I don't think many (esp. those born post 90s) really appreciate the ingenuity that went into programming games on the 8bit home computers. Getting a '3D' game to work on the zx81 was a real feat. Enduro Racer is amazing when you consider the hardware limitations of the Spectrum and having to write in assembly language with very limited reference material or access to the internet for help!! Thanks for this brilliant video and to the amazing work done by those who created these emulators - that in itself is on another level!
I learn programming using the z80 assembler to program intro and outro with 3D effects and sounds. Was just crazy what you can pack in 48KB. Compared to nowadays spoiled developer that make more memory leaks than line of codes 😅😅
3D was not even a thing in Spectrum era, but making 3d-looking sprites was... i believe there were first attempts at now classic geometry-based triangle manipulations on zx81, but only a few and only to an extent... also, it seems weird that you reference assembly language as something dated or overcomplicated, the only level of abstraction C brought was packing asm in a more convenient way (and thank you C for that), but we still do a lot of assembly and if you look closer at modern shader language it is the same bit op as asm always was
Fun fact... In the early days, the way to develop software for the Atari 520ST was to run GEM on an Apple Lisa. The Lisa had a working hard disk! AFAIK the Lisa version was never sold as a product. I got it during a visit to Digital Research HQ in Monterey.
Yep I remember the time sipping coffee while waiting that the 520/1040 compile my first 3D software written in lattice C on 3.5" floppy 1.44MB disk. Then a compatible SCSI disk appear (50MB if I remember correctly) and the world changed
My first home-built computer was the UK101 (still have it in the attic). There are some great BBC Micro emulators out there as well. The Beeb was so flexible, much like the Pi is today.
As per my comment above, I would second that. People need to appreciate how good Amiga Workbench actually was, and it beat the PC hands down up to the days of Windows 95 - and it only stalled at that point because Commodore were clueless in sales and marketing.
@@terrydaktyllus1320 not only its OS was ahead of Windows, its hardware was also advanced to its time. RAM splitted between chip and fast, the blitter and its many DMA channels (you could format a disk while listening to mod files and multitasking), how the Copper kept everything synchronized with the CRT beam...
@@pixadordelterrat2725 Indeed - as I mentioned above, a great trick to show PC users was to put a floppy disk in the Amiga and start formatting it in the CLI. Then open a second CLI and start formatting the same floppy whilst it was still being formatted in the first CLI. Then do it once or twice more - and then start wondering if you're about to knacker the floppy drive completely as the heads multitask the formatting across all of the CLI processes! Full hardware multi-tasking, something that the PC never had.
Chris, thank you for this New Year treat. I am old enough to have actually used (and programmed) many of these systems in my teens and early 20s. I have a very soft spot in my heart for these retro machines that always bring back a flood of positive memories from my youth. Take care and I hope you have a fantastic 2023 and beyond! (P.S.: Commodore BASIC also used a similar trick for storing their programs in memory as well.)
Can’t wait for the Amiga video! My all time favourite 😃 everybody had Atari ST for the midi controller software and Amigas for gaming…and no one I knew could afford a Mac! IBM and windows were for office/work stuff which wasn’t my wheel house either!
The only things that pulled me away from the Amiga onto the PC was Doom and that my three favourite games at the time - Theme Park, UFO Enemy Unknown and Civilisation - just ran better on a 386 PC with a sound card than they did on the unaccelerated A1200. Given that I met my missus at that time as a qualified accountant with a PC at home (I only had Amigas at home), it was cheaper "getting it on with her and her PC" than buying my own PC or an Amiga accelerator.
I've never meddled in the first release of Windows / Mac.. I'm surprised how modern they look. Easy to see why everyone was so excited about the innovation & movement of technology in those days. Thanks for sharing- very much a treat.
Windows seemed to me at the time to be nearly useless for any real computerized industrial controls to which some companies tried to implement. I preferred DOS to the windows crude graphical user interface. If I remember correctly Windows 1.01 would frequently crash with the loss of process data. The first sincerely usable Windows version was 3.01 which was still on computers at Walmart well past Y2K.
@@ericKD2WHP_ham_radio I've heard a lot of people say DOS was the jam & most efficient. I really need to spin up some emulators and check out some of those old systems. Thanks for the tidbit!
That was a cool "blast from the past" that brings back fond memories. It's hard to believe that these old systems can be emulated so well in "slow" languages like Javascript and Java, and that you can run them in a web browser!
If nothing else, I'm happy to see a growing interest in retrocomputing since it reminds people that it didn't used to be such that you had to login with your account ID/password as soon as you powered on a new piece of technology you bought. The fact that these devices are all needlessly tied to your FAANG account in order to be able to use them is absolutely enraging.
These emulators are such a delight to have. For those born in 90s and later, these emulators gives a great taste of how things were. PS: Wish you a very happy new year!!
I was born in 81, and emulators are still great even to my generation, as there are just far too many systems, various hardware, games, and other software to collect for(money, and storage space wise), and it's great to get a taste of what I've never been able to get my hands on, or to just not have to pull out a system, and hook it up when I can pop out say my Android tablet, pair to my bluetooth keyboard, mouse, and gamepad, and have all the games, and software right on my SD card, or in a Chrome tab ready to go.
What a way to start the new year -- retro! Occasionally I find myself fondly remembering my TS1000 -- but a visit to emulators reminds me of how *horrible* those keyboards were! Thanks for a starting my year with a smile, and here's hoping your new year is wonderful!
