A Very Old Computer...and Some Slightly Newer Ones...
Yes, those are Macs and, yes, I'm going to have to wash my blog out with soap...
The Colossus machine. Big, isn't it?
The fountain at Bletchley Park
A Harrier jump-jet
I had serious fun playing with the BASIC compilers on these old machines!Bletchley was the order of the day for our outing today. The famous estate that was the site of much code-breaking antics during WW2 is set in some beautiful countryside - with the lake at the heart of the complex and rolling green fields around, it's a pretty stunning place. Add to that, the history of the war-effort and it's a very interesting place!
Of course, the high-point was the Colossus, although the two hour lecture on cryptography and the display of old (1980s) home computers were excellent too. The machine really does live up to it's name, although, for being so old, it's surprisingly powerful - it's touted as being as powerful as a Pentium 2, but I'm not sure how they tested that...
The whole visit was extremely informative, especially the part were I fooled around with the ZX80's BASIC compiler!
David
I would like to say a special thanks to Tony Sale for his excellent tour and generosity.
Of course, the high-point was the Colossus, although the two hour lecture on cryptography and the display of old (1980s) home computers were excellent too. The machine really does live up to it's name, although, for being so old, it's surprisingly powerful - it's touted as being as powerful as a Pentium 2, but I'm not sure how they tested that...
The whole visit was extremely informative, especially the part were I fooled around with the ZX80's BASIC compiler!
David
I would like to say a special thanks to Tony Sale for his excellent tour and generosity.
posted by theChipmunk at 11:19 pm
11 Comments:
Oi! Less of the Mac bashing, okay?
Grrrr
Ha.
No.
David
Hi chipmunk it's peternelson from the custompc forum here ;-)
Nice colossus ;-) kinda like my dining room ;-)
Anyway just an important point most 1980s vintage computers came with a built in BASIC in the rom. However this was an INTERPRETER NOT A COMPILER. That is not to say that compilers were not available. eg I used PETSPEED for the commodore pet, which was much faster than the interpreted basic supplied with the machine.
Therefore you were not in fact using a zx80 compiler, but the interpreter. Nice machines those, but the screen would grey while processing work. zx81 introduced "fast" and "slow" modes where the screen could still be generated in exchange for slower prog execution. I had 2 zx81s, but canibalised one for electronic parts ;-) Of course real zx81 programmers used assembler (like 3d monster maze game). You could fit a lot of code into 1K of ram that way.
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Wow, your blog appears to have been inundated by some sad knobcheese... my Computing teacher *did* say he was quitting next week, wonder if he's getting a head of things? ;-)
Hows things, dude?
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