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Ah the nostalgia of reading the entire guide to BASIC that came with my first computer, an Amstrad CPC6128. (Aside: The A in Amstrad stands for Alan and the S f
by stevoski 10y ago
Ah the nostalgia of reading the entire guide to BASIC that came with my first computer, an Amstrad CPC6128. (Aside: The A in Amstrad stands for Alan and the S for Sugar, as in Lord Alan Sugar).
The days when it was possible to learn and memorise the entire built-in library of a programming language. I never did work out how to implement a linked list in Amstrad BASIC though.
- agumonkey 10y agoI was surprised when finding my aunt oldest daughter Amstrad, that it came with a BASIC manual. I did not expect this to be marketed a programmable, more like game / word processor appliance. Also had a modem slot. I can't imagine what it would be to network in the 80s on such hardware.
- qwertyuiop924 10y agoHome computers, especially cheap ones, were always marketed as programmable: it was a hobbyist market. If you wanted to do word processing, you'd have bought a CP/M machine. As for the modem slot, it was quite common to have dial-up BBSes at the time. You can probably imagine.
- agumonkey 10y agoI don't know, as a Kid all we saw was games, games, games. As soon as the machine was unboxed, we inserted the disk and type RUN. We never heard the name BASIC anywhere, except maybe in passing while booting.
- qwertyuiop924 10y agoErm... I think you might have been in the minority on that. Wait, what computer were you even using?
- VLM 10y agoThat model didn't come out until '84. I was on Compuserv at 300 baud by then. It was expensive. Like AOL but for a CLI. It always felt rather DEC, kinda VAX-ish, because... (and no it wasn't run on VAX but it shared common corporate culture)
- zincsandwich 10y agoIt was run on PDP-10s!
- rbanffy 10y agohttps://youtu.be/wDTt7Pw-4GM https://youtu.be/wDTt7Pw-4GM shows the Minitel system. It used an asymmetric 1200/75 modem. Also, the movie "23" has some very accurate depictions.
- agumonkey 10y agoI thought about that just submitting. The difference is that a Minitel is a closed system. You're only a client. Other than that I agree. ps: oh you meant http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0126765/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0126765/ not "number 23" .. interesting.
- Doctor_Fegg 10y agoIt was terrific. I used my Amstrad CPC to dial up to bulletin boards: Preston ROS, Aspects BBS, Supe's Motel. Aspects was known to be one of the best in the UK, and it was consequently the devil's own work not to get the engaged tone. Early on, connection speed was 300/300 or 1200/75. Later I ended up writing my own terminal program, because I picked up a 2400 baud +compression modem from somewhere, and none of the existing software was fast enough to do the resulting speed of 4800 baud without dropping characters. To get the speed it had to talk directly to the UART in the serial interface, and then write the bitmaps directly to screen: no firmware calls anywhere, they were too slow. Heady days. FWIW I don't think any of the 8-bit Amstrads came with a built-in serial port. But they were certainly available as add-ons for both the CPC and PCW.
- agumonkey 10y agoMy memories are blurry, but I clearly remember how surprised I was seeing mentions of modems on the manual. Got me to do a little youtube digging : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WPMq80wYFY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WPMq80wYFY
- Doctor_Fegg 10y agoAh, that's the Pace serial interface there. Yes, I remember that one.
- agumonkey 10y agoTop comment mention a wifi board made recently. Retrofuturism.
- DanBC 10y agoAlan Michael Sugar TRADing! (See also TESsa COhen.)
- alblue 10y agoHis middle initial is M; so AMS is his initials. The trad is a contraction of trading - so Amstrad is AMS Trad(ing).