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The light colors computer

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  The light colors computer Geoff Wearmouth <gwearmouth@gmail.com> - 2015-08-19 16:47 -0700
    Re: The light colors computer "Chris Young" <chris.usenet@mail-filter.com> - 2015-08-20 19:22 +0100
      Re: The light colors computer "Brian-Gaff" <briang1@blueyonder.co.uk> - 2015-08-21 11:40 +0100
        Re: The light colors computer Steve Drain <steve@kappa.me.uk> - 2015-08-21 12:06 +0100
      Re: The light colors computer Duncan Snowden <duncan_s@talktalk.net> - 2015-08-21 19:25 +0100
        Re: The light colors computer Kallu Wiegand <spam.only@roev.de> - 2015-08-21 21:22 +0200
          Re: The light colors computer Guesser <alistair@zxnet.co.uk> - 2015-08-23 18:52 +0100
      Re: The light colors computer Andrew Owen <aowen10@mail.bbk.ac.uk> - 2015-08-31 17:48 +0100
    Re: The light colors computer "Brian-Gaff" <briang1@blueyonder.co.uk> - 2015-08-21 11:32 +0100
      Re: The light colors computer Kallu Wiegand <spam.only@roev.de> - 2015-08-21 21:31 +0200
        Re: The light colors computer Geoff Wearmouth <gwearmouth@gmail.com> - 2015-08-22 16:23 -0700
          Re: The light colors computer "Brian-Gaff" <briang1@blueyonder.co.uk> - 2015-08-23 08:23 +0100
          Re: The light colors computer Duncan Snowden <duncan_s@talktalk.net> - 2015-08-23 18:39 +0100
          Re: The light colors computer Selwyn Froggitt <markrobertwills@yahoo.co.uk> - 2015-08-24 01:40 -0700
        Re: The light colors computer "Brian-Gaff" <briang1@blueyonder.co.uk> - 2015-08-23 08:21 +0100

#3910 — The light colors computer

The light colors computer 
 with full memory was made by an uncle man and some student types way back then. 
With a single key it could accept do words and other presses made sense too. 
It was a good idea to save this stuff before running 
You could buy stuff to put in it though it took time.
Crazy rock man or something. Break out was free.
There was a write thing that worked with funny paper.
There were only four lines of keys so simple.
You had to join it to the tv to see stuff .
They made a lot of them in black but only one white one.
The uncle man got that one.
I still have my first one and the do it this way book. Sigh.

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#3913

On Wed, 19 Aug 2015 16:47:00 -0700 (PDT) da kidz on comp.sys.sinclair were rappin'
to MC Geoff Wearmouth:

> The light colors computer 
>  with full memory was made by an uncle man and some student types way back then. 
> With a single key it could accept do words and other presses made sense too. 
> It was a good idea to save this stuff before running 
> You could buy stuff to put in it though it took time.
> Crazy rock man or something. Break out was free.
> There was a write thing that worked with funny paper.
> There were only four lines of keys so simple.
> You had to join it to the tv to see stuff .
> They made a lot of them in black but only one white one.
> The uncle man got that one.
> I still have my first one and the do it this way book. Sigh.

Erm... OK, OwenBot, what have you done with Geoff?

Chris


-- 
+-------------------------------------------+
| Unsatisfactory Software - "because it is" |
|  http://www.unsatisfactorysoftware.co.uk  |
| Your Sinclair: A Celebration              |
+- http://www.yoursinclair.co.uk -----------+

DISCLAIMER: I may be making all this stuff up again.

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#3919

This sounds to me like a very young persons take on the Spectrum.

Least that was what I assumed when I read it.

Obviously could not count.

There have been some odd computers made though, I fully recall Dixons 
selling an Atari with a kind of stepped keyboard, but the keys did not move, 
just had little membrane switches under them.
 Awful to use.
 Then there was the Newbrain, which had a single line display on it. Not 
much for the gamer there then, and it it was an eerie green display.
 The Lynx which when it drew coloured lines the three colours were 
sequential, making for a very strang screen update from Basic.
 I actually quite liked the kyboard of the Oric Atmos, but oh the basic. 
Save my sanity please.
 Nowadays, we seem to be happy with a computer that has no  inbuilt language 
which is easy to learn and easy to use.
 It is a great shame as all the Sinclair basics were both of those things 
and with current computing power, surely a look alike for us oldies who 
remember line numbers and  simple entry with error checking could use should 
be in every computer..
 moan mumbles off talking about Python and  visual basic.
 Brian

