Hi Stuart, I'm the guy that lent you the Beeb for the film. It wasn't a Master, sadly - it was a BBC Model B (actually converted from an A in-house) and it was used by my Grandad at the BBC Research Lab at Kingswood. He was at the BBC for a long, long time (retired around 1987) and worked testing and implementing colour TV in the 60s, energy-efficient stage lighting, radio transmission and acoustics and early holograms. His research papers are online on the BBC archive - some of which were probably written on the Model B that was used in Gamechild. I did pick it up in the end! It took me a long time to get around to it. Was a difficult time! Thanks!
Fun Fact: Cassette man actually ISN'T a knockoff Soundwave. It's actually the other way around. The original TRANSFORMERS toyline was sort of an unholy amalgamation of various unrelated transforming toys from Takara's Diaclone and Micro Change series, along with several from Takatoku toys. Micro Change was the source of not only Soundwave (A.K.A. "Cassette Man") but also Megatron (A.K.A. "Gun Robo Walther P-38 U.N.C.L.E.). The toys were later brought over to America, and re-branded as "The Transformers". The cartoon actually released before the toys, because of a law that a cartoon couldn't exist solely as a 22-minute commercial.
Fun fact: the ti-99/4A gets so hot under the plastic that leads to the cart slot, that you can keep your coffee/tea warm by placing the mug into the cart tray.
The "joystick port" on the back of the TI99/4A is actually for hooking up a cassette player to save/load data. You need a special cable for it. Also, the video cable is the same as the commodore 64 and model 1 mega drive.
Look guys, life ain't free, but these videos are. So unless you want to start buying RUclips RED I suggest you get used to content creators having some sponsored content. We need to keep in mind that content creators are people just like us who want to make money for their efforts. It's not 'selling out', it's survival. If listening to 4 minutes about an app is the only price I have to pay for more entertainment, then I consider that a bargain.
I remember using a BBC master at school. We used it to program a little wheeled robot thing that drew on the ground. We were only 8 so I'm guessing the teacher did most of the programming.
Cyntikka agreed, somebody said actions are better than this but the way RUclips's going with the adpocalypse I don't blame people for having ads. But if you're going to have an ad at least make it entertaining like ashens does.
mathematics117 again I agree oh, I see no issues with people having an attitude. It's better than TV where you have about 5 minutes worth of ads and 3 minutes worth of television show lol!
If you want to see just how terrible _Deep Fear_ for the Sega Saturn is, Retsupurae did a great video on it. Just look for _'Resident Seavil'._ Ashen's remarks do not do justice as to how hilariously awful it is. One of the characters was court-martialled for firing torpedoes on what was eventually revealed to be a passenger cruiser, and *he won't stop complaining about how unfair it was that he faced disciplinary action.* Like the fact that he lost his job dishonourably was worse than the massive and tragic collateral damage. It's a hoot. Please go and see a _Deep Fear_ LP when you finish watching this video.
I remember the Domesday project. It 'toured' the schools in the area. Expanded BBC Master and a Laserdisc drive that looked so futuristic. There was a bit where you could walk around a virtual tour of a village or something, and it blew our minds. Then it was gone, and we were back to Granny's Garden and the RM Nimbus.
This is the ashens i love. Just a man talking about old tech in a very knowledgeable way. These computer videos as well as your old one on joy sticks are by far my favourite. Thankyou for these lovely videos.
Back in the late 80's I used to work at the Amstrad User Group. On the odd occasions we actually sold one of those portables we used to do a whole 24 hour "Soak test". Switch it on then check it was still on the next day.
People throwing tantrums about sponsored content, I have to wonder if they remember "The Proxy". This is Ashen's job, he's entitled to make a living, particularly given he is pretty upfront with sponsorships.
Don't worry about those whinging about the sponsored content, they majority of us know that you have to make a living and appreciate what you do. It's great that you found something applicable to your job to advertise. That White couch however....
YES!!! A TI99-4A! That was my first computer, but I hardly see one today. I actually owned most of the games for it, and wrote a ton of games for it as well. It actually was one of the first computers I learned how to code on. That one seems to be in immaculate condition. Basically, your video out hooked up to your TV, just like an old Atari console. I had a cassette drive for mine and a speech synthesizer, so it could "talk" in a very odd digital voice. I remember that it did also have a modem available, but my parents wouldn't get it because they said "why would you want to connect to another computer?" Plus, nobody else I knew had one. Now, I run an IT company, build computers, and do coding all the time. I have even reprogrammed Windows 10... sans all the bugs and bloatware, plus many other features. But, it was all due to that machine right there. Still want to get one to add to my collection... mine died back in the 80s. Oh, one last thing, there was a magazine devoted to it, but I can't recall the name of it, and a catalog to buy all the games. Some where cartridges, but a lot also came on cassette. You should really check them out.
Clay3613 I do the same thing and I don’t even know why! I have 0 connection to 70s and 80s computer game controllers yet it’s such a soothing video for me.
