Amstrad PC1512 Retrospective (New & Improved) | Nostalgia Nerd

The Amstrad PC1512 was Alan Sugar's attempt to break into the IBM PC Compatible market with a machine that was cheaper than the competition, whilst still being fairly well equipped. The PC1512 was a reasonable success that might have done better if it weren't for nasty rumors (possibly spread by IBM themselves) and production issues meaning the HDD models were in short supply. Join me for this updated review/retrospective (because my original one almost exactly 2 years ago was a pile of unreserved crap), and let's look at the history and details of this Amstrad PC.
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• PC 1640 Running video ... - PC 1640 Running video test
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[@KevReillyUK]

The first GUI I ever used was on one of these machines, around 1986 or 1987. A schoolfriend's parents had one and, although it was supposed to be out of bounds for us, if we rushed to his house early enough there was a half-hour window of opportunity before they got home. We'd only ever used PETs, BBC Micros, C=64s and assorted Sinclair machines and so the mouse-driven interface on the 1512 was like something from another world, as was the massive 20MB hard drive. I remember GEM Paint let you fill an area with patterns, including a brick-like pattern. Having spent many an hour writing BBC or Spectrum programs to draw brick walls using user-defined graphics, seeing this machine able to do it in seconds by dragging a box and filling it with bricks was like magic. Amusingly, the hard drives on these early machines made a very unique, almost melodic series of noises when being accessed and to this day I still occasionally hear that sound in the background mix of TV shows whenever there's a bit of technology on the screen. I guess it ended up in a sound library somewhere and was never updated.

[@otherreality]

One of my favorite computers, my Dad brought one home back in '86, and then took it to his store for financial/inventory use. Found it years after in full corrosion, got sad, hunted another one for over 7 years, and finally got it boxed and complete, but with the mono monitor and without an HDD ( i threw away the old one, as stupid as I was). I also found the original desk my dad had custom ordered for it, so now it's in my attic set up just like it used to be back in '86. It really is pretty useless today, but it just brings a smile to my face just looking at it, and maybe load a couple games or cover disks from magazines now and then. I remember people getting crazy about this machine here in Greece, magazines, shops, all the local computer enthusiasts were raving about it, and it was the 1st PC for many people. - subscribed BTW !

[@ianedmonds9191]

Remember getting Tons of Shareware and feeling slightly guilty as a teenager for not paying. I'm now a programmer by trade and spend my life writing corporate code. I don't think I'd be able to make ends meet as a Shareware developer but I do appreciate the faith in humanity these people had. I bought some. Not as many as I used. My bad. Open source is probably a better more honest model. No-one expects to benefit directly from Open Source. The benefit comes from reputation. Luv and Peace,

[@offrails]

As a kid, I spent many hours with the PC1512. It was the slower of the two computers we had in the house and didn't have as fancy graphics, but I didn't have to fight with my brothers to use it. We had the model with the CGA monitor and the 20MB hard drive (which had a very distinct sound). Among the software we had were a few Sesame Street games, Microsoft Paintbrush (a re-branded version of ZSoft Paintbrush), Monopoly, a few of the original AGI/SCI Sierra adventure games, Sokoban, and a simple word processor. We later gave it to my cousin shortly after we got a shiny new 486 and never saw it again, though I still miss it.

[@Switcher1972]

As French citizen myself, i noticed the Nerd used some French ads from the time where Amstrad was a reaaaally big name here in 8-bit / PC markets. As far as i can recall, they just blew out the competitors (even the local mogul Thomson) into oblivion with their CPC / PCW and PC lines. It was absolutely crazy at the time: almost everyone at school had one. They were aggressively priced, sexier and more convenient machine than others (one name: integration), and for sure that combo computer + screen + cassette/disk drive all-in-one was just brilliant. Lots of local software compagnies grew up along the rise of the machine, a real cash cow for them, even with the high-rate of - hum - pirated copies: Infogrames, Ubi Soft, Loriciels, Cobrasoft - to name a few - developed for the Amstrad. The other platforms users (8-bit Atari / Commodore / MSX / Oric / Thomson etc.) were considered as second-rate consumers for French publishers. Amstrad has lost its mojo with the 16/32-bit rise which preceded the PC-at-home (Windows 95) revolution.

