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Old 23rd Nov 2021, 11:33 pm   #61
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Default Re: Amstrad.What stuff do you have?

What used to kill thermal paper was storing it in plastic wallets. Vapour from the plasticiser was the cause.
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Old 24th Nov 2021, 1:57 am   #62
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Default Re: Amstrad.What stuff do you have?

I am still using this daily and quite happy with it but doubt Amstrad actually made it.
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Old 1st Dec 2021, 8:02 pm   #63
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Default Re: Amstrad.What stuff do you have?

I seem to have acquired quite a lot in recent times.

In the 70s I bought an Amstrad VHF/FM tuner, which I soon sold on. Strangely, I got given one exactly the same with a lot of other Amstrad kit several years ago. It only works in mono and is now in use for supplying a signal to the AM pantry transmitter.

I had an Amstrad CPC464 with colour monitor back in the 80s - sold on long ago.

I'll get round to gathering all the Amstrad bits together for a photo shoot, but for starters I just brought this one shown below, down from the loft. It's an EX222 Executive stereo receiver. It came with an auction lot of speakers and bits a couple of years or more ago. It worked well when I tried it at the time. I think it's time to give it another blast to keep the electrolytics on form!
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Old 1st Dec 2021, 11:56 pm   #64
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Default Re: Amstrad.What stuff do you have?

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Originally Posted by SiriusHardware View Post
Oh! I also have a mint / boxed GX4000 games console, I completely forgot about that. It only had the one bundled game (a race game) with it. I suppose I should have a look around and see if anyone has produced a 'super cartridge' for it, as has happened with so many other units. I didn't buy it, someone at a previous workplace was having a clearout and gave it to me.
https://www.retrorgb.com/c4cpc-rom-c...available.html
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Old 10th Dec 2021, 12:17 am   #65
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Default Re: Amstrad.What stuff do you have?

Just found this! Seems that by 1993 Greenweld had got their hands on Amstrad's surplus stock.
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Old 29th Dec 2021, 1:18 pm   #66
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Default Re: Amstrad.What stuff do you have?

Was in the loft this morning and came across my Amstrad GX4000 games console.
Fired it up and had a quick game of Burnin rubber!
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Old 29th Dec 2021, 1:25 pm   #67
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Default Re: Amstrad.What stuff do you have?

Unfortunately my memory of it is that it's a bit average. Probably the best serious 8-bit Racer was the F1 Grand Prix game for the BBC B (Geoff Crammond), partly helped by the BBC's choice of an analogue stick as standard, which made it the better choice for racing and flight SIMs.

I wasn't in on the Amstrad 8-bit scene at the time, my main memory is that it had somewhat graphically improved versions of titles which were originally big on the Spectrum, games like Knight Lore for example - largely monochrome on the Spectrum, slightly prettier on the Amstrads.

I can't recall a 'Killer App' - an Amstrad title which was so good that you would have considered buying the machine just to run it - play it.
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Old 29th Dec 2021, 2:58 pm   #68
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Default Re: Amstrad.What stuff do you have?

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Unfortunately my memory of it is that it's a bit average. Probably the best serious 8-bit Racer was the F1 Grand Prix game for the BBC B (Geoff Crammond), partly helped by the BBC's choice of an analogue stick as standard, which made it the better choice for racing and flight SIMs.

I wasn't in on the Amstrad 8-bit scene at the time, my main memory is that it had somewhat graphically improved versions of titles which were originally big on the Spectrum, games like Knight Lore for example - largely monochrome on the Spectrum, slightly prettier on the Amstrads.

I can't recall a 'Killer App' - an Amstrad title which was so good that you would have considered buying the machine just to run it - play it.
I have an Amstrad CPC464 and to my knowledge there was never a killer app the likes of Mario or Sonic etc but there were a lot of enjoyable games , one of which was Roland in the caves which was one of the bundled software titles which came with the PC on purchase.
I spent many an hour playing it when i was younger .
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Old 12th May 2022, 8:32 am   #69
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Default Re: Amstrad.What stuff do you have?

Here are a couple of early Amstrad products dating from the 70s i picked up at retrotech last weekend.

IC2000 (i think its a MK 1 ) Amplifier
Multiplex 3000 Tuner.

Both were very very cheap as you would expect , ive not tested either yet but either way its a couple of nice additions to my Amstrad collection.
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Old 12th May 2022, 9:41 am   #70
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Default Re: Amstrad.What stuff do you have?

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IC2000 (i think its a MK 1 ) Amplifier
Probably is, as my first stereo "separates" were the Multiplex 3000 tuner and an IC2000 Mk II, which had the obvious difference from this one of using slider pots. I picked those up second-hand in '78 or '79, but they soon made way for... hmm... I was struggling to remember, but I think it was a rather older B & O 900 tuner-amp, then a big Trio one. Easier to remember the brief loud switch-on buzz of the IC2000. I don't think I've owned an Amstrad product since: it isn't that my affections are limited to high quality gear, I've a colony of Fidelity radios to show if anyone ever suspects that...

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Old 12th May 2022, 12:13 pm   #71
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Default Re: Amstrad.What stuff do you have?

A PCW8256 replaced the office secretary’s typewriter around 1985. Sceptical about the brand but for the amazing price it was difficult to go wrong. Better kit came along in a while but the 8256 remained in use as several freelance suppliers used PCWs and the files were looked over and then ported to to PC or Mac. I took it over and set up some tasks on it and, eventually, it ended up in my box room. It was still in regular use in the very late 90s and I don’t recall it failing but eventually the tasks were no longer required. Wherether I gave it away or it ended up at the tip I can’t remember. For its capabilities I found it an excellent machine and I don’t recall it ever crashing.

Someone mentioned Binatone upthread. The only item of this brand I had was an answering machine in the mid 1980s. It was a twin standard size cassette arrangement with a remote access gizmo and a call counter that could count to 99. It was far more sophisticated than a lot of the other competitors including the BT branded one. As with Amstrad I was initially sceptical about the brand but it worked for many years – possibly into the new century – until eventually replaced with an all-in-one phone and answer unit which wasn’t as good but took up far less space. I think it is still in the store somewhere.

Brands are much of a muchness now. There’s a lot of stuff about under ‘well-respected’ brand names that are nothing to do with the original companies and are simply trading on the name.

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