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Vintage Computers Any vintage computer systems, calculators, video games etc., but with an emphasis on 1980s and earlier equipment.

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Old 12th Aug 2016, 3:48 am   #1
Nuova1981
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Default Amstrad CPC464

The CPC464 was our first family computer, courtesy of Alan Michael Sugar Trading. We had the green screen version. I had to sell it recently as it was taking up much needed space. I only got £10! Happy memories of it all the same.

Does anybody else have fond memories of this computer?
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Old 14th Aug 2016, 7:24 pm   #2
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Default Re: Amstrad CPC464

I was more of a spectrum fan but my friend Paul had one of these. Between the CPC and the Tandy TRS-80 his Dad used to borrow from work we must have spent days typing in listings from the monthly magazines.

One of us would read out the listing, the other would type. After a couple of hours we would attempt to run the program. If we were very lucky it would run. If we were just lucky, we'd get syntax errors. If we were unlucky, it would crash and we'd have to start again.

Happy days, mostly
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Old 14th Aug 2016, 11:54 pm   #3
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Default Re: Amstrad CPC464

My friend over the road's Dad seemed to be loaded (so he was the only one I knew with a BBC B, for example) but he also had an Amstrad CPC6128, the one with the 3" floppy drive also later used in the Spectrum +3.

What neither of us appreciated at the time was that it could run Z80 CP/M, nor did we know what CP/M actually was, we were just focused on trying to write a game in Z80 assembly language - I don't think we ever finished it but we learned a lot in the process.

As a Spectrum man I'm happy to acknowledge that the CPC was a better machine than the original Spectrum, with a nicer keyboard, proper sound hardware as standard from the beginning, and somewhat higher colour graphics resolution which made games like Knight Lore / Alien 8 look vastly better on the CPC.

About ten years ago, I paid a visit to Unst, the furthest north of the larger Shetland islands, and I came across what is arguably the world's most famously luxurious bus shelter. At the time of my visit it boasted a sofa and other home comforts and was also 'equipped' with a computer in the surprising form of an Amstrad CPC6128. I have to admit I was sorely tempted to 'rescue' it. When I returned again a few years later, everything had been changed around and the Amstrad was no longer there. I often wonder what happened to it.

Attached, one of a multitude of web images which have been taken of said bus shelter over the years. The CPC6128 can clearly be seen just to the left of the TV, which no doubt many of you will recognise as well.
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Old 15th Aug 2016, 9:25 am   #4
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Default Re: Amstrad CPC464

My second computer was a CPC6128 with colour monitor replacing a 48K Spectrum and I had it for a couple of years before buying my first 'proper' PC a Viglen 486 - I can still hear the IT Manager at LBC where I worked saying, "you won't need a 486......" implying great extravagance on my part if I were to purchase it, advice which I duly ignored.

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Old 15th Aug 2016, 9:55 am   #5
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Default Re: Amstrad CPC464

Quote:
Originally Posted by SiriusHardware View Post
I came across what is arguably the world's most famously luxurious bus shelter. At the time of my visit it boasted a sofa and other home comforts and was also 'equipped' with a computer in the surprising form of an Amstrad CPC6128.

....you had to wait that long for a bus......?
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Old 15th Aug 2016, 10:28 am   #6
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Default Re: Amstrad CPC464

I think that is the bus out there
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Old 15th Aug 2016, 1:11 pm   #7
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Default Re: Amstrad CPC464

I remember being a bit scathing about the Amstrad CPC range at the time. They came from Amstrad, after all, so can't have been any good, can they? In retrospect, however, they were very clever both technically and in their marketing. The inclusion of the monitor in the price meant that they weren't by any means the cheapest on the market, and yet they achieved considerable success after the peak of the home computer boom in the early 1980s.

Having looked again at the design more recently, it seems to me that Amstrad took advantage of 8-bit computer technology having matured and become cheap and reliable, and made the most of it with proper mass-manufacturing techniques probably derived from experience in the home audio and TV world. Architecturally the CPC is remarkably like a Z80-based version of the BBC Micro. And they worked reliably, which is more than can be said for some of their competitors!

