Latest Additions
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.
HasselBlad Dixel 2000
The Dixel 2000 is a 35mm film scanner and transmitter, with a fully built in image manipulation suite that predates photoshop applications by some years.
Now superceded by software packages that can be loaded onto any compatible PC, this would have been purchased by The
likes of Globe magazine for paparazzi use, in its solid metal, padded carrying case, which could hold all cables
& power adapters.
The machine could then edit photos anywhere, the pictures transmitted back to the office via telephone. The unit could also be attached to a Image Basket & Tuner 80286 rack PC 35mm Scanner, using SCSI DOS. One unit is for images, the other for editing.
Kindly Donated by Andy Collins
Produx Calculator
This is an early example of the Produx mechanical pocket calculator
which was manufactured in Germany in the 1930's. It was
designed by Otto Meuter (1892-1970) who was originally a designer in
the Addiator factory but left to start his own businesses. In 1928 he
founded Werkstatt Otto Meuter in Berlin and produced the first Produx
machines.
It is operated with a tiny stylus with a hook on the end, which is inserted in the holes by the numbers to move them up and down.
This calculator probably dates from C. 1930.
Kindly donated by Quinton Koetsveld
Leo II Valve Rack
One of the many valve racks that would have been installed in a LEO II computer.
This is probably a Register or a store unit. It has a change label on the side dated 11/6/1959, and a number 857701A/P2.
It also has a test date of 19/5/1960 and A5 written on the label side, on the other side is another mark of ECC 91 and a tick.
Valve checking policy changed many times. transmitter/receiver would have needed regular setting up to maximum performance in
the test rack. these ECC91 valves may have needed special attention.
The rack is part of our onsite display for the National Lottery Heritage funded-project 'Swiss Rolls, Tea and the Electronic Office'.
LEO II computers were installed in many British offices, including Ford
Motor Company, British Oxygen Company and the 'clerical factory' of the
Ministry of Pensions at Newcastle. LEO III computers were installed
in Customs & Excise, Inland Revenue, The Post Office and in
Australia, South Africa and Czechoslovakia. The first was installed at Stuart and Lloyds in 1957.
This Unit Was Kindly Donated By Phil Hamilton
Hudson Soft Joy Card
The Hudson Soft Joy Card is a joypad released in Japan for the MSX series of home computers. It is also compatible with Commodore VIC-20, C64 and Sinclair ZX series.
Dr. Genius Mouse and Software
Dr. Genius is a scanner and graphics package with an accompanying three button mouse for use with IBM PC, XT, AT and Personal System/2.
Binatone TV Game Mk6 01-4907
Sports video unit featuring 6 games when used with the Binatone TV gun. These games are Tennis, Squash (Practice), Squash, Football, Target and Shooting.
The Binatone TV Gun was an optional extra with this version, which is also puts out a mono display.
Olivetti Prodest PC1 HD
This is an XT clone, Its specification is similar to the Amstrad PC20 (aka Sinclair PC200) or Schneider Euro PC:
System unit contains motherboard, keyboard, power supply and floppy drives.
This is the higher spec model with 2 HD 1.44 MB Floppy Drives, 640k RAM
The computer was sold in Dixons and was seen as a competitor to machines such as the Amstrad PC1512.
There was no room inside the case for card expansion, so a box had to be attached to the side, which could house two 8 bit ISA, and a hard disk connector, it also had 128K of RAM.
The machine runs under DOS 3.2
Amstrad PC1640 HD30
The Amstrad PC1640 was based around an 8 MHz Intel 8086 processor and was a very successful entry level PC bought by many small and medium sized businesses. Not only was a success in the business arena but due to the price and Amstrad's marketing it was also largely responsible for introducing the PC into the home environment.
It had 640Kb of RAM and was available with a 20Mb Hard Disk.
Our Amstrad 1640 does include the 30Mb Hard Disk, GEM operating system and original DOS disks.
Also has been modded to take a 3.5 Inch Drive
NorthStar Advantage
The Northstar Advantage was a 4 MHz, Z80A based computer, with 64K of user RAM, and 16K of graphics RAM. It used two single sided, double density 180K floppy disk (hard sectored) drives, and an optional 5MB Winchester disk.
The Advantage was known for its graphics capabilities, and was sold with four demonstration programs, one of which plotted and calculated a pattern of lines reminiscent of the arcade game Qix. The Advantage also had an optional 8088 co-processor board available that ran MS DOS 1.0.
