Hey there, my name is Mike. In my daily life im a computer engineer. I like playing with old computers, i like learning stuff, i like electronics. Earlier on this channel i did a lot of streaming where i would be playing in my electronics lab, but i have moved over to more traditional videos because i see more value in it. There will probably still be room for a stream now on then, but it will be rare.
You can get in touch with me at twitter.com/mikjaer or at my webpage www.retrocomputing.dk/
I do consulting, if you wish to hire me: www.mikjaer-consulting.dk
This channel is sponsored by my company: www.specialhosting.dk
Great great video. You managed to capture a lot of rare and exotic machines that were in working order! Amazing! Please keep making videos like this. They are really quite fantastically edited and narrated.
Hej Mike jeg har lige købt en Piccolo RC702 i en genbrugsforretning, jeg har renset disk drev, blæser osv. og den starter op men jeg har ingen software til den kan du hjælpe mig der ?
Nice.. My history with the Comet with COMAL 80 was on Grenaa Gymnasium in the early 1980's It was the third computing device in My life. First device I ever did program on, was the Hewlet Packard Sicentific Programable Calculator model C-27 - My dad gave it to Me back in 1977 or 1978 when I was 14/ 15 years old. Being Danish, the 2 heavy books that it came with, were the instruktion book and the Applications book both were written on a way higher lever of technical (US) English than I ever was thought in schooll / Highscoll years later, so that was both My introduktion to the English language AND understanding programming (it had som 100 steps and 10 or 15 FLAGS).. The second was a Swedish Luxor ABC (looked a loot like the early Osborne 1) that could be carried and the lid was also the keyboard and was programed in HEX codes...
Lower your brightness or contrast to remove the patterns. I'm guessing either the electronics have deteriorated over time or it was designed to output to CRTs rather than LCDs. But, even on my Panasonic TR-990C I have to lower the contrast significantly to remove the patterns. Once that is done, the image is very clear.
Wow, I never knew until now that there was an HD version of the CF2 floppy disk! Not even Chris "Perifractic" Simpson, who talks about his Amstrad now and then, has told us that!
Oops, you just said that Amstrad used the 3.5" floppies in that first Amstrad computer that you showed us on the turntable, but then... nope, it's not 3.5; it's a CF2 (which you said later is only 3").
I have a PcW 9256 with one 3.5 inch Floppy Disk Drive. On my Windows XP PC I have Software Ansible Information CP/M Copier Reads and Copies PcW Disks to LocoScript Professional for my PcW LocoScript Documents to PC and Locolink for Windows to transfer Copies LocoScript Documents to Microsoft Word. I also have Mallard Basic on my Windows XP PC. LocoScript Software. I also have a Joyce Emulator Boot Disk Image by Seasip on my Windows XP PC. All this software PCW Software to PC I have on my Windows XP is Windows 95 to XP compatible.
Hello Mike, the ABC80 was my first computer, it came from Sweden, my uncle from Sweden had one left over because he only wanted the disc drive and I bought the computer from him. It was comparable to the TRS80 at the time. Very common in Sweden but rather exotic in Germany and hard to find. Although it was very powerful at the time, comparable to other computers. In Sweden, the ABC80 was certainly present in every school as it was something like the popular computer in Sweden. There were a few successor models, but unfortunately these were discontinued and the company disappeared from the market. It was also produced under licence in Hungary. Greetings Per
I owned a Comet 8 when I was a kid. I bought it from my dad's colleague's acquaintance who had a stack of them in his garage. It was after the Danish school system decided not to use them and I guess that made the price drop significantly. Or it was a hot stash - I don't know :) I think I paid DKK 2,000 for it. It was my first computer and many a school assignment was written on it and printed on my Star LC10.
@@RetroComputingwithMike My late dad gave it away to a special needs class which disassembled with a hammer. I've forgiven him but... as I know how rare this machine is... oh man
Jeg har virkelig brug for noget hjælp her. Jeg har en gang haft en gammel grøn maskine mellem hænderne. Den mindede om Comet8, men havde ikke plads til ekstra 3 disketter ved siden af drevet. Den havde heller ikke bulen til venstre som skjuler strømforsyneren. Om det var en terminal eller computer ved jeg ikke. Men den havde RF udgang og indbygget diskette drev. Jeg kunne bare godt tænke mig at finde ud af navnet, og hvad det var for en dims. En af livets uløste mysterier om man vil.
@@RetroComputingwithMike kunne godt have været en Comet. Men som jeg husker, så var den lidt anderledes, mere mørk i farve og vigtigst af alt med kabinet lavet i metal.