As a young teenager i the 80's, this was a fantastic throwback. I started with the ZX Spectrum (16KB later upgraded to 48KB), then the C64 and then... the Amiga 500. It was the Amiga which caught my heart, so I'm looking soooo much forward to your Amiga video.
It's never boring story 😉 Thanks for retro-journey, I remember most of these computers and op. systems and I have some of them (still working) 🤩Happy new Year!
Now THAT's a memory - I got to "play" with RSX-11 on the DEC PDP-11's that we used to use in some of the earliest call centres in the UK in the early 1990's. They were used for call reporting when connected to particular business PABXs. Good days! And my experiences on RSX-11 served me well for learning UNIX a few years later.
@@terrydaktyllus1320 RSX-11 was the predecessor of VMS and even Windows NT. I was a VAX VMS System Manager back in the early 1990's. I managed close to 200 big VAXes mostly used as back end application servers for JPM Chase's Trading Floors. Also All-In-One email clusters. We also had some Ultrix servers which is where I picked up Unix and Linux. My latest "gig" was managing Call Center technology for AXA in Charlotte, NC but this was already using Cisco UCM. It's been great to experience the evolution of technology!
@@rutkowskir Yes, I do know about RSX's place as the VMS pre-cursor, it's a shame that I never got the chance to play on VAX or VMS. I guess my only other "claim to fame" is that I once walked the "hallowed halls" of Bell Labs in New Jersey when I went over there for a training course (I'm in the UK) back around 1999. It was amazing walking down long corridors of cubicle offices where every owner would have the walls and windows plastered with a particular theme of "obsession" - Star Trek, butterflies, baseball...
Thanks for making me feel old! I started my journey with the Vic 20. I went via the BBC B and then with the advent of x286 chips and MSDOS 3 I was hooked. Happy New Year Chris
Remember Mazogs?! I loved that game for the ZX81. I had the opportunity to interview Sir Clive some 15 years ago or so [a project for Bletchley Park]. He had an amazing flat overlooking Trafalgar Square. Trust me, not a man to be messed with. Quite formidable. Great video.
I never really thought about it at the time but it's amazing how much farther ahead of the PC the Mac, Atari ST but probably especially the Amiga were in 1985. Another RUclipsr one commented that Windows 95 was when the PC finally caught up and I'm definitely inclined to agree the more I see of these vintage systems. I recently acquired an Amiga 500 and an Atari 1040STf and I can't wait to dive into these systems once these have been given some TLC. I myself grew up on a C128 and we also had the rubber key 48k Speccy and a ZX81 (which I've never seen booted up though), and yes, the C64 and Speccy were also way ahead of the PC. Looking forward to your Amiga video.
My very first computer was a Timex Sinclair ZX-80. Seeing you use the single key shortcuts brought back a lot of happy memories! I still have the computer. Someday I'll get it working again.
Happy New Year Christopher. You published code for the ZX81 - you truly are extraordinary in my books! This brings back memories of me sitting next to my math teacher and between us trying to work out how to program on the ZX Spectrum while the "cool" kids laughed at us. I've enjoyed computing ever since. A trip down memory lane.
In my first job in BT back in 1982, I went to the local technical college to a "day release" HNC and got my first programming experience writing machine code on Z80 CPUs. And the first thing I did with that knowledge was to form a ZX Spectrum computing club in the telephone exchange where I worked in which we would buy games to share, and I would spend my time breaking open file headers so that we could copy the games! And I've been into computing, both hobby and work ever since and am "happy as a pig in wossit" tinkering with (mostly Linux) computers and SBCs to this day. There is something "magical" about having lived through a real Golden Age of Computing!
Instant upvote once I heard “Back in the day I was a big user of the Atari ST” ; very cool that you went to the Amiga next. I wish I had ‘visited’ the Amiga prior to going PC…. (After being an ST user for a while). I would love to hear a video about your ST/Amiga days.
Happy New Year! Nice that these things are preserved! We can only hope that we will find ways to preserve modern games and software with the amount of DRM they contain...
Most of the people's hands-on experience with desk-top computers began with Windows 98 or 95, anything prior to that was among teachers, student, researchers, inventors,...etc, in colleges and universities 0r people working in computer companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Apple,...etc, but it is still amazing to know how all this phenomenon started sneaking into people homes and life in general. Thank you Christopher and I wish for all subscribers of this channel a magnificent new year.
Thanks Chris, yet another brilliant video. This one was especially interesting for me as I bought my first computer (a Commodore 64) in 1983 and advanced to an Amiga 1500 in 1991. I still have both the machines but they have been stored away for several years now. Finally I succumbed to the PC world in 1999. Great to see that we can enjoy the early days of computing through these emulators !
I was just talking to my Friends about the need to find some online retro emulation and the next day you put out a video about that. Even had a few good laughs in it too.
Happy new year Chris! I like these old emulators. I can play around with OS/2 Warp 3, the first real GUI OS that I started using after MS-DOS and Windows 3.1! I still run OS/2 Warp 4x in Virtualbox on my Linux desktop. I love having it around. It has to be my favourite OS of all time! I never used Windows 95 and onwards!
Wow, my dad built a zx81 kit back in the 80s. I took a look at it and I got hooked on computers. Here I am 40 some years later finishing up my very rewarding career as a software engineer. Really brings back memories. Thanks for putting this together.
I need to show my daughter this site so that she can see PC's and microcomputers from the early 80's and find out that most PC's had 4.77MHz CPUs and green screen monitors. I also need to show her most of the UK microcomputers I grew up with. Another great vid, Chris 😊👍 Happy New Year.
