Retro Computers - History

Let's go back in time and look at all those computers and consoles that we loved. Let's start with the 80's...

The Sinclair ZX Spectrum

The Sinclair ZX Spectrum was a home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research. Based on a Zilog Z80 A CPU running at 3.5 MHz, the Spectrum came with either 16 kB or 48 kB of RAM. The hardware designer was Richard Altwasser of Sinclair Research and the software was written by Steve Vickers on contract from Nine Tiles Ltd, the authors of Sinclair BASIC. Sinclair's industrial designer Rick Dickinson was responsible for the machine's outward appearance. Originally dubbed the ZX82, the machine was later renamed the "Spectrum" by Sinclair to highlight the machine's colour display, compared to the black-and-white of its predecessors, the ZX80 and ZX81.


ZX Spectrum +2 (1986)

The +2 was Amstrad's first Spectrum, coming shortly after their purchase of the Spectrum range and "Sinclair" brand. The machine featured an all-new grey enclosure featuring a spring-loaded keyboard, dual joystick ports, and a built-in cassette recorder dubbed the "Datacorder" (like the Amstrad CPC 464), but was (in all user-visible respects) otherwise identical to the ZX Spectrum 128. Production costs had been reduced and the retail price dropped to £139–£149.

The new keyboard did not include the BASIC keyword markings that were found on earlier Spectrums, except for the keywords LOAD, CODE and RUN which were useful for loading software. However, the layout remained identical to that of the 128.
 

The Commodore 64


The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit computer that uses Commodore DOS instead of MS Dos or Windows. In fact, for the most part it cannot run IBM or Macintosh computer programs. The Commodore 64 has BASIC 2.0 and 64k of memory although when you turn the computer on it indicates only 38,911 bytes available because nearly half of its memory is used for internal functions. The Commodore 64 was actually part of the evolution of computers marketed by CBM (Commodore Business Machines) which had previously proliferated the CBM and PET business computers into business and academic settings and who had then subsequently developed the VIC-20 computer which was the predecessor to the Commodore 64.

 

Commodore Amiga 500


The Amiga 500 was introduced in January of 1987 along with the Amiga 2000. It was designed to bring the powerful 32 bit 68000 processor; the same processor used in the Macintosh, into the home computer market previously dominated by the highly successful C-64.

The A500 went through some major design changes. The most obvious change was to the computers appearance. The first to go was the detachable keyboard and IBM style CPU box to sit the monitor on. The A500 was made to look more like the C128 with the keyboard placed in a plastic housing and placed on top of the motherboard all in one unit.

The A500 also came with 512k of user RAM easily expandable to 1 MB with the insertion of a memory cartridge that plugged into a compartment on the underside of the unit. It could also be expanded to maximum of 9 MB through the expansion port on the left side of the unit. There are two game controller ports located on the back of the computer. It has a built in 3.5 inch - 880k floppy drive on the right side.



Commodore Amiga 600


Released in spring 1992 as a replacement to the A500+, the A600 weighed just 6lbs (the smallest Classic Amiga ever!). This 14 deep x 9.5" wide x 3" high system was aimed at the console market, adding very little to the operating system or the Amiga as a whole. It only had 1mb of chip memory, ECS and Workbench 2.05. It shrunk the basic system by doing away with the numeric keypad leaving just 78 keys, and became the nearest the Amiga has to a laptop. It did, however introduce the PCMCIA slot at the side of machine allowing the use of ram cards; CD drives and disks that fitted into this port. The fatter Agnus chip as standard also allowed the addressing of up to 2Mb Chip ram as standard, with the maximum ram expansion (with PCMCIA) being 6Mb.

This was yet another attempt by Commodore to aim the Amiga towards the console market by selling it as a games machine with a keyboard, which didn't work.



Console Games Machines


The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)

The original Nintendo Entertainment System was released in the United States during August of 1985, just a few years after it had been introduced in Japan as Famicom or Family Computer. Backed by classic games such as Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda, the NES was an instant hit conquering millions of living rooms across the world. The console's graphics were far superior to any home system before it and left gamers with the impression of being at the arcades.

Much of the success that NES acheived was due to the favourable market conditions at that time. Hiroshi Yamauchi and Masayuki Uemura managed to release the console at a very low price while their competitors were in recession.

The Nintendo Entertainment System uses a modified 8-bit NMOS CPU at 1.773447 MHz. With its mere 2 Kb video memory, it produces 256x240 pixel resolution with a maximum palette of 25 on-screen colors.

The hardware of the NES is designed to take a cartridge that holds the game software, take input from controllers and peripheral devices, and output graphics and sound through a television. The NES was originally modeled to have cartridges input thorugh the front of the system as opposed to the top of the system.

 

The Sega Master System



The Sega Master System (SMS for short) is an 8-bit cartridge-based gaming console that was manufactured by Sega. Its original Japanese incarnation was the SG-1000 Mark III. In the European market, this console launched Sega onto a competitive level comparable to Nintendo, due to its wider availability, but failed to put a dent in the North American and Japanese markets. The Master System was released as a direct competitor to the NES/Famicom. The system ultimately failed to oust its competitor, but has enjoyed over a decade of life in secondary markets, especially Brazil.

They designed the Sega Master System II,

a newer console which was smaller and sleeker but which, to keep production costs low, lacked the reset button and card slot of the original. In an effort to counter Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers the new system would include a built-in Alex Kidd in Miracle World, or later Sonic the Hedgehog, playable without any cartridges. Sega did everything in its power to market the system, but nothing came out of it.



