver sub-board and was kindly donated by Jim Wild
ZX Spectrum+ planning started in June 1984, and was released in October the same year.This 48 KB Spectrum (development code-name TB) introduced a new QL-style enclosure with a much needed injection-moulded keyboard and a reset button, retailing for £179.95. Early on, the machine outsold the rubber-key model 2:1; however, some retailers reported very high failure rates.
CPU Zilog Z80A
SPEED 3.5 MHz
RAM 48k
ROM 16k
The Spectrum+ was taken by Portable Business Systems Limited in 1985 and incorporated in a large briefcase style which incorporated the ZX Interface 1, ZX Microdrive, power supply and the Alphacom 32 printer. Our unit is type: 230186 with a serial number of 1376 If you have any information about the PBS Executive IV let us know. 
The 4700CT is a 486-33 with 8MB RAM and a 320MB HDD. The model number is PA 1159E XXT with a serial number of 12420924E.
The docking station is a Toshiba Desk Station IV with a model number of PA 2701E
Our Toshiba 47ooCT was kindly donated by Tim Biggs and is complete with trackball, power supply, battery pack and docking atation, the size of which can be seen from the photographs!
The SPARCstation 10 (codenamed Campus-2) is a workstation computer made by Sun Microsystems. Announced in May 1992, it was Sun's first desktop multiprocessor (being housed in a pizza box form factor case). It was later replaced with the SPARCstation 20.
The SPARCStation 10 (SS10) contains two MBus slots running at either 36 MHz (33 MHz for the earliest models) or 40 MHz (set via motherboard jumper). Each MBus slot can contain single or dual SPARC CPU modules, permitting expansion to up to four CPUs. Both SuperSPARC and hyperSPARC CPU modules were available. Single SuperSPARC modules without external cache were sold by Sun; they ran at the clock speed of the MBus (uniprocessor Models 20, 30 and 40; dual processor Model 402). Single and a few dual SuperSPARC modules with 1 MB external cache were also sold; they were independently clocked, and ran at a higher rate than the MBus, most commonly 40.3 MHz or 50 MHz (uniprocessor Models 41 and 51; multiprocessor Models 412, 512 and 514). Sun's dual 50 MHz SuperSPARC modules (the only dual MBus modules supported by Sun for this system) were double-width, physically occupying one SBus slot per module in addition to an MBus slot. SuperSPARC modules with and without external cache could not be mixed. SuperSPARC modules with external cache could be mixed, even with different clock speeds, but this was not a Sun-supported configuration.
The SS10 can hold a maximum of 512 MB RAM in eight slots. There is one onboard Ethernet interface, which can be accessed from a built-in 10BASE-T jack or via a special 26-pin port that provides both AUI and audio connections; only one of these network ports can be active at a time. A special cable or adapter is needed to convert the latter port to a standard DA-15 connector.
There are also two Basic Rate Interface (BRI) ISDN connectors; the system shipped with plastic blocking plugs inserted in these connectors. Additional SBus network cards can also be added.
Information from from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Our SPARCstation 10 together with keyboard, mouse and monitor were very kindly donated by Tim Biggs
Commodore 128D
The Commodore 128 personal computer was the last 8-bit machine commercially released by Commodore Business Machines (CBM). Introduced in January of 1985 at the CES in Las Vegas, it appeared three years after its predecessor, the bestselling Commodore 64. The primary hardware designer of the C128 was Bil Herd.
Late in 1985, Commodore released to the European market a new version of the C128 with a redesigned chassis. Called the Commodore 128D, this new European model featured a plastic chassis with a carrying handle on the side, incorporated a 1571 disk drive into the main chassis, replaced the built-in keyboard with a detachable one, and added a cooling fan. The keyboard featured two folding legs for changing the typing angle.
