Navigational Computor, Mark III D*, Ref No. 6B/180

This World War II Navigational Computor, Mark III D*, Ref No. 6B/180 was for use in aeroplanes and provided a rapid means of solving problems involving the effect of wind on the track and ground speed of an aeroplane. These, together with interception problems, are solved geographically by constructing a vector triangle. A height and airspeed computor, calibrated for either isothermal of I.C.A.N. readings, is incorporated. The computor was worn on the knee of the user by two straps that are no longer present. 

ColecoVision Expansion Module No 1 - Atari 2600 Adaptor

Expansion Module No. 1 allows all cartridges compatible with the Atari 2600 VCS to be played on CBS ColecoVision console.

The Expansion Module No. 1 is effectively a complete Atari system, relying on the host ColecoVideion system only for power and video modulation. Because of this, all Atari games were compatible with the Expansion Module - with the exception of those using a wider cartridge shape, for which Coleco offered an adapter.

Casio QV-10A LCD Camera

The Casio QV-10 was the worlds first consumer LCD digital camera, originally developed by a team led by Hiroyuki Suetaka in 1995. The relatively low cost of the camera helped it achieve wide success and was influential in the rise in popularity of digital photography. Japan's National Museum of Nature and Science has awarded it the status of "Essential Historical Material for Science and Technology". 

Specifications. 

• Imaging device - 250-kilopixel. 
• Display 1.8" colour LCD screen. 
• Lens Fixed focus with macro position; F2.8/f = 5.2mm. 
  
• Aperture - F2.8/F8 manual switching. 
  
• Exposure range - EV +5 to 18. 
• Exposure Adjustment - -2EV to +2EV. 
  
• Power supply - 4xAA Alkaline batteries or AC Adaptor. 
  

Cumana QFS Double Density Disk Filing System

The Cumana QFS Double Density Disk Filing System consists of 7 ICs, including the sideways ROM, and a disc controller daughter which fits into the BBC IC78 socket (Intel 8271). The Cumana QFS Double Density Disk Filing System uses a Fujitsu MB8877A floppy disk formatter/controller.

The Cumana QFS disc filing system is very similar to the Acorn DFS. The QFS command summary is identical to that of the Acorn DFS and so maintains software compatability. But the QFS includes a built-in FORMAT command which can format discs in single or double density. Single density is the same as the Acorn DFS, double density is 18 sectors of 256 bytes (=360K) instead of 10 sectors (=200K).

Here is the Cumana QFS Users Handbook and Fitting Instructions .

Simtec A5000 2MB RAM Upgrade

The A5000 was configured with 1MB or 2MB options, like all MEMC1a based computers it has a maximum memory of 4MB per MEMC1a. This Simtec upgrade adds an additional 2MB. 

Here are the Simtec A5000 RAM Upgrade Fitting instructions .

Adman Grandstand 3600 Mk III TV Game

A six-game Pong console from Adman Grandstand.

Sharp EL-8031 Electronic Calculator

The Sharp EL-8031 is a 1978 Electronic Calculator

Information from Calculator.org.

The Sharp EL-8031 is an arithmetic calculator with 8 digits precision and algebraic logic. It has 6 functions, 20 keys, and a VFD (vacuum fluorescent) display. The power source is 2xAA. The calculator was manufactured in Japan.Note: EL-8031S

Facts at a glance:

Magenta Electronics Icebreaker

 
A real-time PIC In-Circuit Emulator, programmer, debugger and development system! ICEBreaker combines Microchip's MPLAB development software with the advanced self-debugging features of the latest PIC microcontrollers. In-Circuit Debugging (ICD) is a new development system which is incorporated into the latest devices, and permits code development & debugging under PC control until the system is running as required.