While initially successful, North Star's sales suffered from the company's adherence to hard sector floppy drives, which made software difficult to port onto North Star's machines.
It was no longer a significant factor in the industry by the time the less expensive CP/M computers with built in displays (and soft sector drives), such as the Osbourne and the Kaypro were released.
Sales slowed during the growth of the PC market, and the company folded in 1984.
HP Printer Stand
A HP-branded printer stand with space underneath for listing paper, which allowed a continuous feed of paper into the printer.
Sharp IQ-9000 Electronic Organiser
The IQ-9000 is an electronic personal organiser with a touchscreen interface. The device comes with a variety of utilities such as a calculator, clock, notebook, calendar and a contacts list.
Specifications.
Display - 320x240 dot matrix liquid crystal display.
Memory - 256kb.
User Interfaces - Touch pannel, keyboard.
IR transfer - Up to a distance of 80cm.
Power Consumption - 0.31w.
Battery - 70-80 hours
Philips Mouse
A mechanical mouse that was released with the CD-i 180, the first model in the CD-i range. The mouse is not compatible with later versions
Philips CD-i Thumbstick
A remote controller for the Phillips CD-i. It was bundled with the CD-i 205, CD-i 910 and early versions of the CD-i 210 and CD-i 220.
Maplin Spectrum Parallel/Serial Port
This expansion provides 8-bit input and output ports for parallel transfer when connected to the Maplin Spectrum Input/Output Controller Module.
Logitech Cordless Controller
A pair of cordless controllers compatible with the Playstation, PS One and Playstation 2.
Features.
- 20-foot range.
- Dual analog mini-joysticks, pressure-sensitive D-pad, eight pressure-sensitive buttons.
- Digital and analog modes.
- 50-plus hours of battery life.
Acorn Electron (Trial ROM From Astec)
This early model Acorn Electron contains an issue one board with a 16K EPROM marked "ELK 036" replacing the lower BASIC ROM. It has no serial Number and was used by an engineer from Astec, who provided many machines of the era with power supplies and RF Modulators.
It was produced by Acorn's Malaysian plant. and used as the overseas test model.
When the machine turns on, the usual "Acorn Electron" banner is instead replaced by "Electron Trial".
240v to 115v Step down transformer
Transformer used to step down mains 240v to USA mains 115v for running computers which have power supplies designed to run on 115v (e.g. Imsai 8080)
Brian Crank S-100 boards
Various S-100 boards in anti static bags donated by Brian Crank
(Cards came out of Brian Crank's Altair 8800b)
Brian Crank S-100 boards
Various S-100 boards in anti static bags donated by Brian Crank
(Cards came out of Brian Crank's Altair 8800b)
Interstate Programaster 1125
This is badged as an Ajax machine, but is soley an Interstate machine sold in the Netherlands.
The box has Licensed from Magnavox, every pong console had to pay a license to the American company who very robustly protected their IP.
The game takes cartridges, and has some novel uses for the pong formula, such as car racing, firing at warships, and even one close to Missile Command.
1978
VC4404 Terminal
Mike Volker and Ronald Craig were the founders of this company, they were the alumni of Waterloo Engineering, they were to produce some of the earliest video terminals. One of their customers was Samsung, who would later partner with the company.
This Canadian terminal contained a 6502 chip and could emulate the Lear Siegler ADM-3A.
As well as the ADM-3A emulation, it has it's own "404" mode.
One annoying feature of this terminal is that it does not have a hardware cursor - it displays the cursor by alternating a "cursor character" (either block or underline) with the character in the cursor position - this causes the character to flash when an underline cursor is used, which is why VC4404s are almost always configured to a block cursor.
Oddly there is no hardware cursor, it changes between a block character with the character in a cursor position, this causes the character to flash.
Nidd Valley Slomo
The Slomo is designed to slow and even stop the speed of the ZXSpectrum. Nidd Valley also produced versions for the BBC Micro and Amstrad CPC.
Our version was owned by David Jones creator of the Magic Knight series of games.
Fuller The Master Unit
The Fuller Box Master Unit combines both the Fuller Box Games Unit and the Orator into a single unit. This unit was owned by David Jones, creator of the Magic Knight series of games.
Specifications:
- Programmable sound generator based on the AY-3-8912 PSG chip.
