Newbrain
I was watching Making The Most Of The Micro on youtube last night and in one episode there was a feature on a chemists who were using a computerised ordering system based on what looked like a Newbrain computer. Anyone remember these or ever have one?. It had a two tone case, sandy brown top and chocolate brown bottom. The one distinctive feature was that it had a built-in vacuum phosphoresent alpha-numeric display in the top right corner of the case. It could also run from batteries which made it an early form of laptop.
I bought one from a boot fair once, for ?1 as far as I can remember (this would be in the late 80s or early 90s I think). It had no leads and no power supply but I connected it to my bench PSU and switched on. It worked but seemed unstable, BASIC would crash and the machine would lock up. I removed the case bottom for a look inside and found that someone had removed all the components from the original motherboard and rebuilt it on wirewrap board!!. All cicuit connections had been done with fine enamelled copper wire and tied together in very neat bundles. It must have taken days to do but why?. The reason for the instablility was revealed though.
A couple of months later, I was able to replace the motherboard and display board with new stock from a company called Greenweld, anyone remember them?. Wish I'd kept it, I would have got a small fortune for it on ebay now I expect.
I bought one from a boot fair once, for ?1 as far as I can remember (this would be in the late 80s or early 90s I think). It had no leads and no power supply but I connected it to my bench PSU and switched on. It worked but seemed unstable, BASIC would crash and the machine would lock up. I removed the case bottom for a look inside and found that someone had removed all the components from the original motherboard and rebuilt it on wirewrap board!!. All cicuit connections had been done with fine enamelled copper wire and tied together in very neat bundles. It must have taken days to do but why?. The reason for the instablility was revealed though.
A couple of months later, I was able to replace the motherboard and display board with new stock from a company called Greenweld, anyone remember them?. Wish I'd kept it, I would have got a small fortune for it on ebay now I expect.
Post edited by alien8r33d on
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I remember Greenweld reasonably well, they used to send me their leaflets / mini catalogues quite regularly years ago. I brought the odd 'bargain' pack of mixed bits and pieces from them. They are still around > http://www.greenweld.co.uk/ , but I've not had anything from them for years now. A quick look shows they do not seem to have the mixed boxes of random things they used to do.
Yep, that's the people. I remember them going under way back, they must have started up again. From the looks of their site, they seem to be just another Maplin clone now. In their original incarnation, you could get some really interesting bits from them at very good prices as you are no doubt aware. Aside from the Newbrain boards, I remember getting all the peripheral devices and add-on for a Micro Professor (Z80 based SBC) at one point, all new for about ?5 each, including a thermal printer, EPROM programmer and IO board. It was a real shame when they packed up.
That's it. I was not aware they produced a version without the display though. Would that have been battery powered also?, it would seem a bit pointless unless you've got a portable, battery powered TV and a very strong arm.:smile:
They have a cabinet in one hall with loads of retro computing kit in it. In this cabinet they have a grey open university computer called the Hektor II. Now that's something I've never come across before.
Here is a picture of one without the case.
I may ask them if they want to swap the Hektor 2 for a rubber keys ZX Spectrum, as this will be more familiar to people.
It says here (i.e. in my copy of "Digital Retro" by Gordon Laing) that there was a Model A at ?233 and a Model AD, with display and battery compartment, for ?267. Also that it had two tape drive sockets, so could read/write with ease; that the Angolan Ministry of Commerce used one as part of their mainframe; and that it was briefly looked at by the BBC when they were looking for their official micro :)
EDIT: http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=176
Looks like a third one, the Model M, featured battery back-up as well as battery power alongside that 16-character screen. No need to carry those two tape drives around anymore :)