-- 
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is  active
"Chris Young" <chris.usenet@mail-filter.com> wrote in message 
news:55D628FA.MD-1.4.17.chris.young@unsatisfactorysoftware.co.uk...
> On Wed, 19 Aug 2015 16:47:00 -0700 (PDT) da kidz on comp.sys.sinclair were 
> rappin'
> to MC Geoff Wearmouth:
>
>> The light colors computer
>>  with full memory was made by an uncle man and some student types way 
>> back then.
>> With a single key it could accept do words and other presses made sense 
>> too.
>> It was a good idea to save this stuff before running
>> You could buy stuff to put in it though it took time.
>> Crazy rock man or something. Break out was free.
>> There was a write thing that worked with funny paper.
>> There were only four lines of keys so simple.
>> You had to join it to the tv to see stuff .
>> They made a lot of them in black but only one white one.
>> The uncle man got that one.
>> I still have my first one and the do it this way book. Sigh.
>
> Erm... OK, OwenBot, what have you done with Geoff?
>
> Chris
>
>
> -- 
> +-------------------------------------------+
> | Unsatisfactory Software - "because it is" |
> |  http://www.unsatisfactorysoftware.co.uk  |
> | Your Sinclair: A Celebration              |
> +- http://www.yoursinclair.co.uk -----------+
>
> DISCLAIMER: I may be making all this stuff up again. 

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#3920

On 21/08/2015 11:40, Brian-Gaff wrote:
>   Nowadays, we seem to be happy with a computer that has no  inbuilt language
> which is easy to learn and easy to use.
>   It is a great shame as all the Sinclair basics were both of those things
> and with current computing power, surely a look alike for us oldies who
> remember line numbers and  simple entry with error checking could use should
> be in every computer..
>   moan mumbles off talking about Python and  visual basic.

You could investigate RISC OS, the 'successor' to BBC MOS on the 
Archimedes etc. It has built-in BBC BASIC which is still actively used.

Buy a Raspberry Pi and install the minimum Pico system and you will be 
back with a black screen and flashing cursor. ;-)

  https://www.riscosopen.org/content/sales/risc-os-pico

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#3921

On 20 Aug 2015 19:22:34 +0100
"Chris Young" <chris.usenet@mail-filter.com> wrote:

> Erm... OK, OwenBot, what have you done with Geoff?

I suspect Geoff is trying to describe the Speccy in the style of
Randall (XKCD) Munroe's "Thing Explainer" book.

http://blog.xkcd.com/2015/05/13/new-book-thing-explainer/

"A while ago, I posted the comic Up Goer Five, an annotated blueprint
of the Saturn V rocket with all the parts described using only the
thousand most common English words.

Today, I’m excited to announce that I’m publishing a collection of
large-format (9″x13″) Up Goer Five-style blueprints. [...] Since this
book explains things, I’ve called it Thing Explainer."

Either that, or he's had an aneurysm.

-- 
Duncan Snowden.

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#3922

On 21.08.2015 at 20:25 Duncan Snowden wrote:

> On 20 Aug 2015 19:22:34 +0100
> "Chris Young" <chris.usenet@mail-filter.com> wrote:
>
>> Erm... OK, OwenBot, what have you done with Geoff?
>
> I suspect Geoff is trying to describe the Speccy in the style of
> Randall (XKCD) Munroe's "Thing Explainer" book.
....
>
> Either that

With the addition that he describes all of the Sinclairs:
"only one white one" --> the ZX80.

> or he's had an aneurysm.

Don't think so.

Greetings, Kallu
-- 

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#3928

On 21/08/2015 20:22, Kallu Wiegand wrote:
> With the addition that he describes all of the Sinclairs:
> "only one white one" --> the ZX80.

Er, no. He was describing Spectrums. They made one white one that Sir 
Clive has. :p

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#3938

On 20/08/2015 19:22, Chris Young wrote:
> On Wed, 19 Aug 2015 16:47:00 -0700 (PDT) da kidz on comp.sys.sinclair were rappin'
> to MC Geoff Wearmouth:
>
>> The light colors computer
>>   with full memory was made by an uncle man and some student types way back then.
>> With a single key it could accept do words and other presses made sense too.
>> It was a good idea to save this stuff before running
>> You could buy stuff to put in it though it took time.
>> Crazy rock man or something. Break out was free.
>> There was a write thing that worked with funny paper.
>> There were only four lines of keys so simple.
>> You had to join it to the tv to see stuff .
>> They made a lot of them in black but only one white one.
>> The uncle man got that one.
>> I still have my first one and the do it this way book. Sigh.
>
> Erm... OK, OwenBot, what have you done with Geoff?
>
> Chris

Nothing. He did it to himself.

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#3918

Hmm, never saw a white one, but I guess it could have been made in any 
colour, even see through if they had loaded that plastic in the  machines.

I did see one painted eggshell orange once. It looked pretty naff. In those 
days the  keyplate was attached by four little bent lugs, not just glue.

Brian

-- 
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is  active
"Geoff Wearmouth" <gwearmouth@gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:25dae366-7ba7-4767-ba6e-ea719ba272c0@googlegroups.com...
> The light colors computer
> with full memory was made by an uncle man and some student types way back 
> then.
> With a single key it could accept do words and other presses made sense 
> too.
> It was a good idea to save this stuff before running
> You could buy stuff to put in it though it took time.
> Crazy rock man or something. Break out was free.
> There was a write thing that worked with funny paper.
> There were only four lines of keys so simple.
> You had to join it to the tv to see stuff .
> They made a lot of them in black but only one white one.
> The uncle man got that one.
> I still have my first one and the do it this way book. Sigh. 

