Thanks to Monarch for partnering with me! Start your free trial and get 50% off your first year of total money clarity using my link https://monarchmoney.yt.link/2J6Ns7O or code retro50 for 50% Off Monarch Core tier. I found an AMSTRAD PPC640, a weird British "laptop"... but this one is a US market edition?! LINKS: ------------------ 🍎 AMSTRAD history: https://amstrad.com/about-us/ 👉 Edited by the incomparable Diceroll! [email protected] (Amazon links are affiliated links) ══════════════════════════ 💾 For more vintage Apple stuff, please subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/ActionRetro?sub_confirmation=1 💾 Support these retro computing shenanigans on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ActionRetro ══════════════════════════ Check out my Amazon page with links to my tools, adapters, soldering equipment, camera gear and more: https://www.amazon.com/shop/actionretro ══════════════════════════ #AMSTRAD #Retro #Computers
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I want literally all of my appliances to look like this. It's like a prop out of fuckin' Blade Runner I love it so hard. You could catch so many replicants with this thing.
Diablo was a make of daisywheel printer in the early 1980s. PDF wasn't what it is today. In the 80s it stood for "Printer Definition File". That was from memory (I'm that old!), but I checked as I haven't heard the term for literally decades!
That "Processing... please wait" screen was probably the Boss mode. It hides the game screen in case the boss comes around and you don't want to be seen playing a game.
"Boss Mode", LOL. It was a quick kill or pause that took you to cli. This was when you were playing in the office and someone walked in you could quickly kill it and open some work.
Some people have added a backlight to their screen, and others have replaced it with a colour one! Fixing the storage was a popular choice back in the day. There were kits which allowed a bodging a HDD into one of the floppy bays and the controller onto the (mostly) ISA bus on the back.
"This is a family show!" **proceeds to FBomb at **15:40**** lol
I scanned the comments and didn't see this mentioned (but I did not read them all, so may have missed it): When you do DIR on a floppy disk, it reads the directory into memory. When you do a subsequent DIR, it returns what had previously put into memory unless the system detects that the disk was changed. When you changed disks in the B drive, the system did not detect the change, which is why it showed the same contents on both disks and then would not run the .exe from the second floppy. It doesn't actually exist on the second floppy. ;) I think CTRL-C dumps that little directory cache and makes the next DIR re-read the disk... It was common for the disk-change detection on floppy drives to fail. I don't recall if it was just a switch of some sort or more complex than than. I always just replaced the drive back in the day when this failure occured because a replacement drive was cheaper than my labor. ;)
owned one, used it as as an actual portable as a terminal and wordprocessor. One thig you brushed past is the modes for the LCD screen that make it more readable for some apps. From memory, rechargeable NiCads work in the battery tray and that is how I used it. I upgraded mine to a Zip disk, though it was a bodge involving the parallel port.
Mr. Sugar 🤣 I can hear Neil's Sugar impression now, screaming about titles.
My boss actually had one when I was writing database software on a glitchy & underpowered 286 Tulip PC, for a 2-bit company, in late 1989. He used it to write QuickBasic programs (with overlays!). Sadly, despite trying to sell Tandon PCs by the truckload, the company was falling apart. The furniture disappeared and he ended up programming it on the floor near the end (Feb 1990). I did see it in action and yes, it was very weird.
Noel's Retro Lab converted his LCD screen to have a modern 4:3 LED screen. Also Tim's Retro Corner added a XT-CF-Lite into the expansion card on his Amstrad PPC640 so you can have a CF Card acting as a hard drive. That Expansion Card has ISA slots on the board though you got a super low clearance so so only LP cards will fit.
I wish I still had mine. In college, I wrote papers, did finance course spreadsheets, and completed my senior business COBOL course on this thing (not kidding). Yes, I'm that wierd...and old!
The battery alignment thingies are actually a brilliant idea.
A new Action Retro episode always makes my day a little more happy. In these old transformers the glue or resin inside the laminated iron core always dries out and then they will make more 50 or 60Hz noise. It's not a problem.
Real life cyberdeck.
So... uh... this would be a flawless "cyberdeck"
Hahaha, I had no idea they sold these in the US, either. I'm in the UK and have one with the bag, power supply and manual. I also have a PPC512 in pieces, which someone gave me after they stripped the floppy drives out of it. I have no idea how to put it back together. That empty compartment on the top holds the hardwired phone cable on the UK versions. The cover's got a little notch in it so you can put it back on while the cable is in use. Noel's Retro Lab did a video a while back where he upgraded one with a colour TFT screen, using the battery compartment to hold the converter board.
I remember my dad telling me Amstrad stood for Alan Micheal Sugar trading
Parallel port iomega/epson zip drives work great as an alternative to a hard drive. The expansion ports are literally the ISA bus being exposed in the back via d-sub connectors. Someone did a project to add a sound card via those ports. I remember ours would create a lot of interference with the TV, which is maybe why the metal blanking plate was added on yours? Reading the screen is awful, and batteries are basically pointless but you can't deny the looks/styling.
The empty top compartment was to store the modem cable.