The EPE ICEBreaker is intended as an easy introduction to ICD with very simple demonstration programs, but it is also a powerful debugger and development unit in its own right. A solderless breadboard area allows external discrete interface circuitry to be refined, and the entire unit is assembled on a high-quality printed circuit board. The ICEBreaker will become an indispensable tool for learning, development and testing of PIC projects.

Note that this is a commercial design and a high-quality kit with Windows software and pre-programmed chip is available from Magenta Electronics Source code is not available.

Nintendo 64 - Ice blue

After the proposed add on systems for the Super Nintendo had come to nothing, Nintendo had the task of trying to keep market share by creating a console with a new partner in Silicon Graphics, who were to provide a low cost, high performance graphics chip at the centre of the machine, other partners were NEC, who provided the CPU, and Toshiba and Sharp.

After a series of lengthy delays the machine finally launched in Japan first, where the machine did not sell well, failing to take on Sony and even slipping behind the Saturn, a major blow was losing their long time software collaborator in Square, who took their Final Fantasy series on to the Playstation, citing the lack of space and expense of producing a cartridge.

The public also found that after two years of movie style cut scenes in games, going back to static cartoon screens, and subtitles rather jarring due to the more restrictive medium.

The controller was as polarising as the decision on which media to use was, it was three pronged, very large and was held differently depending on which game was played, for platformers the player would hold the two outer prongs, for 1st person or driving games, the middle and left, and for some of the more obscure fishing type games would be held with the middle and right.

Sales were much better in the US, where for a year the console easily slipped into second place behind the Playstation, on the strength of launch games such as the brilliant Super Mario 64, which took the 2D plumber into a rich, vibrant 3D world.

In Europe the machine had a very shaky start, the console cost much more than in other territories, retailing for £249.99, and the games were very expensive, the cheapest titles such as Pilotwings cost £49.99, already much higher than the CD games from Sony and Sega, but third party games such as Turok Dinosaur Hunter were as much as £69.99.

A hasty price cut to £149.99 revitalised sales, but apart from the very top titles such as Super Mario 64 and Wave Race 64, software sales remained sluggish.

In the second year, sales and software releases diminished, as third party companies moved away from Nintendo’s strict licensing.

Gradually though, in time, Nintendo gained ground on its competitors, overtaking the sales of the Saturn, as cartridge manufacturing costs came down, the software library was bolstered by more classic output from Nintendo, but the machine would find salvation in the output from Rare, who would produce some of the best games from the era, most notably Goldeneye 007, which would follow the film closely, and prove that consoles could do first person shooters very well, once the preserve of the PC.

As of March 31, 2005, the N64 had sold 5.54 million units in Japan, 20.63 million in the Americas, and 6.75 million in other regions, for a total of 32.93 million units.

Our Model is Serial number NUP 16752261

Has matching controller, 8MB Expansion card, and PSU

Challenge Research Sprint Cassette Player

This excellent add on allowed the user to load Spectrum games at four times the speed, this did not work with all of the machines many loaders, such as Ocean's hyperload, but it was also a huge time saver for anyone writing their own games and putting them on their own tapes.

Tandy TRS-80 Model 4 P

TRS-80 was Tandy Corporation's desktop microcomputer model line, sold through Tandy's Radio Shack stores in the late 1970s and early 1980s

Portable computer originally retailing for $1799, and is the transportable version of the TRS-80 Model 4, it weighed 26 pounds, the screen was black and white, and then later changed to green.

There was only a small boot ROM in the machine, unlike the desktop model 4, which has a basic ROM installed, and unlike other models in the range, there was no cassette interface, as by now disk drives were the norm for portable machines.

A high resolution graphics card could be purchased seperately.

Minor Miracles Modem WS2000

Multi speed, multi standard modem for use with Prestel, Micronet, Telecom Gold as well as many public databases. 

Commodore 64 Dust Cover

A black PVC Commodore 64 dust cover with the Commodore User magazine logo printed off-center on its right side. Commodore User released its first issue in 1983 and was published monthly before changing its title to CU Amiga in 1990.

