Amstrad - Notebook Computer NC100
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- čas přidán 17. 02. 2023
- A notebook computer from 1992 or possibly 1993. It can process words, it can add things to your diary, it can set the time, but perhaps the greatest feature is a fully featured BASIC programming environment! Amazing stuff!
I had one of these, I'd managed to convince my parents that I needed it for school - I was 13 at the time. I really just used it to program really bad games and impress my friends.
30 years on and I now program for a living (and have no friends) - so it helped a bit
That's amazing to hear! On behalf of Alan and myself, you're hired! Really good to hear stuff like this, hope you still enjoy it as much as you did, or is it all Agile development and ridiculous deadlines?!
@@weirdoldtech I still love it. Thankfully, I don't have to deal with agile workflows and deadlines that kill. I do have the worst boss in the world though, hate that guy... ...I'm self employed 😅
Nice! I have the NTS DreamWriter 100 & 325. There is a BASIC ROM image that you can find on the Wayback Machine. You can burn that image to a ROM, and swap out the one that came with it to use BASIC.
Don’t just hate it when you get your trousers stolen on holiday! Great fun video.
Thanks Simon! I'm never going there again!
I probably went to the same camping on Crete, because my shirt was stolen !
I’ll tell you how old these things are … I have used mine in cafés these days and people think I have bought the latest gadget going. They can’t believe mine is about 30 years old.
That's amazing! Bet you have to make room on the table for that! Do you ever use the basic programming on it?
@@weirdoldtech Thanks for your reply and YT video.
My NC100 doesn’t take up much more café table space than an ordinary laptop computer. However, there is certain computer etiquette to be observed. Café must not be crowded. If there for more than the time to drink a cup of coffee, get management approval (this is invariably given in non busy times like lunch).
Sadly, I was not much of a computer programmer. But I did own TWO NC100 and with a specially made cable, got them to “talk” to each other, and down load files between them.
So … would I buy an Amstrad today? I would if the screen graphics were the same as, say, a Game Boy DS XL. The 4 AA batteries gave as much life or half as much life as a Alpha Smart Neo 2 (700 working hours).
Increase the number of lines on the screen to 10 instead of 7-8.
Increase memory to 500 k or 1 meg instead of 64 k.
Ability to download files onto a data card that’s 32 meg, 64 meg or more.
Add in a simple chess and / or checkers game to the standard of Game Boy.
Change the font set-up to a “What-you-see-is-what-you-get”.
Ability to download data files to most computers similar to the Alpha Smart NEO 2.
The Amstrad NC 100 is still more versatile than the NEO 2, despite being 15-20 years older.
Okay, I’m being fussy, but for now the Amstrad with its fat chunky comfortable keypad, will accommodate my chubby “banana fingers” quite nicely.
That's a thorough response, thanks for the information!
I had one of these and loved it. As with all the tech I had back then, I'm gutted to have sold it.
This is so well designed. Nice to see a product that's so easy to use - from the colour coded function keys to the little prompts on the screen. I had a read of the user manual and it's well laid out - pretty cool how it can get you started writing programs with BASIC too.
Totally agree, what a beast! Saw the second generation of this on eBay today... Put a bid in, but might be out of my price range!
@@weirdoldtech eBay can get quite out of hand sometimes 😂
I wonder what storage options were there for the BASIC. 'cause it would be a great piece of hardware if you could load programs from the memory card.
Thing is though, for all the waffle about it being Sugar's "baby" this thing is little more than a reskinned version of a series of portable computers that Citizen of Japan had been making for years. There were Tandy variants as well. The software was quite well done but it wouldn't surprise me if Alan's only real input was to add a splash of colour to the keyboard - that sort of thing was definitely a Sugar trademark.
Thanks Jason, I just spoke to Alan, and he says you're fired!
Well, there were several devices with a similar form factor over the years, but different hardware. Some had a Z80 CPU, some a 6502 or even an 8088. But many were just dedicated word processors, and most of the competing devices were incompatible in terms of ROM based OS and software. But good old Clive Sinclair launched his Z88 years before Amstrad did the NC range, and it too had BBC Basic built in. Making both machines into very useful, portable computers.
@@another3997 Just having a BASIC interpreter doesn't make a machine "useful" (and the small Japanese units usually had BASIC built in anyway, albeit not the BBC variant). The fact remains that this form factor, with very similar hardware and software had been around since the early 1980s, and other than the BASIC this machine was no different to most of them. Glorified organisers. In fact the Epsons and Kyoceras, admittedly a lot more expensive, were far closer to "real" computers than this thing,which isn't just similar to, it literally is just a revision of a Citizen computer that debuted in Japan in 1987. It's really just the equivalent of when Sugar repackaged a load of cheap stereo systems from Funai and hyped them up into the next big thing in hifi.
The Sinclair machine did move the game on in a much more substantial manner thanks to its relatively sophisticated operating system.
I still have an NC100. The biggest problem with the NC range is the displays. The NC100 had no back-light, and the overall contrast wasn't great. The NC200 did have a switchable back-light, but it ate through batteries very quickly. Both screens were quite reflective. I wish there were a way to put a modern LCD display in them, but there aren't any with the correct size and aspect ratio.
Regarding the poor display, I'm sure Alan would have seen it as a selling point; 'want to do some work on the train, without someone seeing your private data over your shoulder? This is the device for you! With such a tiny viewing angle, it's like looking through a letter box at 50 feet. Amazing security!'
@@weirdoldtech Very amusing. However, I never had any real problems with the display, even fairly low light. Theoretically, if one can touch type, a candlelight will do.
I found the 4 x AA batteries gave about 20 hours of continuous work, so 2 packets of batteries at $2 a pack would cover 40 hours.
I used mine years ago staying in an off grid home, with the most primitive of electrical systems.
These have a back up battery but I’d also recommend having a data card. These can be hard to get, but I have a couple of 1 mb cards, and these were fine for transcribing documents or TV shows.
Great little units … still.
But can it play Doom?
He stole my _trousers potato_ 😂
Shakespeare mate!