Ashens did sponsoring right, about 1 minute in i forgot i was still in the sponsor bit, i have seen some terrible videos lately where people whoring out their channel have done a terrible job integrating the sponsor bit into their video, "Alpha m" for example and its completely destroyed the video as every actual video is built around the sponsor.
I have a Ti-99/4a right next to me that I still plug in and use, I freaking love it. Found some magazines online with programs I can type in, troubleshoot, then save to a cassette. Not sure if youtube flags imgur links but I have an album I can share.
I had a Ti-99 4a when I was young. I have fond memories of Mash, Chisholm Trail, Hunt the Wumpus, Parsec, and Microsurgeon. If you can get your hands on the speech synthesizer, Mash and Parsec have actually some clear speech. Which was pretty crazy for the time. Also of note the expansions all sort of daisy chain off that port on the right hand side of the system.
I know right? The first one looked like something the military would use as a worst case scenario machine that's really reliable. Probably because it reminds me of the tech in the original alien films
I don't know, my Chromebook doesn't look like the average metallic slab that most posh laptops look like. It's an Asus C202 model, aimed at schools and has a really lovely rubber bumper all round it which gives it a nice look.
My boyfriend managed to find his old TI-99/4A today, actually, and spent the better part of the afternoon repairing it. We dunno if it works, and we know that there's a damaged key in it, but it does turn on, so that's good. Hope he can get it up and running; he was literally making simple programs on it at 3 years old, and even has the voice synthesizer unit for it, so that's all funky.
The "tube" on a BBC Micro allows the plugging in of extra processors. For instance, there was a tube interface device that contained the exact processor as the Micro and relegated the one in the computer to a co-processor that handled I/O, and sped up the machine considerably, since the CPU didn't have to check I/O states all the time. You could even get a 68000 for it later on, if I remember rightly.
+Adam Walker There's no way for the sponsor to know how many people skipped through the ad when it's actually part of the video, he's probably being paid on a per-video basis.
I had an Amstrad PPC in the early Nineties, it was my first MS-DOS compatible PC - many happy hours playing Commander Keen and learning Assembly Language... thanks for covering it! :-)
It always felt good at school when you managed to bagsy the BBC Master in the computer room (well the corridor which had a few BBCs lined up so all the teachers could keep an eye on you). I still remember the peripherals and writing programs to control traffic lights for a model town.
I had to jump back and look at the disk, to see in which way he was wrong. I had a vague recollection, that Amstrad had 3inch disks on some of their computers. He was going to be off by quarter of an inch either way :) *edit* Ahh, there's the horrible 3inch disks!
The 'tube' was a light pen, BBC would send programs across the air on the TV, You'd stick the 'tube' over the area in the top corner and it would record the program. You could then run it. It was a flashing dot in a black circle I think.
Had one of those TI computers in 82. I was about 9. We got I free for buying a house full of carpet. I really enjoyed it as we bought a few cartridge games for it and it came with an extensive manual that taught you to write very rudimentary programs for it. Àt the time at school we were already working on Apple II computers so I loved the fact I could come home and work on the computer for longer than the 45 minutes we had in computer lab. Plus, my buddy on the other side of the woods from me got a TI also so we swapped games periodically.
One thing for the very geeky it’s worth hunting out is the CP/M disk for the Amstrad 664. The extra power cable was for the built in monitor unit you could get with it. (My mate had a 664 - and he also had a tuner module too which turned the dodgy monitor into a TV).
That side port on the TI99/4A is for the mighty VOICE SYNTHESIZER MODULE. Which you should get and play some of the games that used it because they're great and quite funny.
I've got the TI99/4A and the Voice synthesizer. I bought a TI99 bundle at a car boot in the 1990s for about £5-10 and got a load of game carts with it too.
My old school (in the 80's) was part of the BBC's computer literacy programme, we played story games on an Acorn computer and loved it, it was my first introduction to computers and remember it well! Great video Stuart👍👏
Being 16-bit is not really about "running slower" or "running faster"; that will depend on clock speed. It's about how much memory it can address and how wide the CPU registers are. The memory bus width also influences speed (because a wider bus can transfer more data in the same number of cycles), but being "16-bit" was mainly about being able to use _more_ RAM.
It's great to ashes get sponsorships where nearly all his videos get claimed I don't want to see his channel disappear maybe consider a patreon ashens.
I recall the annoyance from users who bought the Amstrad CPC664, that it was only available for 6 months before being replaced by the CPC6128 with twice the RAM. Fondly remembered, the CPC6128 was the first computer I owned that _didn't_ have some glaring deficiency such as low resolution and rubbish BASIC (Dragon), or graphics that used up all the RAM (Acorn Electron).
It cracks me up that you collect those old computers. I am getting into restoring older RC planes so thats my hobby. I fix small engines to pay for my hobby. Thanks for the blast from the past. Does it mean I am old when I can say I remember when a caculator was considered the newest technology.
