A proper computer on E-bay; RM 380z

[rocket-dog]

This brings back school day memories. Awesome machine then; awesome machine now. And it looks like a proper computer.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Research-Machines-380z_W0QQitemZ250620579467QQcategoryZ4193QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp4012.m8QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DMW%26its%3DC%26itu%3DUCC%26otn%3D15%26po%3DLCA%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D8839333433224035212

[Shredder11]

I wonder if Aly is reading this because she is quite fond of this computer if I recall. I do not personally have any experience with this one but I do remember my uncle building a Nascom (possibly v2). That was when building meant getting all the components and soldering them yourself, doing all the testing etc. Real boffin stuff and my uncle is an electronics expert of 50yrs+ experience for sure. The Nascom was Z80 based I think too.

[rocket-dog]

There is some Nascom stuff on t'web, including an emulator.

The 380z was the first computer I use regularly with a hard disc; I can't remember but I think it was something like 5Mb. It had a dedicated green screen CRT monitor too. It was just so chunky and computery. And it had Pascal too, I wrote one of my O levels programs in Pascal. Oh!!! And CPM too.

Apple ][ and 380z proper computers..........

[Shredder11]

Yup I have the emulator and a huge list of software, although I have not used it despite having it on disc for years. I remember as a kid playing a simple frogger type game called Lollypop Lady Trainer, where you had to cross the road with the kids without killing them all. Very addictive!

[030falcon030]

Well I didn't even know schools had computers before the bbc machines. Of course when I started infant school in 95 and left in 98 we still used BBC machines for education there were only bbc machines in that school then. In my junior school 1998 to 2002 we used pc's for education but there were always 3 bbc machines down the end of the corridor (about 20 win 3.1 machines as well and about 5 or 6 win98 internet computers there as well) which were the most popular ones (they were always the first that got booked for lunchtime by people who wanted to play chuckie egg)
To me RM is a name that only arouses hate: it is the company that provides crap slow windows pc's and runs the internet blocker we had all the way through senior school to stop us getting on game sites or anything not considered suitable for school.
Though that machine does look pretty powerful considering its age if upgraded to 56kb ram and colour board compared to most 8bit computers released later.

[wongck]

Well I didn't even know schools had computers before the bbc machines.

My school had CMB Pet and they were state of the art then.
I remember one of my classmate bought a ZX81, and we went to program a game that was publish in a magazine.
Of course there was lots of typo & syntax errors, and I ended up loaning the BASIC book from a senior doing his O level.
I managed to get the game working.... and that was what started me on computer

[rocket-dog]

Oh yes Singapore uses (or used to use) British exam's; I forgot that.

Nobody has anything good to say about RM's PC but their CPM boxes were built like tanks and ran well too. Then again back in those days there wasn't much variation between machines that used CPM; a lot fewer components to mix and match.

[wongck]

Oh yes Singapore uses (or used to use) British exam's; I forgot that.

Nah, I never studied in Singapore.
But sure they use the GCE O & A levels..... I think most of commonwealth nations does anyway.
Believe me that's the best by far and British education is recognised and respected by tons of countries.
I was in Japan and the folks I worked with there respected my education, even when they are very Americanised.
It's funny that some years back, I read that America was going to follow some of the Singapore education system, however I am not
sure if that was done. If the Americans followed some of the Singapore education system, then they in fact are following the
British system. But I guess they would not want to be seen as following the British so the indirect way....
I am not sure what the education scene is like in UK, I have lost touch with it, well, I'm not there.
Even most of the commonwealth countries now are talking about semester while I still think in term.

[techie_alison]

Yeah saw that 380Z. Can't believe I got rid of mine. Gave it to a friend, but boy were they HEAVY!!

[rocket-dog]

Yeah saw that 380Z. Can't believe I got rid of mine. Gave it to a friend, but boy were they HEAVY!!

I have told you before you are far too generous for your own good......

[1024MAK]

RM 380Z 12.JPG

Amazing that a type of computer that I used at school should be sold for £163.65 in the year 2010. I never thought that I would hear about such a machine let alone find one for sale!
At the secondary school I attended there was one 380Z and a handful of BBC model B machines. As the number of students outweighed the number of machines the 380Z was the last in the "queue" as the BBC machines were far more popular. These were the only computers in the school (all in only one classroom).
I did program the 380Z but did not keep any programs on the 5¼ floppy disks (they were expensive when using your pocket money!) instead I used my limited supply of floppies for use with the BBC machines.
Happy days

I nearly forgot to mention that the whole class got to write a simple batch program in BASIC and the school arranged for all of them to run on a mainframe somewhere. We all got a line-printer printout of the results. Because the BASIC was somewhat different to the BBC BASIC and 380Z BASIC we were used to, a lot of the batch programs failed

Now less than £60 buys a 1TB drive and you can get a USB flash drive for £5. But now Mars bars are smaller but cost 50p or more (at school the school tuck shop sold them for 18p). Strange world we live in