In the latter part of 1986, Commodore released a version of the C128D in North America referred to as the C128DCR ("cost reduced"). The DCR model featured a stamped steel chassis in place of the plastic version of the C128D (with no carrying handle), a modular switching power supply similar to that of the C128D, as well as a removable keyboard and internal 1571 floppy drive. On the mainboard, Commodore consolidated some of the components to save production costs and replaced the 8563 video controller with the more technically advanced MOS Technology 8568 (which was also fitted to a few D-models). As a cost-saving measure, the cooling fan that was fitted to the D model was removed, although the mounting provisions on the power supply subchassis were retained.
Inside, the C128DCR ROMs, the "1986 ROMs," so-named from the copyright date displayed on the startup screen, contained several bug fixes (including the infamous "caps lock Q" keyboard decoding error), and the 8568 VDC was equipped with 64 KB of video RAM—the maximum addressable amount, equal to four times that of the original C128. The increase in video RAM made it possible, among other things, to generate higher-resolution graphics with a more flexible color palette, although little software took advantage of this capability.
Despite the improvement in the RGB video capabilities, Commodore did not enhance BASIC 7.0 with the ability to manipulate RGB graphics. Driving the VDC in graphics mode continued to require the use of calls to screen editor ROM primitives (or their assembly language equivalents), or by using third-party BASIC language extensions. The most popular such toolkit was Free Spirit Software's "BASIC 8", which added high-resolution VDC graphics commands to BASIC 7.0. BASIC 8 was available on two disks (editor disk and runtime disk) and with a ROM chip for installation in the C128's internal Function ROM socket.
Our machine was kidly donated by Jim Wild
For CPU power and ease of adding reasonable disks, not much beats the VAXstation 3100's. The VAXstation 3100 is Digital's powerful, low-cost VAXstation for high-performance graphics applications. It was first introduced in 1989. The VAXstation 3100 is a member of the VAX family of computers. Based on the second generation of VAX chipset technology, the VAXstation 3100 redefines low-end VAX computing by delivering three times the performance of previous entry-level VAXstation workstations. It is quiet (when you replace the RZ23 hard disk with a more modern drive) and small, compared to other VAXen.
"The VAXstation 3100 is Digtal's powerful, low-cost VAXstation for high-performance graphics applications. The VAXstation 3100 is a full member of the standard-setting VAX family of computers that has sold over 200,000 systems
since the introduction of the VAX 11/780. Based on the second generation of VAX chipset technology, the VAXstation 3100 redefines low-end VAX computing by delivering three times the performance of previous entry-level VAXstation
workstations.
The VAXstation 3100 provides an integrated computing environment that offers you a unique combination of desktop VAX computing, industry-standard personal productivity tools, and transparent access to distributed applications and
resources. Through DECwindows, Digital's new windowing interface, the VAXstation 3100 enables both sophisticated and novice users to access all the power of the network through their desktop applications. And the VAXstation 3100 workstation is easy to buy, easy to install, and easy to use.
Featuring a versatile packaging design, the VAXstation 3100 can be configured as a diskless network node, a standalone workstation, or a system that can simultaneously be a workstation and a server for up to seven other VAXstation
3100 workstations. The VAXstation 3100 can be configured for a broad range of needs, running applications that provide solutions from the factory floor to the executive offices."
Downloaded from DEC's Electronic Store 89.01.11 2200Z
See http://home.iae.nl/users/pb0aia/vax/dsvs3100.html
Our machine is a Digital MicroVAX 3100-80 Model No: 470ZM-89 with serial No: Ay44215438
Made in thje UK FTZC-356/88 Series BA42B. This machine was very kindly donated by Spicers Ltd of Sawston, Cambridge
The Ferranti Advance 86 was an early IBM PC compatible system conceived by Advance Technology (UK) and built by Ferranti (well known for its military products, and the ZX-81custom chip). It was sold in branches of W H Smith as It was intended to appeal to the home user and to small businesses. It had the same features as the IBM PC (360 KB disks, identical graphic resolution) but had a different CPU, the 8086 which was a true 16-bit processor, for a much lower price !