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Old 15th Aug 2016, 1:47 pm   #8
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Default Re: Amstrad CPC464

I remember selling the Amstrad CPCs back in the day ,but most people bought the colour monitor version ,or at the very least bought the colour adaptor to use on a tv if memory serves right?

I have an Amstrad cpc464 and the 6128 still along with an Amstrad GX4000 which was an ill fated games machine based on the 6128, and indeed used the same games carts .

I also have one of the rare Amstrad/Sega pcs with a built in mega drive unit ,unfortunately its not working but I think could be made to work with a little TLC.

I loved playing Roland in the caves and a few other games.
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Old 15th Aug 2016, 2:05 pm   #9
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Default Re: Amstrad CPC464

Talking Amstrads - anybody interested in my offering "Laptop / Tablet / Scanner for Sale " which are at reduced price

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=128696
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Old 15th Aug 2016, 2:22 pm   #10
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Default Re: Amstrad CPC464

The various Amstrad computer products were actually quite good for what they were, with interesting and original designs. They were obviously built to a price but were much more respectable than the items of consumer electronics they also made.
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Old 30th Aug 2016, 10:46 am   #11
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Default Re: Amstrad CPC464

I once used a CPC 6128 for an exhibition project, a fairly simple quiz program. I remember being impressed by the BASIC, which had interrupts and also interrupt-based music playback, without resorting to assembly language.
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Old 31st Aug 2016, 8:29 pm   #12
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Default Re: Amstrad CPC464

I always thought the CPC464 was a much better machine than the Spectrum 128K. We had one when I was about 20 after initially having a 48K Spectrum. We got the version with the colour monitor. I always found the external modulator they sold as an accessory was not very good. I remember making up a lead to connect the DIN output to a SCART socket to get a large screen games experience - that worked very well.

One problem we had was there didn't seem to be quite as many games titles in our local computer shops as there were for the Spectrum and Commodore 64. One shop even said they didn't sell Amstrad games because they were "crap" - this despite clearly having some on display.

Were the classic Spectrum games ported to the CPC? Or would this have been a fairly easy task? I know there were hardware differences.
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Old 2nd Sep 2016, 10:36 am   #13
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Default Re: Amstrad CPC464

Porting games to the Amstrad mainly involved allowing for (and hopefully making use of) the better colour resolution on the Amstrad, and also providing proper sound and music via the Amstrad's standard-fit 3 channel sound chip. As this was basically the same one used in the Spectrum 128, it probably didn't take too much to port the sound and music from an existing Spectrum 128 version.

The problem, as always for the software producers, was whether there were enough likely customers to make any such conversion worthwhile? Neverthless, it did happen so there were, for example, native, better looking CPC versions of 'Knight Lore' and 'Alien 8', both of which (like all of the 'Ultimate-Play The Game' series) would be considered Spectrum classics.

Here's the CPC version of 'Sabre Wulf'. The main character and creatures have individual colour detail, unlike in the Spectrum original where every object or creature was a single colour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPxOkrtVU1k

'Atic Atac' would have been a prime candidate for a CPC version but there doesn't seem to have been one. Maybe that game pre-dated the CPC, I can't remember.
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Old 3rd Sep 2016, 3:10 am   #14
Clydeuk
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Default Re: Amstrad CPC464

Yes I think Atic-Atac was pre CPC. The others I was thinking of (also pre CPC) were Jet Set Willy and Manic Miner. I would have imagined it would have been simple to port those, but maybe the demand had gone by then with the games 2 or 3 years old.

When we used to repair these computers back in the day I was always struck by the Amstrad CPC innards, which appeared more sparse than the Spectrum 128K, and the Amstrad CPC464 ran off only a 5 volt supply provided by either the monitor or modulator, as opposed to the Spectrum's hefty power supply.
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Old 4th Sep 2016, 11:04 pm   #15
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Default Re: Amstrad CPC464

hi first post here but what a great place !
I recently aquired a 464 with colour monitor and I am currently rekindling my love affair with it !! it came with a HUGE box of tapes all proper pre-recorded games, certainly a trip down memory lane after sessions on the ps3 thats for sure !
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