Reaping the Ebay harvest

[Commie_User]

More gear turning the ST from console toy to studio joy.

Timecode box: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Atari-520-104 ... 9980255%26






Still frame capture: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 1023305340






Woefully overpriced floppies: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 1015030980

Especially so as you can still buy 1.44 packs of ten for 1/3 or less of the price, tape over the holes and use 'em as 720Ks.





Though at least I can find cheap chromatic harmonicas. Not the best but certainly not tatty by appearances. I bought one.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0654887523


Had they been so cheaply available back in the day, John Lennon wouldn't have 'needed' to steal his from a foreign music shop. Yup, that one, as heard on early Beatle records.

[Commie_User]

EMULATOR II FLOPPIES! Good God mate!





http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Emu-Emulator- ... 3cd0b3156f

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-EMULA ... 3f23f7b664

Preset library CD: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/E-MU-EMULATOR ... 33815bb53d






And here's the gear to go with 'em: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EMU-EMULATOR- ... 1e7948849b








Though back to my level, a pile of Commie floppies: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/COMMODORE-64- ... 257c714e04


....A modified Commie with LCD: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/commodore-64c ... 35c66ae7f7






...Commie keyboard and software additions: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Commodore-64- ... 1e7967bdda

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Commodore-64- ... 23291c93d3








http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Commodore-64- ... 43b0ed27a9

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Seale ... 4ab8973e41







......And a Primax colour hand scanner, presumably for the PC. Laptop users could scan on the move: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Prima ... 3ccc3ce608


All this makes me want to boot my own stuff and quite right too. Though given the vintage, much won't load any more. Not without adjusting the azimuth, which again makes my brain think there must surely be another Play button to press to get more stuff into the PC.

[Commie_User]

The Einstein. A computer less successful than its namesake. A true curio.




As scruffy as its namesake too: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TATUNG-EINSTE ... 2429921%26





An MSX, a game try at universal standardisation in fun home micros: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sony-Hit-Bit- ... 7728333%26






And a minty A1200: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AMIGA-1200-Co ... 7728333%26

[Commie_User]

£200 for a sitar is about the cheapest.



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/sitar-tun-woo ... 257c019886




Though looks to me the simplest and cheapest way is to use sitar romplers and a MIDI guitar arrangement, or simply use a little box.



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Electro-Harmo ... 416ea29ea0

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Electro-Harmo ... 2ec7817cb7




Samples: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=sitar ... e&ie=UTF-8

[Commie_User]

A400: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Commodore-Ami ... 6644899%26









Lovely condition 1200. If only I had the sponduliks to have this as a spare, though at least I already have one minty one: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-VGC-B ... 7458307%26





Though this one looks alright. Much cheaper too, though no hard drive: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Commodore-Ami ... 3cd0ba398d


Another nice one, the Desktop Dynamite pack:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Commodore-A12 ... 4ac38f4f52



And OMG, look at all those goodies: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Amiga-1200-HU ... 4ac379760e








And Inside the Amiga 1200 book and video: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Amiga-Book-In ... 19cfd560ce

I'll remember that.



________




http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Commodore-act ... 5d3d7c685f



4 meg monster: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4MB-memory-ex ... 5d3d7c6937

Scandoubler: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Amiga-Flicker ... 2ec7555dcb




Sampler: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/A-Datel-Elect ... 1c2db480fa








http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Retro-Gamer-M ... 3cd0cba861







And empty game boxes. (So what, we can download the disks.)



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Empty-game-bo ... 1c2df1ea8b

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Empty-game-bo ... 5d36984972

[Commie_User]

The Beeb, the Beeb!






BBC Micro synth: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BBC-micro-com ... 6644899%26


They would have used devices quite like this at the Radiophonic Workshop back in the day. A quarter-century old copy of Sound On Sound visited there and photos showed Beeb computers, which they may have had no choice but to use at one point.

Good machines nonetheless, though STs did them better.







Music System parts 1 and 2: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BBC-Micro-The ... 4d0b9fbc28

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BBC-Micro-The ... 4d0b9fdd56






http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BBC-Micro-Mic ... 4d0b9fc44d






Hmmm, could get a Beeb for its special sounds, especially as can be programmed from BASIC. Or a ZX Spectrum.

Er, well no. Emulators can handle what few unique sounds there are and I have all that retro wal goodness as it is.

But I still can't deny that prestige.




_______________________

High-tech sound effects from the Radiophonic Workshop, to go all high-end: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hi-TECH-Sound ... 5d3d680dd6



_______________________








Not bad bidding on the micros either: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BBC-micro-com ... 3a8032d178

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-1981- ... 417276bda2

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BBC-Computer- ... 27d1ea9583






TWO of 'em: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-x-BBC-micro ... 2a2bc0c86d





http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BBC-Micro-B-C ... 3f24471ff5






PC DATA KIT: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ACORN-BBC-MIC ... 3cd0cbae99




Info: http://www.cowsarenotpurple.co.uk/bbcco ... cable.html












Software on a chip. Never seen those before or since.