@@brostenenRegneCentralen lavede nogle terminaler der kunne passe på den beskrivelse, har desværre ikke lige noget billede ... kan tag et næste gang jeg er på studiet hvis jeg husker det :)
@@RetroComputingwithMike Var de også med diskette drev? For hvis det er tilfældet, så var det sådan en jeg havde mellem fingrene. Den var oprindeligt smidt i en container til forbrændingen, da jeg fiskede den op i midten af 1995. Det var Sønderborg håndværkerskole som ryddede op i deres gamle computer samling. Byttede den til 4x1mb 30 pin ram moduler til min 486dx2-66. Som jeg havde på det tidspunkt. Elskede den maskine. 😋 Edom bundkort, CL-5426-VLB, Iwill SIDE-JR Pro VLB controller og SB16 Value Edition lydkort (CT-2770).
This post is going to be a bit long, but I broke it down into shorter fragments. I might be purchasing one of those Lambdas from eBay, but for now I am using emulation, since I've had it for so long, and had no clue what the machine even was, until I used the "change hardware" option. Lambda definitely seems to one-up the TS-1000 or ZX-81, as far as some of it's capabilities are concerned - sound and music are two "features" I find quite valuable ! Having sound and a better keyboard makes for a nicer experience, IMHO. Am currently going thru some of my snapshot files, and see if I can convert a few titles to the Lambda, but will start with a few of my own type-ins. When I first launched the emulator ("Eighty-One"), I tried several commands that I'm familiar with on the Zeddy, and then started playing with the graphics characters ... Needless to say, I was hooked! :) Ah, such good stuff - I really like this video, and will be looking into possibly buying "the real thing", but I do need to wait on it, as the emulation is free, and I'm not in a hurry to deal with eBay. :) Here's a little tip for the slow speed of the computer listing: Type the word "FAST" (no quotes) and press ENTER - much faster! When you want to play at "normal" speed again, or edit without all the flickering, just type in SLOW (and ENTER). Easy. :) Try not to use the RESET all that often, and do SHIFT and SPACE for "break" - you'll have a "safer" experience. The machine is somewhat painful to use, but the ZX-81 or TS-1000 is more difficult due to it's "flat keypad" like interface. On a related note: Back in 1985 or so, I wired up a TI 99/4A keyboard "the hard way" to the Zeddy, and got something way more comfortable to type on. Wow, so much fun, and anguish - all in one place ! ha ha :) Thank you for the nostalgia trip !
I'm getting by, but having some difficult challenges at the moment ... lost my job again, and making sure i can pay the rent kinda takes precedence over making videos 😥
Glad you are doing well. Lose weight, I did that too and it feels much better. This also gives you a greater chance of finding a new job. In 2018 I weighed 165 kilos, I got type 2 diabetes and I now weigh 120 kilos still too heavy.
Back in the 1990s, I also used to connect my 8088 XT and my AT 286 clone to my dad's computers. Fun to see that other guys did this when they were children too.
Directories, you say? Fun fact: CP/M didn't have such an advanced concept as a file size. Files had a number of allocated blocks, 128 byte each, but programs had to rely on 'end-of-file' markers or other shenanigans to know where the file actually ended in the last block. It was a nightmare. Some CP/M implementations would add a forced 'header' block to the files to store the actual size and other missing information. At the end of the day, CP/M was a very broken and poorly designed standard. 86-DOS, the precursor of MS-DOS, was actually a vast improvement (despite the mocking internal name 'QDOS' for 'Quick & Dirty OS').
These have been fun to watch through, for a thematic short to long-ish vids alongside assembling miniatures (Warhammer 40k, Star Wars Legion, WW2 historical stuff etc) or some of the games I revisit during my days off from work. Final Fantasy XIV, Warhammer 40k Space Marine, Daemonhunters, and Boltgun and some more. On the more retro-side I revisit Star Wars Dark Forces (the non-Jedi 1995 FPS) and Jedi Academy & Outcast (simple games I can mess around with cheats and commands to change up the gameplay, but easy to step away to sort out some Yule related things or grabbing a snack etc). I did manage to re-find my old NES and the games from there so I've been revisiting Probotector (PAL region's Contra) and Megaman (1, 3 and 5) and such also. Sometimes I like 10-15 minute vids but other times I'm in the mood for longer, fits alongside the minis or MMO stuff that helps me keep track of time sorta. Little essay but since I sorta spoiled myself on which games are next in this calendar, I figured sharing some gaming related stuff that I do around the Yule time (along with miniatures, this time of year I finally get the peace and quiet to properly sit down for those, these days).
If you use the sliding button, you can go faster through those tight corners and won't lose your place. Also I like how due to your camera overlay it seems like you are a character as well in the rankings screen.
It's nice to learn of vintage computing fans organizing events in other countries. I might visit one day. Though I might have to make arrangements for staying the night somewhere. I hope you are doing better these days. Burnouts really suck and I can relate.
This is neat! I'll try this sometime since I don't have my gotek yet. Oh and I'd like to note that you don't owe anyone a justification for eating chocolates. But it's great that you lost the weight. Good for you.
Nice. It looks like the games we had at our school. Do you know if there is a image of the disc, that you used, available to download? It would be fun to use in an emulator
