Amstrad CPC Story | Nostalgia Nerd

[@adz693]

The Pharmacy that my mum worked part-time in was using a CPC464 to run the printer that printed the medicine labels as late as 2010. They had to load the software from tape every morning when they opened! The owner retired and sold the business - or I'd have absolutely no doubt they'd still be using it.

[@tryzmsotryll]

if it aint broke dont fix it lol

[@calabiyou]

That's great.

[@billant2]

By now they probably added a dial-up modem too lol

[@janullrich7341]

wondering where they bought the cartridges for the printer in 2010

[@tristan6509]

@@janullrich7341 they are probably using standard thermal printer paper, receipt printers haven't changed that much, which is why all of them is still text based..

[@shayneoneill1506]

Great series! And subbed. This was the computer my grandfather (A computing pioneer who worked on early valve machines and was my hero, RIP) brought me, and spent the next year patiently teaching me basic and then assembler as an eager teenager. And now I'm a 40something programmer. Thanks amstrad. Thanks grandpa. And thankyou Nostalgia nerd.

[@NeuronalAxon]

What sort of things did your grandpa do, do you remember?

[@LesPeterGuitarJam]

Man, I'm getting all nostalgic. I use to have an Amstrad CPC 464 as a kid in the 80s... And I also had a zx-spectrum. I remember programming my own games in basic and then send them into SOFT, SINCLAIR USER, AMSTRAD MAGAZINE and so on. Great video... Thanks for the walk down memory lane...

[@dedeegal]

The CPC-464 changed my life for the better! I was just a year into my training as an electronics engineer when I bought a CPC-464. Almost three years later, I completely understood this device (including the gate array [for video] - only the floating point part in the ROM was magic for me). I learned to program on the 464, first BASIC, then Z80 assembler. With three programms sold, programmed in BASIC (boring but lucrative) I had enough money again to develop myself further. Because ... then, at some point, home computers were obviously dead. That's why I bought a PC (80286 with 512 KB RAM and two floppy drives) with MS/DOS, learned C, programmed a few games, sold seven of them, made good money with it, wanted to be able to do more and that's why I studied computer science. After graduation I got a lot more money for my work - and since then it's enough for everything I enjoy. THANK YOU Amstrad/Schneider ... for the CPC-464! THANK YOU Zilog ... for the Z80 ... and Rodney Zaks for his bible! BTW: if you have never programmed complex things in assembler, you will never understand how BEAUTIFUL computers are. It's not the youth's fault, because it's no longer necessary nowadays. Nevertheless, they will never be able to grasp the true beauty. There is only one and zero. A few registers, a program counter, a stack pointer (both also just registers). Actually, they are all just LOAD operations. Even in Doom or Battlefield, that's all that happens!

[@koraymemmi8550]

That is a good story. Well done sir :) Can you name a few of your games?

[@lunsj]

A big thanks to NN for this video. I am from the US so this machine was never on my radar. But it exemplifies what's so great about those 8-bit machines. And it must have taken a huge amount of work to put this together so thanks so much for doing it!

[@psychowsky]

Robocop theme ***goosebumps*** ... So many memories!

[@SeanTheMac]

This my 2nd video of yours I've watched tonight. Your research is impeccable and your manner is incredibly endearing. You sir, are a pro.

[@joshuakovacs3511]

I'm shocked this only has 58K views. The production value of your videos is remarkable. Please keep it up, look forward to further stories.

[@Exigentable]

These are all well researched, well delivered, well scripted and well edited. I look forward to your future content, I've gone and binged all of yours over the past couple days.

[@jasejj]

Kinda ironic that Sugar had the CPC and Spectrum, machines that suffered the most from the tape-to-tape piracy he helped to create in the first place by marketing machines with the Japanese dual-tape mechanisms. The other big cassette-based system, the C64, with its dedicated tape deck with on-board ADC, really didn't get along with copied tapes; at least, the cheap decks my friends had would never successfully make copies. They all had to come round my house where my dad had separate tape decks where we could alter the recording level (and, IIRC alter the biasing to effectively up the treble response) to make usable copied tapes. I'd learned this trick with the VIC-20 which had the same setup.

