Back in the beginning
Growing up in the late 70'd early 80's I was already a geek.
My favourite programs were science and technology programs such as Tomorrows World, Horizon and Equinox. Musically it was electronica such as Kraftwerk, Gary Numan, OMD, Jean Michel Jarre that floated my boat. At school we had no computers, but I knew that was what I wanted to do.
In the last year of 6th form, 1982, home computing had begun, machines such as the Sinclair ZX80 and 81 were knocking about but there was about to be an explosion of machines coming to the market. VIC20, Oric, Dragon, Acorn, BBC Micro, Spectrum were all names of the era.
In conjunction with a BBC programme, the BBC was probably the most powerful computer of the time - but it was expensive. There was no way I was going to be able to get one of these.
So when a new entrant came to the market, the Camputers Lynx 48k, with procedural BASIC, real keyboard, a full colour range, and yes that 48k of memory - all for £225 that was the machine I set my heart on.
So when I left school, and went to college to study HND Computer Studies, I got my grant and in early 1983 an order went in for a Lynx. Unbeknown to me Sinclair was about to slash the price of the Spectrum, and Commodore were about to launch the C64 but hey ho that didn't really concern me as the Lynx was a great machine for its time.
By Retro-activity, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31282972
It arrived in April 1983. My mother was petrified about me plugging it in to our Mitsubishi Colour TV which was the first colour set we had as a family, purchased just the prior Christmas. But I got my own way and the programming journey that shaped my whole career started....
My favourite programs were science and technology programs such as Tomorrows World, Horizon and Equinox. Musically it was electronica such as Kraftwerk, Gary Numan, OMD, Jean Michel Jarre that floated my boat. At school we had no computers, but I knew that was what I wanted to do.
In the last year of 6th form, 1982, home computing had begun, machines such as the Sinclair ZX80 and 81 were knocking about but there was about to be an explosion of machines coming to the market. VIC20, Oric, Dragon, Acorn, BBC Micro, Spectrum were all names of the era.
In conjunction with a BBC programme, the BBC was probably the most powerful computer of the time - but it was expensive. There was no way I was going to be able to get one of these.
So when a new entrant came to the market, the Camputers Lynx 48k, with procedural BASIC, real keyboard, a full colour range, and yes that 48k of memory - all for £225 that was the machine I set my heart on.
So when I left school, and went to college to study HND Computer Studies, I got my grant and in early 1983 an order went in for a Lynx. Unbeknown to me Sinclair was about to slash the price of the Spectrum, and Commodore were about to launch the C64 but hey ho that didn't really concern me as the Lynx was a great machine for its time.
It arrived in April 1983. My mother was petrified about me plugging it in to our Mitsubishi Colour TV which was the first colour set we had as a family, purchased just the prior Christmas. But I got my own way and the programming journey that shaped my whole career started....
Comments
Post a Comment