Lamenting the demise of Tottenham Court Road
- Thread starter rpb424
- Start date
When was that? I think my borrowing was in 1975. A friend who worked for Olivetti,0 servicing computer terminals, swapped some cable for a redundant 300baud modem with a Post Office Telecom engineer. It was a BIG step up from an accoustic coupler.
Trev
The Dumb One
Bit later than that, but I think that got the various bits from Maplin mail order to make the modem and the BBC comp had a UART so it was relatively easy to cobble something together.
Also got my first computer around that time in 'kit' form. The trusty BBC B and spent many a happy hour learning and coding both BBC Basic and 6502 machine code.
Also got my first computer around that time in 'kit' form. The trusty BBC B and spent many a happy hour learning and coding both BBC Basic and 6502 machine code.
I had a ZX81, and learnt Z80 machine code on it. I wrote a little spreadsheet app for it which I remember as being a lot of effort for little return, but was worth doing anyway. It had the ram expansion pack which plugged into the back of the ZX81 on a crude edge connector. Very frustrating when you moved the main unit on the table, the connector wobbled and immediately crashed the lot. I ended up hardwiring the pack to the main unit with ribbon cable and glued the pack on top of the main unit. Invalidated the warranty but was much more stable! And as for the loading and saving to a cassette recorder...
Using blu-tak worked for me on the ZX81 RAM pack Had the ZX printer plugged into the port as well.
I can still remember the initial tone sequence in my head of how ZX81 programs ‘sounded’ when loading. Also remember holding a mic up to the telly and recording the program that Tomorrow’s World transmitted over the air during the programme. I don’t think it then loaded correctly on my ZX though.
Typing in machine code published in magazines (remember ‘Your Computer’ magazine?) was tedious!
I can still remember the initial tone sequence in my head of how ZX81 programs ‘sounded’ when loading. Also remember holding a mic up to the telly and recording the program that Tomorrow’s World transmitted over the air during the programme. I don’t think it then loaded correctly on my ZX though.
Typing in machine code published in magazines (remember ‘Your Computer’ magazine?) was tedious!
EEPhil
Number 28
Those were the days when a computer laboratory in the electrical engineering department had a number of Z80 based computers, all with cassette tape decks. Fortunately they weren't ZX81's.
Not only tedious but error prone. Often by my own typos, sometimes by mistakes in the published code.
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
I used to run that kind of thing on an Amstrad 1640 - over a weekend 
better you than me. lol
same, I used to live in London's Bayswater. so half an hour it's all it took me to be in AV heaven. After a few years I've even bought something from the first shop on the left. Something like Brian AV. Paid TCR one last buying visit also before I got married, figured this kind of spend was gonna be outlawed afterwards.
EEPhil
Number 28
You probably can't get to Shenzhen these days. Wherever you can get to on an aeroplane you'll probably be in quarantine for 14 days before you can catch the next mode of transport to complete your journey. Then more quarantine. If you get there it's probably closed at the moment. And then there's the return trip. Don't bother. You might as well self-isolate at home for 7 days and play with your Humaxes instead.
EEPhil
Number 28
look at you all Post Officers, my FIL buit the PO tower.
who's your dad Methusellah?And my dad built the Tower of London.
I only ever bought one thing on TCR - a Philips S-VHS VCR. I got the assistant who sold it to me to price match a shop down the road. He gave me a 'pained' look having accepted and said something along the lines of 'I'm making no money on this', probably expecting some sympathy, but I didn't indulge him. 
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was it just my impression that some of those shops were interconnected somehow?I only ever bought one thing on TCR - a Philips S-VHS VCR. I got the assistant who sold it to me to price match a shop down the road. He gave me a 'pained' look having accepted and said something along the lines of 'I'm making no money on this', probably expecting some sympathy, but I didn't indulge him.
