The hardware reset for the F1 was on the keyboard! Each keypress packet sent over the infrared link started with a SYNC character. The IR controller raised an interrupt on receipt of SYNC and the BIOS dealt with the rest of the packet. The RESET button on the KB transmitted a stream of SYNCs. The interrupt line then charged a capacitor, and at a certain voltage System Reset was triggered.
Following the public launch at the Personal Computer World show, we in Dealer Support made certain to put the prototype machines from our office into my car to ensure they were not snaffled by another department. My car was written off on the way back to Birmingham. We transferred the load to a police Land Rover and then a taxi to get home. A heavy Microvitec colour monitor had bounced into the air and the F1 had slid underneath. The monitor had then smashed back down, causing a small crack on the top right corner of the F1's front bezel. The plastics of the Portable suffered more, but its £10000 prototype LCD was undamaged. Both machines worked perfectly, which was great because all the production plastics were heading to production.
I don't know what it is with the plastics in the F1 and Portable but it's offgassing a weird fishy smell. It's not from the other components in the machines but the plastics themselves.
I remember Apricot shops in the UK, superb looking machines for the time, they could have beaten Apple as an alternative to IBM compatibles and still been around today, but sadly that wasn't the case. PS: The big 3 on the home market back then was Sinclair, Amstrad and also Commodore.
I remember using one of these and thinking it was great back in the mid 80s my Dad purchased a company that had one of these. I remember finding supercalc on the system and showing how the previous company owners were taking from the company. Within 4 month I had replaced it with an IBM AT running Xenix with about 6 terminals and bespoke stock and accounting systems.
I'm 38 and not a lot surprises me much anymore. What the absolute F is this machine?! I'd love to have worked for them back when I was -3 years old, their approach to design is sadly missing these days.
When I first left school ihere in the UK I worked for a company called Spaldings and they had loads of these apricots with infra red keyboards, lt led to many wasted hours of work due to interference from the florescent lights and the messing about with others PC's. Those cables are commonly known as figure of eight in the UK and used for the tape decks for things like the ZX spectrum so imagine plugging 240V AC into that port.
Back in the late 90's in a IRC channel I use to hang out in a friend of mine in Canada had found his Dad's old F1. There was no monitor or power adapter. He sent pictures of it and since digital cameras sucked back then the IRC group didn't see the 16Volts tag. We all assumed it was a non-polarized plug. Well, he blew it up.
The video corruption is an issue with the GSX driver setting the video sub-system into a strange state when it exits. If you don't run Activity then the display will work fine in MSDOS.
@@CelGenStudios Unfortunately, no it doesn't, such was life at the time (bits of GSX were a 'black box' from DR), so either don't run it, or try running things like Hanoi from within Activity (might work). Most users threw out activity, and just ran MS-DOS, so never had that "Britishness" incompatibility (caused by an American company DR!) with the graphics system being left in a mess.
@@CelGenStudios P.S. Another possible solution to the GSX mess-up is to type CLS at the DOS prompt before running HANOI - this clears the display, and resets the graphics mode.
I have a question about these non-IBM compatible but DOS compatible systems. The software will run an a standard IBM compatible machine? I wonder how would look and work this Activity software on a more powerfull system? An 286 or 386 with full VGA color, maybe? Would it run from HDD? And how about the compatibilty with newer MS-DOS versions (5 or 6.22, maybe)?
@@CelGenStudios Thanks. It would make an interesting video showing how it works on a 286, 386 or even 486 PC. I would watch it for sure. And how it looks on VGA or CGA video. Or is there an archive of the software to try it myself?
@@CelGenStudios The problem woukld be possible hard-wired assumptions about screen resolutions an colour depths in Activity, but if there is a working GSX driver for the IBM machine, equivalent to the Apricot graphics.exe, it might be worth a try....
@@sebastian19745 All of the disks used in this video were written suing images form actapricot.org. It's an old side and the file archive is a little buried but of you want to try it or any of the other archived software there go for it.
I believe that the F1 can also be run from a deep cycle lead acid battery of something of a similar voltage. This would make the F1 very portable. I'm not positive it would work but it may make for an interesting experiment.
for true euro pc feel you really need an amstrad 1512 or 1640(do not pick up just a base unit). often not spoken about by folks from the other side of the pond, but they were massively successful. less so with the later models, but 1640 for example sold for quite long.