The Advance 86 was totally IBM PC compatible, from the keyboard, the disks, the resolution, to the expansions which could be used with the Advance through four IBM-compatible slots. In fact, the Advance 86 was first conceived as a home-computer (model 86A) and was later upgraded with a ''new box'' housing the two disk-drives, the expansion slots and thus the IBM compatibility features (model 86B). This is why the model 86B is composed of two main cases, the smallest one being the original one (86A) which houses the main board and has a wide trap-door to store the keyboard when not in use.
Back in 1984, the Advance 86 was one of the few professional systems to work without any fan thanks to its dual power supply unit, making work more pleasant. However, a fan was later added into the lower case.
Manufactured in the United Kingdom from December 1983
CPU 8086 running at 4,77 Mhz
RAM 128k, up to 256k
VRAM 16k
ROM 64k
TEXT MODES 40 x 25, 80 x 25
GRAPHIC MODES 320 x 200, 640 x 200
COLORS 16
SOUND Beeper
I/O PORTS 4 expansion slots (IBM compatible), 2 x 16-bit slots, monitor (composite) and TV video outputs, RS232, Centronics, Joysticks, cassette interface, lightpen
BUILT IN MEDIA 2 x 5''1/4 disk-drives (360k each)
OS MS-DOS
POWER SUPPLY Built-in PSU
PERIPHERALS 10Mb hard-disk, RAM expansion boards
With thanks to www.old-computers.com for the above specification
Our 256K Advance 86 has a serial number of B 015156 and was very kindly donated by Harvey Jones
The BBC Domesday Project was a partnership between Acorn Computers Ltd, Philips, Logica and the BBC to mark the 900th anniversary of the original Domesday Book, an 11th century census of England.
When it was launched in 1986 the BBC AIV system cost £5156.75 (inc VAT).
The data on these discs was compiled between 1984 and 1986 and published in 1986. It included a new 'survey' of the United Kingdom, in which people, mostly school children, wrote about geography, history or social issues in their local area or just about their daily lives. This was linked with maps, and many colour photos, statistical data, video and 'virtual walks'. Over 1 million people participated in the project. The project also incorporated professionally-prepared video footage, virtual reality tours of major landmarks and other prepared datasets such as the 1981 census.
Multo 13-5150 Pinwheel Calculator (about 1950)
The Addo company of Malmo in Sweden produced a range of slide-set adding machines from 1920. These were replaced in 1927 by full-keyboard adding and listing machines. Ten-key machines were produced from 1936, and pin-wheel machines under the "Multo" brand from 1949. Addo/Multo was absorbed into the Advidaberg/Facit/Odhner group in 1966. The Addo name continued to appear on Odhner pinwheel machines until production ended around 1970.
The Multo range was designed specifically for single-handed operation, with all of the controls located on the right-hand side.
The Multo rotor has ten setting rings on 7mm centres, with a check dial above and a quick-clearing lever to the right. The carriage has only one clearing lever, which normally clears both registers. Pressing the adjacent tab disconnects the accumulator and clears only the counter (as in setting up a division). It is not possible to clear only the accumulator.
The carriage is spring-loaded to the left, and is moved stepwise in either direction by the lever under the winding handle. A button on the front of the machine releases the carriage and returns it fully to the left. There is no tens-carry on the counter, and no back-transfer mechanism.
This calculator is one of many that were manufactured as a copy of Odhner's arithmometer which was a very successful mechanical calculator invented in Russia in 1873 by W. T. Odhner, a Swedish immigrant. Its industrial production officially started in 1890 in Odhner's Saint Petersburg workshop. Even though the machine was very popular, the production only lasted thirty years until the factory was nationalised and closed down during the Russian revolution of 1917.From 1892 to the middle of the 20th century, independent companies were set up all over the world to manufacture Odhner's clones and, by the 1960s, with millions sold, it became one of the most successful type of mechanical calculator ever designed.
