Quantum Lap , Sinclair QL

In 1984 sinclair launched the QL, Quantum Lap, as a computer aimed to a more professional sector, it has some revolutionary aspects (it was based in the 68008 Processor, a 32 bit processor with a 8 bit interface, ( 8 bit connectors and hardware was cheaper and price was always one of the basic features of Sinclair machines).

The system has a revolutionary "multi tasking BASIC interpreter", 128 Kb of RAM and instead of using the expensive floppy drives (remember 1984 , 5' 1/4 floppy were still common in 1990, or the slow and sequential tape system (like the spectrum ), uses their own technology , the "microdrive"

Microdrives were in fact small tapes that were inserted in the unit and must be formatted to be ready, to use, allowing to store about 85kb of data.

As the tape runs quite fast, the tape must be formatted in sectors , so it can be used as a random
device (instead of the typical sequential tapes).

Here is the a view o the unit, the QL came with two units

As this machine was targeted to the profesional market it come with a full "Office Software", in four
microdrives and other blank microdrives.

The package was "Quill" (the word processor), Abacus (spreadsheet ) , Archive (Data Base) and Easel (Graphs) that provides most of the usual needs for an normal user.

The machine provides two serial interfaces and was able to connect to other QL machines using their own network protocol (similar to token ring), and be connected to a normal TV or a computer monitor, also has serial interfaces ,

The three first sinclair

The first years of the 1980 decade was dominated in Europe by sinclair, the company launch a new model of computer every year, changing from the "white" ZX80 , with 1 Kb of RAM, then the ZX81, with provided a better BASIC support , but still only a 1K of RAM , and the next year the Spectrum with
Color !! , and 16Kb of RAM (or 48K in the upper model) .

Sinclair Spectum 48K aka gomas

This is the FIRST model of computer that I got, as I told before I "upgraded" the sinclair 48k to Sinclair + (the one two or three post before).

This machine is a gift from a college  after he discovered my not so hidden Computer Diogene Syndrome (recollect all kind of old computers ;-)

About this machine there is few more things to say perhaps that the best Spanish Company started developing games for this platform (Dinamic ) and that more than a generation of Computer Engineers and technical people in Spain grew and learn to play games (and sometimes also some BASIC language ) with it.

The machine was too popular that some radio station used to broadcasts games that the user save in a normal tape , loading the games from the tape.

here you can see, from left to right the power connector, expansion slot and the plug for saving and loading files from a normal tape.

Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer

Another Relic that cames directly from an Ebay auction (now with the "strong Euro" somethings are quite cheap to buy), this machine was produced in the Early 80 (from 1980 to 1983 by Radio Shark) and has a BASIC interpreter (like most of the home computers at this time), the processor was a Motorola MC6809E and was sold with 4Kb of RAM.




The machine cames with a colored basic manual as it was usual in the early 80 :

With nice illustration showing the fundamentals of BASIC programming, trying to attract young people to the language, and avoiding the "serious and technical documentation" of
the first PC sold.


The computer has connectors for TV, Tape Joystick and serial (for using a modem) or printer, and unfortunately a US connector for 120V electric power, I need to buy a 120V to 220V transformer to test it.



There is a lot of more information in the Wikipedia Page of TSR-80 Color computer that show more information about this machine.

Sinclair ZX80

The first computer manufactured by Clive Sinclair, the Sinclair ZX80 used (the zilog Z80 chip), the look of the machine is quite similar to the classic ZX81, but as the pictures shows this is still thinner than the ZX81.

The machines included the BASIC interpreter (with the "clasic" token keys , and has connectors for an external tape drive.

It's quite difficult to find this machines in Europe now, most of the current sellers are from the United States, and sometimes the auction price is more than 400$. This was cheaper but only because there is no power supply (I think that the ZX81 has the same kind of connector).

Sinclair Spectrum +3

Amstrad bought Sinclair Research in 1985, and after that they produced some Spectrum with tape and floppy disk included.

The last one was the Sinclair Spectrum +3 , that had a 3'' floppy disk.


Below there is a detail of the floppy disk unit:


This unit was buy in Ebay from UK, so it have the UK power jack, but works fine in Europe.

The system tries to boot flom the floppy disk before showing the menu, this would allow this spectrum to boot other operating systems (it seems that there was a CPM disk for the Spectrum ;-), before booting from the rom.

Commodore Amiga 500

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This is another historical computer , a commodore Amiga 500, this was the FIRST commodore with a 32 bit CPU , with a compact style (keyboard, disk drive (800Mb) and CPU in the same box). as it was usual in the MicroComputer.

This wasn't the FIRST 68000 Micro Computer, Sinclair for example launched the QL (Quantum Lap) before, but this was the first successful one.

This computer was very advanced for its time, it has a 3.5 floppy drive instead of tape, and internally it has a dedicated graphic processor and another coprocessor for the sound.

A lot of people organized championship (demo scene) to program special effects with this machine, the operating system (graphical interface ) was another big point.

The machine is a gift from my friends of "Harry el aleman", one of the best places in Madrid to drink German beer

Apple II : lying in the trash

Sometimes strange things happens , Yesterday I was in the terrace of a Bar drinking a beer with some friends, when a bum started to dig in the trash of a container near our table, he found some computer element and started to try to break a solid square box to remove some cables, after some attempts he leave the container.

After a few minutes I went to the container and what was lying there ? .... a very old Apple II Europlus system, with two 5 1/4 floppy drive !!!

Below is the photograph of the machine after arriving home and cleaning some of the dust

It seems that some keys are missing but my first impression is that the motherboard and floppy controler would work, I will loook for some TV cables to connect the system to the TV and see if nice machine still works.

Unfortunately the floppy cables has been removed, so I will try to build a new ones for the floppies.

About the apple II , this was the second machine build by apple, this machine have a 8 bit processor , and apple start to sell this model several years before the first Mac.