[@roucoupse]

Merci la Redoute pour son énorme coup de pouce, tout le succès d'Amstrad est parti de la Redoute en France. Et aussi Marion Vannier et sa petite poignée d'acolytes si je me souviens bien, ils ont permis le succès d'Amstrad à proprement parler puisque les ventes en France dépassaient celles de la Grande Bretagne déjà saturée avec les BBC Acorn, Spectrum et autres. Malgré cela, Sugar n'a pas su reconnaître leurs efforts, les a peu rémunérés et s'est gardé tout le bénéfice et la gloire. D'autre part, Locomotive Software et MEJ si je ne me trompe pas, ce sont eux qui ont fait tout le boulot sur ces machines, pareil, n'ont pratiquement rien gagné, sauf erreur. Sugar s'est tout gardé..... Un drôle de personnage au franc-parler avec une vision un peu particulière de l'honnêteté. Il critique les requins et les financiers, mais lui fait comme eux en pire. D'ailleurs il s'est recyclé dans l'achat et la revente de propriétés.

[@MatthewWaltonWalton]

A PC1512 (640KB expanded) was the first computer we had at home, when I was about 8 years old. I spent a ridiculous amount of time on that thing (often playing with BASIC2's turtle mode), and eventually Mum and Dad sent it away and it came back with a 10MB hard drive (which went 'beep') and a copy of WordStar, in which I wrote many terrible stories Mum used it for serious things. Wonderful to hear more about how it came about, because of course all that context was unavailable to me at the time. I did however always long for a BBC Micro, and eventually ended up with two of those, upon which I really did learn to program.

[@ianedmonds9191]

Well done learning to program. BBCs were amazing computers. Programming tho. It's a blast isn't it? In equal parts frustrating and rewarding. Best thing ever. Luv and Peace.

[@GlenMunday]

Did you ever play Daley Thompson's decathlon? I remember the days I used to thrash the joystick to get that extra speed/distance.

[@inphanta]

This was an informative video. As a kid, these were just boring business computers, but as an adult, its truly fascinating to see how they informed the modern PC market, even then.

[@pmedwards42]

I worked for Amstrad USA in 1988 in Longview, Texas. I started out doing memory upgrades to 640k and moved to tech support. The proprietary monitor/power supply was the biggest weak point. Otherwise it was a good machine and highly compatible.

[@mdoerty13]

I bought one of those units PC1512 DD) from GameStop in late 1987 for grad school. Added a modem and a hard card. It was great. Eventually sold it when I upgraded to a 386.

[@Bruno-TheMayors]

The first "pc" i ever used. Kings quest, baby!

[@Wormetti]

PC1512 was my first x86 PC. I have fond memories of it but in hindsight, I could have assembled a no name IBM clone for cheaper and without the proprietary power supply/monitor/mouse/keyboard connectors. The volume control was useful to make the PC speaker bearable and allow me to play it long past my bedtime.

[@ElSmusso]

This is one of the best channels on all of KZbin :) Here's my previous computers. Sinclair Spectrum 48, Amstrad cpc6128, Amiga 500, Amiga 600, Amiga 2000, Amiga CD32 with SX1, PC (1995) Mac (2007) iPad (2015)

[@hartleymartin]

Around 2000/2001 I had an Amstrad PC5286 which I had refurbished mostly with bits thrown out of an old computer shop. Amstrad actually made excellent computers. My PC5286 had 4MB of RAM (30-pin modules) an 80MB Sony Hard Drive and a 3.5" floppy drive. Thankfully, by this stage they had the PSU in the computer and any VGA monitor would work with it. Despite being a well and truly obsolete machine, I was able to do a lot with it, ran MSDOS 6.22, Windows 3.0, Word 2.0 and did my high school assignments using rich-text format (*.rtf) files. At the time I also did a lot of programming in Q-Basic. My Dad threw it out while I was away on holiday and I was very upset with him for several weeks over that! Amstrad made good machines. They were simple, affordable and reliable.

[@amirpourghoureiyan1637]

Martin Hartley it's a shame that wasn't the case for their hi-fi products

[@Turnbull50]

This brought back lots of memories. I worked at a government youth training centre (called iTecs) and we bought about a dozen 1512's and a 1640 they all worked really well for teaching. We had the GEM system and the kids liked them. It taught them what a business system was like to work with. We upgraded some of the twin floppies to hard drives and we replaced some of the 20 meg hard drives with 40 meg drives but we had to partition them as 32 meg and 8 meg as the max hard drive size ( or partition) was 32 meg.