Excellent thanks. One of the most useful things I did on my first computer was to learn to touch type. I used an early version of Mavis Beacon and the skill has been invaluable over the decades since. Thanks for your film.
Really interesting seeing MS Windows 1.0! I started using Windows during the 3.1 days around 1993 then NT and Unix on the engineering workstations then 95 on my own beige box desktop when it came out. Amazing how much more advanced the Amiga OS was for years before Windows caught up. Classic MacOS was a horrible excuse for an OS IMO.
I really enjoyed this episode as it brought back pleasant memories for me. The first home computer that I ever used was a VIC 20 owned by my older brother. My first program was pretty similar to the one you typed in. I look forward to your upcoming Amiga episode. I used an Amiga 500 back in the day, again courtesy of my brother. Great games with that one.
Great video, I remember installing windows version 1 and finally getting it to run, and deciding that it would never take off and wend back to my dos versions of SuperCalc, WordPerfect and DBase. All driven by brown bag powermenu. I was quite wrong in the end.
Happy New year Chris, all the best to you and yours for 2023. A real trip down memory lane. Ohh the joy of tape inputs and the wait, errors to load. So much progress in a very short space of time.
What a nice video, I stared 1980 out with a TI59 and a Commodore PET (the PET belonged to the school) at school. What a blast back memory lane. I still use the TI59. Now on my Smartphone, a wonderful app with all the ROMs programmed in.
Thanks Christopher! Some nostalgia there for sure with a lot of the computers especially the ST as I used that in college for my music course, naturally. Nowadays I find myself tinkering with Raspberry Pi / Pico to see what I can manage for emulation / circuits respectively. I remember the first computer we had at home was an Acorn Atom with the full 12k upgrade. Used to love programming that from the blue book with a wizard on it (the name of which escapes me right now). Now I've got a few Spectrum models, a BBC B that I've fitted out with the scary SPEECH chip and various electronics that friends have given to me for repair. Your channel is always insightful, so keep up the good work and Happy New Year!
When you ran the Mac OS, it took me right back to my first days in PC support, knowing much more about Windows 3.11 and Netware and panicking when being asked to fix a Mac and bluffing it. I had come from the Commodore line, last one being a 4000, and I moved from mainframe operations to Desktop Support. 35 years ago. Where did that go? Great video.
Thanks for another great video Chris! My first computer was a TRS Model 1 Level 1 and had a whopping 4 Kb of RAM! I learned how to program in BASIC with it, and spent many happy hours learning the ins and outs of computers using it.
Wow, ZX81 was my first computer and I had forgotten about using Windows 1.0! Those were some fascinating times, when computers were not household appliances. Thank you for sharing.
These young kids today are so lucky, back in those days, computers were extremely expensive (We're talking car payments money, or you were lucky enough to know someone who owned a computer back in the 80s). Thank God computers are extremely affordable (Raspberry Pie, Tablets) for everyone today to enjoy. Happy New Year Christopher. As Always, Be Smart and Stay Safe.
The zx 81 was not that expensive but it was also not powerful but the. macs you can emulate on here where way too expensive. but you could run photoshop on there and other revolutionary things. but i am comparing 80s with 90s.
@@belstar1128 That's my point, the macs, commodores were very expensive in the 80s, if you were lucky enough to know someone or have access to these prize computers at the time. zx81 I don't know much about this computers in America, but the first two I heard of. Happy New Year, As Always, Be Smart and Stay Safe.
Thanks again Christopher for another interesting video! I am very much a retro computer enthusiast, and an emulation enthusiast. This was a real trip down memory lane... Cheers from Canada!
Just spent an hour or so creating little programs on the ZX81 emulator. That takes me back. The wonder and amazement of actually making a computer do somthing that you decided to make it do. And not by just clicking a mouse pointer on something. But actually writing programs. It was this that inspired me to want to become a programer. Alas, my lousy maths skills, and the fact that back in the early 80's they wanted you to have a degree before they would let you near a computer, meant it wasn't to be. But I still had many many hours of fun trying to make the computer (ZX81, and later the Spectrum) do what I wanted it to do. This is what the Raspberry Pi is all about, but with IO ports and access to a plethora of programming languages. And I'm glad the Pi has encouraged many kids to play around with it. One day I'm going to dig out my old ZX81 and Spectrum, and see if my 15 year old daughter can get a buzz from creating simple programs on them.
Chris, thanks for all the work you do demonstrating the various aspects of hobbyist computing. In that regard I especially enjoy the way you quantify your results. So many postings state there personal preference with out data that backs up their opinion. As to what I would like to see next, a view of a hobbyist that doesn't have the luxury of owning 10 SBC's and 5 laptops and 3 or more towers. A view of a small and Intergrated group of machines. The accessories that are must haves, software that's useful day to day and so on. Excuse the rambling it is my nature.
Thank you Chris This reminds me of the intelligent Toaster scene from Red Dwarf " Don't start it up Kryton " " it won't stop asking if you want Toast "
RetroArch emulates retro PCs very well aslong you have your own roms or you can download them free from safe rom sites.happy new year to you all the best for 2023.enjoyed your vid explaining and show casing retro PCs.
That brought back some memories! When I started work in 1989 we were using IBM PS/2 computers (a Model 80 if you were lucky!) running PowerMenu. Word processing was done using DisplayWrite4 (where you had to actually draw the tables in the document!) and dumb terminals connecting to our Tandem mainframes!
