Register • FAQ • Search • Login

View unanswered posts | View active topics It is currently Thu Sep 11, 2025 4:29 am


Board index » The Meeting Place

All times are UTC




Reply to topic  Page 2 of 3
  [ 43 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3  Next
Print view Previous topic | Next topic 
It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy? 

What would YOU buy?
BBC Micro B - £399 36%  36%  [ 9 ]
Sinclair ZX Spectrum (16k) - £125 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Sinclair ZX Spectrum (48k) - £175 36%  36%  [ 9 ]
ORIC 1 (16k) - £129 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Dragon 32 (32k) - ~£200? 8%  8%  [ 2 ]
Some kind of pie. 20%  20%  [ 5 ]
Total votes : 25

It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy? 
Author Message
leeds_manc
I haven't seen my friends in so long
User avatar

Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 8:19 pm
Posts: 5071
Location: Manchester
Reply with quote
Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
New Brain, cos it sounds cool.
Fri Oct 09, 2009 1:07 pm
Profile
timark_uk
Moderator
User avatar

Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:11 pm
Posts: 12144
Location: Belfast
Reply with quote
Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
Whatever can run Elite the best.

Mark

_________________
okenobi wrote:
All I know so far is that Mark, Jimmy Olsen and Peter Parker use Nikon and everybody else seems to use Canon.
ShockWaffle wrote:
Well you obviously. You're a one man vortex of despair.
Fri Oct 09, 2009 1:11 pm
Profile WWW
paulzolo
What's a life?
User avatar

Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:27 pm
Posts: 12251
Reply with quote
Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
timark_uk wrote:
Whatever can run Elite the best.

Mark


At the time - BBC Model B then. Wait a few years, and you can get a Master or a second processor and run Elite in more colours.

_________________
All the best,
Paul
brataccas wrote:
your posts are just combo chains of funny win

I’m on Twitter, tweeting away... My Photos Random Avatar Explanation
Fri Oct 09, 2009 1:31 pm
Profile
brataccas
I haven't seen my friends in so long
User avatar

Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 9:14 pm
Posts: 5664
Location: Scotland
Reply with quote
Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
I had a dragon 32 years ago, played berzerk and phantom slayer which scared me a lot :x

_________________
Image
Fri Oct 09, 2009 2:54 pm
Profile
John_Vella
I haven't seen my friends in so long
User avatar

Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 7:55 am
Posts: 7935
Location: Manchester.
Reply with quote
Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
My dad lent me and my youngest brother the money to buy a Dragon 32, which we paid back out of our pocket money... but I'm sure he called it quits with us long before we paid him... * Note to self - must stop remembering for now... welling up again *

He chose it over the Commodore 64 "because the buttons, (keyboard) were bigger" ;) :lol: :roll:

_________________
okenobi wrote:
John's hot. No denying it. But he's hardly Karen now, is he ;)

John Vella BSc (Hons), PGCE - Still the official forum prankster and crude remarker :P
Sorry :roll:
I'll behave now.
Promise ;)
Fri Oct 09, 2009 3:02 pm
Profile WWW
l3v1ck
What's a life?
User avatar

Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 10:21 am
Posts: 12700
Location: The Right Side of the Pennines (metaphorically & geographically)
Reply with quote
Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
I'd wait for the Commodore 64.
( It's still in my loft ;) )

_________________
pcernie wrote:
'I'm going to snort this off your arse - for the benefit of government statistics, of course.'
Fri Oct 09, 2009 8:13 pm
Profile WWW
paulzolo
What's a life?
User avatar

Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:27 pm
Posts: 12251
Reply with quote
Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
A lot of Dragon 32’s - what were they like? What did they cost?

_________________
All the best,
Paul
brataccas wrote:
your posts are just combo chains of funny win

I’m on Twitter, tweeting away... My Photos Random Avatar Explanation
Fri Oct 09, 2009 9:44 pm
Profile
HeatherKay
Moderator

Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:13 pm
Posts: 7262
Location: Here, but not all there.
Reply with quote
Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
paulzolo wrote:
A lot of Dragon 32’s - what were they like? What did they cost?


I'll ask Best Beloved, and try to stay awake while he tells me. I'll report back later if I can.

_________________
My Flickr | Snaptophobic Bloggage
Heather Kay: modelling details that matter.
"Let my windows be open to receive new ideas but let me also be strong enough not to be blown away by them." - Mahatma Gandhi.
Sat Oct 10, 2009 8:03 am
Profile
cloaked_wolf
What's a life?
User avatar

Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 8:46 pm
Posts: 10022
Reply with quote
Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
My dad bought the ZX Spectrum+ when it came it out. It was a 48k like the "ZX Spectrum 28k" but differed crucially in that the entire thing was plastic. That's right - no rubber keys! The computer unfortunately developed a fault and we got a cheap upgrade to the 128k version instead. This had the ability to let you type commands as you would type text, rather than having to press a zillion key combos to get each command up.

However, I never used any other machine during the 80s and as a result, I'm completely biased and would go with the spectrum again.

_________________
Image
He fights for the users.
Sat Oct 10, 2009 11:44 am
Profile
paulzolo
What's a life?
User avatar

Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:27 pm
Posts: 12251
Reply with quote
Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
The Spectrum+ had QL type keys, and yes, being able to type the command was far more sensible that doing odd key combinations.

