October/November 2008
These are some of the additions that have been kindly donated to The Centre For Computing History.
Click on the link for further details:
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Anamartic Wafer-Scale 160MB Solid State Disk
In the biggest advance in semiconductor packaging since the original dual in-line package, Anamartic Ltd, the Milton, Cambridge company founded by Sir Clive Sinclair, on the 26th October 1989 unveiled its first product, the 40Mb Wafer Stack.
The Wafer Stack consists of two 6" wafers, each containing 202 1M-bit memory chips, together with proprietary Conlog configuration logic. The memory array is organised in a logical spiral from the outside to the middle of the wafer, and the Conlog logic not only enables the wafer at set-up to be program-med by external software to bypass any chips that failed altogether, but also to use the good parts of chips where only a handful of memory cells are no good
We have an original working unit as welll as a specially framed unit which is shown in the photograph.
This was very kindly donated by Dr Malcolm Williamson and Mrs Margaret Marks |
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The system appears to be based on the Burroughs B20 to B26 workstations with the BTOS operating system. For examplethe Burroughs B20 was also sold as the Cnvergent Technologies C20.
Burroughs B25 model was used by Convergent Technologies for the NGEN model.
The NGEN was known to Burroughs users as the B25, to Prime as the "Prime Producer 200", and was included the Intel 80186 CPU chip.
Our Modules include the Central Processor, Hard Disk Unit
Disk Unit, Graphics Card Unit, Graphics Card Unit
Keyboard and Monitor. All complete with the 5 Separate Power Supply Units |
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The F10 was a refinement of the Apricot F1 with a hard disc addition to the floppy drive. The cost in 1985 was £2295.00.
8086 at 4.7MHz, ROM 32k, RAM 512k
Monitor 4 colour and Gem Software
They were quite similar to the F1, but included an extra expansion slot, more memory and larger storage capacity : two disk-drives for the F2 and one disk-drive and a 10MB hard-disk for the F10.
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The Victor 9000 (English name: ACT Sirius S1, distributed in the UK by British company Applied Computer Techniques was designed by Chuck Peddle—who had also designed the first Commodore PET—and presented for the first time at the Systems show in Munich, Germany in late 1981. Chuck Peddle used two of his Commodore contacts to set up two subsidiaries in continental Europe. David Deane (France) and Juergen Tepper (Germany) were both ex-Mannesmann Tally whom Chuck had met while negotiating an OEM deal for printers.
The Victor 9000/Sirius S1 ran CP/M-86 and MS-DOS but was not a PC clone. It offered a higher resolution screen as well as floppy drives. |
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The first machine, the Lynx 48K, was released in March 1983 as a home computer system to directly rival the Spectrum. The specification was rapidly upgraded to 96K in September 1983, and those who had bought a 48K system could send their machines back to Camputers to have the upgrade installed. This was one of the touted features of the Lynx range - easy expandability. At the same time as the 96K Lynxes made it into the shops, the first Disk Drives were released. These were as stylish as the computer, finished in a business style dark grey, contained their own internal power supplies and had a then-substantial 200 kilobytes of storage capacity.
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The Psion MC-400 runs on an Intel 80C86 processor, uses eight conventional 'AA' (or MN 1500, LR6) batteries, and has not only an inbuilt speaker, but also a microphone. Along one of the sides of the MC-400 standard mini-plug jacks permit headphones and/or an external microphone to connect to the unit. A touch pad just below the unit's display screen emulates the use of a mouse as a pointing device; the screen itself has a matrix 640 pixels wide, by 400 high. The addition of a voice processor module would allow users to record and playback their own diary notes, or to leave dictation for secretarial staff to type. Our model was very kindly donated by Graham Lapwood |
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| 23/09/2008
Sinclair Cambridge Programmable
The Sinclair Cambridge Programmable Calculator was also sold in the U.S as the Radio Shack EC-4001. It had an 8 digits red LED display (made by National Semiconductor).
Scientific programmable. Integrated circuits - National Semiconductor MM5799EHY/N and DS7784N
9v (PP3 battery) - a "pregnant" mode because of the bulge on the back, see photograph. 50 mm x 111 mm x 28 mm.
Made in England.
This was originally purchased on the 4th September 1976 |
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Apricot XEN
Codenamed Candyfloss, this computer was aimed to compete with the IBM PC-AT. It was a multipost system capable of controlling up to 16 stations.