I had one given to me by my first boss, back in 1991 - it was our stocktaking/ordering computer. I sold it to Trash Converters, wish I hadn't *in some way* - but then... what ON EARTH would I use it for?
About all it's good for is running Infocom text adventures. It's all that'll work halfway well on the built-in screen.(I assume it might work with the monitors for the desktops? But even then the best you'll get it EGA)
Because it saves about 12p in manufacturing costs and incredibly few people want it. The last time PC's regularly had midi ports, was before motherboards had built in sound. Soundcards used to have a weird joystick/midi connector, you needed an adapter to connect it to anything though.
Pook365 - Yeah, I knew all that apart from the 12p saving. It would be good to have back. My old Amiga 1200 had an adapter for a MIDI keyboard, also my old sound sampler could be connected too. I used OctaMED and (I think) SoundStudio. :)
Pook365 It would be more than 12p if you account for the design, board layout, parts, assembly and testing costs. Plus you'd lose 2 to 4 USB ports. Better for the .1% of people who need it to buy an external converter.
Actually, Cassette Man ISN'T a knockoff of G1 Soundwave! That was the name given to the Microchange original from Japan. That's a pre-G1, pre-Transformers as a whole!
Had that CPC640, it was my first Dos PC, upgrading from my old C64 I used for word processing in my first few years of grade school. I got it from a liquidation reseller. I eventually got a printer-port hard drive for it. I did a lot of programming for my dissertation on it, in C (a maximum entropy estimator ~ the program took forever to run). I did use it sometimes as a "portable" (or, as they would say of some of the older CP/M suitcase units, "luggable") ... plugging it into the car cigarette lighter to get work done while the kids were at football (aka gridiron) practice.
I think the Atari ST models with built in MIDI support stayed popular with electronic musicians right the way up until DAW’s for your “bog standard” Windows and Macs became a lot more readily accessible- I know at the very least Norman Cook, he of Fatboy Slim, Mighty Dub Katz and a great many more aliases/bands fame, was still using one to write tunes at least up until 1998 (most of You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby was written using one, according to interviews he’s done over the years). They were absolutely the backbone of the early rave scene, for folks who wanted some software integration to go along with their samplers, synths, and drum machines (it’s down to personal opinion on ravey music as to whether that was a good or a bad thing).
TI99/4A was my first computer! My granddad (a civil engineer) thought it would be a great idea to get me on computers when I was in preschool. Hunt the Wumpus was my favorite game on that one. That TI computer started me down the right path and I've had a great 20 year career in video game software development & smart toys. The stock joysticks were a bit rubbish on the TI/994A. Had a few great clone games on it too. Couple of home-brew devs had been recently trying to port Super Mario Bros to it with success.
If memory serves, the TI machines used TI’s own microprocessor that had almost no on-board registers but instead used blocks of memory as big, versatile, and rather slow sets of registers. More interesting than practical...
Busted joy ports on STf and later was a mechanical thing. Those connectors are soldered to single-sided PCB that doesn't have any metallic stuff in the holes. Despite the presence of a metal bracket, they eventually wiggled their way out a connective state. Resoldering was a pain, because you had to take apart the whole thing (except plastic moving parts of the keys), but there was a trick you could use to prevent any future failures. Hardware-wise STe maybe was similar to ST, but had completely different custom chips and PCB (and was much harder to repair).
On a BBC the "TUBE" port is a expansion bus. It gives complete access to the busses in the machine and was typically used to add a second co-processor allowing the master to run CP/M (with a Z80) or DOS with an x86 co-processor.
'Tube' on the BBC was like an intranet, well more like a remote desktop used for schools, the teacher could connect to any students computer to assist with learning (That's what i understand, i may be wrong)
Great vid as always. FYI the 'tube' port on the BBC Master is for connecting a co-processor - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_(BBC_Micro). It was usually used to connect another 6502, but given that it was logically isolated from the main system bus it was technically compatible with any architecture at the time. I think there were Z80 and 80186 options too. It was a pretty impressive interface for its time but didn't see much usage outside of business and academic markets.
3:53 to skip the selling out EDIT: the selling out bit was a joke. I thought we could all be mature adults and understand that. Apparently not. I have no problem with Ashens accepting sponsorships.
ah yes, earning money to live is "selling out" idiot... Also who in the right mind would turn down a sum of money for just spending a few mins talking about something
I had a CPC464 and kept the colour screen and upgraded to a CPC6128 which is the 664 just with 128k and a very, very grey keyboard. The CPC664 seemed to be a stopgap between the 2 models and I never knew anybody that had one. Loved those CPCs even though I lusted after the SID chip sound of a C64.
Hi Stuart,
I'm the guy that lent you the Beeb for the film. It wasn't a Master, sadly - it was a BBC Model B (actually converted from an A in-house) and it was used by my Grandad at the BBC Research Lab at Kingswood. He was at the BBC for a long, long time (retired around 1987) and worked testing and implementing colour TV in the 60s, energy-efficient stage lighting, radio transmission and acoustics and early holograms. His research papers are online on the BBC archive - some of which were probably written on the Model B that was used in Gamechild.
