Author: Graham

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NCR PC4i

Posted on by Graham

The NCR PC4i was a rather ridiculous example of love at first sight, and i paid accordingly!  I purchased it via gumtree and after calling the seller and convincing myself that he was legit, i had it shipped from Perth to Adelaide.  i still think it is a beautifully crafted and technically excellent IBM PC compatible.

This machine has monochrome CGA graphics.  The motherboard, together with the ISA cards, is in a cage that is removed from the rear.  Considering the all-in-one package (like a compact mac) everything is remarkably accessible.

I maxed out the memory to 640k and added serial I/O, game port, an ethernet card, and an XTIDE board.  It happily connects to my network and can be accessed via FTP.

 

 

BBC Master 128

Posted on by Graham

The BBC Master 128 is an evolution of the BBC micro and runs most of the software for that platform.  The BBC ecosystem is like no other with its language and filing ROMs.

This machine was a gumtree purchase in about 2018.  According to the seller, it was an ex-TAFE machine. It came with the Thompson monitor and a disk drive.  After replacing the battery and reloading some parameters, it was good to go.

I added a modern mass storage solution Smart SPI which serves up more games than any person could ever hope to play.

The drive interface is just a normal shugart interface, so goteks play nicely as well.

 

Lingo 128

Posted on by Graham

Over the 1984/85 summer, i earnt enough money to buy my first computer.  I was never going to be able to afford one of the big names, but my neighbour was selling some Apple II clones made in Singapore by Limco.  I’m not sure that it was the most well-informed purchase that i’ve ever made, but the computer got me through my final year of uni and taught me a lot of things along the way.

It sat in a cupboard for many years and then in my shed for many more before i boldly applied power in about 2014.  To my surprise, it booted up fine.  I added a super serial card and used ADTPro to back up my floppy disks.

Compatibility is not perfect, but most programs run ok.  The included CP/M included a RAM disk which used the additional 64k of memory.  The keyboard interface is unique, but i have deciphered it so that i can use a PS/2 keyboard if the original fails.

It has two Chinon floppy disk drives in the flip top chassis.  I’ve since added a couple more external drives – 160kB is not a lot to work with.

The monitor is a rebadged Mitsubishi unit similar to the ones that were often used with Microbee computers.

Sadly, i stupidly gave away the printer about 30 years ago.  It was a rebadged Panasonic unit.

 

Why i use “i”

Posted on by Graham

A couple of my reviewers noticed my tendency to use “i” as the first person rather than “I”. I won’t deny that it saves me using the shift key, but laziness isn’t the reason.

I use “i” because “I” overstates my importance in the grand scheme of things.

It’s something i adopted (probably copying a mentor) when i was young. I’ve carried it through my life for informal writing, including emails, notes, and stories.

I try to follow the rules for anything formal. This site is not, and will never be, formal!

For this site, i’m trying to describe my activities using the active voice style, which leads to a lot of “i”. I’d prefer to hide behind passive voice, but active voice is widely accepted as being easier to read.

Now stop wasting your time and enjoy the computers!