The Apricot XEN is complete with a badged keyboard
Model Numbers: GCXWS 001069 and 001081
Our unit is the Xen WS (WorkStation) with 1 MB of RAM and no disk drives.
All kindly donated by Mike Voss |
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The Amstrad CPC 464 was one of the most successful computers in Europe. More than two million computers were sold. Despite its ordinary characteristics (like those of the Sinclair Spectrum and often less interesting than those of the others like the Commodore 64 or Atari XL/Xe series) or odd features (like video memory or strange floppy disk format), it was very popular because of its really low price and its interesting commercial concept : all peripherals were sold together (like the Commodore PET that was sold years earlier): CPU/keyboard, tape recorder, monitor (monochrome green or colour).
Kindly donated by Kenneth Lawrence |
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30/09/2008
The Psion MC-400 runs on an Intel 80C86 processor, uses eight conventional 'AA' (or MN 1500, LR6) batteries, and has not only an inbuilt speaker, but also a microphone. Along one of the sides of the MC-400 standard mini-plug jacks permit headphones and/or an external microphone to connect to the unit. A touch pad just below the unit's display screen emulates the use of a mouse as a pointing device; the screen itself has a matrix 640 pixels wide, by 400 high. The addition of a voice processor module would allow users to record and playback their own diary notes, or to leave dictation for secretarial staff to type.
Our model was very kindly donated by Graham Lapwood and has a Serial Number of BBB 100254 |
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04/09/2008
The BBC Domesday Project was a partnership between Acorn Computers Ltd, Philips, Logica and the BBC (with some funding from the European Commission's ESPRIT programme) to mark the 900th anniversary of the original Domesday Book, an 11th century census of England. It is frequently cited as an example of digital obsolescence.
A new multimedia edition of Domesday 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.
The project was stored on adapted laserdiscs
Our discs together with the BBC Countryside and Eco disks were kindly donated by Keith Bowman together with the original laserdisc player and the BBC Micro |
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03/09/2008
TRS-80 Microcomputer System Model III
The Model III is basically an upgrade of the Model I, which was released three years earlier. It has the same CPU, but it is faster, has more memory, and the floppy drives hold twice as much data, although the Model I could be upgraded to some of these features.
The major reason for developing the Model III was because the FCC had just instituted new regulations about RF emissions generated by computers and other electronic devices. The Model I was completely unshielded and was unable to pass the emission restrictions.
The Model III system is entirely self-contained. The original Model I had edge-type connectors with ribbon cable connecting the keyboard to the (optional) Expansion Interface, as well as the floppy drives. This type of connection is very unreliable, and led to the occasional system crash or lock-up.
Introduced July 1980 |
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21/08/2008
The VIC-20 is an 8-bit home computer. It was made by Commodore Business Machines, with 5 KB RAM and a MOS 6502 CPU. The machine's external design was later used by the Commodore 64 and C16. The VIC-20 was r eleased in Japan in 1980, and in the U.S. and Europe in 1981. The VIC-20 was the first microcomputer to sell one million units.
Our unit very kindly donated by Mr Tony Decore and has serial number WGB 122360 and was purchased on the 14th May 1983
 This is a boxed unit and comes complete with: Power Supply Unit, Commodore C2N Datasette Unit Model 1530 boxed with instructions, 16K Rampack (cost at the time £44.95) and Many Vic 20 games |
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07/08/2008
The CGL Sord M5 made by CGL Home Computers, was a Japanese home computer available in 1983. It had keys similar to the Sinclair Spectrum, but with the bottom right corner chopped off.
The processor was a Zilog Z80 , runninng at 3.58 MHz
Japan 1982
This was very kindly donated by Mr D Flack and is complete with software, manuals, joystick, cables and Power Supply
Serial No: 23C 0282 |
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06/08/2008
 The Sanyo MBC-1150 Creative Computer has now arrived at The Centre For Computer History.
This has a serial number of 94840290 was very kindly donated by Gordon Willis complete with keyboard (serial number 94840293) cables, disks and manuals and is in excellent condition.
The hardware includes one Z-80A (4MHz) central processing unit. The non-glare CRT displays green characters (80) in twenty five lines.
The standard external interfave is one RS-232C serial port and a Centroniucs (parallel) printer port and was first produced in 1984 |
05/08/2008
 The ICL Personal Computer (ICL PC) started production in 1981. Despite the name, it was a CP/M computer. The ICL PC uses an Intel 8085 for its CPU. It can run either CP/M-80 or M/PM.
ICL Personal Computer Model 30
Unlike the model 36 this was a Personal Computer as it did not have a facility for further workstations.