[@SFJPMoonGames]

This is me and my brother's first computer, not sure of model version. But my Uncle gave it too us prior to receiving a second hand Master System. I might need to DM you as have so many questions, your the only one I've seen writing on this subject properly. Thanks dude 👍🏻

[@moiquiregardevideo]

I just realized the quality of your documentaries. You reveal many details about the engineering of complicated devices. You present the important features such as the exact processor model used showing emphasis on how these machine really work instead of repeating the usual marketing creative speech.

[@gailspooner1540]

HUGE fan of the CPC 464, which my Dad brought for the family in 1987. Really led me to appreciate computers and spawned a love for programming in BASIC. The Amstrad CPC 464 is why I love computers today.

[@geoffhalsey2184]

Moving from a Commodore VIC 20 to a Amstrad CPC 464 was a massive upgrade. Going from 3.5K of user memory to a colossal 48K, meant I could run and write real applications. The tape drive worked reliably too, unlike the old VIC a tape drive which hit and miss add-on on a good day. Never had any trouble with it and with brand loyalty moved on to a Amstrad PC1640 later. Thanks to Sir Alan Sugar, I ended up as Senior Systems Analyst doing a job I loved.

[@DirkHillbrecht]

A very well made documentation about this important piece of European computer history. I learned programming computers in the 1980ies with my CPC 6128 using its Basic, Assembler and Turbo Pascal 3.0 on CP/M. Thanks for bringing back memories of that time!

[@reav3rtm]

I really like this "Story" series. BBC documentary level quality right there!

[@MrThankman360]

Ahhhhhh, Fools and Horses, love that show. For some reason I much more enjoy watching old shows from Britain than I do here in the U.S.

[@Crazy_Borg]

Brilliant video, just briilliant. The simplicity is quite stunning, and that's what brought me to the device. I even learned to program on this thing when I was a kid, the Amstrad/Schneider 6128 manual was just amazing.

[@fabslyrics]

all my childhood explained :) Amstrad stereo, CPC 6128 was my first computer, once upon a time in the suburbs of Paris France. my dad never drove a lory nor his wife :) thanks for the insight! walking on the path, I later became a londoner too ...

[@KillerBill1953]

I bought one of the first CPC464s available in Chesterfield on Pre-order. Never regretted it. In my opinion, the best 8 bit system produced. It may have been superseded by the later disk drive versions but I had moved on to the Amiga 500 by then. Thanks for the video. I admire Alan Sugar, who started from nothing, far more than the likes of Branson and Sinclair.

[@wolfgangricklefs2938]

Bill Fox: The only thing I missed were sprites, everything else were very good and expansible - if you wanted you could use nearly 4 MB RAM which was fantastic for that time (for me 64 KB was enough but just for the case - bought a vortex disk drive soon and used it until 1992). In addition I bought an Amiga 500 in the 80s - and later Amiga 1200 which I still have.

[@SomeOrangeCat]

*basks in some UK Gaming history* You know, whether someone likes Sugar or not. You gotta admit, the man started at the bottom, and climbed his way to the top. Respect.

[@gentarofourze]

Thats if you don't know/hear about the rumours he got the cash for his startups through organised crime, though if thats true you can call that a form of success too as he knew what to do with the proceeds of crime.

[@OpenKeith]

organized crime is very fun, 10/10 would reccommend

[@brucecharlie8613]

Yeah by selling shit to the public and neglecting his kids which he openly states in his autobiography - the guy knows business but he is a arse to say the least

[@sinicalypse]

Two words -- #TottnumbHotSpur -- #RespectDenied

[@beardyface8492]

You gotta admit, the man started at the bottom, and still goes back there to feed.

[@PikaStu666]

Excellent video! Brings back fond memories of playing my grandad's 464 with green screen. The Roland games, Harrier Attack and Oh Mummy! Great times!

[@regbarclay3767]

Great video. The 464 was my first computer as a kid. Still remember the sound of those tapes loading.

[@tonyquigley8274]

The anticipation crember it well

[@metalhammer303]

Same here, my dad got me a second hand one in the early 90s as I was badgering him for a master system... Imagine my surprise when I found out you could play games on compact cassette 😂😂

[@jb0nd38372]

I had a c64 never had a 464, was that a cross between the 64 and a 486?