36:16 The EU wasn't formed until 1993. At this time we would be talking about the predecessor(s) the European Communites (European Coal and Steel Community, European Atomic Energy Community, European Economic Community)
@@CelGenStudios Oh PLEASE DON'T! - it was our WORST product (the hardware designer is still extremely embarrased by the fatal choice of a totally useless LCD screen technology).
@@GeoffreyKurth I can assure you the MASSIVE drawbacks of an early LCD will be made verbally apparent. Don't worry, I will be absolutely critical about how badly engineered the screen was in it because it caused me so many problems.
I'll happily answer that because I didn't buy it. That belonged to my late uncle and he bought it new many decades ago. After he passed it and a bunch of his other Autodesk software was saved from being thrown out or donated when we were sorting through his belongings.
I think that would be Australia. In the UK the electron magnetic skin effect occurs on the left side of the conductor. Of course it all balances out with AC because the negative swing is on the other side. But that is just the left side too according to those electrons.
![[SFM] Risky Recital](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RzNkY1_Nk3o/mqdefault.jpg)
I've known about the PCjr for 40 years, but I never realized how small it is.
The hardware reset for the F1 was on the keyboard! Each keypress packet sent over the infrared link started with a SYNC character. The IR controller raised an interrupt on receipt of SYNC and the BIOS dealt with the rest of the packet. The RESET button on the KB transmitted a stream of SYNCs. The interrupt line then charged a capacitor, and at a certain voltage System Reset was triggered.
Following the public launch at the Personal Computer World show, we in Dealer Support made certain to put the prototype machines from our office into my car to ensure they were not snaffled by another department. My car was written off on the way back to Birmingham. We transferred the load to a police Land Rover and then a taxi to get home.
A heavy Microvitec colour monitor had bounced into the air and the F1 had slid underneath. The monitor had then smashed back down, causing a small crack on the top right corner of the F1's front bezel. The plastics of the Portable suffered more, but its £10000 prototype LCD was undamaged. Both machines worked perfectly, which was great because all the production plastics were heading to production.
I don't know what it is with the plastics in the F1 and Portable but it's offgassing a weird fishy smell. It's not from the other components in the machines but the plastics themselves.
I remember Apricot shops in the UK, superb looking machines for the time, they could have beaten Apple as an alternative to IBM compatibles and still been around today, but sadly that wasn't the case. PS: The big 3 on the home market back then was Sinclair, Amstrad and also Commodore.
I'm British. It's just how we are - 99% genius let down by the last step...we have to know our place in society.
I remember using one of these and thinking it was great back in the mid 80s my Dad purchased a company that had one of these.
I remember finding supercalc on the system and showing how the previous company owners were taking from the company. Within 4 month I had replaced it with an IBM AT running Xenix with about 6 terminals and bespoke stock and accounting systems.
The machine looks like a Sun Sparc machine build before the Sun
This Apricot design reminds me of the Olivetti computers,
I'm 38 and not a lot surprises me much anymore. What the absolute F is this machine?! I'd love to have worked for them back when I was -3 years old, their approach to design is sadly missing these days.
I'm from the UK and have never seen one of these, so I appreciate the tour. That PSU is supremely cursed. Maybe that's why not many remain.
I remember my mother having one of these from work. It was in our living room, for some reason.
God I remember these PCs back in the day!
I'm an IBM PCjr expert. I owned one growing up.
Froglegs and hairy heffalumps, that's a good-looking retrocomputer!
When I first left school ihere in the UK I worked for a company called Spaldings and they had loads of these apricots with infra red keyboards, lt led to many wasted hours of work due to interference from the florescent lights and the messing about with others PC's. Those cables are commonly known as figure of eight in the UK and used for the tape decks for things like the ZX spectrum so imagine plugging 240V AC into that port.
Back in the late 90's in a IRC channel I use to hang out in a friend of mine in Canada had found his Dad's old F1. There was no monitor or power adapter. He sent pictures of it and since digital cameras sucked back then the IRC group didn't see the 16Volts tag. We all assumed it was a non-polarized plug. Well, he blew it up.
