Hey from Airstrip One (UK)

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paj777
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Joined: Sat Jul 24, 2021 11:43 am

Hey from Airstrip One (UK)

Post by paj777 »

Greetings from the (not so sunny) Midlands!

My name's Paul and I'm a retro-holic. It's been 3 days since my last solder burn.

Like most people here (probably), I started my microcomputer addiction/hobby in the 80s with one of the plethora of mass-market home computers with less RAM than your average grandfather clock and marginally more colours. In my case, my first computer was a VIC-20 which was given to us by a family friend in 1986/7. It came to us with a handful of games, a dodgy RF wire, a 32k RAM pack (:o) and lots of mouse droppings. Unfortunately the machine was already pretty much obselete when we got it, so I have many early memories of scouring the earth (rather unsuccessfully) for VIC-20 software. On the up-side, this also meant that I developed some coding skills at the grand age of 9 years - something that eventually shaped my career as a software developer.

We managed (by the miracle of hire purchase) to obtain an Atari STE in 1990, which we traded for an Amiga 500+ 2/3 years later. The Amiga was intended to be a stop-gap before upgrading to an Atari Falcon 030. I just didn't know at the time that it would be 28 years before I would eventually own one!

Unfortunately I don't still have any of my original machines, but I now have a growing collection of computers, consoles, old monitors, games, accessories, mess, 30-year-old dust, strange smells, including ( in various states of repair):
  • Atari 520 STFM (original floppy), 1mb
  • Atari 1040 STE (gotek, 4mb)
  • Amiga 500+ x 2
  • Amiga 600 x 3
  • Amiga 1200
  • BBC 'B' which is essentially a doorstop until I get around to repairing it.
  • Atari Falcon 030 :D
I only acquired the Falcon a few days ago so I'm still unsure as to whether it is functional. It looks more-or-less intact, is boxed (though the box doesn't seem to match the contents!), has no RAM, a strange-looking clock mod, and a slightly yellowed case.

You will mostly find me in the hardware forums asking dumb questions and trying to make sense of this love-hate relationship we have with obsolete tech.
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Icky
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Re: Hey from Airstrip One (UK)

Post by Icky »

:welcomewave:
Steve
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Re: Hey from Airstrip One (UK)

Post by Steve »

Hi welcome, FYI your Falcon won't work without RAM so buy some RAM first :) If you haven't tried it yet maybe also give the PSU a test outside of the unit before using, just to be sure it is ok :)
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rubber_jonnie
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Re: Hey from Airstrip One (UK)

Post by rubber_jonnie »

:welcomewave:

What's wrong with the doorstop BBC B? I've recently added some to my collection one of which was horribly broken, but now lives again so I'm sure we can help with it :)
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
paj777
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Joined: Sat Jul 24, 2021 11:43 am

Re: Hey from Airstrip One (UK)

Post by paj777 »

Steve wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:07 pm Hi welcome, FYI your Falcon won't work without RAM so buy some RAM first :) If you haven't tried it yet maybe also give the PSU a test outside of the unit before using, just to be sure it is ok :)
Thanks - yes, that was my rough plan. The RAM arrived this morning so that's all good - I'm generally loath to plug things in straightaway and switch them on just in case things go 'pop' after 20 years in a shed (or whatever). Do the PSUs work without a load? I'm assuming I can just do a voltage test and make sure it's consistent / reasonably stable.
paj777
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Re: Hey from Airstrip One (UK)

Post by paj777 »

rubber_jonnie wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:21 pm :welcomewave:

What's wrong with the doorstop BBC B? I've recently added some to my collection one of which was horribly broken, but now lives again so I'm sure we can help with it :)
It was a drunk-eBay purchase so I haven't even powered it on. Just looks a bit dirty and there are a few key caps/posts that need replacing but no more investigation done so far :)
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stephen_usher
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Re: Hey from Airstrip One (UK)

Post by stephen_usher »

:welcomewave:
Intro retro computers since before they were retro...
ZX81->Spectrum->Memotech MTX->Sinclair QL->520STM->BBC Micro->TT030->PCs & Sun Workstations.
Added code to the MiNT kernel (still there the last time I checked) + put together MiNTOS.
Collection now with added Macs, Amigas, Suns and Acorns.
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JezC
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Re: Hey from Airstrip One (UK)

Post by JezC »

Welcome to the forum!

:swave:
Steve
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Re: Hey from Airstrip One (UK)

Post by Steve »

Need some load :) Exxos sells resistors if you need
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rubber_jonnie
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Re: Hey from Airstrip One (UK)

Post by rubber_jonnie »

paj777 wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 2:32 pm
rubber_jonnie wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:21 pm :welcomewave:

What's wrong with the doorstop BBC B? I've recently added some to my collection one of which was horribly broken, but now lives again so I'm sure we can help with it :)
It was a drunk-eBay purchase so I haven't even powered it on. Just looks a bit dirty and there are a few key caps/posts that need replacing but no more investigation done so far :)
Lol, well, before you do power it on, you may want to replace the Rifa capacitors in the PSU before they let go the magic smoke :)
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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