I did pick it up in the end! It took me a long time to get around to it. Was a difficult time! Thanks!
An interesting anecdote from an interesting anecdote. Love it!
Lovely story you shared :)
Thank him for his service... :-)
@The SNES Man And I've had a set of capacitors for the power supply sitting in a drawer for over a year now... need to get on that...
An excellent anecdote..
I like how the ad is pretty decent Ashens content itself.
Stink Terios that's what ads would be always on a perfect world
Stink Terios it's far to true
that's what happens, that's how you feel when someone pays you for advertising something
Nicer still is he actually answers some questions and interacts with us on it
I was so infused in the ad I forgot I was waiting for the actual episode to begin.
Fun Fact: Every single one of the computers shown in this video will be getting a Skyrim port in 2019.
TheLegend1800 they going to charge full price or nah?
Of course
Does that include Creation Club content?
Playing at a full 60 frames per month, I expect.
But can they run Crysis?
Back in the monochrome days, I opted for an amber monitor. It was really easy on my eyes, no matter what went on with the room lighting.
CPC 664's are also rare as all hell, Amstrad only sold them for six months before dropping them in favour of the CPC6128.
It's okay to poop the bed.
70,000 produced according to The Amstrad Story. So approx 2% of all CPC's sold.
Hi guru Larry! How is your holiday season going?
miserable, i got the flu :(
That sucks, man. Here's hoping you get over it soon and nothing else shits on your Christmas.
Fun Fact: Cassette man actually ISN'T a knockoff Soundwave. It's actually the other way around.
The original TRANSFORMERS toyline was sort of an unholy amalgamation of various unrelated transforming toys from Takara's Diaclone and Micro Change series, along with several from Takatoku toys.
Micro Change was the source of not only Soundwave (A.K.A. "Cassette Man") but also Megatron (A.K.A. "Gun Robo Walther P-38 U.N.C.L.E.).
The toys were later brought over to America, and re-branded as "The Transformers". The cartoon actually released before the toys, because of a law that a cartoon couldn't exist solely as a 22-minute commercial.
Is this true
Megatron, is a **slightly** catchier name :)
This was made by a company in Taiwan rather than Takara so it is still a KO. It's just one that pre dates transformers.
IIRC Jet/Skyfire was originally a Macross toy.
Uncle.......MEGATRON WAS CALLED UNCLE!?!?!?!? 0.0 well shit
3.5 years later Snupps deader than a doornail but Ashens is still going strong.
Cassette Man is the original Japanese product that was turned into Soundwave when consolidated into the Transformers line.
I'm glad I found this comment and didn't have to scream into the void that is the comment section of a video uploaded in 2017 about microman.
Fun fact: the ti-99/4A gets so hot under the plastic that leads to the cart slot, that you can keep your coffee/tea warm by placing the mug into the cart tray.
That couch has seen some stuff
justin, why?
I agree
Justin Y. You have seen some stuff. I see your comments everywhere.
I know brits are prudes but someone's got to have had sex on that thing. It looks so velvetish and soft to the touch
It looks leathery.
This kind of sponsorship, all about, it's relevant and the fact that most of the video isn't about it is brilliant.
That portable Amstrad makes me want to write a cyberpunk story.
Are you implying modern computers can run PUBG well?
The OG Xbox version is the best way to play PUBG.
The "joystick port" on the back of the TI99/4A is actually for hooking up a cassette player to save/load data. You need a special cable for it. Also, the video cable is the same as the commodore 64 and model 1 mega drive.
What about the voice module that plugs into the side where you can get the thing to curse because it pronounces words funny?
That goes into the slot on the side.
Look guys, life ain't free, but these videos are. So unless you want to start buying RUclips RED I suggest you get used to content creators having some sponsored content. We need to keep in mind that content creators are people just like us who want to make money for their efforts. It's not 'selling out', it's survival. If listening to 4 minutes about an app is the only price I have to pay for more entertainment, then I consider that a bargain.
I _do_ pay for RUclips red. Having said that, I'm not complaining.
It’s so easy to skip too
I remember using a BBC master at school. We used it to program a little wheeled robot thing that drew on the ground. We were only 8 so I'm guessing the teacher did most of the programming.
"Incapable of playing PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds"
I'd see that as a positive boon, not a downside.
You know RUclips is going down hill when ashens accepts a sponsorship
Cyntikka agreed, somebody said actions are better than this but the way RUclips's going with the adpocalypse I don't blame people for having ads. But if you're going to have an ad at least make it entertaining like ashens does.
he's accepted sponsorships before.. and honestly, I don't think it's that bad. it's a little informative in the same style of what he normally does.
mathematics117 again I agree oh, I see no issues with people having an attitude. It's better than TV where you have about 5 minutes worth of ads and 3 minutes worth of television show lol!
Snupps is actually really good
Not his first sponsored vid, even for this sponsor.
He's choosey, won't just take money to shill any random gits.
