Hi

Day 8 already and today I bring you the PCW-9512

And so scuzz-blog for Dec 8th 2006

http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/amiga_scuzz138.htm

This computer carried me through the late eighties during
a difficult time work wise. The Amstrad PCW 9512 wasn't
even what you would call a computer in the purest sense.
It generally was a word processing machine with the
capability to do Mallard BASIC and CPM. My first PCW
was purchased new from the Amstrad shop here in
Bournemouth. Cost around £500 and came with daisy
wheel printer. The screen was black and white and the
OS kicks in when you insert the 3" disk for Locoscript.
This computer could be seriously damaged if you
disconnected or connected the printer while on.. Not
that it works without the printer. A pretty noisy beast
this and the printer sat on about two layers of old
carpet to soften the armature. That hammering caused
the armature to break and I had mine repaired about
three times. One further problem was that the bar
that the printer head slid along got damp and stopped
it functioning. The biggy with this machine though, as
with all the 3" drives , was the failure of the drive belts.
And once the drive started to fall over the machine
was of very little use. Saying all that I had countless
hours of real joy with this machine, as I used it when
I was self employed for all my letters, accounts etc.
I also wrote a couple of books on the machine, and
started countless more. I also loved using BASIC on
this computer and spent many many hours writing
programs. You even got LOGO with it. CP/M was
very useful and I created my own database using
this. The disk tools were very crude cus you actually
edit the flags on the file entrys with hex dump to retrieve
lost files... Great fun though.

My PCW bust back in 1992 and I set it aside. Trouble
is I had so much stuff on disk I really wanted another.
I bought a replacement off Ebay which had a busted
drive. I tried to fix this but managed to literally blow
the thing up. Unfortunately when re-assembling I
happened to earth two live parts together by mistake
and when switch on it did.. explode. No damage to
me but pretty hair raising I gotta say.

Anyway, there were no further PCWs on the Bay and
I got frustrated, so I simply put a search on Google for
PCWs for sale in the UK. Amazingly, this guy in London
was giving one away. I emailed him and travelled over
to London, to a very ' posh ' as we say suburb and met
this old military type with his more than a bit younger
wife and was given a PCW 9512 all working... And still
does. I managed not only to again see my works on
the computer but print off my book, which I was so
pleased about.

The PCW-9512 a working computer, and one that did
everything it was advertised to do. Amstrad were often
misunderstood as a computer producer, and Mr Sugar
didn`t give them much street cred. The shop folk at
Bournemouth hardly did them any favours either. However,
I have a great softspot for this machine, and I still
occasionally fire her up to go through my old things.
The 3" disk is truly fascinating, along with the drives
and there are a number of enthusiasts on the web
still maintaining Amstrads from this era.

[ quote ]

NAME   PCW 9512
MANUFACTURER   Amstrad
TYPE   Professional Computer
ORIGIN   United Kingdom
YEAR   1987
END OF PRODUCTION   1994
KEYBOARD   Full-stroke 82 key with function keys,
numeric keypad and special editing keys
(COPY, CUT, PASTE, PRINT,etc.)
CPU   Zilog Z80 A
SPEED   4 MHz
RAM   512 KB
ROM   No ROM chip. Bootstrap loader is masked
onto a custom chip.
TEXT MODES   90 xchars. x 35 lines
GRAPHIC MODES   720 x 256 dots
COLORS   Monochrome (black & white)
SOUND   Beeper, 1 channel
SIZE / WEIGHT   34.5 (W) x 34.5 (D) x 42 (H) cm
I/O PORTS   Z80 Bus, Parallel
BUILT IN MEDIA   One Hitachi 3'' disk-drive (720k)
OS   CP/M, CP/M+
POWER SUPPLY   Built-in power supply unit
PERIPHERALS   Printer, RAM an serial expansion units
PRICE   £499

The PCW series was (and almost certainly still is) unique.
The concept was a simple one. A dedicated device that was
designed to replace the typewriter. This may not seem so
revolutionary today as it did in 1985 as there are dedicated
word processors on the market today. However, these modern
 word processors are really nothing more than re-engineered
typewriters. The PCW scored because it was also a very powerful
personal computer capable of running a wide range of business
software. And it came with a printer as standard.

Interesting Links:

http://www.fvempel.nl/9512.html

http://www.classicgaming.com/museum/faqs/amstradfaq.shtml

http://www.pcwking1.netfirms.com/

http://www.seasip.demon.co.uk/Cpm/software/amstrad.html

[ end stuff ]

Really wouldn't be a retro reflective without something about
the PCW-9512. Quite a treasure of mine, and still a great
little tool when I`m up against it. What is surprising is that
it is the only bit of kit I have in the house that has a printer
connected to it...

That was Day 8... tomorrow... er Day 9

scuzz
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com

Hi

IBrowse 2.4 - It's almost done! 08 Dec 06

IBrowse 2.4 has now reached release candidate stage, 
and it is now in the final stages of testing, in 
anticipation for a release within the next few
weeks. As most of you now know, we don't do release 
dates, but as promised we are letting you all know 
when we know a release is close - yes, "RSN"
Really does apply this time. Merry Christmas!

from http://www.ibrowse-dev.net/

scuzz
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com

Hi

Probably been here before but the massively expanded
A600 just had installed its Wi-Fi card... whoo hooo !!

http://www.amiga600.net/

The machine is now of the following specification:

A600HD 68030 @ 33MHz with FPU & MMU
34MB RAM w/clock (2MB CHIP, 32MB FASTMEM)
2.1GB Hard DisK Drive
52x CD ROM Drive
2 Floppy Drives
250w Amiga PSU
802.11b PCMCIA WLAN Adaptor NEW!
Kickstart 3.1 - Amiga OS 3.9 Boing Bag II
Philips CM8833 MKII Monitor

scuzz
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com

Hi

Greg has added artwork to his site ... Duh !! Not sure
about that Greg... Also your opening lines are interesting..

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from
yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast."
~ Ephesians 2:8-9

So we are saved by our faith in god and not by ourselves
or our works. Therefore creation is a godly thing and what 
we do is... er ? Brain hurts.

Anyway, Greg has a magic Amiga related site and full of
very useful stuff. 

http://www.gregdonner.org/

I particularly like his The UnOfficial GVP-M A4060/A2060 Page..
not sure anyone actually made an official page.. but hey.

http://www.gregdonner.org/gvp4060/gvp4060.html

Best of all is his Workbench listings... Magic.

http://www.gregdonner.org/workbench/index.html

scuzz
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com

Hi

Christmas is coming and some of you may be mucking
around Amiga wise so here is a good ref guide if you have
the trusty A4000 to play around with...

http://wonkity.com/~wblock/a4000hard/main.html

scuzz
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com

PCW9512