Model 30 with a 5 MB hard disc, CP/M O.S.
This is in excellent condition and complete with original monitor, keyboard, manuals and software.
ICL Model 30
Catalogue Serial No - 8120/11
Build Control - 82'1142
Serial No - A04
Monitor
Catalogue No - 6402/00
Build Control Serial No - 2986
We are extremely grateful to John and Jane Brocklehurst for their very kind donation
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29/07/2008
Mr John Mouncher has very kindly donated two Teletype BRPE 20 High Speed Tape Punch sets. These are electromechanical devices that rapidly punches information into paper tape at speeds up to 110 characters per second (1100 WPM).
This information is received from external control circuits in the form of multiwire electrical pulses and transformed into mechanical motions to feed tape, feed and code holes. The set serves mainly as a self contained unit in a high speed telegraph system.
The basic set components include a base unit, a motor unit, and a tape punch unit. The motor unit and tape punch units are mounted on the base and connected by a set of drive parts. The tape unwinds off a reel mounted on the side of the base and is fed and punched at the front of the punch unit.
These are complete with manuals, parts list and spares. |
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22/07/2008
 The Centre For Computing History are very pleased to accept a donation of an IBM front Control Panel for the model 370/138. This Mainframe computer was introduced on June 30, 1976 and continued in production until November 1, 1983.
This computer could be leased for $8,730 a month with one-half million characters of main memory, and for $11,415 a month with one million characters.
Monthly rental prices were $9,600 and $12,550.
Purchase prices were $350,000 and $435,000.
The IT Department of the Ideal Stelred Group has kindly donated Commodore C286-LT and Compaq SLT/286 portable computers.
We have also received a Research Machines RM 380Z in a black case with disks and manuals.
16-07-2008
 1980 Vintage Exxon Vydec Word Processors
We are very lucky to have received the last two (we believe) Word Processors of this type in the UK, one of which was used for many years at the Bank Of England in Threadneedle Street. Both machines were in use in Ware, Hertfordshire until the late 1990's
We have also received an Apple Creative Studio CPU with all accessories, software, documentation and monitors. All in excellent condition together with a 1980 Apple extended keyboard in the original box.
Other donations include:
Apple IIe with monitor and disc drives
Osborne 1 with original discs and manuals
Video Genie System with disc drives, Expander Unit, Printer & Manuals
19-06-2008
 We have finally received an Intertec Superbrain complete with User's Manual and Hardware documentation. We have been looking for one of these for quite some time!
Other donations of portable (luggable) computers include an IBM 5155 Portable Computer, a Kaypro II, Osborne 1 and Amstrad PPC640D and 640S.
We are very pleased to have an ICL Personal Computer model 36 as a complete system - all in very good condition. Although it is badged as a Personal Computer it has asynchronous communication through six input/output RS232C serial interface ports allowing for further workstations which is in effect a multi-user business system.
A Radio Shack Tandy TS-80 Microcomputer system with monitor has also joined the collection, beautifully boxed in a wooden case.
01/05/08
 A Jupiter Ace with 16k RAM pack and complete with power supply and software in Excellent condition.
A BBC Micro Master 128 with complete Feedback CNC router & accessories, Acorn Archimedes 440, Dragon 32 Manuals and books.
An Apple Imac (tray Loading) G3 + keyboard & Mouse to complement our slot loading model.
A Compaq Portable Model I and HP Plotter - all in very good condition with manuals and discs.
Other items include a Sharp PC-1211, Apple Europlus, Apple Plus, Commodore 64, Dragon 32, a EACA Colour Genie, Toshiba T5200/100, BBC Micro B and an Apricot PC
We also have a very heavy (200Kg) Digital PDP-11 DEC Datasystem which was the storage unit for the PDP-11 system
28/03/2008
 A Dolch 286 portable as used by the British Police to develop the E-FIT program. The story of this is now on the website against the portable. We are also proud to have a Compaq Portable Model I in excellent condition which served for many years in British Aerospace. The story behind this is coming soon.
Other gifts to the Centre include 3 Comptometers, an Amstrad PPC64 Portable Computer.
A Sanyo MBC-550, Higrade HIG-286-20 and a Toshiba T3100e Portable.
A Sharp PC-2600 Laptop has also been received.
 04/03/2008
We have recently received the following additions:
STC Excutel desk communication centre
3 Comptometers
Cobalt Qube 2 server
Amstrad PPC 640D Portable Computer
Sliderules
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