The Ten Car Marty sounds like it only owns Daihatsu nuggets and Subaru wagons
I had a speech synthesizer for my TI 99/4A growing up. It was great, especially in the game parsec.
Stuart could you do more videos on retro computers and gaming consoles that you own.
Snupps is actually an app I'm interested in. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. 👍👍
It’s long since died…
I cannot abide by this sacrilegious couch colour! I only can look at cool old stuff and shit tat on a brown sofa.
I'd give him a pass because most computers, even today, are kinda heavy and difficult to cart around _en masse._
I love these kinds of videos. I grew up using a Compaq running DOS and Windows 3.1 but I find these older computers absolutely fascinating.
If you want to see just how terrible _Deep Fear_ for the Sega Saturn is, Retsupurae did a great video on it. Just look for _'Resident Seavil'._
Ashen's remarks do not do justice as to how hilariously awful it is. One of the characters was court-martialled for firing torpedoes on what was eventually revealed to be a passenger cruiser, and *he won't stop complaining about how unfair it was that he faced disciplinary action.* Like the fact that he lost his job dishonourably was worse than the massive and tragic collateral damage.
It's a hoot. Please go and see a _Deep Fear_ LP when you finish watching this video.
I remember the Domesday project. It 'toured' the schools in the area. Expanded BBC Master and a Laserdisc drive that looked so futuristic. There was a bit where you could walk around a virtual tour of a village or something, and it blew our minds. Then it was gone, and we were back to Granny's Garden and the RM Nimbus.
That Amstrad portable computer is so awesome!
This is the ashens i love. Just a man talking about old tech in a very knowledgeable way. These computer videos as well as your old one on joy sticks are by far my favourite. Thankyou for these lovely videos.
The first computer, when folded up, looks like a Star Trek TNG prop.
Back in the late 80's I used to work at the Amstrad User Group. On the odd occasions we actually sold one of those portables we used to do a whole 24 hour "Soak test". Switch it on then check it was still on the next day.
Great job making a ad spot actually interesting.
People throwing tantrums about sponsored content, I have to wonder if they remember "The Proxy". This is Ashen's job, he's entitled to make a living, particularly given he is pretty upfront with sponsorships.
I would like them to be shown working. Thanks for your review!
Don't worry about those whinging about the sponsored content, they majority of us know that you have to make a living and appreciate what you do. It's great that you found something applicable to your job to advertise. That White couch however....
You need to check out The Oddity Archive. The chap is really learned and has loads of old tech you'd find interesting! Thought I'd share, mate. :)
MasakoX Insert DBZA quote.
Try advertising somewhere else please
Slurpy McAsian he's not even promoting his own account. Just trying to do something nice, stop being so negative
Fancy seeing you here, MasakoX! How about that Mastered Ultra Instinct, amirite?
MasakoX Holy shit, yes! That guy has been too obscure for too long!
YES!!! A TI99-4A!
That was my first computer, but I hardly see one today.
I actually owned most of the games for it, and wrote a ton of games for it as well. It actually was one of the first computers I learned how to code on. That one seems to be in immaculate condition.
Basically, your video out hooked up to your TV, just like an old Atari console. I had a cassette drive for mine and a speech synthesizer, so it could "talk" in a very odd digital voice.
I remember that it did also have a modem available, but my parents wouldn't get it because they said "why would you want to connect to another computer?" Plus, nobody else I knew had one.
Now, I run an IT company, build computers, and do coding all the time. I have even reprogrammed Windows 10... sans all the bugs and bloatware, plus many other features. But, it was all due to that machine right there. Still want to get one to add to my collection... mine died back in the 80s.
Oh, one last thing, there was a magazine devoted to it, but I can't recall the name of it, and a catalog to buy all the games. Some where cartridges, but a lot also came on cassette. You should really check them out.
I really love this type of content from you more than the food and tat reviews. That joystick video you did might be your best one ever
I still like the tat videos to be honest
Different strokes for different folks
I beg to differ; the food videos are unique in his style - there are a zillion and one monkeys and their pet dog doing "tech" videos....
I watch the joystick video about five times a year.
Clay3613 I do the same thing and I don’t even know why! I have 0 connection to 70s and 80s computer game controllers yet it’s such a soothing video for me.
That TI-99/4A is a thing of beauty.
Why is the sofa still here?
Is it just to suffer!?
Mr.Dr.Professor Toaster It's battle hardened, what it goes through would destroy any other sofa in an instant!
Very nice, I've always wanted an MSX, looks like the Sony model is the one to get!
Ashens did sponsoring right, about 1 minute in i forgot i was still in the sponsor bit, i have seen some terrible videos lately where people whoring out their channel have done a terrible job integrating the sponsor bit into their video, "Alpha m" for example and its completely destroyed the video as every actual video is built around the sponsor.
Dan Bana like the avgn paid advert where he sounds like he had a gun to his head
Some channels do a brilliant job of it, like Jay Foreman or Film Riot.