[@brokenscart7989]

These videos are broadcast quality and wouldn't be out of place on a BBC program

[@orderofmagnitude-TPATP]

brokenSCART yes in the day.. today far superior - so much so I refuse to pay my tv license

[@clangerbasher]

Apart from a BBC programme they are interesting........ :)

[@steve1978ger]

4:39 is a bit of a curiosity, the picture has a Schneider brand PC, an agricultural themed book from the German Democratic Republic, and a coffee mug from a much later date.

[@harunal-muhajir5555]

They sold these at Electronics Boutique in the US in the late 80s. It was my first exposure to anything Amstrad.

[@AntonyTCurtis]

I remember selling many of these computers back in the day... Also, doing "professional" installation of hard drives which required careful shaving of the plastic facias so that it all fits nicely and looks tidy and clean. My boss at the time also had access to many new factory/oem spares of front facias which meant that he only needed to buy the single floppy drive models and we would fit in either a second floppy drive or hard drive as required. Good memories.

[@AntonyTCurtis]

I forgot to say this: I thought that the Amstrad PC2386 was the best and best value 80386 based computer because it was the only 80386 based computer which shipped with cache memory. This made it perform much faster than its competitors. The whole scare over the slightly buggy hard drive controller damaged its sales in spite of the problem being quickly resolved, competitors would not stop talking about it.

[@ianedmonds9191]

During my period as a PC1640 ecd 30mb owner I lusted after a pc2386. It was such a cool machine. I was only 17ish but I remember it just looked cooler. It was all swoops and curves and it had a VGA display. I was playing heavily with Fractint at the time and fractint on a vga machine and with a 386 crunching was NIght and day to my ega 8086. Oh how I wanted that machine. :-) Luv and Peace.

[@Tz-eg2dk]

This channel though. I was watching your Sega Mega Drive video getting nostalgic about gaming when I was very young and was thinking of the PC my parents had (an Amstrad, I couldn't remember the model). I typed into 80s Amstrad thinking someone might have done a video on it and back here I am. We had a colour screen though. All 16 of them! That paint program (part of GemApps) at 00:38 is something I wasted so much time in when I was about 7. The computer was old when we got it in it about 1993, given to us by a family friend. But, it was the first computer I ever used and now I'm a programmer so it'll always feel a bit special to me. Edit: One thing I remember about this is that there were plastic covers (they had a material type feel) for the keyboard and monitor that were placed on it to go on it when it wasn't in use! Feels very novel and quaint now.

[@andrewgwilliam4831]

This video takes me back, as I had one of these, without a hard drive, and with a monochrome monitor. The mouse was different to the one in the video. In the early 1990s I also worked at a company that had the hard drive model in one of the offices; I've no idea what it was needed for, as the rest of us were using a Unix mainframe... or handwritten files!

[@amilli1696]

Ahh, the memories. Used these in school around 1988-1989 and really appreciated how good these were for word processing at the time. Thanks for your hard work in creating this and your other videos.

[@video99couk]

I bought a PC1640 from a surplus dealer, with no monitor. So I wired up an alternative power supply, and made a simple circuit to allow the video output to go to my Sony TV (I seem to remember having to fine tweak sync pulse timings to get the picture centred on the screen). Then I added a second hand 20MB hard disk with MFM controller card, and upgraded the processor to a V30. So I put together a pretty useful PC for a total of about £250. I was very pleased with it for a few years before being given a 286. I ran LocoScript for PC on it for some time, since I had been using a PCW word processor before buying the 1640. It was slow, but a real computer for toy money.

[@BanditOMG]

Randomly stumbled upon you, guy, and I'm really enjoying the channel. Super relaxing, knowledge based videos to just sink into. Keep it up, my good sir :)

[@ArtoPekkanen]

You put a LOT of effort into these videos. They are really well made, informative and entertaining. Your sub + view counts are sadly low compared to the high quality your channel offers. Maybe people just aren't interested in retro stuff or historical technology :( I try to share your stuff as much as I can and get people interested.

[@NathanKirgis]

Wow...glad I found your channel. Informative and very well edited, a joy to watch! Subscribed....

[@mobluse]

Amstrad PC1512 was my second computer, bought in January 1988. I had a 1200 bps MODEM in an expansion slot and called BBS:es, and modem pools to connect to Unix computers. I also had a 30MB HDD in another slot. I had an Fx-100 printer connected to the parallel port, but it could also be connected to the serial port. I expanded RAM to 640 KB and switched the CPU to a NEC V30. I used Windows 1.04 on it (the original mouse worked with it), but mostly run MS-DOS with GNUish tools. I programmed it in GWBASIC, Turbo Pascal, and Turbo C++. I bought my next PC in 1994: a 486DX.

