Retro Computer Festival 2021 (CFCH Cambridge)

After waiting more than a year, the Retro Computer Festival happen and I went, and I mostly remember to film a video.

Sorry about the video quality and sometimes iffy audio, it was all shot on my phone.

[Clavichordist]

Having worked as a hardware technician for Visual Technology, a terminal and PC manufacturer in the 1980s, I feel a bit nostalgic when I see this hardware. There's a different level of quality in the hardware compared to what we have today even though what we have today is so much quicker and a lot less expensive.

While I foolishly sold my Visual V-1050 many years ago, I still have my Visual Commuter Computer. The Commuter was an IBM compatible portable computer that weighed about 12 kg when fully loaded. It came outfitted with various options with the highest being a full 25-line LCD capable of graphics as well as text, 2-360K 5-1/4-inch floppy drives, CGA graphics, 512K RAM, a couple of serial ports, parallel port, and an IBM expansion port. The good news is the system is still operational today and runs MS-DOS 5.0.

The V-1050 was an upgraded version of the Ontel Amigo, which Visual acquired when they purchased Ontel Corp. in 1982. The V-1050 came with 2-quad density 5-1/4-inch floppy drives, up to 64K of bank switched RAM, 32K graphics RAM with the graphics being controlled by a 6502, the usual array of I/O ports including a Centronics port for connecting external hard drives, and a boatload of software. The system ran CP/M Plus (CP/M 3.0). The included software was Wordstar, Z80 Assembler, C-BASIC, Multiplan, and DR Graph. I purchased Fortran, Pascal, and C for it because I was taking programming classes. The system could also read and write to disks formatted for other companies such as those for the DEC Rainbow, and Osborne I, or boot up as a terminal with no software loaded. The terminal emulation was built-in and worked as a Visual V-100 or other emulated terminals just like Visual's other terminal products.

The system was fitted out with a 102-key Keytronics keyboard and a 9-inch diagonal monochrome display, which came in either amber or green phosphorous. The display could be setup to the side or placed on top of the unit making for a nice compact setup if needed.

[orangejjay]

The Aquarius was my first computer and it was a blast to be like four years old and teaching myself BASIC with its manuals and the game PT. It had a cassette deck to save things and these thick books with all the lines of BASIC code to get a game or other running. Hooking up to a "big" 30" TV was exciting times!

[alexcrane]

Born and raised in the UK and grew up on late 70s early 80s micros. Had an Atom first. This almost made me want to head back to blighty from NZ. Thanks for sharing. Awesome.

[MackTheBass]

Good to see my belly made an appearance ;)
Nice video, and thanks for the kind comments :)

[luchitoplus]

And at 11:37 you show an Atari 400! The only computer I ever wanted, but never manage to get 😀

[RobSchofield]

Great report. The museum does these events really well, so based on this I'll be along for the next one!

[Savagetechie]

Quite fancy going to one of these shows although my entire collection has been in storage for a few years now. I should probably go through it and do some restoration.

[AbAb-thqe]

Random Apple 1 replica on screen at 10:32 and not even a mention

[ugolapezza]

Amazing video, thanks. At 12:20 there is a pc on the left with the sticker "PC CLUB". It has a double floppy drive (or it looks like this). What computer is that? Thanks.

[anticat]

Did they have a DAI computer there? I have heard these machines had very innovative graphics for the early 80s probably the best of the early 80s machines?

[timwilcox]

great video. i was there on the Sunday. it was a great show.

[gbolton]

Jackson's Dairies! Fellow Stockport resident?

[primokarma]

I bought that same kettle for my granddad

[danielson]

Sorry to say about that Author but I doubt anyone is going to buy his book 😒

[alfulton]

The question is do you build it or leave it original