The Micro User Dust Cover

A grey PVC dust cover for the BBC Micro with 'The Micro User' printed in the bottom right corner. The Micro User was a magazine catering to owners of the BBC Micro, Acorn Electron and Archimedes computers from 1983-1992.

Micro Peripherals QL Floppy Disc interface

Sony Playstation Disc Wipes

Official Playstation disc wipes, two individually wrapped wet disc wipes used to clean fingerprints etc inside a protective card sleeve.

Beebug Archimedes Serial Link

A serial link cable for transfering files between Acorn Archimedes and the BBC Micro or Master Series computers. Our version is unopened and includes a software disk and printed instruction manual.

Expansion Board Kit

Tadpole Circuit Boards

Selection of circuit boards including some development boards relating to Tadpole products. Mostly dated 1994 - 1995.

Videoshow Professional

i-cubed EtherLan 600

The i³ EtherLan600 is a Network Interface card for the Risc PC and A7000 which fits in the Network slot. i³ produced 3 versions of the card: The E600 which only supports 10Base2, the E601 which only supports 10BaseT and the E602 combo card which supports both 10Base2 and 10BaseT. The first card (above) is an E601 which only supports 10baseT (RJ45), the second card is an E602 and supports both 10Base2 (BNC) and 10BaseT (RJ45). The card autosenses which interface is active when it is initialised. The EtherLan600 uses the EtherH driver which is in the card's ROM.

The Installation Instructions, User Guide and Fault Finding Guide are HERE .

I³ produced a utility program to scan the podule slots for EtherLan cards and report on their status. The i³ cardtype program is available HERE .

Atomwide A5000 4MB RAM Upgrade

A 4MB RAM upgrade for the A5000. 

HCCS A5000 2MB RAM Upgrade

A 2MB RAM upgrade for the A5000. 

Atari 1040STFM

The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals.

The Atari ST was part of the 16/32 bit generation of home computers, based on the Motorola 68000 CPU, with 512 KB of RAM or more, and 3½" double-sided double-density floppy disks as storage (nominally 720 KB). It was similar to other contemporary machines which used the Motorola 68000, the Apple Macintosh and the Commodore Amiga. Although the Macintosh was the first widely available computer with a graphical user interface (GUI), it was limited to a monochromatic display on a smaller built-in monitor. Preceding the Amiga's commercial release by almost two months, the Atari ST was the first computer to come with a fully bit-mapped color GUI, using a version of Digital Research's GEM released that February.[5] It was also the first home computer with integrated MIDI support.

Atari later upgraded in 1989 the basic design in 1986 with the 1040STF (also written STF). The machine was generally similar to the earlier 520ST, but moved the power supply and a double-sided floppy drive into the rear of the housing of the computer, as opposed to being external. This added to the size of the machine, but reduced cable clutter in the back. The 1040 shipped with 1 MB of RAM, and the same design was also used for the new 512 KB 520STFM, which replaced the earlier models in the market. The early 'STF' machines lacked the 'M' modulator that allowed a TV to be used and would only work with a monitor.

The 1040ST was the first personal computer shipped with a base RAM configuration of 1 MB, and when the list price was reduced to $999 in the U.S. it became the first computer to break the $1000/megabyte price barrier, and was featured on the cover of BYTE. However, the ST remained generally the same internally over the majority of its several-year lifespan. The choice of model numbers was inherited from the model numbers of the XE series of the Atari 8-bit family of computers. A limited number of 1040STFs shipped with a single-sided floppy drive.

Our 1040St was kindly donated by Alan Hunter

Acorn BBC Micro 5.25" Disk Drive

This is a 40 track single sided, 100k disk drive, manufactured for Acorn Computers and compatible with the BBC Micro. 