Happy New Year to you Chris, watched this video a few times, loved it. I remember all these machines when I was much younger lol !! Jeff Minter software I remember very well and I remember writing those program listings from Sinclair magazines back in the day that you wrote. Which crashed because I had the 16K expansion pack, thanks for the memories.
This put a smile on my face with a trip down memory lane, my first intro to a micro was the ZX 81, VIC 20 then the BBC micro model B (used for my 'O' level exam), how about fitting a Raspberry Pi into the BBC micro, plenty of room!! Wishing you a Happy New Year :)
I enjoyed this video alot. never seen the classic OS. especially Win 1.0. only ever seen upto Win3.1 and after. and of course the original DOS. keep meaning to try install Win 3.1 for keepsakes. Happy New Year, Chris!
Strolling down memory lane, looking back at all of these, plus more, it seem to have flown past so fast as newer innovative devices came onto the market. But these old retro starters would always remain the catalyst of intrigue and fun.
I forgot to add my first experience with a computer. Either in late 1968 or early 1969, I had a student of mine write program code using the Math Department's computer. The computer was to analyze data that would be used in my first thesis for a Master's Degree which I received in 1969. The program included the formula for "Analysis of Covariance" and the data gathered from my research for my thesis. The computer had "2 K" of memory. Yes, that was 2K and not an error on my part(LOL). The input terminal was in 1 room while the computer was in another room that was kept cool. The program code was outputted on punch tape that was manually fed into the computer. The computer was the size of a large refrigerator/freezer combo. It also that little lights that flashed as the computer was working. BTW, on the first trip to the moon in 1969, the astronauts had aboard with them 2 computers each of which had 64 K of memory.
What incredibly fun and informative websites! such great fun looking back at how things were, and perhaps how 'lucky' we are with the current versions of our favourite OS's
Back in the day, I ALMOST started out with a Timex Sinclair computer, but at the store I saw the Commodore VIC-20, and I was sold. Moved on to a C-128, and then my first DOS machine. What a journey its been.
OMG I'm loving these! bring back so much nostalgia... look look win 95, brings me back to my childhood where we use 1 computer with so many kids waiting for our turn to use it 😍😍😍 remembered all that laughter and amaze between us that happy moment touching feeling using computer in old days...
A TI-58C was my first "computer". Quite a few followed. Some of them in the cloud nowadays. Therefore, these online emulators are a mix of older and leading-edge tech. Mind-blowing enough for Mr. ✂️ to break its rivet. Thank you for this trip down memory lane and a Happy New Year.
I'll never forget using my old Osborne 1 with CPM. Thanks. There was a good emulation site 25 years ago called Zophar's Domain, Yes, it's is still there.
I remember all these old computers. The great fun of emulators is using computers that I never used back then and playing the games that I never played.
I spent many evenings programming and exploring my Timex-Sinclair 1000. That was a great experience for me back in the 80’s, considering that as a kid in the 60’s, I never believed I’d ever own a computer. Now I spend most of my computer time in the virtual world of Second Life, another technology I never thought I’d experience. Looking forward to your next video!
These old operating systems are truly a sight to behold. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
I don't think many (esp. those born post 90s) really appreciate the ingenuity that went into programming games on the 8bit home computers. Getting a '3D' game to work on the zx81 was a real feat. Enduro Racer is amazing when you consider the hardware limitations of the Spectrum and having to write in assembly language with very limited reference material or access to the internet for help!! Thanks for this brilliant video and to the amazing work done by those who created these emulators - that in itself is on another level!
I learn programming using the z80 assembler to program intro and outro with 3D effects and sounds. Was just crazy what you can pack in 48KB. Compared to nowadays spoiled developer that make more memory leaks than line of codes 😅😅
3D was not even a thing in Spectrum era, but making 3d-looking sprites was... i believe there were first attempts at now classic geometry-based triangle manipulations on zx81, but only a few and only to an extent... also, it seems weird that you reference assembly language as something dated or overcomplicated, the only level of abstraction C brought was packing asm in a more convenient way (and thank you C for that), but we still do a lot of assembly and if you look closer at modern shader language it is the same bit op as asm always was
Fun fact... In the early days, the way to develop software for the Atari 520ST was to run GEM on an Apple Lisa. The Lisa had a working hard disk! AFAIK the Lisa version was never sold as a product. I got it during a visit to Digital Research HQ in Monterey.
Yep I remember the time sipping coffee while waiting that the 520/1040 compile my first 3D software written in lattice C on 3.5" floppy 1.44MB disk. Then a compatible SCSI disk appear (50MB if I remember correctly) and the world changed
My first home-built computer was the UK101 (still have it in the attic). There are some great BBC Micro emulators out there as well. The Beeb was so flexible, much like the Pi is today.
Yes please, an Amiga video explaining how different it was from other computers would be great! Happy New Year to all viewers of this amazing channel!
As per my comment above, I would second that. People need to appreciate how good Amiga Workbench actually was, and it beat the PC hands down up to the days of Windows 95 - and it only stalled at that point because Commodore were clueless in sales and marketing.
@@terrydaktyllus1320 not only its OS was ahead of Windows, its hardware was also advanced to its time. RAM splitted between chip and fast, the blitter and its many DMA channels (you could format a disk while listening to mod files and multitasking), how the Copper kept everything synchronized with the CRT beam...
@@pixadordelterrat2725 Indeed - as I mentioned above, a great trick to show PC users was to put a floppy disk in the Amiga and start formatting it in the CLI.
Then open a second CLI and start formatting the same floppy whilst it was still being formatted in the first CLI.