The BBC Micor always let you use abbreviations, so:

Code:
10 P. "Hello"


became

Code:
10 PRINT "Hello"


It also (cleverly) knew that COLOUR and COLOR were the same!

_________________
All the best,
Paul
brataccas wrote:
your posts are just combo chains of funny win

I’m on Twitter, tweeting away... My Photos Random Avatar Explanation
Sat Oct 10, 2009 7:52 pm
Profile
phantombudgie
Doesn't have much of a life

Joined: Wed Aug 19, 2009 1:45 pm
Posts: 994
Reply with quote
Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
timark_uk wrote:
Whatever can run Elite the best.

Mark


+1

I remember happy days of programming in BASIC :)

p.s. I have clearly not been here long enough - why is pie included as an option in all polls?
Sat Oct 10, 2009 7:55 pm
Profile
rustybucket
I haven't seen my friends in so long
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2009 5:10 pm
Posts: 5837
Reply with quote
Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
BBC Micro B

Stryker's Run FTW!

phantombudgie wrote:
p.s. I have clearly not been here long enough - why is pie included as an option in all polls?


No-one's too certain but I think the best explanation would be either:

"Because" or "PIE!"

;)

_________________
Jim

Image
Sat Oct 10, 2009 8:18 pm
Profile
paulzolo
What's a life?
User avatar

Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:27 pm
Posts: 12251
Reply with quote
Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
rustybucket wrote:
BBC Micro B

Stryker's Run FTW!


Blimey - I’d forgotten that one! That was another game which modified the video output to conserve RAM.

EDIT:
Image

_________________
All the best,
Paul
brataccas wrote:
your posts are just combo chains of funny win

I’m on Twitter, tweeting away... My Photos Random Avatar Explanation
Sat Oct 10, 2009 8:29 pm
Profile
lacloss
Doesn't have much of a life
User avatar

Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 7:48 am
Posts: 1751
Location: Marbella Spain
Reply with quote
Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
big_D wrote:
Geiseric wrote:
Paul1965 wrote:
I'd buy a Commodore 64 I think, £399, and starve.

Of the above list I'd get the BBC Micro.


Yes, wasn't the VIC 20 the poor man's version of the Commodore 64?

A friend had the C64 and when Ghostbusters came out his version looked so much better than the spectrum version, I was very jealous.

No, the VIC 20 was the rich man's ZX81... It preceded the Commodore 64 by about 3 years. The 64 replaced it, when it was released.

We used Commodore PETs at school, 2000 and 4000 series. The newer PETs that were launched around the time of the C64, and the Commodore 700 were lovely, much nicer than the C64, but they were too expensive for home use. :(

We also had PETs at college for the first year.


The order of my computers was:
Sinclair ZX81 (Kayde Keyboard and 16KB BugByte RAM Pack)
Commodore VIC20 (I got the 32KB RAM pack)
Memotech MTX500
Amstrad CPC6128
Commodore Amiga 500 (expanded to 1MB RAM and 20MB HD)
ACT Apricot Xi (2nd hand, 10MB HD, with GUI, Office suite, Pascal, C, C++ and BASIC compilers plus documents and still 5MB spare)
Commodore Amiga 1200 (40MB HD model)
Gateway 2000 P90 (with 16MB EDO RAM and 100MB hard drive & 17" Trinitron monitor)
Self-built Cyrix 686 133Mhz with Matrox Mystique graphics
Evesham Pentium II 400, 64MB RAM
Advent Pentium III 1Ghz notebook
Evesham Athlon XP2200+ (upgraded to 2GB RAM and 1st gen 17" TFT - 2002)
Medion Athlon XP2000+ (upgraded to 2GB RAM, Linux test rig, later windows test rig when Athlon64 became main Linux workstation)
Self-built Athlon 64 3200+ (2GB RAM, SATA drives in swappable drive bays - 1 drive for Windows, 1 for Linux, 2004)
Acer Aspire 6100WMLi
Apple iMac 24"
FJS Scaleo P C2Q

The Memotech is still sitting in a shop window in Stadthagen!

now you are just making me feel old . :( :( :( :( ;)

_________________
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming...
Damn, What a ride!!
Sun Oct 11, 2009 12:08 am
Profile
big_D
What's a life?
User avatar

Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 8:25 pm
Posts: 10691
Location: Bramsche
Reply with quote
Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
The first computer I used was a VAX 11/750 (1980)! It was sitting there, in the UK data centre in East Grinstead and chatting over the IM client with the ops in Dallas, Fort Worth - yes it was an oil company, no the Boss wasn't JR ;)

_________________
"Do you know what this is? Hmm? No, I can see you do not. You have that vacant look in your eyes, which says hold my head to your ear, you will hear the sea!" - Londo Molari

Executive Producer No Agenda Show 246
Sun Oct 11, 2009 10:24 am
Profile ICQ
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Reply to topic   Page 2 of 3
  [ 43 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3  Next

Board index » The Meeting Place

All times are UTC


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 32 guests

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
cron
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group
Designed by ST Software.