- Joystick controller.
- BEEP amplifier.
- Cassette interface.
- Through bus.
Plasmon PD2000e Optical Drive
The PD200e is an optical drive for DOS, Windows, OS/2 and Apple Macintosh computers.
Technical Specifications.
- 640MB of online storage on rewritable disks.
- Look ahead read data cache of 256 KBytes.
- Half height unit.
- Fast sustainable data rate of 518 to 1141 Kbytes/sec with rewritable media, 600kbytes/sec CD-ROM.
- Syncronous burst data rates of up to 5 Mbytes/sec.
- UniversalAC supply operates from 100 to 240 volts.
- Standard form/fit for internal mounting.
RetroClinic MultiOS Upgrade Kit
The MultiOS system allows the user to switch your BBC Master 128 operating system between the original 3.20, 3.50 or Model B OS1.20 as well as the OS 2.00 from the BBC B+.
This complete upgrade package includes the MultiOS board and rotary switch.
Dreameye Digital Camera
The Dreameye is a digital camera released for the Sega Dreamcast, it was released in Japan in 2000. It was designed to be used as a webcam and a digital still camera. It came bundled with the photo editing software Visual Park which allowed users to view, edit and send images
The Dreameye came with a microphone headset, stand, batteries, software and a microphone plug card. The camera took pictures at 0.3 megapixels (640x480).
Technical Specifications.
- Image Device - 1/3 Inch CMOS Image Sensor.
- Resolution - 640x480.
- Picture Storage Medium - Flash Ram.
- Picture Storage Limit - 31 images.
- Power Supply - 2 AAA batteries or DC.
- Dimensions (Main body) - 58x80x19mm.
- Weight - 28g.
Early Mouse Example
This is a University project mouse, that runs on three wheels, two for up and down, (the second wheel is there to keep the mouse balanced). The single wheel is for left and right movement.
Additionally to the movement wheels, there are two clear ones with black dots on them, which travel through a light sensor, when the light is broken by the dots, movement is sensed, and the cursor will move on screen.
HP 9000 800/ F20
A machine in the huge range of workstation and server machines.
Although looking like a tower PC, It is designed to work with a terminal such as an HP or VT Compatible. The machine is also extraordinarily heavy.
Pro 600 Gaming System
This is a portable LCD game and calculator, it contains 16 different titles, such as Flying Bees and Shooting Attack.
There are also Tetris clones, Frogger type games, tank shooting, Boxing, Race cars, Breakout type, and Snake variants.
Each game has 15 difficulty levels, the calculator has nothing more complicated than square roots.
Opti Talisman
This machine was derived from an unreleased machine known as the Chandra
Chandra was the codename for another RIOS design, and again it failed to get
beyond the prototype stage due to IBM's pessimism about it's marketability. However, the
design was produced and sold by other companies, notably as the Hitachi Prius 210, and as
the Swift. Derivatives of this machine are still being produced, and have Pentium
processors, and are rumoured to be getting SVGA screens, all in an A5 footprint.
Curiously, it uses two of the PC110 camcorder batteries, and has three PCMCIA
sockets - perhaps someone learnt a valuable lesson with their previous designs...
The Chandra was marketed in the UK as the Opti Talisman, with a P120MMX, 1GB hard drive, and an 8.4" TFT screen.
Our machine has a 40 MB memory, and an 810MB HD drive
External 3.5 Inch Drive
Tadpole Series 2 Mini Docking Station
A docking station for a Tadpole Laptop, The station allows a monitor, keyboard, mouse and printer to be connected.
Texas Instruments PHROM Emulator Board
This is the original board used by Acorn to develop the Kenneth Kendal speech ROM for use with the BBC Micro. The four EPROMs on the upper part of the board contain the development version of the PHROM data which was subsequently put into production.
The board can be connected to a BBC computer via the PHROM interconnect cable. The second cable connects to the speech connector.
The board has recently been repaired and is in good working order. It was kindly donated by Simon Inns.
Suncom Joy-Sensor
A game controller with touch sensitive pad and fire button. The controller also has an autofire and 4 or 8 way direction selector that works in the same way.
Apple iMac G3 (Tray Loading, Lime)
The iMac G3 was the first model of the iMac line of personal computers made by Apple Inc. (formerly Apple Computer, Inc.). The iMac G3 is an all-in-one, luggable personal computer, encompassing both the monitor and the CPU in a single enclosure. Originally released in striking bondi blue and later a range of brightly colored, translucent plastic, casings shipped with a keyboard and mouse in matching tints.