Digital Hi Note CT475

Sega Cartridge Soft Pak Travel Case

A nylon carry case for Sega Mega Drive or Master System cartridges. The case is black with blue trimming and Sega logo on the right hand side of the lid, it holds up to 8 boxed cartridges. There is a handle along one edge and a velcro strip to keep the lid closed. 

Atari 2600 Dust Cover

A dark blue cloth dust cover for the Atari 2600. 

ORIC VIA Expansion Card

An expansion card for the ORIC-1. This home brew card adds two 8-bit expansion ports, little else is known about it. 

Texas Instruments TM 990 / U89

This may look like a calculator - the keyboard is from a TI-59 calculator - but it's a training system for the TMS 9980A processor. The board has 1K of RAM and 4K of ROM, plus the ability to save and load code from tape.

MicroProfessor MPF-1/88

Another training system from Multitech (now Acer), similar to the Z80 based MPF-1. This system is based on the 8088, has a real keyboard and a two line by 20 character LCD display.

Compaq LTE 5280

The Compaq LTE was a line of laptop computers made by Compaq, introduced in 1989. The first models, the Compaq LTE and the Compaq LTE 286, were among the first computers to be close to the size of a paper notebook, spurring the use of the term "notebook" to describe a smaller laptop. They were also among the first to include both built-in hard disk and floppy disk drives, offering performance comparable to then-current desktop machines.

The 5280 dates from 1995, and was still in use in 2016 by Mclaren Automotives for servicing the Mclaren F1 Supercar.

Micro-Professor MPF-IP

The Micro-Professor MPF-1 was a microcomputer designed to teach the fundamentals of machine code and assembly language. It was contained within a plastic case that could be placed on a bookshelf like any other training manual or book. It was manufactured by Multitech, known since 1987 as Acer. The item is still being sold as of 2018 by Flite Electronics Interntational, a former international distributor for Acer who purchased the copyright for the device in 1993.

Advert text:

"Here in one attractive package is a Z80 based microcomputer to lead you step by step to a thorough knowledge of the world of microprocessors. The Micro-Professor is a complete hardware and software system whose extensive teaching manual gives you detailed schematics and examples of program code. A superb learning tool for students, hobbyist and microprocessor enthusiasts, as wel as an excellent teaching aid for instructors of electrical engineering and computer science courses. But the Micro-Professor is much more than a teaching device. With it you can do bread-boarding and prototyping, designing your own custom hardware and software application with Z80, 8080 and 8085 compatible code. The standard 2K bytes of RAM is expandable to 4K, and the standard 2K bytes of ROM can be increased to 8K. All this plus a built-in speaker, a cassette interface, and sockets to accept optional CTC/PIO. Bus is extendable. As well as being an exciting learning tool, the Micro-Professor is a great low-cost board for OEM's. MPF-Basic software is included in the ROM."

Hardware Specifications

CPU: Zilog Z-80 CPU with 158 instructions and 2.5 Mhz maximum clock rate. The MPF-I system clock is 1.79 Mhz.

ROM: Single +5V EPROM 2516 (2532), total 2K (4K) bytes. Monitor EPROM Address: 000-07FF (0FFF).

RAM: Static RAM: 6116, total 2K bytes. Basic RAM Address: 1800-1FFF.

Memory Expansion Area: Single +5V EPROM 2516/2716/2532/2732 EPROM or 6116 static RAM on-Board Expansion Address: 2000-2FFF.

I/O Port: Programmable I/O Port 8255, a total 24 parallel I/O lines are used for keyboard scanning and seven segment LED display control. I/O addresses: 00-03. Programmable PIO, a total of 16 parallel I/O lines, I/O address: 80-83H. Programmable CTC, a total of 4 independent counter timers channels, I/O address: 40-43H.

Display: 6-digit, 0.5", 7-Segment red LED display

Keyboard: 36 keys including 19 function keys, 16 hexadecimal keys and 1 user-defined key.

Speaker and Speaker Driver Circuits: A 2.25" - diameter speaker is provided for user's expansion.

