cc-18@ucbcory.BERKELEY.EDU (John Lee) (12/07/85)
Help!
I need information on the "Amstrad" Computer (sp?). It's apparently a Z-80
CPU based personal computer with high resolution color graphics and a 5-1/4"
built-in disk drive.
I need to know whether any knows about this computer, what it's specs are,
what is it compatible with, and the bottom line: Is it worth its weight in
IC's?
Why? Because a friend wants to buy a personal computer and saw this machine
being sold with a color high-res monitor for $599 by local company here in
the bay area. He's not sure when the sale ends, so he needs the info fast.
Could you please help him out?
Thanks!
John Lee
cc-18@ucbcory
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UUCP: {Universe At Large}!ucbvax!ucbcory!cc-18
ARPANET or CSNET: cc-18%ucbcory.Berkeley.EDUkurt@fluke.UUCP (Kurt Guntheroth) (12/11/85)
I saw the Amstrad too. It was advertised in the Wall Street Journal and I also saw it in one of those video auction shows for the same price. Looks nice for a CP/M machine with one major exception. The disks appear to be one of the "loser" sub-5 1/4 inch, rigid shell formats. If this is true, and you buy one of these you may have significant trouble obtaining media, and certainly will have trouble getting another disk drive. Of course any TRUE hacker will just add on 5 1/4 inch drives, but not everybody is a hacker these days.
dbmk1@stc.UUCP (12/11/85)
In Britain the Amstrad CPC 6128 comes with 128K of RAM, 3 inch double sided disk and colour or monochrome monitor. For the price (400 pounds with colour monitor) it's got great bang per buck; however TANSTTAAFL rules OK. The monitor is a TV and on 80 col mode, especially in colour, it's virtually unusable for any length of time; ie > 10 mins. The keyboard, while acceptable, isn't any help to a poor typist; ie me; although I imagine someone with a greater typing proficiency could handle it OK. The disk drive was chosen because Hitachi (I think) had a few hundred thousand of them that they couldn't sell because of the weird size, thus Amstrad got them cheap. The problem is that you can't get the blank disks for the damn things, although the rumours say that this will get easier in the new year. On the plus side you get CP/M 2.2 and 3 as well as DR Logo. There is limitless amounts of games software available and if you have a monochrome monitor (an absolute requirement for more than occasional 80 col use ) then you can get a cheap interface to allow the machine to use the colour telly for games. As usual the bottom line is the same as for any other machine - you pays your money and you takes your choice. As a serious machine it's a non-starter( my basic requirement for a serious machine is expandability, especially RAM disks etc when using an 8 bit processor), as a good games machine which will also run CP/M software as a sideline it's a definite winner. Flames, etc cheerfully accepted. PS. Yes I have bought one and I don't regret spending the money - _within_the _price_range_ (note emphasis) it's unbeatable. PPS The spelling comes from Alan Michael Sugar TRADing -- Regards Derek !seismo!mcvax!ukc!stc!dbmk1 I've heard that re-incarnation is making a come-back.
schaefer@gumby.UUCP (12/16/85)
> Help! > > I need information on the "Amstrad" Computer (sp?). It's apparently a Z-80 > CPU based personal computer with high resolution color graphics and a 5-1/4" > built-in disk drive. > > I need to know whether any knows about this computer, what it's specs are, > what is it compatible with, and the bottom line: Is it worth its weight in > IC's? I got a flyer from Knighted Computers, 707 Highland St. Fulton, NY 13069 (315)-593-8219 for the Amstrad 128K PC, apparently a hot seller in the U.K., which was named computer product of the year in 1984. It is said to run Wordstar, spreadsheets, and games and public domain CP/M programs. Here is a list of features: -has disk drive (expandable) -includes monitor -128K RAM (expandable) -Z80A 4MHz -48K ROM, ROM cart. port -its own CRT controller -full size 76 key w/numeric -3 voice/8 oct sound -hi res full color -built in centronics -joystick port -cassette interfc -stereo snd out -20/40/80 col scrn -includes BASIC, CP/M, LOGO, AMDOS -1 yr warranty -software bundle includes: -word proc -speadsht -graphics -home educ -arcade game soft -much liked manual -coupon for $300.00 off first software purchase I am just repeating what I read, but it looks good. Here are the prices: Amstrad w/green monitor #1138 => $499.00 Amstrad w/RGB monitor #1139 => $649.00 Again, something like this almost sounds too good to be true, so check it out first. Hope this helped, ---Matt
dbmk1@stc.UUCP (01/07/86)
In article <34@gumby.UUCP> schaefer@gumby.UUCP writes: >> Help! follows spec for machine :- >-has disk drive (expandable) >-includes monitor >-128K RAM (expandable) >-Z80A 4MHz >-48K ROM, ROM cart. port >-its own CRT controller >-full size 76 key w/numeric >-3 voice/8 oct sound >-hi res full color >-built in centronics >-joystick port >-cassette interfc >-stereo snd out >-20/40/80 col scrn >-includes BASIC, CP/M, LOGO, AMDOS >-1 yr warranty >-software bundle includes: > -word proc > -speadsht > -graphics > -home educ > -arcade game soft >-much liked manual >-coupon for $300.00 off first software purchase > I don't know what the US s/w package will be like but be VERY careful about the colour display. The UK version is a modified TV and is totally braindamaging in 80 col mode. The manual may be good for beginners but you have to spend extra money getting even very simple technical info. There again you get what you pay for. The main problem is the disk drive. It's a three inch abortion that Hitachi couldn't sell to anyone else - but they tell me that extra disks will be available "real soon now". A good point is that Alan Sugar (owner of Amstrad) doesn't like retailers making what he regards as "excessive" profits on extras - and publicises what they are paying for them wholesale. This has provided much good shit stirring fun over the last few months in the UK press. As a disclaimer - my only connection with Amstrad is that I own a 6128. It's a very good games machine with the ability to run CP/M software (including CP/M 3). OK I'd prefer a SUN but the factor of 100 price difference is a bit off-putting. -- Regards Derek !seismo!mcvax!ukc!stc!dbmk1 If anyone wants these opinions they're free, and worth what you pay for them
agjenkin@kcl-cs.UUCP (Alun Jenkins) (01/22/86)
<eat me ........ Munch munc... ........ As a point of interest, A hard disk is now (6-8 weeks available for the Amstrad) Spec is still very sketchy. 20MBytes . Fairly fast access. DMA transfer. WD controller chip. All of this for 300 pounds (yess only! 300 pounds). This comes from a German company called Vortex that allready produce a 512K RAM card, an MSDOS card, and are threatening a 61480 card (you know that chip Hitachi have the cheek to call Z80 compatible. still a very nice processor though.