The company announced the iMac on 6th May 1998 and started shipping on 15th August 1998. The launch of the iMac was a landmark event for its time, and had a massive impact on both the company and the computer industry, as it was the first time a computer was bought for the way it looked, not how just how it performed.
Our Model: Lime iMac Power PC G3
Commodore Amiga 1200
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. World wide sales figures for the Amiga 1200 are unknown but there were 95,000 A1200 systems sold in Germany before Commodore's bankruptcy.
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. 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)
This Amiga 1200 is in excellent condition, all the keys are still white, and was reportedly bought, but never used.
Acorn A3000 Laservision System
Acorn A3000 with a Genlock card fitted, and attached Philips Laservision and software package.
In May 1989 the 300 series was phased out in favour of the new Acorn A3000 (the 400 series was kept in production). The earlier models could be upgraded to RISC OS 2 by replacing the ROM chips containing the operating system.
The A3000 used an 8 MHz ARM2 and was supplied with 1 MB of RAM. Unlike the previous models, the A3000 came in a single-part case similar to the Amiga 500 & Atari ST computers, with the keyboard integrated in the base unit. This kind of housing consumes a lot of desktop space, a problem that Acorn tried to overcome by offering a monitor stand that attached to the base unit. The new model only sported a single expansion slot, which was physically different to that of the earlier models, although electrically similar.
Tadpole P1000 Prototype
The Tadpole P1000 was the first 100-MHz Pentium-based notebook, from Tadpole Technology. Released in 1995, it was Tadpole's first PC platform. The laptop is housed in an advanced magnesium alloy case, providing a rugged and strong machine.
This example is a prototype from the company Satherley Design Associates, who were involved in the industrial design of the machine. The casing features some markings of a SPARCbook 3 case, as the cases are the same apart from the markings.
The Tadpole P1000 features an industry-standard PCI bus, 256K secondary write back cache, and 64-bit memory interface. It comes with a 10.4-inch active matrix color TFT display at 640 x 480 VGA resolution. The system includes two PCMCIA Type I/II or one Type III slot, and weighs just 7.5 pounds with the internal NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) battery installed.
It was bundled with Microsoft's Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and DOS 6.22, and was shipped with a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive, internal NiMH battery and leather carrying case. In addition, the Tadpole P1000 was Windows 95-ready and Plug & Play compatible.
This machine was kindly donated by Satherley Design Associates.
XBOX 360 Viva Pinata Special Edition Faceplate
A limited edition faceplate for the XBOX 360, promoting the launch of Viva Pinata. Our version is unopened.
Euromax Pro Ace Joystick
The Euromax Pro Ace joystick is compatable with a wide variety of 8-bit and 16-bit computers equiped with a 9-pin socket
Psion Series 3A
The Psion 3 range of personal digital assistants were made by Psion PLC. The four main variants are the Psion 3 (1991), the Psion 3a (1993), the Psion 3c (1996), and the Psion 3mx (1998), all sized 165 x 85 x 22 mm. In addition, a Psion 3a variant with factory installed software for the Russian language was called a Psion 3aR, and Acorn Computers sold a rebadged version of the Psion 3 and 3a marketed as the Acorn Pocket Book and Acorn Pocket Book II.
The Psion 3 models were a major advance on the Psion Organiser. They had an original way of managing files: the available program icons are shown in a horizontal line and the associated files drop down beneath them. Manufacture of Psion 3s was discontinued in 1998 shortly after the launch of the Psion Series 5 (a Psion 4 does not exist, due to Psion's concern of tetraphobia in their Asian markets) and the Psion Siena. Psion's industrial hardware division continue to produce handhelds running the same 16-bit operating system, some 17 years after its introduction on the Psion MC range of laptops and 5 years after Psion Computer's final 32-bit EPOC PDA was released.
Manufacturer: Psion PLC
Type: PDA
Retail availability: 1993
Media: Psion Solid State Disks
Operating system: SIBO
Power: 2 × AA battery
CPU: NEC V30H @ 7.68MHz
Display: 480 × 160 monochrome LCD
Input: QWERTY keyboard
Connectivity: Serial, 19200 bit/s RS-232C
Type: PDA
Retail availability: 1993
Media: Psion Solid State Disks
Operating system: SIBO
Power: 2 × AA battery
CPU: NEC V30H @ 7.68MHz
Display: 480 × 160 monochrome LCD
Input: QWERTY keyboard
Connectivity: Serial, 19200 bit/s RS-232C
Our unit has a plastic wood effect case.