Then do it once or twice more - and then start wondering if you're about to knacker the floppy drive completely as the heads multitask the formatting across all of the CLI processes!
Full hardware multi-tasking, something that the PC never had.
I had an Amiga 1200 and it could run Windows 3.1 under an emulator. Couldn’t do the way around….
Let’s talk about RISC OS!
Chris, thank you for this New Year treat. I am old enough to have actually used (and programmed) many of these systems in my teens and early 20s. I have a very soft spot in my heart for these retro machines that always bring back a flood of positive memories from my youth. Take care and I hope you have a fantastic 2023 and beyond! (P.S.: Commodore BASIC also used a similar trick for storing their programs in memory as well.)
Can’t wait for the Amiga video! My all time favourite 😃 everybody had Atari ST for the midi controller software and Amigas for gaming…and no one I knew could afford a Mac! IBM and windows were for office/work stuff which wasn’t my wheel house either!
The only things that pulled me away from the Amiga onto the PC was Doom and that my three favourite games at the time - Theme Park, UFO Enemy Unknown and Civilisation - just ran better on a 386 PC with a sound card than they did on the unaccelerated A1200. Given that I met my missus at that time as a qualified accountant with a PC at home (I only had Amigas at home), it was cheaper "getting it on with her and her PC" than buying my own PC or an Amiga accelerator.
I've never meddled in the first release of Windows / Mac.. I'm surprised how modern they look. Easy to see why everyone was so excited about the innovation & movement of technology in those days. Thanks for sharing- very much a treat.
Windows seemed to me at the time to be nearly useless for any real computerized industrial controls to which some companies tried to implement. I preferred DOS to the windows crude graphical user interface. If I remember correctly Windows 1.01 would frequently crash with the loss of process data. The first sincerely usable Windows version was 3.01 which was still on computers at Walmart well past Y2K.
@@ericKD2WHP_ham_radio I've heard a lot of people say DOS was the jam & most efficient. I really need to spin up some emulators and check out some of those old systems. Thanks for the tidbit!
That was a cool "blast from the past" that brings back fond memories. It's hard to believe that these old systems can be emulated so well in "slow" languages like Javascript and Java, and that you can run them in a web browser!
If nothing else, I'm happy to see a growing interest in retrocomputing since it reminds people that it didn't used to be such that you had to login with your account ID/password as soon as you powered on a new piece of technology you bought. The fact that these devices are all needlessly tied to your FAANG account in order to be able to use them is absolutely enraging.
I had no idea any of these sites existed so thank you for bringing them to our attention. Great to hear you're an old ST aficionado too.
It's amazing how quickly computing has advanced is such a short span of time. Happy New Year and thank you for the retrospective!
Happy new year!
All the Best Chris from a fellow Atari user, still have my 1040 STE... pride of place! Thanks for all the hard work on the entertaining videos!
These emulators are such a delight to have. For those born in 90s and later, these emulators gives a great taste of how things were.
PS: Wish you a very happy new year!!
Happy New Year!
I was born in 81, and emulators are still great even to my generation, as there are just far too many systems, various hardware, games, and other software to collect for(money, and storage space wise), and it's great to get a taste of what I've never been able to get my hands on, or to just not have to pull out a system, and hook it up when I can pop out say my Android tablet, pair to my bluetooth keyboard, mouse, and gamepad, and have all the games, and software right on my SD card, or in a Chrome tab ready to go.
There is an emulator to run MacOS 8 emulation on a Raspberry Pi Zero.
What a way to start the new year -- retro! Occasionally I find myself fondly remembering my TS1000 -- but a visit to emulators reminds me of how *horrible* those keyboards were! Thanks for a starting my year with a smile, and here's hoping your new year is wonderful!
Happy new year!
As a young teenager i the 80's, this was a fantastic throwback. I started with the ZX Spectrum (16KB later upgraded to 48KB), then the C64 and then... the Amiga 500. It was the Amiga which caught my heart, so I'm looking soooo much forward to your Amiga video.
It's never boring story 😉 Thanks for retro-journey, I remember most of these computers and op. systems and I have some of them (still working) 🤩Happy new Year!
This is wonderful. I even booted up a PDP11 which takes me back to my DEC days!! Thanks Chris! Happy New Year!
Now THAT's a memory - I got to "play" with RSX-11 on the DEC PDP-11's that we used to use in some of the earliest call centres in the UK in the early 1990's. They were used for call reporting when connected to particular business PABXs.
Good days! And my experiences on RSX-11 served me well for learning UNIX a few years later.
Greetings Rich. I thought you may like this video. :)
@@terrydaktyllus1320 RSX-11 was the predecessor of VMS and even Windows NT. I was a VAX VMS System Manager back in the early 1990's. I managed close to 200 big VAXes mostly used as back end application servers for JPM Chase's Trading Floors. Also All-In-One email clusters. We also had some Ultrix servers which is where I picked up Unix and Linux. My latest "gig" was managing Call Center technology for AXA in Charlotte, NC but this was already using Cisco UCM. It's been great to experience the evolution of technology!
@@rutkowskir Yes, I do know about RSX's place as the VMS pre-cursor, it's a shame that I never got the chance to play on VAX or VMS.
I guess my only other "claim to fame" is that I once walked the "hallowed halls" of Bell Labs in New Jersey when I went over there for a training course (I'm in the UK) back around 1999.
It was amazing walking down long corridors of cubicle offices where every owner would have the walls and windows plastered with a particular theme of "obsession" - Star Trek, butterflies, baseball...
