I 've had a few computers in my time. The first was an Acorn Electron. I was in my last year of high school, so this dates to around 1987/1988....Well I paid around £100 second hand for the Electron, which came with a cassette unit, joystick, and quite few tapes! At the time I was working part time as a chefs assistant in a restaurant called Penny Farthing, at the Clock Tower, Exeter. The wages helped pay for this Computer. I remember being really excited by it, and the family also seemed to be quite amazed by it too. Elaine, my sister loved the electron too, picture to follow...!! It was a while before I was able to upgrade to a Disc Drive unit, a 3.5", which seemed to be the latest thing. I only had one 320k Sony disk, but this lastest me for ages and ages. I used to type in the listings from Electron User, and save them onto disk. Eventually this disk became full. I managed to obtain another from the ITec course I was involved with, once I had left school. Now having two disks, and another I had purchased containing 4 games, the world seemed my oyster. This was until I started working for Minerva Software. I wanted to re-create the pictures seen on a 32bit Archimedes onto the Electron, so Merlyn wrote a conversion program. I started to produce these slideshow disks, with all sorts of digitised pictures converted from the Archimedes, well I was impressed - I thought it was some sort of breakthrough in technology or something.......Well guess what, I still have a couple of Electrons, or rather the kids do. Amazing to think they would have cost £200 each, in the '80s, now they are in a toy box......When I sold the Electron, I had over 300 disks.....and perhaps I have kept some too.
I was desperate to be famous, so I started the Electron User Club (1988), in 1988. I can't quite recall how it came about, but it was a collection of people who had faith in Acorn, in particular the Electron, all from different walks of life, and from around Britain. My part was treasurer, at the age of 17 or 18, a big burden to me. The club produced quite a few magazines, which contained a collection of news, reviews, programs, advertisements. I had my fair share of published articles and BASIC programs, and....well I still have some of the original magazines in the attic...pics to follow....The aim was to bring members together to share experiences, ideas and knowledge. The organisation of the club was sometimes ridiculous, and after a while, people seeed to lose interest, we all move on.
ZX81 - I bought a ZX81 from a Jumble sale in the early '90's for 10p. This I kept for a doorstop for several years, before I actually plugged it in and tried it out. The 1k of memory was amazing, no really it was. OK, so I am joking...no the ZX81, kept me amused for less than an afternoon. I desperately tried to rid myself of the machine, by writing £4000 ONO in silver paint onto it, and marketing it at a car boot sale, however, no-one ever wanted it...strange that..... Spectrums - When I was at school, everyone including the dogs wife, seemed to have a Spectrum. Not me. However to see what all the fuss had been about I bought a variety of Spectrums - 48k, Plus2, Plus3 et all - mainly second hand from car boot sales for peanuts really. Well was I impressed? - no not at all. Needless to say, last time I moved house, they remained neatly in a pile, in the shed. I also left a Dragon 32 in the attic. No doubt these would now be in the huge computer graveyard - best place for them.
Commodore 64 - The main reason for wanting a C64, was the fact that it had a great Monopoly game. I had a friend who was wanting to sell a C64, with a 5.25" Disk drive, and some disks....I think I must have swapped this for something...I'm sure I got good deal anyway. Well after a few games of Monopoly, I soon got bored of it, and sold it on.... Amstrad CPC6128 - The same friend who supplied the C64, also supplied this. I never got on with this computer, or it's 3" disks, so after a time gathering dust, it was sold too. Oric-1 - I think I bought this as a present for my sister Elaine, at the time she really wanted it, but soon got bored - well she was at that age. It wasn't really very good, that was the problem. It was unreliable, the graphics were poor, and the sound too. It didn't feel much like a real computer. Strange though, when I got it back from my sister, I started programming it. I thought the Zap, Ping, Explode sounds effects were cool. I liked it so much, I started to write an 'Emulator' for it on the Archimedes in Basic, called it !Oric. hmm....a friend of mine whom i'd never met, Derek, decided to add bits to it, then I did and so on. He didn't actually own an Oric, so I sent it to him so he could make the emulator really cool. All these years on, and I think he's still got it..........this one I didn't sell! Archimedes 310 & 440 - After dreaming of owning one, and even pretending my Electron was one, one landed on my desk, courtesy of my girlfriends step-dad. He had aquired a lump of cash, and decided that we would replace his 310 with the latest thing - I mean he even bought a laser printer - and for home use this was almost unheard of! Well little did the 310 know, it was to become one of the most used computers I had ever had. OK, so this isn't strictly the 80's, it's creeping into the very early 90's now, but I couldn't leave out the Archie. After much playing games, collating databases, and converting 8 bit programs, I started up Arch Angel Public Domain, in April 91'. I purchased another couple of Archimedes machines, including a 440, with SCSI 330 Mb hard disk. This was big for the time, and expensive too. I still have the original 310 and a 440 in the attic, both still work after a fashion. If you would like to read more about me working for Minerva Software, in the hey day of the Archimedes, click HERE.
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