Gamester LMP Multitap
A third party Multitap adaptor for the SNES. A switch on the side allows the user to select two or four player modes.
Transform Microdrive Storage Box
This storage box can store up to 20 Sinclair Microdrive Cartridges. A connecting plate can be attached to the underside of the case enabling multiple boxes to be joined together.
CGL Puck Monster
Puck Monster is an LCD tabetop game console that plays a clone of Pack Man. It has two skill levels that can be selected via a switch and a four way joystick for control. The unit is powered by four D cell batteries.
It was released in the UK by CGL, who also were responsible for bringing over the Sord series of computers.
RM Nimbus Domesday System
The Domesday System was not entirely exclusive to the Acorn BBC systems, also being available for the Nimbus.
Nintendo Micro Vs System - Boxing
This is one in a long series of games, where the player gets to use a tiny joypad that pulls out of the case, and can be wound back in after use.
It runs on two LR44 batteries, and is a 2D boxing game, in one player mode, the player is always on the right.
Originally titled Punch Out to match the famous Nintendo fighting game, the name was changed to simply boxing after release in the US.
Cirrus Logic "Maverik" Development System
Cirrus Logic created the 7500FE system-on-chip for the A7000+ and sold a great number of these chips too Bush for use in their set-top boxes. Fllowing this success, they started development on an ARM9-based successor, codenamed "maverik". Development of the new chip was troubled, with numerous steppings and complete revisions required. The eventual product (the EP9312) was years late to market and this resulted in several changes in management at Cirrus Logic.
This system is the sixth edition of the silicon (there were at least three subsequent ones) and we believe it to be the only complete one remaining.
MGT PLUS D
The MGT PLUS D is a disk and printer interface with a snapshot button. The device is compatable with 48K, +, 128K, and 128K +2 models of Sinclair Spectrum.
Nine Tiles PDP-11 Multilink Interface
This interface allows a PDP-11 to network to any other machine with a compatible interface, even from other manufacturers.
Commodore 64 C Light Fantastic Pack
The Commodore 64 was one of the most succesful home computers in the world selling around 11-17 million units between 1982 to 1993!
There were several versions of the C64 from the original "Bull Nosed" style through to the later re-styled version and even versions produced specifically for the education market.
The C64 features 64 kilobytes of RAM with sound and graphics performance that were superior to IBM-compatible computers of that time. During the Commodore 64's lifetime (between 1982 and 1994), sales totalled around 17 million units. Part of its success was due to the fact that it was sold in retail stores instead of electronics stores, and that Commodore produced many of its parts in-house to control supplies and cost.
Approximately 10,000 commercial software titles were made for the Commodore 64 including development tools, office applications, and games. The machine is also credited with popularizing the computer demo scene. The Commodore 64 is still used today by some computer hobbyists, and emulators allow anyone with a modern computer to run these programs on their desktop.
The Commodore 64 C was released in 1986, and is cosmetically different to the original version, which is affectionately known as the bread bin, this was styled to fit more with the Amiga and C128 machines, there were also internal differences, such as revised SID and Vic chips.
This machine is in a Terminator 2 box, and is in excellent condition, with no yellowing, a leather cover, PSU, Aerial Lead, and free copy of Commodore Format Magazine.
It also has the original receipt showing it was purchased on the 5th of February 1993 at ten past one in the afternoon, and cost £79.99.
This pack contained a Cheetah Light Gun, Blaze out software pack, the Toolkit range of cassettes, and a C64c.
IBM TokenRing card
This MicroChannel expansion card allows you to connect your IBM PS/2 computer to a token ring network.
IBM ISA Auto TokenRing card
This 16-bit ISa expansion card for the IBM PC allows you to connect your computer to a token ring network.
AST SixPak Plus
The AST SixPak plus combines up to 384KB DRAM; game (joystick) port; parallel port; serial port; and real-time clock onto a single 8-bit ISA expansion card for the IBM PC.
Super Players Entertainment System
The Super Players Entertainment System is a clone of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It can play 99.9% of all SNES cartridges including NTSC and PAL version.
