30 Oct
2006
30 Oct
'06
10:18 a.m.
Stan Barr wrote:
In the business world, the UK people seemed to 'make do' with what they
already had to a far greater extent though; or rather that's the impression
I've got. The home market was somewhat similar on both sides of the pond
though, I believe...
Hi,
Jules Richardson said:
They still crop up, TRS-80s anyway. There are a couple on eBay atm,
including a 4P, the (trans)portable one that I might put in a bid for.
Sure, I know they're still about in the UK - just in far fewer numbers than
similar machines from the same timeframe. Maybe people were just
subconsciously more likely to hang on to their CP/M system (because it was
expensive) or their 8 bitter which didn't really have an OS (because they'd
invested so much time in getting it to do what they wanted).
Stan Barr wrote:
Both
Apple and RS were big enough in the uk circa 1978/9 on to support a
number of dedicated hardware and software suppliers. Both were used
quite a bit by small businesses* that couldn't afford cp/m kit, as
well as hobbyists like me. (I got a TRS-80 Model 1 around the beginning
of '78 - still got it...)
The Apple II was also rebadged and marketed by ITT, in a silver case IIRC.
That's interesting, because I don't know where they've all gone! We see far
more surviving CP/M machines and things like Nascoms and equivalents than we
do Apple and RS systems in the UK. That would suggest that people tossed out
the Apple and RS stuff, but held on to other machines for some reason.
Later on of
course UK people seem to have largely made do with the same 8 bit
machines that the games / education market used - I get the impression that
the acceptance of IBM PCs and compatibles happened *much* sooner in the US
than it did elsewhere.
IBM PCs were a bit expensive* for the home or samll business user until
clones appeared, but they were bought in some numbers by larger firms. * In 1982 IBM PCs were advertised at "from 2,800
pounds" (at about 2 dollars
to the pound, I think) for a dual floppy machine with monitor. That would
buy you two Apples with dual floppies and monitors and still leave change.
Hmm, I have two, an original PC and an XT. *one* of those cost around 4000
pounds circa 1984, but unfortunately I don't know which. (I got them around
1992 from an old school; it took a while to organise as they were still down
on the books as being worth the same money for which they'd been bought 8
years earlier :-)
cheers
Jules