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Overview

This section of the website describes my introduction to computing through the early days of "home computers" of the 1980s, as well as my forays into "retro-computing" as I have acquired a few legacy machines in recent years. The menu bar at the left lists the computers in chronological order of their production, not necessarily when I obtained them.

My first Home Computer was the Sinclair ZX81 which I bought pre-assembled in, I guess, 1981! This came with a whole 1kBytes of RAM but I added the wobbly Sinclair16kByte expansion module which fitted (loosely) to the edge connector at the rear. This kept me amused for a while, but I soon upgraded to the Sinclair ZX Spectrum - which came with 48kBytes RAM and colour graphics. Around this time, I was using some relatively powerful computers at work so wanted to upgrade to something a little more powerful for home use and came across the MTX series from a UK company called Memotech which had previously made an early entry into the home computer market producing add-ons for the ZX81.

The MTX had the "look and feel" of a "proper" computer, built in a sleek anodized black case and sporting a full size keyboard with function keys and a numeric keypad.

Having used a system at work that ran CP/M 2.2, when Memotech brought out the CP/M based FDX unit, I just had to have one! At the time, I was full of good intentions, such as learning Z80 assembly language (with Microsoft MASM ) and "C" (with the Small "C" Compiler). I also had the "latest" business software - NewWord (Word Processor), Supercalc (Spreadsheet) and the ubiquitous dBaseII (Database). I'm sorry to say though, that I did not use the tools to their best effect and ended up using the system to play games most of the time :-)

Around 1988, my FDX system developed a fault which made the system unusable. At the same time, I had started a new job which involved a lot of time away from home and reduced the amount of time that I had to pursue my hobby. Coupled with the fact that my job now involved more hands-on with "real" computers, including mini computers such as the Honeywell/Bull DPS-6 and process control systems, my MTX fell into disuse. However, I always hoped to revisit it at some point in the future and was always on the look out for replacement hardware that I could use to rebuild my system but never really made strenuous efforts to do anything about it.

The Memotech MTX section is by far the most comprehensive area of the site, this is where my main interest lies, and given the comparative rarity of this machine and corresponding shortage of Memotech resources in the internet, I am trying to make the Memotech information on this site as comprehensive as possible.

Others sections will be updated and expanded as time allows.

Timeline

Credits

There is a huge quantity of information available on the net covering most of the computers that you'll see here. The information here is not intended to complete with the many sites specialising in one or more of these computers, these pages show some highlights from my early computer experiences. To really do these machines justice, please make use of the other excellent sites available - many of which I have referred to for the basic information contained here. The links on this page will take you to some other sites that I have used :-