4 ms·

I had its sibling, the V30, in an Amstrad PPC640DD luggable. I then transplanted it (before ZIF sockets, it was quite harrowing, esp. at 14-15 years old) onto a

I had its sibling, the V30, in an Amstrad PPC640DD luggable. I then transplanted it (before ZIF sockets, it was quite harrowing, esp. at 14-15 years old) onto a fixed PC (an Amstrad PC1640HDMD) since that one had ISA slots for a sound card, and Trakblaster required a V20/V30 or 80286 as bare minimum due to some of the instructions it used. Good times.

unfocussed_mike 5y ago
That PPC640DD was a fascinating device, far cleverer than people remember. Really quite forward-thinking. Side note: my brain saw "NEC V20" and I knew what it was, but it instead took me to my memories of my NEC P30 (Pinwriter) -- a wide-carriage 24 pin dot matrix printer that was loud enough to shake the whole house, and which you configured using an amusing question-and-answer dialogue. It would print a config question, scroll the paper up so you could see it, you'd answer with the buttons, it would scroll the paper back down (no wasting!) to print the next one. At the end you had this neat little transcript of the configuration and you felt like you'd talked to an alien intelligence. Side note 2 on the subject of forgotten Amstrad devices: my first PC was an Amstrad 3286. This was a time when Amstrad stopped making weird, slightly incompatible PCs and instead made a range of excellent, straight-down-the-line compatibles with nice cases. Just at the same time as IBM were manufacturing the (really non-standard) PS/1 at a factory not twenty miles from Amstrad's... both lost to history but that 3286 was great. I think I put a 20mb HDD in it, formatted to 32mb because of an RLL controller.
- gruturo 5y ago
  > That PPC640DD was a fascinating device, far cleverer than people remember Indeed. Its built-in modem was my gate to the world, once I figured out which wires to connect to the phone system (it came with a british jack, utterly unknown in my country back then). The screen was quite flimsy though - its hinges failed quite early and I had to keep it propped with some objects in the back. And it ate batteries like crazy, but on the other hand it ran on batteries when needed! This was in 1987-88, so quite cool. I remember a journalist having a cigarette lighter socket welded on a car battery terminals, and able to work for some time with it, I wonder if I can find the original article online.
  - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
    Yeah, I saw someone use one running off a car, once. It comes from a brief period of really frantic, bonkers professional computing innovation especially in the UK -- the Cambridge Z88 launched the year before.
- Jaruzel 5y ago
  I own its little brother, the PPC512DD. It is in fully working condition. As I understand it, the only difference is the amount of memory (512K vs 640K) and the inbuilt modem of the 640. At some point I'll fathom how to add an external ISA slot to it, as apparently the expansion connector is compatible. Also, way back when the Amstrads were current, I upgraded my desktop PC 1512 with a NEC V20 (or was it a 30?) for that little bit of speed increase.

unfocussed_mike 5y ago

That PPC640DD was a fascinating device, far cleverer than people remember. Really quite forward-thinking. Side note: my brain saw "NEC V20" and I knew what it was, but it instead took me to my memories of my NEC P30 (Pinwriter) -- a wide-carriage 24 pin dot matrix printer that was loud enough to shake the whole house, and which you configured using an amusing question-and-answer dialogue. It would print a config question, scroll the paper up so you could see it, you'd answer with the buttons, it would scroll the paper back down (no wasting!) to print the next one. At the end you had this neat little transcript of the configuration and you felt like you'd talked to an alien intelligence. Side note 2 on the subject of forgotten Amstrad devices: my first PC was an Amstrad 3286. This was a time when Amstrad stopped making weird, slightly incompatible PCs and instead made a range of excellent, straight-down-the-line compatibles with nice cases. Just at the same time as IBM were manufacturing the (really non-standard) PS/1 at a factory not twenty miles from Amstrad's... both lost to history but that 3286 was great. I think I put a 20mb HDD in it, formatted to 32mb because of an RLL controller.

gruturo 5y ago
> That PPC640DD was a fascinating device, far cleverer than people remember Indeed. Its built-in modem was my gate to the world, once I figured out which wires to connect to the phone system (it came with a british jack, utterly unknown in my country back then). The screen was quite flimsy though - its hinges failed quite early and I had to keep it propped with some objects in the back. And it ate batteries like crazy, but on the other hand it ran on batteries when needed! This was in 1987-88, so quite cool. I remember a journalist having a cigarette lighter socket welded on a car battery terminals, and able to work for some time with it, I wonder if I can find the original article online.
- unfocussed_mike 5y ago
  Yeah, I saw someone use one running off a car, once. It comes from a brief period of really frantic, bonkers professional computing innovation especially in the UK -- the Cambridge Z88 launched the year before.
Jaruzel 5y ago
I own its little brother, the PPC512DD. It is in fully working condition. As I understand it, the only difference is the amount of memory (512K vs 640K) and the inbuilt modem of the 640. At some point I'll fathom how to add an external ISA slot to it, as apparently the expansion connector is compatible. Also, way back when the Amstrads were current, I upgraded my desktop PC 1512 with a NEC V20 (or was it a 30?) for that little bit of speed increase.