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Acorn-BBC-Mic ... 19db34b27d


PASCAL: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Acorn-BBC-Mic ... 19dafe893e




http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Acorn-BBC-Mic ... 19dab414e4



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Acorn-BBC-Mic ... 33817c2dce





Games as well: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BBC-Micro-Aco ... 27d1dc9200


Mint-nick Welcome: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BBC-Micro-WEL ... 20d1900138

[Commie_User]

And to the other end, a 2.5 Ghz, 1Gb RM PC for £ 28: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RM-DESKTOP-PC ... 19db9ac383


And bloody hell mate, 3 Ghz for £ 35! I'll keep these for my reference.




http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RM-DESKTOP-PC ... 232a51541a



Just so cheap. Less than a secondhand DVD recorder, which these machines are too with a £ 10 capture device from China. Or a budget machine to stack full of VSTs. And complete with floppy drive for retro purposes.

Life is good.

[Chris Abbott]

Love that BBC Stuff... ah, memories...

[Schlicky]

Loving these posts - I'll keep my aye out for a bargain - C64 and Amiga please (to sit next to my speccy +2)

[Commie_User]

Love that BBC Stuff... ah, memories...

I'm glad about that. And to think the heyday was so short a period. By the time many schools finally received a BBC Micro, the RM Nimbus PCs had overtaken them as school machines of choice. And they were as far ahead of the Beeb as the Amiga was to the Spectrum. (Though they still had the BBC BASIC chips as a crossover and I would have loved to have seen its Beeb-PC transfer kit.)

When you wanna get down and boogie, all you can do is step back in time: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=8404&





NICE CONDITION A500s:


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Commodore-Ami ... 4172b284db

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/COMMODORE-AMI ... 35c7020581






http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Commodore-Ami ... 20d208e066



I can only offer the useless tip to have collected your backup machines back in the day when you still got them in store-type condition. But at least I know that worked, with my own boot-sale 500 so neat and pristine I'm afraid to ever use it!

Though if you live near Reading, pop by the Heart Foundation shop on the Oxford Road. £ 100 will buy you the peachy +3, joystick and game stack they have in the cabinet. If it's still there.

[Chris Abbott]

We had BBCs for a few years, and Commodore Pets before that. I was very lucky to be in a school that had a proper computer room in 1980!

Chris

[Commie_User]

I'm intrigued to know the software used in schools before educational machines were a reality. (Well, you never mentioned Apple IIs.) At least on The Computer Programme and Making The Most Of The Micro, PETs were certainly the preserve of business owners, chefs and doctors.

There couldn't have been any child-centered programs in 1980......?





Oh well, kind of. Still looks very dry though. The only PET I saw at school was 'dead' and kept in the 'technology' room with all the wood and metalwork stuff. In the end I had it as it was only going down the landfill.



A possibly broken PET. 99p though: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-COMMO ... 43bb6b06b8




Nice chunky printer: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Commodore-Tra ... 2c6e6b0a00



And 'blackie' is back on sale: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Commodore-CBM ... 2ec77a115e




NICE LOOKING 1200s:




http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Commodore-Ami ... 20d208baaa


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/amiga-1200-/2 ... 3f249a0b30



Mouse too: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Commodore-Ami ... 53f7d5b66f





Though you can also cheat and buy nice-nick cases and keyboards to assemble yourself.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Original- ... 4cfa8156d3

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Amiga-1200-ba ... 1c3248a2a1



...And the box: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Amiga-1200-sp ... 2ec7bf95ed

[Chris Abbott]

In my school, there WAS no educational software. We were put in front of computers and told to program the damn things (and that games were banned!). Didn't stop us playing games though... but if you have to program your own games in a lunch hour, you get reasonably good at writing "guess the number"

[Commie_User]

You had to build everything in those days. Can you still program?



I often forget how programming was ubiquitous. Even the BBC TV shows feature people saying rather matter-of-factly that they programmed some effective database software to help them run their businesses. That was dedication, especially for people who never touched computers before.





BBC on the Commie. It didn't go down too well: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=8465



I loved messing about with the BASIC at my school, a while after WIMP systems took over, so it was a mystery again to the other kids and teachers. It felt I was dusting off some long-forgotten relics and thought I was getting one over on the school by sneaking on some crude little game by the back door.

Recently, I've still had use of RT Russell's updated BBC BASIC interpreter to write jokey software to compile for Windows. So I never quite turn my back on anything, which is why I also keep my old Cubasis and other stuff, in case the samples or some feature still comes in handy. Which they have.

[Commie_User]

SOMEONE' S OWN PET PROJECTS:

Back at the end of the 1970's and at the start of the 1980's, I was a pupil at Keswick School. During this time, the school bought two Commodore PET computers ("Personal Electronic Transactors"). Initially, there was one model 2001-8N but, later, a new model 3008 - with more memory and a full-size keyboard - was purchased. I was the only pupil at the school to have my own key to the computer room. By the time I was in the 6th form, my ownership of the key had actually become legitimate!

I built up a fair collection of programs for the PET, most of which I wrote myself in BASIC. A few were hand-coded in 6502 machine-code. Some others were typed in from magazines, written by other pupils from Keswick School or obtained from other sources. The programs were saved onto cassette tapes, which I kept and had latterly been stored in an old shoebox in my loft for nearly 20 years.

Loft-storage of such old tapes may have helped preserve them. Tape of that vintage often needed to be baked to preserve them, with the heat of loft storage maybe doing the job near enough.


http://www.david.zen.co.uk/technology/pet/





Oh God, yeah! I want that 99p PET now! And I'm sorry the cats peed in the old one, a 2001 yet.

Though never mind, I can bung the proggies in the 64: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7289



Bravo!