Thanks for making me feel old! I started my journey with the Vic 20. I went via the BBC B and then with the advent of x286 chips and MSDOS 3 I was hooked. Happy New Year Chris
A Happy New Year. :)
Remember Mazogs?! I loved that game for the ZX81. I had the opportunity to interview Sir Clive some 15 years ago or so [a project for Bletchley Park]. He had an amazing flat overlooking Trafalgar Square. Trust me, not a man to be messed with. Quite formidable. Great video.
I never really thought about it at the time but it's amazing how much farther ahead of the PC the Mac, Atari ST but probably especially the Amiga were in 1985. Another RUclipsr one commented that Windows 95 was when the PC finally caught up and I'm definitely inclined to agree the more I see of these vintage systems. I recently acquired an Amiga 500 and an Atari 1040STf and I can't wait to dive into these systems once these have been given some TLC. I myself grew up on a C128 and we also had the rubber key 48k Speccy and a ZX81 (which I've never seen booted up though), and yes, the C64 and Speccy were also way ahead of the PC. Looking forward to your Amiga video.
My very first computer was a Timex Sinclair ZX-80. Seeing you use the single key shortcuts brought back a lot of happy memories!
I still have the computer. Someday I'll get it working again.
Im a huge fan of retros and the love i have for this old machines, i myself use PCEmu but it is very nice to have online version which is amazing!
Im 53, the computers were my entry in to technology too. Awesome video :)))
Happy New Year Christopher.
You published code for the ZX81 - you truly are extraordinary in my books!
This brings back memories of me sitting next to my math teacher and between us trying to work out how to program on the ZX Spectrum while the "cool" kids laughed at us. I've enjoyed computing ever since. A trip down memory lane.
In my first job in BT back in 1982, I went to the local technical college to a "day release" HNC and got my first programming experience writing machine code on Z80 CPUs. And the first thing I did with that knowledge was to form a ZX Spectrum computing club in the telephone exchange where I worked in which we would buy games to share, and I would spend my time breaking open file headers so that we could copy the games!
And I've been into computing, both hobby and work ever since and am "happy as a pig in wossit" tinkering with (mostly Linux) computers and SBCs to this day. There is something "magical" about having lived through a real Golden Age of Computing!
My biggest frustration with the TS1000 was running out of memory and I had the huge 64k module!
Awesome video down memory lane.
Happy New Years!!
Instant upvote once I heard “Back in the day I was a big user of the Atari ST” ; very cool that you went to the Amiga next. I wish I had ‘visited’ the Amiga prior to going PC…. (After being an ST user for a while). I would love to hear a video about your ST/Amiga days.
Thanks for your support, most appreciated. :)
Happy New Year! Nice that these things are preserved! We can only hope that we will find ways to preserve modern games and software with the amount of DRM they contain...
Most of the people's hands-on experience with desk-top computers began with Windows 98 or 95, anything prior to that was among teachers, student, researchers, inventors,...etc, in colleges and universities 0r people working in computer companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Apple,...etc, but it is still amazing to know how all this phenomenon started sneaking into people homes and life in general. Thank you Christopher and I wish for all subscribers of this channel a magnificent new year.
As someone who's channel is roughly 50% Atari 8-Bit games, I protest its exclusion! 😉 Great fun to see these old systems shown off.
Thanks Chris, yet another brilliant video. This one was especially interesting for me as I bought my first computer (a Commodore 64) in 1983 and advanced to an Amiga 1500 in 1991. I still have both the machines but they have been stored away for several years now. Finally I succumbed to the PC world in 1999. Great to see that we can enjoy the early days of computing through these emulators !
I was just talking to my Friends about the need to find some online retro emulation and the next day you put out a video about that. Even had a few good laughs in it too.
Sunday isn't the same without a video from Chris. Happy New Year
Thanks. And a Happy new year!
I won’t lie. This video brought a tear. So many memories. Thank you.
Happy new year Chris! I like these old emulators. I can play around with OS/2 Warp 3, the first real GUI OS that I started using after MS-DOS and Windows 3.1! I still run OS/2 Warp 4x in Virtualbox on my Linux desktop. I love having it around. It has to be my favourite OS of all time! I never used Windows 95 and onwards!
is Warp doing well? I tried to emulate Win 98 but Virtualbox can't emulate it anymore 😢
@@lingux_yt It works fine but I can't find the OS/2 guest additions.
Wow, my dad built a zx81 kit back in the 80s. I took a look at it and I got hooked on computers. Here I am 40 some years later finishing up my very rewarding career as a software engineer. Really brings back memories. Thanks for putting this together.
I need to show my daughter this site so that she can see PC's and microcomputers from the early 80's and find out that most PC's had 4.77MHz CPUs and green screen monitors. I also need to show her most of the UK microcomputers I grew up with. Another great vid, Chris 😊👍
Happy New Year.
Excellent thanks. One of the most useful things I did on my first computer was to learn to touch type. I used an early version of Mavis Beacon and the skill has been invaluable over the decades since. Thanks for your film.
Really interesting seeing MS Windows 1.0! I started using Windows during the 3.1 days around 1993 then NT and Unix on the engineering workstations then 95 on my own beige box desktop when it came out. Amazing how much more advanced the Amiga OS was for years before Windows caught up. Classic MacOS was a horrible excuse for an OS IMO.
the winky face was amazing 😂
great video! we can feel the care you have for those old machines
I really enjoyed this episode as it brought back pleasant memories for me. The first home computer that I ever used was a VIC 20 owned by my older brother. My first program was pretty similar to the one you typed in. I look forward to your upcoming Amiga episode. I used an Amiga 500 back in the day, again courtesy of my brother. Great games with that one.