Good advice on the F1 floppy. I'll pay attention to the Qi330 drives I have when I get to them ..hadn't considered that. Much appreciated.
🤘
The video corruption is an issue with the GSX driver setting the video sub-system into a strange state when it exits.
If you don't run Activity then the display will work fine in MSDOS.
Huh! I would of thought GSX would unload after ACTivity exited.
@@CelGenStudios Unfortunately, no it doesn't, such was life at the time (bits of GSX were a 'black box' from DR), so either don't run it, or try running things like Hanoi from within Activity (might work). Most users threw out activity, and just ran MS-DOS, so never had that "Britishness" incompatibility (caused by an American company DR!) with the graphics system being left in a mess.
@@CelGenStudios P.S. Another possible solution to the GSX mess-up is to type CLS at the DOS prompt before running HANOI - this clears the display, and resets the graphics mode.
Awwww, it's so tiny! What a weird little system.
I have a question about these non-IBM compatible but DOS compatible systems. The software will run an a standard IBM compatible machine? I wonder how would look and work this Activity software on a more powerfull system? An 286 or 386 with full VGA color, maybe? Would it run from HDD? And how about the compatibilty with newer MS-DOS versions (5 or 6.22, maybe)?
As long as the software remains MS-DOS compatible and doesn't talk straight to the hardware, it should work.
@@CelGenStudios Thanks. It would make an interesting video showing how it works on a 286, 386 or even 486 PC. I would watch it for sure. And how it looks on VGA or CGA video.
Or is there an archive of the software to try it myself?
@@CelGenStudios The problem woukld be possible hard-wired assumptions about screen resolutions an colour depths in Activity, but if there is a working GSX driver for the IBM machine, equivalent to the Apricot graphics.exe, it might be worth a try....
@@sebastian19745 All of the disks used in this video were written suing images form actapricot.org. It's an old side and the file archive is a little buried but of you want to try it or any of the other archived software there go for it.
I believe that the F1 can also be run from a deep cycle lead acid battery of something of a similar voltage. This would make the F1 very portable. I'm not positive it would work but it may make for an interesting experiment.
for true euro pc feel you really need an amstrad 1512 or 1640(do not pick up just a base unit).
often not spoken about by folks from the other side of the pond, but they were massively successful. less so with the later models, but 1640 for example sold for quite long.
not just shavers, radios too!
I thought there was a version of Leisure Suit Larry that could run on the PC Jr.
36:16 The EU wasn't formed until 1993. At this time we would be talking about the predecessor(s) the European Communites (European Coal and Steel Community, European Atomic Energy Community, European Economic Community)
They did an Apricot Portable (luggable) with and LCD Screen in 1984
Oh I'm aware. We'll be talking about that next. ;)
@@CelGenStudios Oh PLEASE DON'T! - it was our WORST product (the hardware designer is still extremely embarrased by the fatal choice of a totally useless LCD screen technology).
@@GeoffreyKurth I can assure you the MASSIVE drawbacks of an early LCD will be made verbally apparent. Don't worry, I will be absolutely critical about how badly engineered the screen was in it because it caused me so many problems.
i have one of these
Impressive GUI, gives me total Apple vibes.
Can the GUI use colors, too, with the right screen?
From what I can find, yes ACTivity supported color if you had the right monitor.
👁️
How does HE have Leisure Suit Larry in the box?
You know what? I don't even want to know.
I'll happily answer that because I didn't buy it. That belonged to my late uncle and he bought it new many decades ago. After he passed it and a bunch of his other Autodesk software was saved from being thrown out or donated when we were sorting through his belongings.
And absolutely destroyed technically and financially by the 1985 Commodore Amiga 1000 in 1985, ooops
i was just looking for an excuse to not do anything useful!
Its pronounced Apricot, not appricot. Long A.
App-ricot, ape-ricot, po-tay-to, po-tah-to
It's British -- does that mean the electrons flow the opposite way?
I think that would be Australia. In the UK the electron magnetic skin effect occurs on the left side of the conductor. Of course it all balances out with AC because the negative swing is on the other side. But that is just the left side too according to those electrons.