Less common vintage 8 and 16 bit computers

[Arran]

Re: Less common vintage 8 and 16 bit computers

The TRS 80 is a moniker for several families of computers manufactured by Tandy / Radio Shack that were not software compatible with each other.

Which particular models were sold in Tandy shops in Britain?

[Mulletino]

Re: Less common vintage 8 and 16 bit computers

I always remember Maplin selling a replacement "proper" keyboard for the ZX Spectrum, always wanted one of those.

[Richard1978]

Re: Less common vintage 8 and 16 bit computers

TRS stands for Tandy Radio Shack, certainly in the USA they were sold through Radio Shack electronics stores.

[Arran]

Re: Less common vintage 8 and 16 bit computers

What versions of the TRS 80 were sold in Tandy shops? I have a TRS-80 Model 100 laptop that were sold mainly as a business computer rather than a home computer. Most people in Britain bought them because they were portable and had a word processor in the ROM rather than because they were a TRS 80.

[Richard1978]

Re: Less common vintage 8 and 16 bit computers

The TRS 80 was sold through Tandy shops, but never in large numbers, the Dragon 32 shared some parts with it IIRC.

[Arran]

Re: Less common vintage 8 and 16 bit computers

Most 8 and 16 bit computers were 'geographic' with particular models only being popular in a few countries. The Sinclair Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, and Acorn BBC and Archimedes were common in Britain but rare in the US and Canada which is why North American computer historians and technology writers only give them a brief passing mention at their best and otherwise ignore them. Likewise, British computer historians and technology writers don't tend to say much about the TRS80, Apple II, or the IBM PC Jr.

An MSX owner told me that MSX was the world standard 8 bit computer - except in a small number of countries where 8 bits from other manufacturers had conquered the market.

[trip2themoon]

Re: Less common vintage 8 and 16 bit computers

BBC B and Master were very common computers in Britain. When I say rare I mean something like the British Micro Mimi or the Logica Kennett.

Has anybody encountered a Fujitsu FM Towns?

The Sharp X68000 and the FM Towns are both pretty much non existent here. Which is a real shame because they both had a huge amount of arcade conversions on them. The X68000 was powerful enough for Capcom to code all their CPS1 games on it. CPS1 games were ones like Final Fight, Strider, Willow and SF2 The World Warrior.

[darren]

Re: Less common vintage 8 and 16 bit computers

Oh yes chuckie egg its come back to me now. Thnx.

there were a couple of games discs kicking about the tech department of my high school. Chuckie egg and galaxian were both decent on the bbc. In primary school we got to play a text based adventure game on it called the magic telephone, that game was a bit boring.

[Arran]

Re: Less common vintage 8 and 16 bit computers

BBC B and Master were very common computers in Britain. When I say rare I mean something like the British Micro Mimi or the Logica Kennett.

Has anybody encountered a Fujitsu FM Towns?

[Mulletino]

Re: Less common vintage 8 and 16 bit computers

Elite and Escape From Moonbase Alpha were my favourite BBC games, some kids in our street had a Model B we used to play on.

[trip2themoon]

Re: Less common vintage 8 and 16 bit computers

REMEMBER HAVING THESE AT SCHOOL. BBC Micro. Acorn Technologies

DONT THINK YOU COULD PLAY GAMES ON THESE OR THEY WERE VERY BASIC GAMES.

ARE THEY 8 OR 16 BIT.

There were a couple of games discs kicking about the tech department of my high school. Chuckie Egg and Galaxian were both decent on the BBC. In primary school we got to play a text based adventure game on it called The Magic Telephone, that game was a bit boring.

[darren]

Re: Less common vintage 8 and 16 bit computers

AND THIS ONE THE BBC MASTER TURBO.
MUST BE MORE POWERFUL THAN THE OTHER 2 BBC COMPUTERS I POSTED.

THERE MUST BE LOADS OF BBC COMPUTERS.

[darren]

Re: Less common vintage 8 and 16 bit computers

THNX FOR THE INFO MATE.

HAD A SLIGHT INKLING IT HAD GAMES.
THE Acorn BBC Master Series Microcomputer.

There were some quite good games for them, the BBC Master was a bit more able.

[Richard1978]

Re: Less common vintage 8 and 16 bit computers

REMEMBER HAVING THESE AT SCHOOL. BBC Micro. Acorn Technologies

DONT THINK YOU COULD PLAY GAMES ON THESE OR THEY WERE VERY BASIC GAMES.

ARE THEY 8 OR 16 BIT.

There were some quite good games for them, the BBC Master was a bit more able.

[Arran]

Re: Less common vintage 8 and 16 bit computers

IIRC the MSX was designed to be an industry standard with Microsoft involved, but they were mostly made by Japanese electronics companies.

Microsoft developed the ROM software for the MSX including MSX Basic. Despite the MSX technically being half American they never succeeded in the US, and the only MSX that was officially sold in the US was a Yamaha with a music keyboard that was sold as a musical instrument rather than a computer.

MSX was the most popular home computer format in Japan during the 1980s and early 1990s. They were also common in parts of Europe and South America which also had MSX2 computers that were not sold in Britain. MSX2 was advanced for an 8 bit.

There is a theory that the Amstrad CPC 6128 prevented the MSX2 from succeeding in Britain although the Amstrad CPC spec is closer to the MSX than the MSX2.