Our Multo Pinwheel calculator has a model number of 13-5150 and was very kindly donated by Harvey Jones
Our NEC Notebook PC-8401-A-LS Starlet has a serial number of 5900123/JC. The computer was used by film producer Roy Byrne and was very kindly donated by his wife Roberta and his daughter Jennifer Byrne. It has a :NEC V20 (Z80 Clone) processor and runs CP/M 2.2
The following notes are taken from NEC 8401A Portable Computer. (evaluation) David H. Ahl as published in CREATIVE COMPUTING VOL. 11, NO. 3 / MARCH 1985 / PAGE 70. Click HERE for the link
The NEC 8401 A is the second generation NEC notebook portable computer. It is significantly different from the 8201, and we expect it will appeal to a different type of customer. Briefly, the 8401 has a 16-line by 80-column fold-up LCD screen, 64K of RAM, and a built-in 300 baud modem, and can be operated using batteries or an AC adapter. It uses the CP/M operating system and has four built-in software packages including Wordstar-To-Go, Calc-To-Go, Telcom (telecommunications utility), and Filer (personal card filing program).
The basic package includes the computer, phone cable, cassette recorder cable, four manuals, quick reference guide, information about on-line services, and license and warranty cards. The package does not include either an AC adapter or batteries. Optional peripherals include a CRT/disk adapter, micro floppy disk unit, 1200 baud modem, external 32K RAM cartridge, and a wide assortment of cables. Compact Package
Somewhat larger and heavier than the 8201, the 8401 measures 11.8" x 8.4" x2.8" and weighs 4.7 lbs. It uses a CMOS version of the 8-bit Z80 mpu operating at 4 MHz. Built in are three 32K ROMs (96K total) which include the BIOS and applications software. The 64K of RAM is segmented into two 32K blocks, one for storing user programs (called an internal RAM disk) and the other for file creation and manipulation. With an optional floppy disk drive attached, it is possible to allocate all 64K of the computer to program execution.
The keyboard has 59 regular keys, five function keys (which double to ten with the Shift key), and four directional cursor keys (arranged in a convenient diamond pattern). A numeric keypad can be toggled on and off with the NUM key, while the ALT key toggles on an alternative keyboard which includes 28 Greek letters, 17 math symbols, and 38 graphics symbols. While it's nice to know that they're there, it is not at all clear how these symbols can be used. Although a bit noisy, the keyboard has an excellent feel and a sensible layout.
We are less enthusiastic about the display, however. It measures 7.5" x 2.4", the same width and only 0.4" higher than the one on the 8201 (and Tandy Model 100). This means that nearly four times as many letters are packed into the same screen size as the previous machine. Characters are formed in a 6 x 8 dot matrix; to enhance legibility, vertical strokes are wider than horizontal ones. Nevertheless, one pixel vertical and horizontal spacing coupled with one pixel descenders occasionally makes for difficult reading. Far worse is the fact that the screen tilts back only 30 degrees from the vertical. While this is plenty for a CRT screen, an LCD screen requires reflected light. Thus if you are depending upon overhead illumination you will be disappointed with the results and may want to consider a table or desk lamp positioned to illuminate the screen.
Two years after the initial Amiga launch, Commodore released their replacement to the ageing Amiga 1000. The Amiga 2000 developed the 'big box' Amiga market that continued to divide users' until the mid-1990s, and formed the second part of Commodore's plans to diversify the Amiga market into high and low end systems (the low-end A500 had been launched two months previous). Like the Amiga 500, the A2000 was shipped with Kickstart/Workbench 1.2.
The machine offered several advantages over the Amiga 1000 and 500:
Seven internal expansion slots (5x 100 pin Amiga Zorro II and 2 x 16-bit ISA slots). The ISA slots were disabled by default (only power and ground pins activated), but could be used when a Commodore bridgeboard was installed (a PC-on-a-card). Inactive slots can be used for non intelligent cards like TBCs or fan cards.
One megabyte memory as standard (expandable to 9MB).