I have a Ti-99/4a right next to me that I still plug in and use, I freaking love it. Found some magazines online with programs I can type in, troubleshoot, then save to a cassette. Not sure if youtube flags imgur links but I have an album I can share.
Nevermind, created a Snupps page for it. I can add more to it if people ask.
It is 2017, and there is time for Klax.
acidhelm Klax Let's play
I had a Ti-99 4a when I was young. I have fond memories of Mash, Chisholm Trail, Hunt the Wumpus, Parsec, and Microsurgeon. If you can get your hands on the speech synthesizer, Mash and Parsec have actually some clear speech. Which was pretty crazy for the time. Also of note the expansions all sort of daisy chain off that port on the right hand side of the system.
"Portable Computers" at least looked real cool and techy back in the day. Nowadays they all look the same. lol
I know right? The first one looked like something the military would use as a worst case scenario machine that's really reliable. Probably because it reminds me of the tech in the original alien films
I think stuff like the Surface book or other tablet laptop hybrids look pretty unique
At least they're usable now
I don't know, my Chromebook doesn't look like the average metallic slab that most posh laptops look like. It's an Asus C202 model, aimed at schools and has a really lovely rubber bumper all round it which gives it a nice look.
My boyfriend managed to find his old TI-99/4A today, actually, and spent the better part of the afternoon repairing it. We dunno if it works, and we know that there's a damaged key in it, but it does turn on, so that's good. Hope he can get it up and running; he was literally making simple programs on it at 3 years old, and even has the voice synthesizer unit for it, so that's all funky.
I think that’s probably the first advertisement on YT that made me look at the thing lol. Good idea that.
I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would! I remember that virtual museum!! It was so cool it blew my mind!
"It can't play PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" neither can modern ones!
The "tube" on a BBC Micro allows the plugging in of extra processors. For instance, there was a tube interface device that contained the exact processor as the Micro and relegated the one in the computer to a co-processor that handled I/O, and sped up the machine considerably, since the CPU didn't have to check I/O states all the time.
You could even get a 68000 for it later on, if I remember rightly.
3:53
edit: I'm not against sponsorship, I'm for better integration.
Thank you.
doing god's work son.
Meh, I enjoyed the sponsored part. It had some interesting bits.
wormspeaker I’ll watch it once because he’s paid for it, but for future reference a marker is nice.
+Adam Walker There's no way for the sponsor to know how many people skipped through the ad when it's actually part of the video, he's probably being paid on a per-video basis.
I had an Amstrad PPC in the early Nineties, it was my first MS-DOS compatible PC - many happy hours playing Commander Keen and learning Assembly Language... thanks for covering it! :-)
Who cares if it’s sponsored? He’s hardly ‘selling out’ in this video.
It always felt good at school when you managed to bagsy the BBC Master in the computer room (well the corridor which had a few BBCs lined up so all the teachers could keep an eye on you).
I still remember the peripherals and writing programs to control traffic lights for a model town.
He was really annoyed he got MB and KB mixed up, then immediately says 3 1/4 inch floppy disk. Sorry Stuart, had to mention it. Nerds eh :)
You tell him! He's human, how dare he make human mistakes... BAAAAH!
I had to jump back and look at the disk, to see in which way he was wrong.
I had a vague recollection, that Amstrad had 3inch disks on some of their computers.
He was going to be off by quarter of an inch either way :)
*edit* Ahh, there's the horrible 3inch disks!
I'm amazed I had to scroll this far down to find this comment :p
The 'tube' was a light pen, BBC would send programs across the air on the TV, You'd stick the 'tube' over the area in the top corner and it would record the program. You could then run it. It was a flashing dot in a black circle I think.
Those sure are some computers. Maybe you should plug them in and show them in use.
Had one of those TI computers in 82. I was about 9. We got I free for buying a house full of carpet. I really enjoyed it as we bought a few cartridge games for it and it came with an extensive manual that taught you to write very rudimentary programs for it. Àt the time at school we were already working on Apple II computers so I loved the fact I could come home and work on the computer for longer than the 45 minutes we had in computer lab. Plus, my buddy on the other side of the woods from me got a TI also so we swapped games periodically.
Love old and retro tech
One thing for the very geeky it’s worth hunting out is the CP/M disk for the Amstrad 664. The extra power cable was for the built in monitor unit you could get with it. (My mate had a 664 - and he also had a tuner module too which turned the dodgy monitor into a TV).
6:11 "Three and a quarter inch floppy disks"
You wot mate?
I doubt he's your "mate", and if he WAS, that'd mean you'd be pro-creating together... wow! :/
You realise words can have multiple usages, right? Language being a flexible thing and all.
Well done. Your attempt at being funny failed miserably.
Family Guy was right: we really do live in a post-joke world!
So was I lol
In the 1980s I worked for an industrial control company using Texas 9900 microprocessors. Beautiful 16 bit instruction set and very nice to program.
That side port on the TI99/4A is for the mighty VOICE SYNTHESIZER MODULE. Which you should get and play some of the games that used it because they're great and quite funny.