Happy New Year, Chris!
Nice to remember the "Good Old Times".
All the very best for 2023!
Happy new year!
Thanks for this excellent recap of the some the awesome on-line emulators!!
Great video, I remember installing windows version 1 and finally getting it to run, and deciding that it would never take off and wend back to my dos versions of SuperCalc, WordPerfect and DBase. All driven by brown bag powermenu. I was quite wrong in the end.
Exactly the same experience. First saw the zx81 at school and was blown away by 3d monster maze. Great memories.
Absolutely Brilliant. I especially like the old Mac emulators. Takes me back to my early Apple days. Thank you
A very nice way to start a new year... in a nostalgic way! A paradox that digital lovers will greatly appreciate! Thank you!!!
Happy New year Chris, all the best to you and yours for 2023. A real trip down memory lane. Ohh the joy of tape inputs and the wait, errors to load. So much progress in a very short space of time.
What a nice video, I stared 1980 out with a TI59 and a Commodore PET (the PET belonged to the school) at school. What a blast back memory lane. I still use the TI59. Now on my Smartphone, a wonderful app with all the ROMs programmed in.
Thanks Christopher! Some nostalgia there for sure with a lot of the computers especially the ST as I used that in college for my music course, naturally. Nowadays I find myself tinkering with Raspberry Pi / Pico to see what I can manage for emulation / circuits respectively. I remember the first computer we had at home was an Acorn Atom with the full 12k upgrade. Used to love programming that from the blue book with a wizard on it (the name of which escapes me right now). Now I've got a few Spectrum models, a BBC B that I've fitted out with the scary SPEECH chip and various electronics that friends have given to me for repair. Your channel is always insightful, so keep up the good work and Happy New Year!
BRAVO ! Chris ! This is a fun start to the new year of ExplainigComputers !!!!!!!!
Great video to start the new year, an evolution of software from simple beginning to today's powerful systems. Thanks you very much.
Brings back some happy memories of using the first version of Windows.
Thank you for the trip down memory lane. Great fun!
This was an amazing start of the year, thanks for making this video.
When you ran the Mac OS, it took me right back to my first days in PC support, knowing much more about Windows 3.11 and Netware and panicking when being asked to fix a Mac and bluffing it. I had come from the Commodore line, last one being a 4000, and I moved from mainframe operations to Desktop Support. 35 years ago. Where did that go? Great video.
My super initial mental click was pretty early on. Your screenshot of 1.0 reminded me first of DOSSHELL hahaha!
you have found the motherload!! tysm i'm going to have tons of fun!
Greetings Don. And a Happy New Year! :)
Happy new year to you too!!
Thanks for another great video Chris! My first computer was a TRS Model 1 Level 1 and had a whopping 4 Kb of RAM! I learned how to program in BASIC with it, and spent many happy hours learning the ins and outs of computers using it.
Ah, now that was a computer I so often looked at in the Tandy shop window and catalogues -- the first computer I had a real awareness of.
This is superb! As far as I can tell, the emulation here is near-perfect, if not perfect.
Oh wow! Watching this video was like a scroll, er stroll, down memory lane.
Happy New Year and hoping all goes well Chris.
Oh this brings back so many memories, as usual thanks for this foray into thing I used to use!
Wow, ZX81 was my first computer and I had forgotten about using Windows 1.0! Those were some fascinating times, when computers were not household appliances. Thank you for sharing.
These young kids today are so lucky, back in those days, computers were extremely expensive (We're talking car payments money, or you were lucky enough to know someone who owned a computer back in the 80s). Thank God computers are extremely affordable (Raspberry Pie, Tablets) for everyone today to enjoy. Happy New Year Christopher. As Always, Be Smart and Stay Safe.
The zx 81 was not that expensive but it was also not powerful but the. macs you can emulate on here where way too expensive. but you could run photoshop on there and other revolutionary things. but i am comparing 80s with 90s.
@@belstar1128 That's my point, the macs, commodores were very expensive in the 80s, if you were lucky enough to know someone or have access to these prize computers at the time. zx81 I don't know much about this computers in America, but the first two I heard of. Happy New Year, As Always, Be Smart and Stay Safe.
@@jls9225 commodores where not very expensive.
@@belstar1128 In America, they were.
Thanks again Christopher for another interesting video! I am very much a retro computer enthusiast, and an emulation enthusiast. This was a real trip down memory lane... Cheers from Canada!
Wow! Thanks so much Chris, what a journey! And happy new year, my best wishes for the 2023.
Happy new year!
Wonderful nostalgia trip! Thank you Chris!
Just spent an hour or so creating little programs on the ZX81 emulator. That takes me back. The wonder and amazement of actually making a computer do somthing that you decided to make it do. And not by just clicking a mouse pointer on something. But actually writing programs. It was this that inspired me to want to become a programer. Alas, my lousy maths skills, and the fact that back in the early 80's they wanted you to have a degree before they would let you near a computer, meant it wasn't to be. But I still had many many hours of fun trying to make the computer (ZX81, and later the Spectrum) do what I wanted it to do. This is what the Raspberry Pi is all about, but with IO ports and access to a plethora of programming languages. And I'm glad the Pi has encouraged many kids to play around with it. One day I'm going to dig out my old ZX81 and Spectrum, and see if my 15 year old daughter can get a buzz from creating simple programs on them.
