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Anyone remember the RM Nimbus from school?

Posted: 11/03/2012 - 1:08
by Commie_User
Early '80s educational PCs, far more capable than the Educator 64 and second only to the BBC Micro in popularity.


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http://www.old-computers.com/museum/com ... =1011&st=1

:)

This wasn't the first computer I ever used (that one was a year or so earlier and was even cruder. And I'm sure it was this one: http://www.old-computers.com/museum/com ... st=1&c=600 ). Like the Amiga, you inserted a floppy disk just to boot it and teachers wheeled it out as an occasional reward to play Granny's Garden, or that interesting questionnaire tree program I was always amazed by. The slightly non-standard IBM compatible must have had some merits - my college still used one or two machines by the end of the '90s. (EDIT: Albeit the later Pentium-class upgrade.) I first saw that around 6 and thought nothing could possibly top it if the school decided to use it.

Over twice that age later at big school, I discovered the BBC BASIC chip and had hours of fun saving little games and having all the PCs in a room play the same improv jingle at once. I would like to have known how to transfer disk programs from a real BBC collection we had there onto the PC network. They had disks and tapes of real crackers, such as Pole Position and Yes Prime Minister.




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I still remember this warmly, despite our computer teacher being a blubbery overbearing POS.



Well that's that seen again after about 15 years, especially the RM Link which I haven't clapped eyes on for nearly 30. I could look out for an old machine but I don't think it would ever earn its keep past nostalgia: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-VINTAGE- ... 1030wt_825

I can still Ebay bid on an old mouse though: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RM-Nimbus-Mou ... 500wt_1076

Re: Anyone remember the RM Nimbus from school?

Posted: 17/03/2012 - 0:02
by Commie_User
I haven't seen this since school either:

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If nobody answered my Nimbus thread then there'll DEFINITELY be no replies now.



There are none on Ebay at the moment but apparently there is one unloved unit just lying there at an abandoned hospital in Surrey.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/howzey/3089913286/

The cards I used had the year 1973. Here's what must have been the older, more impressive model: http://musicthing.blogspot.co.uk/2008/0 ... layer.html


The hen is getting ready. The hen is getting ready to lay an egg...

A rotating head played a piece of card coated with ferric oxide, the track in a spiral. I once recorded my own bits onto some spare blank cards, hitting reverse to hear myself backwards when I got bored. Should have left these artifacts pristine, thinking back.