Surprising he hasn't already, Ashens has a well documented penchant for voice synthesizers.
I've got the TI99/4A and the Voice synthesizer. I bought a TI99 bundle at a car boot in the 1990s for about £5-10 and got a load of game carts with it too.
My old school (in the 80's) was part of the BBC's computer literacy programme, we played story games on an Acorn computer and loved it, it was my first introduction to computers and remember it well! Great video Stuart👍👏
3 and a quarter inch disks?!?!?! I think you'll find those are 3.5 inch disks. Good day sir!
Uh oh, the weights and measures police are on patrol...
Stuart has a small disc :(
unlokia no. He just got it wrong....
He merely got the 3.5 and 5.25 inch formats muddled up....
DISGRACEFUL! :P
Being 16-bit is not really about "running slower" or "running faster"; that will depend on clock speed. It's about how much memory it can address and how wide the CPU registers are. The memory bus width also influences speed (because a wider bus can transfer more data in the same number of cycles), but being "16-bit" was mainly about being able to use _more_ RAM.
It's great to ashes get sponsorships where nearly all his videos get claimed I don't want to see his channel disappear maybe consider a patreon ashens.
Have you seen the furore going on at the moment about patreon?
I actually learned to do math on the Texas Instrument 99 before I was in school. Game was Number Magic. Neat little machine.
Hey Ashens, it would be cool if you showed some games and/or programs like you did last vintage go-around. Thanks for the great vids.
We owned a TI-99 4A when I was a kid. It was a pretty great computer for games. We even had the voice modulator for that port on the side.
Hooray! Vintage computer time!
Oh boy, the _"vintage"_ obsessives have arrived...
It's called OLD STUFF - _"vintage"_ implies ALL OLD STUFF has equal value and merit; not the case.
He says "vintage computer time" in literally the first 5 seconds of the video. The hell is your problem?
You took it personally?
#insecurepersonalitydisorder
I recall the annoyance from users who bought the Amstrad CPC664, that it was only available for 6 months before being replaced by the CPC6128 with twice the RAM. Fondly remembered, the CPC6128 was the first computer I owned that _didn't_ have some glaring deficiency such as low resolution and rubbish BASIC (Dragon), or graphics that used up all the RAM (Acorn Electron).
That's not a pop station.
...
Jesus Christ a lot of time has passed.
It cracks me up that you collect those old computers. I am getting into restoring older RC planes so thats my hobby. I fix small engines to pay for my hobby. Thanks for the blast from the past. Does it mean I am old when I can say I remember when a caculator was considered the newest technology.
I have that amstrad in my loft complete with horrible vinyl carry case lol
SilverRook Now, I regret selling mine on eBay..
I had one given to me by my first boss, back in 1991 - it was our stocktaking/ordering computer. I sold it to Trash Converters, wish I hadn't *in some way* - but then... what ON EARTH would I use it for?
With the brick of the PSU too? Loved my PPC640
I build myself one from scrap returns when I worked for Amstrad between '87- 96. Happy times!
You shouldn't, it's seriously rubbish ;)
About all it's good for is running Infocom text adventures. It's all that'll work halfway well on the built-in screen.(I assume it might work with the monitors for the desktops? But even then the best you'll get it EGA)
So the TI-99 is like a fancy calculator. Because that’s all Texas Instruments make nowadays
Why the heck don't modern computers have built-in MIDI.
Because it saves about 12p in manufacturing costs and incredibly few people want it.
The last time PC's regularly had midi ports, was before motherboards had built in sound.
Soundcards used to have a weird joystick/midi connector, you needed an adapter to connect it to anything though.
Pook365 - Yeah, I knew all that apart from the 12p saving. It would be good to have back. My old Amiga 1200 had an adapter for a MIDI keyboard, also my old sound sampler could be connected too. I used OctaMED and (I think) SoundStudio. :)
Pook365 It would be more than 12p if you account for the design, board layout, parts, assembly and testing costs. Plus you'd lose 2 to 4 USB ports. Better for the .1% of people who need it to buy an external converter.
Jernej Jakob - A USB adapter is what I use now, I guess the U in USB really is universal. USB rules peripheral connectivity. :-)
Because USB ports exist.
Actually, Cassette Man ISN'T a knockoff of G1 Soundwave! That was the name given to the Microchange original from Japan. That's a pre-G1, pre-Transformers as a whole!
Apparently Deep Fear wasn't bad. Gamespot gave it an 8.1 and it had the composer from Ghost in the Shell doing the music.
Had that CPC640, it was my first Dos PC, upgrading from my old C64 I used for word processing in my first few years of grade school. I got it from a liquidation reseller. I eventually got a printer-port hard drive for it. I did a lot of programming for my dissertation on it, in C (a maximum entropy estimator ~ the program took forever to run). I did use it sometimes as a "portable" (or, as they would say of some of the older CP/M suitcase units, "luggable") ... plugging it into the car cigarette lighter to get work done while the kids were at football (aka gridiron) practice.