The Sega Mega Drive 16-bit

The Sega Mega Drive was a 16-bit video game console released by Sega in Japan (1988), Europe (1990) and most of the rest of the world. It debuted under the name Sega Genesis in North America (1989), as Sega was unable to secure legal rights to the Mega Drive name in that territory.



The Super Nintendo Entertainment System

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, also known as Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Brazil, Europe, and Australia. In Japan it is known as the Super Famicom (Family Computer). In South Korea, it is known as the Super Comboy and was distributed by Hyundai Electronics.

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System was Nintendo's second home console, following the Nintendo Entertainment System (often abbreviated to NES, released as the Famicom in Japan). Whereas the earlier system had struggled in the PAL region and large parts of Asia the SNES proved to be a global success, albeit one that could not match its predecessor's popularity in South East Asia and North America—due in part to increased competition from Sega's Mega Drive console (released in North America as the Genesis). Despite its relatively late start, the SNES became the best selling console of the 16-bit era.


SNES SPECS
CPU
Type: 65816 16-bit: 2.68 / 3.58 Mhz
16-bit Picture Processing Unit

MEMORY
RAM: 1 Mbit (128 Kbyte)
Video RAM: 0.5 Mbit (64 Kbyte)
Cart Size's: 2 Mbit - 48 Mbit


 

The IBM PC Celebrates its 25th Birthday

Page posted on 11 August 2006




On the 12th of August 1981 the first ever personal computer - the IBM 5150 - was announced. It became one of the most important releases in the world of technology, ever.

With a fraction of the power of today's machines, the 5150 stood proud with an Intel 8088 processor running at an almighty 4.77MhZ, 16kB (max 640kB) of memory and loaded with IBM Basic/MS DOS 1.0. Despite not coining the common acronym "PC", the 5150 defined it as being the standard which complied with IBM's specifications.

IBM created the 5150 with an "open architecture" which meant other manufacturers could create machines, after buying a licence for the BIOS from IBM. Other manufacturers weren't content with paying IBM, so circumvented this licence charge by reverse engineering the BIOS.

The BBC has produced an article about the 5150, the last 25 years of IBM computing and what the future holds for the IBM PC.


Link: BBC: 25 Years of the IBM PC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4780963.stm

Twenty five years of the IBM PC

Computer firm IBM made technological history on 12 August 1981 with the announcement of a personal computer - the IBM 5150.

Costing $1,565, the 5150 had just 16K of memory - scarcely more than a couple of modest e-mails worth.

The machine was not the first attempt to popularise computing but it soon came to define the global standard.

It altered the way business was done forever and sparked a revolution in home computing.

"It's hard to imagine what people used to do with computers in those days because by modern standards they really couldn't do anything," said Tom Standage, the Economist magazine's business editor told the World Service's Analysis programme.

"But there were still things you could do with a computer that you couldn't do without it like spreadsheets and word processing."

Global impact

Everything from automated spreadsheets to desktop publishing and the rise of the internet have since become possible.

The term PC had been in use long before IBM released its machine - but the success of the 5150 led to the use of the term to mean a machine compatible with IBM's specifications.

The machine was developed by a team of 12 engineers, led by Don Estridge, who was known as the "father of the IBM PC".

Development took under a year and was achieved by building a machine using "off the shelf" parts from a variety of manufacturers.

The machine had an "open architecture" which meant other firms could produce compatible machines. IBM banked on being able to charge a license for using the BIOS - the software which controls the heart of the machine.

But other companies reverse engineered the BIOS and were able to produce clones of the machine without having to pay IBM a penny.

That open architecture sparked an explosion in PC sales and also paved the way for common standards - something business had craved.

Since then the PC has come to dominate the home and the office and led the move to the online era with cheap global communication, e-commerce and for consumers the ability to find the answer to almost any question on the web.

Roger Kay, president of computer consultancy firm Endpoint, said the impact of the PC on all aspects our lives cannot be over-stated.

"I have for example an archive of correspondence from people that I diligently wrote letters to and all of a sudden that just stops," he said.

"I don't think I've got a personal letter for five years."

Moving this revolution forward are the one billion PCs that are now in use around the world.

In many ways, the PC has become in the developed world, an essential tool in our everyday lives.

End of an era?

But for how much longer?

Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's chief software architect, told the firm's shareholders last month the PC era was coming to an end.

"We're now in a new era, an era in which the internet is at the centre of so much that we do now with our PCs," he told them.

"And it's important to start then from a different vantage point."

With the lion's share of the Microsoft global software empire founded on the success of the PC, Mr Ozzie's statement was a significant admission.

Mr Standage said Microsoft has come to recognise that it will inevitably have to move with the times.

He said: "The problem is that Microsoft has most to lose from the shift towards internet-based software and that means it has the least incentive to do anything about it because it likes the status quo.

"But if it doesn't switch to this new model other people will."

PC supremacy

The move towards internet based software calls into question the supremacy of the PC itself.

Vying to knock the PC off its pedestal are a new generation of media PCs that hook up to televisions and hand-held computer devices, from phones to pocket PCs.

With all this small mobile technology and the growth of wireless internet, will people on the move bother owning a PC at all?

Reports of the PC's demise may be a little premature. While the market may not be growing anymore, it remains an industry generating some $200bn a year.

In developing countries such as China and Latin America, the PC market is still expanding at double digit growth rates.

But the development of mobile technology may enable the developing world to leapfrog the PC era altogether.

Mr Standage said mobile technology is key to sharing the benefits of the PC age with developing countries.

"I think that adding features to mobile phones is probably a better way to democratise computing," he said.