[@jennisonb37]

This is an excellent video. Thank you for taking the time to research the material and produce it in such a professional manner. I didn't know much about the Amstrad CPC growing up since I was all about Commodore. Starting with the Vic20, C64, Amiga500, Amiga 3000. I learned so much in this video.

[@Adrian-yp7nb]

Very fond, and happy memories!!! I myself used my friend's CPC464, having moved from Oric1 before my parents brought me the CPC6128 (thankfully) 🙂🙂❤👍👍👍

[@somebodyjohnson6220]

oh my god, I moved from an Oric 1 to a CPC6128 !

[@AdamJX602]

I remember my mum cutting out the mail order sheet from a magazine to order me the disc drive addon... she put a letter in saying could they send it ASAP because it was my birthday soon. We actually got a letter in the box with a happy birthday and a free copy of “Through the Trapdoor” on disc. I could not contain my excitement and my mum couldn’t believe it.

[@JessHull]

I love your content! How is it you don't have triple the subs?!?!? Keep up the great work. One can really tell you put a lot of time and effort into your videos. Its a refreshing change from what most of youtube is.

[@JohnnyOrgan]

This was a brilliant, informative watch. Can't wait for part 2.

[@GameHammerCG]

Thank you for this. There are other documentaries that bash Amstrad out of fanboyism, so it's great to see old Arnold given a proper hearing. :)

[@Thelliott]

Just stumbled upon your channel and I just wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying watching your videos. Keep up the good work, and thank you.

[@awnnerd]

Fascinating. Looking forward to part 2!

[@bennysh]

Amstrad CPC128 was my first machine, a "Bar-Mizva" gift, back in 1987. This brought up some memories, thanks :)

[@bennysh]

@@stonecodfish2365 Actually I'm an Atheist so religion does not play a role, but hey, at least I got my first machine because of it :D

[@beefsoda1]

that was insightful to the history of our gear of the past. thanks for taking your time to create it for us.

[@MarkMason]

Really enjoyed watching this. It was edited perfectly and held my attention throughout. Loved the Sir Alan Sugar impressions as well. Good job

[@MarcelloTavares]

This video deserves a like for the Robocop music on the background alone

[@hartoz]

Great video, thanks. I was an owner of the Original CPC, it was my 2nd computer (Vic:20 was 1st), and I kept it until the Atari ST Launched. I still rate it as the easiest home computer to program, due to the cursor copy function (something you didn't mention). Thanks.

[@Spudcore]

Excellent stuff sir. The replacement drive belt for my 6128 arrived today so I've got a mighty case of Amstrad fever!

[@oc2phish07]

What a very interesting video. I used to own a CPC464 and later, a CPC6128 and wrote some moderately successful text-only adventure games for them. Your presentation brought back some great memories. Looking forward to Part 2 now.

[@aminekostone1411]

Absolutely awesome video Nostradamus Dude. That 1/3 hour just whizzed by. Also appreciated the pre-micro Amstrad part. Fascinating!

[@ernstarado7578]

I'm glad the ol' PCW got a look in at the end. That machine got me through college and into professional programming. Thanks Alan!

[@skylarius3757]

I had an Amstrad CPC464 in the 90's. It came from a car boot sale. It had a lot of games and even had Donkey Kong.

[@mcenglish4654]

Another excellent 'docu-video' of a very standard. Keep up the good work, we really appreciate it !

[@itsaPIXELthing]

Such an awesome trip down memory lane ;) Thank you, Pete!

[@jert1000]

Great work, I can't wait for part II, hurry up! ;)

[@almabethune4260]

My dad had an amstrad cpc 464 with about 40 cassette games and a joy stick and when we moved houses my mum through it all away. r.i.p a chunk of history :'(

[@scottbreon9448]

*threw it away THROUGH = TO THROW something THROUGH something THREW = PAST TENSE OF THROW

[@plisskensghost2951]

2 thumbs down??? great video mate, was a great time to be a kid. loved my cpc and its great to see it getting so much love on the interwebs these days. look forward to episode2

[@gingertom64]

Excellent video as always. Always look forward to these stories.