Snupps. The Argos catalogue for burglars.
I think the Atari ST models with built in MIDI support stayed popular with electronic musicians right the way up until DAW’s for your “bog standard” Windows and Macs became a lot more readily accessible- I know at the very least Norman Cook, he of Fatboy Slim, Mighty Dub Katz and a great many more aliases/bands fame, was still using one to write tunes at least up until 1998 (most of You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby was written using one, according to interviews he’s done over the years). They were absolutely the backbone of the early rave scene, for folks who wanted some software integration to go along with their samplers, synths, and drum machines (it’s down to personal opinion on ravey music as to whether that was a good or a bad thing).
To all those complaining about the paid promotion. I doubt ashens gives a flying fig.
I doubt he is even aware of the level of caring expressed or felt, nor cares a horse's hoof about the outcry. :)
TI99/4A was my first computer! My granddad (a civil engineer) thought it would be a great idea to get me on computers when I was in preschool. Hunt the Wumpus was my favorite game on that one. That TI computer started me down the right path and I've had a great 20 year career in video game software development & smart toys. The stock joysticks were a bit rubbish on the TI/994A. Had a few great clone games on it too. Couple of home-brew devs had been recently trying to port Super Mario Bros to it with success.
Skip to 21:06 if you can't be arsed to watch the ad.
Writ In Water wait a minute
Best comment on this video to be honest.
Settle down there, Edward Teller.
Writ In Water awkward how the whole video wasn't an ad
Useless Shoe woosh
"Let's give myself a hernia..." Laughed a little, it hurt. You know, 'cause of hernia.
If memory serves, the TI machines used TI’s own microprocessor that had almost no on-board registers but instead used blocks of memory as big, versatile, and rather slow sets of registers. More interesting than practical...
It was a matter of corporate pride to have the machines run on TI chips while the TI/94s competed with the Apple II and Rat Shack's TRS-80 machines.
Busted joy ports on STf and later was a mechanical thing. Those connectors are soldered to single-sided PCB that doesn't have any metallic stuff in the holes. Despite the presence of a metal bracket, they eventually wiggled their way out a connective state. Resoldering was a pain, because you had to take apart the whole thing (except plastic moving parts of the keys), but there was a trick you could use to prevent any future failures. Hardware-wise STe maybe was similar to ST, but had completely different custom chips and PCB (and was much harder to repair).
Wow, first view. Also, the paid promotion finishes at 03:54 for those who just don't care one bit about Snupps.
Sppuns
Indeed!
Looks like the ad just got
Snubb'd.
An excellent sellout
On a BBC the "TUBE" port is a expansion bus. It gives complete access to the busses in the machine and was typically used to add a second co-processor allowing the master to run CP/M (with a Z80) or DOS with an x86 co-processor.
LGR vibes from this
Wouldn't it be the other way round?
May be all the old computers
Powder-phun maybe so xD
Ashens Food is a bit different.
Great stuff,mate.Love to see more!
#CONEHYPE
Thank you Stewart for this very video! I did always want to learn about those computer systems!
'Tube' on the BBC was like an intranet, well more like a remote desktop used for schools, the teacher could connect to any students computer to assist with learning
(That's what i understand, i may be wrong)
That seems to ring a bell to how we were taught on them in high school.
That was actually their "econet" port. The Tube was for attaching an extra processor.
It was an external co-processor. You could get Z80, 6502 and ARM7 external processors.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_(BBC_Micro)
Ah yes, econet, i should have got the manual out to check (i have the BBCB+)
Thanks for correcting me.
The TI99 is a heck of a gaming machine. There are some fantastic titles, and it runs fantastically for it's era. Totally underrated
Obligatory "will it run crysis" comment.
Yo!
But will it run Zork?
I think some of these could at a very buttery 2 frames an hour!
But will it even run Doom though?
I thought the question was ''will it run doom'' am i outdated again?
Great vid as always. FYI the 'tube' port on the BBC Master is for connecting a co-processor - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_(BBC_Micro). It was usually used to connect another 6502, but given that it was logically isolated from the main system bus it was technically compatible with any architecture at the time. I think there were Z80 and 80186 options too.
It was a pretty impressive interface for its time but didn't see much usage outside of business and academic markets.
3:53 to skip the selling out
EDIT: the selling out bit was a joke. I thought we could all be mature adults and understand that. Apparently not. I have no problem with Ashens accepting sponsorships.
"selling out"
It's not selling out, it's buying in.
ah yes, earning money to live is "selling out" idiot... Also who in the right mind would turn down a sum of money for just spending a few mins talking about something
TheNocturnalGamer See the edit
saying that type of stuff doesn't really come off as a joke when there are idiots who do legitimately say that
I had a CPC464 and kept the colour screen and upgraded to a CPC6128 which is the 664 just with 128k and a very, very grey keyboard. The CPC664 seemed to be a stopgap between the 2 models and I never knew anybody that had one. Loved those CPCs even though I lusted after the SID chip sound of a C64.