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186
 
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Last Login: 08/10/2008 19:21:57
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I had one of these little numbers....excellent keyboard....solid made...ah...but not alot of games at time and switched for Vic 20 ( i kno ! i kno !;-()  ....oh how i longed for a BBCJust remembering me youth ....................... old git Any one els remember this machine..mine was red and black.............
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286
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| It was a pretty risky time to buy a computer the early 80s. There were so many decent computers that failed, more often than not due to poor marketing or lack of support, rather than any technical deficiencies. Computers like the Jupiter ACE, Oric Atmos, Mattel Aquarius, Sord M5, Memotech MTX, and many others never really had much of a chance. I know those obscure 80s micros all have their hardcore fans, but they weren't much good if you wanted to pick up the latest games.
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186
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Last Login: 21/12/2008 15:18:03
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Hi mate,
I don't remember the Oric as such, I've only really become acquianted over the past few years. As for being ahead of its time... sadly not. The Atari 400 was ahead of its time, which is why Commodore launched the C64. The Oric, like so many post-1982 8-bit British computers, was made to compete with the ZX Spectrum, ie, be an affordable machine. The Atmos was a significant upgrade from the Oric-1, and had a really nice keyboard, but alas it died due to the popularity of the C64 and Speccy as well as Amstrad somehow getting a foot in the door on the 8-bit market. I'm still not sure how that happened... Alan Sugar's marketting men must have known what they were doing to launch a new 8-bit so late in the day.
Regards,
Shaun.
http://www.commodorecomputerclub.co.uk
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286
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does anyone remeber a book called the home computer club? it came in two parts and it was practicaly a bible for finding out about machines such as the oric,nimbus,vic 20 ect.. it had exploded views of the machines and lots of articles about everyu thing from how modems work to the history of eniac. i used to have it but i destroyed it (been a kid back then)
The La-li-lu-le-lo! How’s that possible!?
woo hoo! winner of caption compo 923
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Pentium
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That lot is now a collectable.
w ww.heydon.org/kevan/collection/pictures/oric-1-large.jpg
Image, Copyright Kevan Heydon.
Ah! The Oric-1. A massive 64K of memory! Ah, yes, I remember it well!
See also:
w ww.48katmos.freeuk.com/oric1.htm
Don't forget the Enterprise, a cracking computer.
I was at the launch at Marble Arch.
Lots of Enterprises and lots of scantily clad girls being totally ignored.
Did we have our priorities right, I wonder?
Patrick
Author/editor of:
Various Oric / Atmos titles which are best forgotten. 
..................................................................
Patrick
Relax! It's only an opinion. 
Don't anthropomorphise computers - they really hate that!
34.714, Total Geek
Rig #1 -
Abit AW9D-MAX
Intel D805 @ 4319.49Mhz
Ingsoc newspeak @ 300wpm, just to see if anyone notices this sig change.
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286
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maticus (15/06/2006)
does anyone remeber a book called the home computer club? it came in two parts and it was practicaly a bible for finding out about machines such as the oric,nimbus,vic 20 ect.. it had exploded views of the machines and lots of articles about everyu thing from how modems work to the history of eniac. i used to have it but i destroyed it (been a kid back then)
Are you thinking of the 1983/84 Home Computer Course? That was originally sold in weekly issues, but I think there was also an edition split into books. It had various well written articles and comprehensive reviews of the 8-bit computers around at the time, with the internal/exploded views that you mention. I've only got around half of the issues that were sold (based on an index sheet I've got), but in my opinion it's easily one of the best computer publications ever produced, and it was a very ambitious project considering all the different computers and topics it covers. Of course I could nitpick it, for example there isn't a single mention of computing pioneer Douglas Englebart, while some obscure geek called Bill Gates gets a whole paragraph just for writing a BASIC interpreter...
One thing that stuck with me was the discussion of the future of computing and predictions of the computer hardware/software we'd be using in the 1990s. Normally the kind of predictions made back then come across as pretty laughable today, and to be honest the Home Computer Course authors did have some rather daft ideas. For example, saying that by the 90s we'd have 2" floppy drives with the capacity and speed of a hard drive, or that LED front panels displaying binary code (like on the Altair 8800) might make a come back. Still, most of their predictions were remarkably forward thinking (if not always spot on).
For example they predicted that in the 1990s we'd have:
Computers with a modular and upgradable design, where the user can effectively design their own computer by selecting the CPU, graphics and sound hardware that they want and simply plugging it into the base unit. Based on the illustration, the authors imagined that these modules would plug into slots on the outside of the computer, like cartridges into a games console, rather than requiring the case to the opened. Bear in mind that this was written before the age of the PC clone.
32bit CPUs as standard so that large amounts of RAM can be used.
CD-ROMs as a replacement for other kinds of ROM storage such as game cartridges.
Projectors in place of large monitors, so that the screen can be as large as the wall space available.
PDAs/tablet computers with an LCD touch screen and microwave/infrared link to the main computer.
Much more powerful PSUs with built in rechargeable batteries to protect against power cuts.
Infra-red keyboards, mice and other peripherals.
Computer communication using digital cable and satellite connections, rather than analogue signals down telephone lines.
Object-oriented programming languages as the standard for software development.
A graphical user interface as standard. That may seem obvious today, but this was written before Apple released the Mac. At the time the ultra-expensive Apple Lisa and Xerox Star were the only computers on the market with a GUI, not computers that many people had even heard of, and certainly not machines you'd expect to be covered in a home computer oriented publication. Even after the release of the Mac a lot of journalists dismissed the GUI as a pointless gimmick, a toy for kids, and a passing fad. Yet the authors of the Home Computer Course immediately saw its advantages and had no doubt that it was the future.
Of course there are loads of PC magazines and buyers guides around today, but I can't think of any that really combine that with general and historical information about computers in the same way the Home Computer Course did. Anyway, I've gone on about this enough, thinking about this again brought back a lot of memories.
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Octo-core Atom @ 233GHz (ES)
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Fascinating stuff. I've never heard of this publication, but it sounds the business.
I switched off after I saw the word "oriented", however.
Classic PCs
Original IBM PC (4.77MHz 8088, 256KB RAM, monochrome) · Original IBM PC XT (4.77MHz 8088, 512KB, 10MB HDD, monochrome) · Original Compaq Deskpro (7.14MHz 8086, 640KB, 20MB HDD, CGA graphics)
Home Computers
Commodore VIC-20 · C64 original · C64 Terminator edition · C16 · Amiga 500 · Amiga 600 · Amiga 600 HD · Amiga 1200 Acorn Electron · A3010 (Archimedes) · A4000 (Archimedes) Others Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K · Dragon 32
Consoles
Nintendo Wii · GameCube purple (x 2) · GameCube black · N64 black (x 2) · N64 clear blue · SNES (x 2) · NES (x 2) · DS silver (x 3) · GBA SP silver · GBA purple · GBA clear · Game Boy Color clear · Game Boy Sega Dreamcast x 3 · Saturn · Mega Drive II · Mega Drive · Master System Atari 10-in-1 · Jaguar (x 2) · 7800 · 2600 wood-grain Microsoft Xbox 360 · Xbox Others Mattel Intellivision · MB Vectrex · GoldStar 3DO · Sony PlayStation (original)
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286
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Last Login: 18/03/2007 20:55:05
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pretty much spot on. i remember there predictions of the future quite well. very stylish artwork too. like i said i wish i had kept on to them. pah!
The La-li-lu-le-lo! How’s that possible!?
woo hoo! winner of caption compo 923
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