[@w00dyblack]

I had a 6128 and it was awesome

[@shayneoneill1506]

Likewise. It was a fantastic piece of kit

[@mr.y.mysterious.video1]

The Amstrad screenshots always looked nice on game packs seemingly combining the resolution of the spectrum with the far better colour than the c64. Never seem to move that well though

[@somebodyjohnson6220]

HEy they were some games that moved beautifully, problem many times with Amstrad is developers were a little lazy so the games were the spectrum games with coloured sprites if you were lucky. But games developed natively for Amstrad, comes to mind Freddy HArdst, Trantor, Zynaps ... were really cool !

[@ZxSpectrumplus]

In general games on Spectrum and C64 were a lot smoother and faster. The Spectrum was pretty much like the Amstrad with similar Z80 CPU, but the Amstrad has a lot more colors to move with no help from sprites and such, hence slower. I will take the less colorful version of the Speccy over the Amstrad to be honest. The C64 was the best in general, smoothest with decent color (but the color palette was kinda bland and dreary). Frame rates > all when it comes to gaming. LOL.

[@iantellam9970]

@@ZxSpectrumplus Looking at some of the homebrew and demoscene stuff over the last 10 years on the CPC, you can see how under utilised the hardware was. It can do some pretty incredible things in the right hands.

[@retrogamerthomas9169]

awesome first part mr nerd, i love these documentaries, better than anything on tv!

[@squeetnut]

We had one in our house, was an awesome machine! Thanks for reminding me of some of those excellent games.

[@leighfwarren]

Bubble Bobble music, awesome! Spent many hours until 4am coop playing with that!

[@daveb5041]

*I remember the first time I illegally downloaded software. This is what happened* : It was Sunday night I downloaded a game. Finished my homework was a straight A student. I woke up the next morning addicted to Marijuana. This wasn't enough so by the end of the school day they found me in the bathroom OD'ing on heroin. By Tuesday I was expelled from school lost my job before I was even old enough to get one was separated from my wife and kids who I had not even met and kids that weren't even born! That's how bad illegal downloading is.I am now serving multiple life sentences for the murders I committed that day to feed me habit. Was it worth that free copy of DOOMII ? Definitely that game was fucking awesome I would do it all over again if I could. Thank you free downloads!

[@SE09uk]

Hows your life of crime doing and how are your shipmates doing?

[@sinicalypse]

you know that downloading illegal software is the computing equivalent of overdosing on heroin, right? That's right junkie, if you download/ed illegal software you are dead to me! #FormallyYourHumbleHeroAndNarrator

[@jb0nd38372]

@@sinicalypse I'm dead to you too; I just downloaded a car.

[@dacypher22]

You should have known this would be the outcome.

[@SeverusStudios1980]

I think we were cell mates for a while dude..... LMAO

[@duroprem]

Amstrad was actually the first computer I ever saw and played on. It was in 1990. if I remember correctly, I was 8 years old, the game was a racer of some sort and I was blown away. I don't remember much, only that the screen was monochrome (black and green) and that I barely reached the second checkpoint before the time ran out and my older cousin took over. But, man, it was cool as all hell. My dad got us a used 286 PC a year or so later (yeah, we seldom had access to the cutting edge tech back then), and while I had loads of fun on that machine, I always longed for that Amstrad.

[@4t0m5k]

21:50 FUED!!! I played that game for hours, especially sneaking in and out of that green dude's herb garden. He sure was pretty agressive for being so good with flowers and stuff. And that rude red dude's sprite attacks were op af. I can still hear the sound as I watched my guy sink into the grave. Dududududu-ddududududu-duu The CPC I had as a 7 year old was a hand me down in my family and my dad would take me to the library to learn about BASIC 1.0. I'd make my own buggy text adventures that just consisted out of piles of if statements. It was a thrilling, wholesome and awesome experience, to grow up in a family that supported learning about computers. It really helped me in my life and in my career. I'll stop the nostalgia, beautiful video on a thing of my childhood! /subbed

[@PabloGaraguso]

Very well done and edited. Congratulations on a job well done! ... and thanks for doing it. Keep it up!

[@sagan666]

You got me at 21:10 . Wow it's been nearly 30 years since I have seen that game

[@boblowes]

Wait - did Barry Norman seriously just tell us that if our kids buy pirate videos, they'll become junkies? Nice scaremongering Bazza. I'm never buying your pickled onions again.

[@davidt-rex2062]

When did Barry Norman start selling pickled onions? Are they grown in his allotment?