Further information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro-Professor_MPF-I

BBC Interface DCP Bus Expansion

This expansion unit connects to the BBC Micro/Master 1MHz user port. It provides eight analogue inputs, four output relays, four switch inputs, and a DCP bus expansion port. Additional Interpacks from DCP Micro-developments can be stacked providing more expansion opportunities.

Thin Wire Transceiver

Marked with "Computer Laboratory, UCNW, Bangor" - unsure if the lab made it, or if it simply belonged to the University.

Atomwide parallel SCSI Adaptor

The Atomwide parallel port SCSI adaptor allows the connection of a range of SCSI devices to the computer, including hard disc drives, CD-ROMs, removeable discs, without using an expansion slot. The adaptor plugs into the parallel port. This is especially useful on systems without any expansion slots (e.g. A4).

Database Games Computer

Apple Desktop Bus Mouse II

Core Memory Panel

This piece of memory has no known machine, if anyone has any idea where it is from, please let us know.

Sony PlayStation Memory Card

The Sony PlayStation memory card has 1MB of storage space split into 15 blocks used for saving game data. The card can also be accessed using the PlayStation memory card manager. 

Commodore SFD-1001 Disk Drive

Apple Macintosh PowerBook 1400cs

Revised version of the Powerbook 1400 series

VGA- Out PC Card - HP300 & 600

Card to give VGA output to the HP300 and 600 Series machines

Atari Lynx

Sup 'R' Mod. II

The Sup 'R' Mod II is an RF modulator allowing a computer with a composite output to be connected to a TV. The modulator was plugged directly onto the Apple II motherboard and presented a colour signal on UHF channel 33. 

Radofin Tele-Sports

Logitech WingMan Gamepad

• 8-way D-pad.
• 9 easy to reach buttons. 
• 2 fast action triggers. 
• Built in 2 player connectivity. 
  

BBC Micro Dust Cover

A Beige hard plastic dust cover for the BBC Micro. 

Cumana Flat Dual Disk Drive Non Switchable

Dual double sided, 80-track switchable 5.25" floppy disk drives. Manufactured by Cumana. Drive and original box kindly donated by Chris Whytehead.

This version does not have the Switch for 40/80

Vtech I.T. Unlimited

Samsung Q1 Ultra

Serial Number : CJ7793BQ800060P

Prinztronic Tournament Colour Programmable 2000

Prinztronic was the own-brand trade name of the British "Dixons" photographic and electronic goods stores. Under this brand were calculators and home computer games consoles.

It is said that it is called Radiofin outside of the UK

Prinztronic Tournament 2000 console with two controls and t.v connection.

Galaxy Invader 1000

One of the most recognisable electronic hand held games of its era, the game plays a very good version of Space Invaders, albeit with only three lines of aliens, it has excellent controls.

It has three skill levels via a switch, and a large fire button, and left right joystick.

Later there was a larger Galaxy 5000, which had 5 rows of aliens.

The machine was released in the UK by CGL, who also were responsible for bringing over the Sord series of computers.

SGI Silicon Graphics 3000 to 4000 Upgrade Kit

This box includes a full upgrade package, including new motherboard, power supply, full documentation and original box.

Kasparov Chess Computer

Electronic chess board with magnetic pieces, that are recognised by the board, can play against players of all skill levels, and also has a learning function.

Joystick for Apple II

Unbranded joystick for the Apple II. Interestingly, exactly the same design as the controller for the Tele-games pong console.

CGRS Microtech Spacemaker II

ROM expansion board for the Commodore Pet.

Logitech Wingman Joystick

Complete with throttle control and steel-weighted base. For DOS 5.0 and Windows 95/98

Pegasus Digital Data Recorder

Not much is known about this digital tape recorder. There's a DB25 connector on the rear, so perhaps it uses RS232? If you know more, please tell us!

Microscribe - Keyboard Membrane