Amstrad PC1640 still in use

[TimS]

Apparently someone is still using one, albeit temporarily ....

http://www.kwvr.co.uk/news/index.htm
http://www.kwvr.co.uk/news/documents...essRelease.pdf


-- Tim.

[Mullard]

It's a pity they're not big on pictures.

John

[BGmidsUK]

Nice to hear of another of these still working.

I have one, albeit with a mono display (PC-MD) but unfortunately the original Seagate ST-225 is about on its last legs - however, when I buy a second 360k floppy drive I intend to experiment with GEM and early Windows versions with it
(The onboard FDD controller won't work with HD floppy drives, though I suspect it might do with DR DOS)

Expect to see a thread on this in the near future!


(I'll post a picture of the machine here for reference if anyone's interested)



BG

[Dave Moll]

Pictured below is my Amstrad 1640 with ECD monitor, which gets used very occasionally (though not frequently enough to justify replacing the clock batteries - hence the reported startup date of 1981!)

The attached peripherals to the right are an acoustic modem (in the wooden case) with a 2X CD-ROM drive below it (partly obscured by a Sinclair Spectrum).

Incidentally, I would not expect it to be possible to connect a high-density floppy to the Amstrad, regardless of the OS, though a 720K 3½" drive is supported (as shown below).

[paulsherwin]

You can use 1640s (and indeed most 8088/8086 era PCs) as decent serial terminals using MS-DOS Kermit. You can even use them as network terminals if you can find a 3C501 or other 8 bit Ethernet card, using Kermit or NCSA Telnet and a packet driver for the card. This software will all fit on a 360k floppy.

Originally Posted by Dave Moll

Pictured below is my Amstrad 1640 with ECD monitor, which gets used very occasionally (though not frequently enough to justify replacing the clock batteries - hence the reported startup date of 1981!)

Aren't the batteries 4 AAs underneath the monitor?

Paul

[Dave Moll]

Originally Posted by paulsherwin

Aren't the batteries 4 AAs underneath the monitor?

Yes, they are, but I stopped replacing them after I stopped using it regularly as they seem to run flat by the next time I power up.

[Nickthedentist]

The thing I miss most about mine is the complete and utter silence.

Mine had no hard drive, and there were no fans fitted either.

It's taken me years to get used to the constant whirring of a more modern machine.

Nick.

[paulsherwin]

Originally Posted by Nickthedentist

The thing I miss most about mine is the complete and utter silence.

Mine had no hard drive, and there were no fans fitted either.

Only the early ones had no fan. The computers kept getting stick in the hobby magazines because of this, so Alan Sugar had a fan fitted despite the fact that they didn't need one.

The early hard disks in them ran very, very hot though - the exposed panel at the front become too hot to touch within minutes of switching on

Paul