[@cwxdaf152]

I work in a supermarket and can confirm that Barry Norman does pickles now. I don't know when this started but the brand symbol is a clapper board.

[@davidt-rex2062]

There you go - you learn something new every day.

[@russelledwards001]

ZygmaExperiment that IT crowd episode. ..

[@liamb5697]

Oh you're giving Barry far to much credit. He was saying every pirate video the parent buys makes it more likely their kids will become junkies.

[@LeeTennant90]

Excellent video. Looking forward to part 2. Great work.

[@chrisbtoo]

Great stuff! Had a lot of love for the 464, particularly with its bold colours - the 664 and 6128 didn't really do it for me with their more muted tones. I taught myself Z80 and figured out how the video memory worked on the CPC464 when I was a kid, and made a few rudimentary demos before I moved on to the ST. Still coding for a living 35+ years later 😎 RUN "

[@MattHayesVinyl]

A seriously enjoyable video to watch! I never owned a CPC but I do remember friends having them. I had a Spectrum 48K, Spectrum +2, and BBC B at various times back in the day. All had their pluses and minuses. I remember thinking the green screen was a bit limitation of the CPC but, as you point out in the video, you could convert to a colour monitor instead. For a while it seemed that the "Big 3" of the CPC, C64 and Spectrum were pretty much neck and neck in the UK. The BBC was always a bit behind, used more in schools and for running display systems, although it too had some benefits (it could be networked and had a ton of educational software).

[@dartsma464]

Matt Hayes The green screen was great for programming and serious work. The colour monitor was great for games. I bought the colour monitor in february 1985 and got the green monitor cheap from a friend in 1986. The extra resolution of the green screen is good on the eye, especially at the 80 character hires mode that most serious software uses. The ability to have programs in ROM that loaded instantly was great to. 16 such ROMs could be in the system at one time, assemblers, word processors, utilities, coms software and more. If you you what you were doing you could even transfer some of the games to ROM

[@ChrisCarpenter71]

Great video, very well produced and a wealth of information.

[@Toehider]

I remember getting this included with CPC my Dad bought us when we were kids. He was the only one in the family that could land it. And then he never played video games ever again hahaha

[@gunnarliljas8459]

Impressive stuff again, Nostalgia Nerd!

[@francisverhelst9375]

As an engineering student our university used apple II. We got a task of creating a program to simulate digital electronics on screen. Insteadof working on the campus apple’s we programmed this in hisoft pascal on the amstrad. The other students had something like a matrix showing up on screen of their apple. We (a friend student and myself) programmed a full graphical simulator with library functions. Our program blew away anything produced by fellow students on Apple. We got maximum points and were asked to hand over our source code. The professor was furious when we refused to hand over the code. We had so much fun with this very very capable machine

[@binkman853]

Loved this story. Wish we had seen it in the US. Huge thanks. Probably my third viewing.

[@freman]

Those 3 inch disks are almost indestructible, we dug one out from behind a set of drawers while cleaning up my mothers house a couple of years ago dropped it in a machine and it still worked

[@andrew6978]

My first computer, many happy hours spent on that thing.

[@OneCameraOneLens]

Loved my CPC464 and later 6128+. Owning all the major 8-bits these were by far my favourite all round machines.

[@dejongejohan]

Oh Dixons! How i miss thee. Like Byte, Escom, and other mom and pop computer stores.

[@Crimson_Logic]

Nice episode. Love these retrospectives

[@obsoleteprofessor2034]

My first computer was an Amstrad. I don't remember the model, but it had a 3-1/4" floppy drive built into the right hand side. There was space to install a second drive below that one. I bought my setup from Sears in California around 1986(?) as a closeout for $300. It came with a printer. I used it until the drive gave out. I then bought a 286 because someone had grabbed the last discounted 486. The 286's were in a tall pile along with the last 486. Next to all that were the first Pentiums which I couldn't afford.

[@sparrowthesissy2186]

This thing looks like a toy, but like a really fun toy. I think this machine definitely deserves a place in computing history for being one of the first "all-in-one" systems that didn't require setting up a bunch of different parts to get something worthwhile together. Visionaries like Sugar and Jobs really helped convince people these machines weren't just calculators you built from a kit, and we owe a lot to that vision.