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#3923

Never seen a ZX80? Today the hue of mine is like mushroom, but I swear 
it was white!

Greetings, Kallu

On 21.08.2015 at 12:32 Brian-Gaff wrote:
> Hmm, never saw a white one, but I guess it could have been made in any
> colour, even see through if they had loaded that plastic in the  machines.
>
> I did see one painted eggshell orange once. It looked pretty naff. In those
> days the  keyplate was attached by four little bent lugs, not just glue.
>
> Brian
>
-- 

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#3924

Duncan has hit the nail on the head and I am using Randall Munroe's list of the thousand most common words to describe the Spectrum.
There isn't the word thousand in the dictionary so ten hundred works. Similarly, Manic, Miner, rainbow and spectrum are missing. 
I used Theo Sanderson's 'Up-Goer Five Text Editor' to make it easier although I did not look at the dictionary first.

http://splasho.com/upgoer5/

Have a go with a concept :-)

I remain young and healthy.

Talking of word games Ted Harvard recently visited us from beneath his bridge. I could not get the anagram. It is Darth Vader.
I need to spend more time watching Rachel Riley and playing 48K Spectrum Scrabble.

--
G.

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#3926

Huh? what dictionary does not have these words in it? I mean most 
translations dictionaries seem to manage.

Though of coourse you can always fool them if you have a mind to and the 
time to bother to do it.
 Brian

-- 
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is  active
"Geoff Wearmouth" <gwearmouth@gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:df4cc573-822f-4d9f-9706-e278a0109569@googlegroups.com...
> Duncan has hit the nail on the head and I am using Randall Munroe's list 
> of the thousand most common words to describe the Spectrum.
> There isn't the word thousand in the dictionary so ten hundred works. 
> Similarly, Manic, Miner, rainbow and spectrum are missing.
> I used Theo Sanderson's 'Up-Goer Five Text Editor' to make it easier 
> although I did not look at the dictionary first.
>
> http://splasho.com/upgoer5/
>
> Have a go with a concept :-)
>
> I remain young and healthy.
>
> Talking of word games Ted Harvard recently visited us from beneath his 
> bridge. I could not get the anagram. It is Darth Vader.
> I need to spend more time watching Rachel Riley and playing 48K Spectrum 
> Scrabble.
>
> --
> G. 

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#3927

On Sat, 22 Aug 2015 16:23:20 -0700 (PDT)
Geoff Wearmouth <gwearmouth@gmail.com> wrote:

> http://splasho.com/upgoer5/

That word writing thing is really interesting. But hard. 

> I remain young and healthy.

Good, good. I was worried for a moment, then I saw it was the Up-Goer
Five type of writing.

> I need to spend more time watching Rachel Riley

We all do.

> and playing 48K Spectrum Scrabble.

That too.

(To break out of the silliness for a second, it would be better if it
was more like a thesaurus than a spellchecker, offering alternatives
for disallowed words. But even as it stands, it's kind of compelling.)

-- 
Duncan Snowden.

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#3930

On Sunday, 23 August 2015 00:23:21 UTC+1, Geoff Wearmouth  wrote:
> Duncan has hit the nail on the head and I am using Randall Munroe's list of the thousand most common words to describe the Spectrum.
> There isn't the word thousand in the dictionary so ten hundred works. Similarly, Manic, Miner, rainbow and spectrum are missing. 
> I used Theo Sanderson's 'Up-Goer Five Text Editor' to make it easier although I did not look at the dictionary first.
> 
> http://splasho.com/upgoer5/
> 
> Have a go with a concept :-)
> 
> I remain young and healthy.
> 
> Talking of word games Ted Harvard recently visited us from beneath his bridge. I could not get the anagram. It is Darth Vader.
> I need to spend more time watching Rachel Riley and playing 48K Spectrum Scrabble.
> 
> --
> G.

There's something eeriliy Orwellian about a 1000 word dictionary!

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#3925

Yes it was white, but some were not as white as others, but Mushroom? are 
there smokers in the house?
 Brian

-- 
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is  active
"Kallu Wiegand" <spam.only@roev.de> wrote in message 
news:d3pck8Fp659U2@mid.individual.net...
> Never seen a ZX80? Today the hue of mine is like mushroom, but I swear it 
> was white!
>
> Greetings, Kallu
>
> On 21.08.2015 at 12:32 Brian-Gaff wrote:
>> Hmm, never saw a white one, but I guess it could have been made in any
>> colour, even see through if they had loaded that plastic in the 
>> machines.
>>
>> I did see one painted eggshell orange once. It looked pretty naff. In 
>> those
>> days the  keyplate was attached by four little bent lugs, not just glue.
>>
>> Brian
>>
> -- 
> 

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