The CPU could be upgraded through the purchase of a processor card and attaching it to a 86 pin processor slot.
he A2000, also known as the Commodore Amiga 2000, was released in 1986. Although aimed at the high-end market it was technically very similar to the A500, so similar in fact that the A2000B revision was outright based on the A500 design. What the A2000 had over the A500 was a bigger case with room for five Zorro II proprietary expansion slots, two 16-bit and two 8-bit ISA slots, a CPU upgrade slot, a video slot, and a battery-backed clock.
It should also be noted that, like the Amiga 1000 and unlike the Amiga 500, the A2000 came in a desktop case with a separate keyboard. The case was more PC-like than the A1000 - taller to accommodate the expansion cards and lacking the space beneath for the keyboard.
Also like the Amiga 1000, the 2000 was sold only by specialty computer dealers.
The A2000 was eventually succeeded by the Amiga 3000 in 1990.
CPU: Motorola 68000 (7.16 MHz NTSC, 7.09 MHz PAL)
256 KB ROM for Kickstart code.
512 KB (Max) / (1 MB Max) of Chip RAM.
512 KB Fast RAM in MMU slot (in some Model As only) / Soldered on motherboard
Practical limit of 8 MB total Fast RAM memory without the use of a CPU expansion card, due to the 24-bit address bus.
3.5" DD Floppy drive, capacity 880 KB
SCSI Hard drive in A2000HD systems.
The computer was used by film producer Roy Byrne and was very kindly donated by his wife Roberta and his daughter Jennifer Byrne.
Our P2000C portable computer has a Type No. of P2010-1 and a serial number of WR 001736. The computer was used by film producer Roy Byrne and was very kindly donated by his wife Roberta and his daughter Jennifer Byrne.
In the early 80's Philips produced a series of business/home microcomputers generically known as the P2000 series. There were five different lines developed over the few years the machines were produced: the P2000T, P2000M, P2000B (later called P2500), P2000C and finally the Yes, a MS-DOS machine. The weird thing about these different machines was that they were all incompatible with each other.
The P2000C, was probably the most advanced of the P2000 series and the early portable from Philips. It was a heavy luggable computer. In fact, users didn't pick it up and carry its 15 kg unless they really had to! Also as with almost all early portable machines it was not battery powered but mains only.
With its twin Z80 processors - the second was dedicated to I/O - the P2000C was one of the faster CP/M system, faster than most of the PC's of the day for several professional applications. Furthermore, it could run MS-DOS software thanks to an optional 8088 'CoPower' card.
Its two 160 KB 5 1/4" floppy disk drives (later 2 x 600 KB) were able to read almost all the widely used CP/M disk formats like those of Osborne and Kaypro.
Specifications :
Processor : 8 bit Z80
RAM : 16 K Bytes (can be expanded to 48K bytes)
System Software : 4KB ROM
Connections : Printer, RGB Monitor, Video, TV Set, Diskette
Onboard Storage : Mini Cassette
Manufactured in the Netherlands - 1983
KEYBOARD Full stroke 93 keys with function and arrow keys and numeric keypad
CPU 2 x Z80A
SPEED 4 MHz.
RAM 64 KB up to 320 KB
VRAM 32 KB
TEXT MODES 80 chars. x 25 lines
GRAPHIC MODES 512 x 256 dots
COLORS Monochrome - Green phosphore CRT
SOUND No sound
SIZE / WEIGHT 15 Kg.
I/O PORTS External floppy drive, SCSI port for connection to up to 7 hard drives, external terminal, external monitor, Serial, Parallel printer, expansion card
BUILT IN MEDIA 2 x 160 KB 5.25'' single side floppy drives - Later 2 x 640 KB
OS CP/M 2.2
POWER SUPPLY Built-in power supply unit
PERIPHERALS 8088 'CoPower', IEEE-488 cards, Internal Hard disk up to 10 MB (about $5000)
PRICE about $3000 in Holland
The computer was used by film producer Roy Byrne and was very kindly donated by his wife Roberta and his daughter Jennifer Byrne.
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