[@DavidB-rx3km]

I had one, the colours! Not seen anything like it since! Great videos, these belong on TV!

[@DaveJeffery]

I really, really enjoyed this - it's a fantastic documentary. Many thanks.

[@terrythe2dmaniac71]

as usual masterfully made to be exciting and very very informative, one of your best videos to date by far buddy, keep up the good work and god bless.

Great video, thank you! Just one remark - the music at 10:53 comes from game called Platoon and was composed by David Whittaker. I don't know why it's called "Cassette Loader" in the video description.

[@Matt.Willoughby]

This was my first computer in probably 1985 or so. Remember typing a programme in BASIC that took about 4 hours and all it did was convert degrees Fahrenheit to Celsius!

[@crunchychips8123]

It was a gorgeous-looking machine - if very, very little else. I've been hoping for years to find a mechanical keyboard or key cap set with the green modifier/red Esc/blue Return key colour scheme.

[@LordmonkeyTRM]

I attribute my gambling problem entirely to Amsoft's Fruit machine, damn you Paul Aitman! *shakes fist*

[@Rogue_Leader]

I loved my CPC-464. I wish I still had one in many ways.

[@Ingens_Scherz]

I loved my 6128. Got it in 1987 and enjoyed it for about 18 months. Then came Amiga!

[@GMansGaming]

Ahh the CPC464, the first machine I ever gamed on

[@GATMachine]

Great work! Nice attention to detail with the editing.

[@DFUK83]

Loved this colour screen 664 still play the games now especially stock market and classic racing

[@vagosmoros7073]

I had 464 and still have cpc 6128, in Greece the CPC 6128 was one of the best selling computer

[@mrbedford]

I'd love to see an Amstrad Action video at some point, whether by you or someone similar. I grew up with that magazine and it made me the person I am today. I have to go now though as the person in the cell next to me has started screaming again.

[@aitchpea6011]

Oh cool, the amstrad penpad. I had one of those back in the day. I only really used it for quick sketches and taking notes, but it was a fine device for doing those two things.

[@shipguy55]

Wow, Stuart Ashen, Guru Larry, and Slopes. You 4 are my favorite youtubers.

[@AmbersKnight]

Excellent video, looking forward to part 2. I have always had the opinion that the CPC was a jack of all trades and like all such things whilst it could do a lot it couldn't do them as well as dedicated machines. It wasn't quite as fast as the Speccy or C64 but did have individual advantages over one or the other but never both. It is certainly a far better computer than the Electron and probably the Atari 8-bit (although I don't have much experience of the Atari line). Speaking of, I'd love to see you do a story about the Atari 8-bit computer line.

[@justanotheryoutubechannel]

Man, I love this guy. Alan Sugar is just brilliant. I love his business practise.

[@AkinokazeHaruichiban]

Damn, so much nostalgia. My dad had one of these [though I think we connected to a TV not it's own monitor,] and I loved playing Roland on the ropes & Oh Mummy on it.

[@shyboy5005]

I loved my cpc 464. Worked hard doing a paper round to pay for it but with all the great games and graphics it consumed my childhood (harrier attack /oh mummy etc) whilst nowadays I'm not keen on his attitude I have a nostalgic feeling regarding home computers in the 80s..as many people have.. Think in retrospect the c64 is/was a superior computer regarding sound and graphics even though it was more expensive and didn't come with monitor... Still fun though!

[@teckeleddie]

Good video Guv. Like the clips of Micro Men, it is a fav of mine. Funny how Alan says we are not a load of experts throwing electronic components in a plastic box, when a few years before he was throwing electronic components in a wooden box. Ironic,lol.

[@taketimeout2share]

Oh. There is a part 2. Maybe I should have gone there first. This is still bloody good though, better than your competition. Sir Allen would be proud of you.

[@AnonEyeMouse]

I had the CPC 6128. It blew up. I got an Amiga 500 with the refund.

[@Mr.madmight266]

I LOVE how the Amstrad CPC keyboard looks, i think i'm gonna mod my current keyboard to make it look as close as possible to the model of the Amstrad CPC keyboard.

[@chinnyvision]

Nicely done.

[@Axilur]

Great video, i really liked it.

[@eqjase]

Fantastic work. Thank you.