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Commodore PET

HappyJoe said:
Is this PET going to have more than 4 kB RAM? Mine (well, my employer's) - in 1978 - didn't, but I still found a version of Star Trek that ran inside that. Being written in BASIC, I could meddle with the code and make the ray guns fire! Great days, great days...
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Nope..

...and you can't upgrade the RAM yourself, because Commodore drilled holes in the PET logic-board. Want more RAM, you have to buy a whole new logic-board or a new computer.
pet.jpg
 
funkylogik said:
Lol cool mate. How was he in person? And aye I like The Apprentice too :thumbsupdroid: mostly coz I like to hate some of ****ers on it lol :D
PS how old are you mate? For some reason I put you at around my age (39) :D
EDIT 41? You old man :D
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On favourable terms, he's a very nice gent. Get on the wrong side of him..well yeh! But that's all in the past now, but still like to talk about it sometimes.

I'm 52. and Mr. Sugar might be in your part of the world these days @funkylogik ....
"Air Charter Scotland Ltd."...what the hell.
http://www.aircharterscotland.com/index.html
I suppose it sounds better than "Air Amstrad" or something.

He's a very successful entrepreneur, 40 something years of successfully selling cheapo products, I do admire him now.

FWIW it's my fascination for cheapo products, things like Amstrad, Binatone, Laltex and Elftone, that brought me to China. Even wanting to get hold of cheap Hong Kong made radios as a boy.
 
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Lol strange fascination but it built you a career and whatever floats yer boat.... :D
Tbh I'm fascinated by Japan. You been?
Tokyo is the only city I have any interest in visiting I think :)
 
funkylogik said:
Lol strange fascination but it built you a career and whatever floats yer boat.... :D
Tbh I'm fascinated by Japan. You been?
Tokyo is the only city I have any interest in visiting I think :)
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Think it started with a Ladybird book in 1970. "Making A Transistor Radio" by Rev. George Dobbs.

ladybird_radio_5.jpg

The thing didn't work as it was supposed to, it was extremely quiet. Although reading on the interwebs recently about it, apparently Ladybird modified Dobbs' design and removed an important decoupling capacitor.

Ladybird still publishes their "Peter & Jane" reading books here in China.
article-0-02AF3103000005DC-761_233x365.jpg

And they've never updated the 1950s, 1960s British middle class theme of the illustrations and content. :thumbsupdroid: ...all boys wear short grey trousers and every girl has a pony.


Been completely fascinated by Japan as well. Never been, but will probably visit next year, maybe do South Korea as well, NOT North Korea though.
 
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I remember ladybird books lol!!
And nah probably best to avoid N Korea although I'd REALLY love to experience the place if I was safe :thumbsupdroid:
S Korea will be an experience... Public wifi everywhere, gaming cafe's (can't remember what they're called).... ?
Also I once made a transistor radio using this board full of components with springs to attach wires to to connect them lol. Just remembered that. Self powered too :D
 
funkylogik said:
I remember ladybird books lol!!
And nah probably best to avoid N Korea although I'd REALLY love to experience the place if I was safe :thumbsupdroid:
S Korea will be an experience... Public wifi everywhere, gaming cafe's (can't remember what they're called).... ?
Also I once made a transistor radio using this board full of components with springs to attach wires to to connect them lol. Just remembered that. Self powered too :D
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That sounds like Tandy/RadioShack "Science Fair" project kits, sure most of theirs used springs to hold the wires in place. There was another electronics lab I had, make a radio, oscillator, burglar alarm, etc. it was a printed circuit board, all the components on plastic modules that had studs, and you bolted the components to the board. Those, they did usually work.

Famiy and friends would often give me old broken radios, just to play with. I was one of those kids that absolutely hated playing sports in school, except swimming, and was absolutely crap at football or cricket.
 
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Ha me too and was always taking things apart (then putting them back together with a spare part left lol)
And you're right, there was a Tandy in the local town (where I now live) so it probably was from there :)
 
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Some Ladybirds books of my childhood are no longer in print, or if they are they seriously need updating.
the-computer.jpg


I used to have lots of How and Why Wonder books as well, which were American.


And FWIW Amstrad never made a mobile phone, was trying to think how crappy it would have been. Something like the Binatone ones probably.

Binatone is one of the longest established British brands for cheapo, made in Hong Kong, consumer products, since late 50s. Their HQ was in Beresford Avenue, Wembley. And directly opposite on the other side of the road was Elftone's HQ, another long established name in cheapo.

Just hope they don't try and revive the Amstrad PenPad.
Amstrad_PenPad_PDA600.jpg


Was like a sort of cheapo imitation of the Apple Newton, and it was awful.


Oh yeh...here's a games console that deserves to be forgotten and buried forever, the Amstrad GX4000.
1280px-Amstrad-GX4000-Console-Set.jpg
 
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