[@slipknotboy555]

Peter, back at it again with great content as usual

[@ChakatSandwalker]

I read the impressively thick user's manual for this thing without ever seeing the computer itself. Many, many years ago Amstrad computers were sold here in New Zealand. I had a couple of old PC-XT clones that I'd managed to get from my high school, and I got some software for it from a friend who had the PC1512. I was rather surprised the GEM Desktop ran on the thing, considering it had Hercules monochrome graphics and a green phosphor monitor. I didn't have a mouse, and moving the cursor with the arrow keys left a trail of arrows behind it that stayed there. Putting the power supply in the monitor seems like a bonkers idea. Not as bonkers as... whatever it was that had the PSU in the printer.

[@Turnbull50]

I taught young people on a government training centre using the PC1512 and fitted 40 meg hard drives to them all partitioning them as 32 Meg and 8 meg by replacing one of the floppies with the hard drives. We later bought some PC1640 with slightly better graphics. I remember that the clock used normal double A batteries. Problems with a Hard Drive supplier destroyed the series but they took the suppliers to court and where awarded large damages.

[@hedayaty]

My first computer! Could optionally take 2 AA batteries to remember the time when it was off

[@mrttype]

Another great vid. And a nice choice of background music too.

[@marcb8934]

I used to use Mallard Basic on the PCW series systems. The printer was very slow. But an affordable system, and it worked as expected. The screen was good on my eyes back in the day too. Used to type for hours on the PCW8512 and PCW8526 respectively.

[@punboleh7081]

My first computer (as a teenager, back in the day) was an Amstrad PC3286. A bit more modern than the PC1512, but with some similarities I didn't know go back that far. Like the volume control, which was unusual for a PC without a sound card. And the mouse, of course. Loved it. It had a VGA graphic card, but came with a monochrome monitor, so the pre-installed Windows 3.0 looked a bit bland.... and didn't work that well on 1MB RAM, anyway. It didn't include CP/M or GEM any more. I've read about those in computer magazines, but never saw them in person. If RAM hadn't stayed so expensive for so long, it might have come with 2MB of RAM and OS/2 1.x, which would have saved me years of waiting for a processor upgrade to finally enjoy some multitasking. I didn't mind the speed (slow as it was, it could always be optimised), but the "a 286 can't do multitasking" became annoying after a while.

[@stephenhoderny]

man another great video,, keep up the rad work!

[@delatroy]

First pc was an Amstrad 1640. Still have it. EGA machine with 20mb hard drive. I’m in love with this machine. Not because it’s particularly well built or high performing but because as a 5 year old, it was my first touch with computers. 🙏 My dad wrote entire books on WordPerfect I’m this thong for about 10+ years. Never had any issues with it despite its bad quality name. Games we had included ultima 6, price of Persia, sopwith, dam busters, speedball 2, Alley cat, space quest 2 and pacmac. Fun times

[@Turnbull50]

I worked for a government training scheme called iTec in the 80's and 90's and the company bought a dozen or so of these to teach 16-18 year old's computing and they where extremely reliable we also bought the very bulky Amstrad Laptop a dozen or so BBC's and 1 QL. It was an interesting time. We also had a couple of very expensive IBM's (PS2's I think) to teach AutoCad.

[@itsaPIXELthing]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing!

[@bobsobol]

Interesting. My Dad got a 1640 with HDD as our first home PC. I remember he had to get a friend over to help him low-level format the hard disk, and install the MS DOS 3.1 onto the hard disk, as it came _completely blank!!!_ That machine was wonderful though. Slightly faster than a bare XT, I think. (some games ran too fast, and needed moslo to make them playable) I also loved the ECD graphics, and the way the "brightness" line of the RGB line could be adjusted to produce different levels of contrast. It's difficult to explain the effect. Also, if you used Norton Tools, you could manually configure the 16 EGA colours to be mapped to any colour from a 64 colour pallet!!! Awesome! I used to like making dark yellow be orange, and bright magenta be a more useful pink, for example. It also had high density text only modes which worked quite well in some software, Microsoft Works 2 (I remember Works v3 for DOS stopped supporting it) and some Borland IDEs, if memory serves. They were _very_ clear, and allowed for much more text on screen than the traditional 80x24 text mode. GEM Desktop 3 on the Amstrad was a little crippled from the Apple lawsuits compared to the Atari ST, and 640K didn't leave a lot of room for apps either, but the high-res 16 colour mode made it very pretty.