An hour well spent. :)
Chris, thanks for all the work you do demonstrating the various aspects of hobbyist computing. In that regard I especially enjoy the way you quantify your results. So many postings state there personal preference with out data that backs up their opinion. As to what I would like to see next, a view of a hobbyist that doesn't have the luxury of owning 10 SBC's and 5 laptops and 3 or more towers. A view of a small and Intergrated group of machines. The accessories that are must haves, software that's useful day to day and so on. Excuse the rambling it is my nature.
Thank you Chris
This reminds me of the intelligent Toaster scene from Red Dwarf
" Don't start it up Kryton "
" it won't stop asking if you want Toast "
RetroArch emulates retro PCs very well aslong you have your own roms or you can download them free from safe rom sites.happy new year to you all the best for 2023.enjoyed your vid explaining and show casing retro PCs.
That brought back some memories!
When I started work in 1989 we were using IBM PS/2 computers (a Model 80 if you were lucky!) running PowerMenu. Word processing was done using DisplayWrite4 (where you had to actually draw the tables in the document!) and dumb terminals connecting to our Tandem mainframes!
That's a great and exciting retro-themed video to start 2023! Happy new year! 🎆🥳
Happy new year!
Hi Chris, brings back memories. My best wishes for a Happy New Year to you and your family.
Happy new year!
Happy New Year to you Chris, watched this video a few times, loved it. I remember all these machines when I was much younger lol !! Jeff Minter software I remember very well and I remember writing those program listings from Sinclair magazines back in the day that you wrote. Which crashed because I had the 16K expansion pack, thanks for the memories.
This put a smile on my face with a trip down memory lane, my first intro to a micro was the ZX 81, VIC 20 then the BBC micro model B (used for my 'O' level exam), how about fitting a Raspberry Pi into the BBC micro, plenty of room!! Wishing you a Happy New Year :)
Greetings Alan -- and a Happy New Year! :)
That monster maze on the ZX81 is like a Hammer Horror film.
Love it, Love it, Love it. Great start to 2023, Chris!
I enjoyed this video alot. never seen the classic OS. especially Win 1.0. only ever seen upto Win3.1 and after. and of course the original DOS. keep meaning to try install Win 3.1 for keepsakes. Happy New Year, Chris!
Strolling down memory lane, looking back at all of these, plus more, it seem to have flown past so fast as newer innovative devices came onto the market. But these old retro starters would always remain the catalyst of intrigue and fun.
just been playing with windows 95, sure brings back memorys... hope someone does windows XP one day
Very detailed list of online emulators, thank you. You should make a video about offline emulators next.
I love this so much! Big yes to an Amiga video. Hope you'll take a closer look.
How in the world you keep coming up with topics that are fresh!! You are the greatest!!! Happy New Year Sir!!!
Because EC *is* fresh, yo!
Happy new year!
A nice bit of nostalgia. Many thanks!
Thank you for sharing these links - Happy New Year!
I forgot to add my first experience with a computer. Either in late 1968 or early 1969, I had a student of mine write program code
using the Math Department's computer. The computer was to analyze data that would be used in my first thesis for a Master's Degree which I received in 1969. The program included the formula for "Analysis of Covariance" and the data gathered from my research for my thesis. The computer had "2 K" of memory. Yes, that was 2K and not an error on my part(LOL). The input terminal was in 1 room while the computer was in another room that was kept cool. The program code was outputted on punch tape that was manually fed into the computer. The computer was the size of a large refrigerator/freezer combo. It also that little lights that flashed as the computer was working. BTW, on the first trip to the moon in 1969, the astronauts had aboard with them 2 computers each of which had 64 K of memory.
Thanks Chris, thanks for makinģ me feel old. Haha 😂
Thank you for the trip down Memory Drain and reminding me of just how old I am ! Those machines seem like only yesterday....
Oh the C64 Llamas :) Great video feature, and nice to see the old OS's being made really accessible for all.
What incredibly fun and informative websites! such great fun looking back at how things were, and perhaps how 'lucky' we are with the current versions of our favourite OS's
Back in the day, I ALMOST started out with a Timex Sinclair computer, but at the store I saw the Commodore VIC-20, and I was sold. Moved on to a C-128, and then my first DOS machine. What a journey its been.
OMG I'm loving these! bring back so much nostalgia... look look win 95, brings me back to my childhood where we use 1 computer with so many kids waiting for our turn to use it 😍😍😍 remembered all that laughter and amaze between us that happy moment touching feeling using computer in old days...
A TI-58C was my first "computer". Quite a few followed. Some of them in the cloud nowadays. Therefore, these online emulators are a mix of older and leading-edge tech. Mind-blowing enough for Mr. ✂️ to break its rivet.
Thank you for this trip down memory lane and a Happy New Year.
Retro! I remember the thing as new8-) Happy new year Chris
We are getting old. A Happy New Year!
Great video. Looks like Ill be keeping myself occupies getting to know some ZX computing.
I'll never forget using my old Osborne 1 with CPM. Thanks. There was a good emulation site 25 years ago called Zophar's Domain, Yes, it's is still there.
I remember all these old computers. The great fun of emulators is using computers that I never used back then and playing the games that I never played.
Wow this is awesome. Thanks for a wonderful gift Chris.
Happy New Year !!
Happy new year! Lots to "experiment" with here. :)
I spent many evenings programming and exploring my Timex-Sinclair 1000. That was a great experience for me back in the 80’s, considering that as a kid in the 60’s, I never believed I’d ever own a computer. Now I spend most of my computer time in the virtual world of Second Life, another technology I never thought I’d experience. Looking forward to your next video!