The dodgiest computer ever ! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2020, 03:06:47 pm
content: In 1985 Amstrad released a model CPC472 personal computer that was dodgy in the design to the point of being consumer fraud. A fascinating story is here from 3:30 to 11:30 why that happened.https://youtu.be/_ErfWfjN9iU

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 29, 2020, 03:31:01 pm
content: Article:https://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/472QuoteFun. Note that this import tax itself was kind of dodgy.And then:QuoteWhether it was a fraud from a consumer's pov is debatable. At the time, a "XXX K" mention on a home computer was not necessarily just about the amount of RAM. It was not uncommon for manufacturers to make up some marketing figures including ROM, or video RAM, or whatever. The computer itself would probably never have been available to spanish consumers had they not played that trick, so I don't think they really lost much there.Playing with taxes and regulations in similar ways is still done nowadays.

author: Syntax Error
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 29, 2020, 10:14:30 pm
content: Wow. Back in day, when Lord Sugar was just Sugar, I had a tech support role in London supporting an office block full of these CPCs. Which tech support knew stood for Complete Piece of Crap.A bit harsh, but the world then was already moving beyond IBM XTs and Windows 3.1, but as a publishing company most if their content was on 'Amstrad discs'. Anyway, most of the hacks (press) had grown up on mechanical type writers, so this was cutting edge DTP. Some of the yuppies had PCW machines, which looked really cool, unless you'd seen a Macintosh.Luckily the company saw the light and bought in Viglen Computers with fancy Windows 98. Viglen was a company Sir Alan purchased. Some company employees took their redundant CPCs home for £5. The rest were dumped. Sorry, sent to "help Africa". I understand these CPCs are collectors items, go figure?Somewhere in Silicon Hell there is a special partition reserved for all Amstrad computers

author: llopis
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 01, 2020, 08:33:55 am
content: Glad you liked the video. It really is an amazing story. Some engineer for sure put their job in the line for that.If you like weird stories behind the origin of some computers, check out this other video I released more recently on the story behind the Inves Spectrum+ (that's right, no Sinclair and no ZX there):The actual origin story starts out at 5:12.

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 01, 2020, 09:14:20 am
content: I had a CPC 464 and I loved that thing, mind you I didn't know any better and my 386 kept complaining about memory and couldn't run games (until I learned about how to use config.sys and autoexec.bat).

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 02, 2020, 05:22:59 am
content: Quote from: llopis on July 01, 2020, 08:33:55 amIn regards to the green tint problem you may need to check the subcarrier oscillator frequency on the mc1377 chip. Also the Motorola device datasheet explains how to adjust the subcarrier quadrature and residual colors.

author: llopis
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 02, 2020, 05:43:38 am
content: Quote from: Bud on July 02, 2020, 05:22:59 amYes, I looked all over! The MC1377P datasheet is awesome by the one. One of the best ones I've ever seen. New video with that investigation coming up later today :-)

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 02, 2020, 01:16:59 pm
content: Ok, please start a new topic then, as this one was about a different computer.

author: llopis
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 02, 2020, 02:29:50 pm
content: I just created another topic on this same forum if you want to check it out.

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 02, 2020, 06:21:27 pm
content: Quote from: Syntax Error on June 29, 2020, 10:14:30 pmYou mean they used Amstrad CPCs until 1998?! Say what you like, but unless you got your dates or computer models wrong, they sure got a lot of mileage out of those CPCs...

author: vwestlife
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2020, 02:16:07 pm
content: Not as dodgy as the 486 motherboards with fake cache. That was just pure fraud. This is a bad photo, but the two "Write Back Cache" chips are just hollow plastic shells, and the circuit traces they're soldered to just go in circles between the two chips, and are not connected to anything else on the motherboard.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2020, 08:49:45 pm
content: What was the reason to make those ones?

author: Rasz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2020, 12:07:49 pm
content: Quote from: vwestlife on July 13, 2020, 02:16:07 pmI didnt know PCChips even used green laminate, only seen piss yellow personally (and I did work for official Euro PCchips distributor in nineties :/)good old PCChips M919

author: Syntax Error
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2020, 01:36:11 pm
content: Quote from: ebastler on July 02, 2020, 06:21:27 pmA LOT of mileage! There was a reticence by senior staffers to embrace the 'new' desktop computer phenomina; as well as budgetary constraints. There was also the minor issue of user content being stuck on C90 tapes. I remember using Kermit over RS232 with an IBM PC to copy content onto those new fangled floppy discs! The company did have a Prime miniframe and a hoard of always failing DecMate word processors, but the diehards loved their multicoloured keyboard. Which kind of complimented the chaos of their journalistic desks. Finally, along came Mister Viglen, which was just in time for the Millenium Bug. Pioneering days.