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Vintage Computers Any vintage computer systems, calculators, video games etc., but with an emphasis on 1980s and earlier equipment.

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Old 11th May 2007, 5:35 pm   #1
Dave Moll
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Default Amstrad PCW and Locoscript

Following on from the thread on old computers still doing a useful job, I too have great affection for these machines and the excellent word processing software.

First the PCW - I own three of these:

An 8256 with single 3" disc drive. This has the serial/parallel port add-on enabling it to be connected to a modem and/or printer. In fact, I use the serial port to connect via a null modem to a PC serial port for transferring files using KERMIT software, which is how I retrieve something if the only copy I have is on an Amstrad 3" disc.

An 8512 with a 3½" A drive and a 3" B drive. This gives a stand-alone means of transferring files - using a CP/M package capable of transferring between CP/M and DOS format discs.

And finally, A PcW10 - with a single 3½" disc drive.

I must admit that the PCWs are not in regular use any more - just the occasional file transfer. If I want to run CP/M programs, I find it easier to use the CP/M emulator which I have running under DOS.

Moving on to LocoScript, which started its life on the PCW and evolved into a very capable word processing package there before being redeveloped as a DOS package for the PC, I have copies of the PCW versions 1 to 4 inclusive (though I don't have the installation discs for version 4) and two PC versions - LocoScript PC and LocoScript Professional.

I still use LocoScript Professional on a regular basis, as there are things I can do with that which I have never found on Word (or any other Windows word processing software). For example, I have never found anything else (including dedicated multilingual word processors) which handle Greek (complete with a variety of diacritical marks) as well as LocoScript does. The main limitation is that (being a DOS program) it only supports those printers for which specific drivers were written. If only a Windows version had been developed! I believe some initial development work was done on this before LocoScript Software finally threw in the towel.
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Old 13th May 2007, 2:21 pm   #2
Neil Purling
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Default Re: Amstrad PCW and Locoscript

You know I am not quite sure what model of Amstrad PCW it was that I had.
On reflection it might have been the PCW 10.
I know that when you printed in 'draft' mode the type font was different that the best quality mode. That 9pin printer was pretty damn slow. All you could hear was zzzzzzt, zzzzzzt. for 3 or 4 minutes to print a sheet of A4.
I got this creature from a pawn shop. It served it's purpose well enough.
I know that Locomotive Software marketed the updated Locoscript and spreadsheet for the PCW. You could get Epson inkjet printers for the PCW from Locomotive too. I can't remember a hard disc or modem.
Without any serious heat production or moving parts in CPU coolers it would still be worth having one today.
One annoying thing was that while the PCW10 did have a 3.5" floppy drive it's connections were totally non-standard to one meant for a IBM PC. You thus had to pay a premium price about 3x the replacement of one in a PC. If you had the PCW 8256 or 8512 you needed to get rid of the 3" floppy drive anyway.
The PCW was quite a well designed peice of kit.
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Old 13th May 2007, 2:51 pm   #3
Dave Moll
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Default Re: Amstrad PCW and Locoscript

Quote:
Originally Posted by Neil Purling View Post
I can't remember a hard disc or modem.
I'm pretty sure that there never was a hard disc option - though I would be glad to be proved wrong here

Although there wasn't (again as far as I know) a specific modem add-on, it was possible to add a serial port (and, as I said, I have done) to which an external modem can be attached - no internet access, of course

Quote:
One annoying thing was that while the PCW10 did have a 3.5" floppy drive it's connections were totally non-standard to one meant for a IBM PC. You thus had to pay a premium price about 3x the replacement of one in a PC.
... which I discovered the hard way when I tried to replace the drive in my PcW10 owing to intermittent I/O errors. I decided to live with it

Quote:
The PCW was quite a well designed peice of kit.
I would certainly agree on that, with reservations arising from AMS's use of non-standard components in everything he produced.
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