[@BollingHolt]

This was my first PC clone! PC1512DD. Mine was upgraded to 640k, had two floppies, and a 40 meg hard card, Media Vision Thunderboard, and a 1200 baud modem then later 2400. All three expansion slots were utilized, of course. I played hooky from school in the fifth grade to install the brand new (at the time) MS-DOS 5.0. I hate that I got rid of that thing. I enjoyed every second of my Amstrad over here in the states!

[@timwilcox5158]

great video. never had a Pc1512, but i did have an amstrad pc2386.

[@richardnorthcott907]

Brings back found memories of my Amstrad 1640 ECD and 20Mb hard drive :)

[@stevesuard]

This was my 1st PC computer a 1512 SD Monochrome bought in Paris, France, ordered in Sept and delivered in Dec 1986. I was like one of the 1st too to do what we call today PC tuning. I changed the Intel 8086 by a NEC v20, upgraded RAM, added a modem/fax card, and Hard drive was a Seagate 20Mb. Miss this great years. And GEM ohhh was happy with this compare to the DOS commands.

[@delatroy]

steve suard me too! We have the EVGA version with 20MB of ram which was expensive back then. What games did you play on it

[@simonrushton5863]

Back when I worked for the Amstrad User Group one of the services we offered was to upgrade the 1512 to a 1640. We fitted a CGA card, a 10Mb Hard card in one of the the 3 expansion card slots and 18! chips to add that 128k of memory.

[@matthewhapp8688]

Absolute beast in its day loved it and the Amstrad cpc464

[@Left-Foot-Brake]

My first PC..... CGA adapter... what a machine!

[@blackterminal]

I was waiting to see if you mentioned the cool external clock battery setup that uses AA batteries! I have one of these without the hard drive. They certainly made their products durable. Ive probably not turned mine on for 10 years plus but it was working perfectly last time I tried. Also do you know about the pc-200? ;)

[@mhoppy6639]

Interesting that they’re highly regarded for durability. At the time there was a longstanding sticky rumour about these things overheating. It was bollox of course: the PSU was in the monitor so that was where the fan was. The source of the unfounded rumours? IBM salesmen. Tsk tsk.

[@ianedmonds9191]

My first exposure to PC - Played Time and Magic and Rogue on this beast and had a blast. Probably 1988ish. I can remember doubting the claims it had 512K memory having only been exposed to ZX Spectrums and Commodore 64s. My first step into a new world. Luv and Peace.

[@delatroy]

I played rouge too on the 1640 pretty interesting and unique 🤣

[@karim2k]

Remind me of the first PC I ever used back in early 90s, the might Amstrad PC was by far the best coumputer of all the times.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

We Americans certainly had the upper hand with the IBM Compatibles we had like the Tandy line sold through Radio Shack.

[@dr_jaymz]

all that effort and only 15k views. I guess it's very limited audience but we appreciate it all the same.

[@sautebroussailles]

Very good review, and quite balanced : I feared your bias against Mr Sugar would be blatant, but it's barely noticable at all, good job sir ! The PC1512 is a computer I was almost convinced to acquire ! In the end I got an Amiga 500, good for me. But still I'd very much like to get a PC1640 and try to upgrade it.

[@dglcomputers1498]

This was my 1st PC that I acquired in the mid 90's, had the Hard Card and both a 3.5" and a 5 3/4 drive for storage, unsure of the HDD size. Remember making banners with banner mania and printing them out on the Amstrad printer on fan fold paper. Also had a Logitech greyscale hand scanner as an extra. In the end got replaced with a new Win 98se machine.

[@georgentavelis549]

Everyday you can learn something new :) I didnt know that memory was upgradable to 640kb! Do we have any information on that? I still have my 1512

[@cosmickatamari]

Interesting about the BIOS part because IIRC, that was the plot of several episodes of Halt and Catch Fire

[@mipmipmipmipmip]

I didn't know the machine in the time (the Netherlands had their own quirky start in ibm clones I guess), but it seems really awesome, dual boot! configurable joystick port! Two licensed OS-es, for that low amount of money, sounds like a really good deal.

[@theoriginalrecycler]

I ran a 1512 and a 1640 ecd for 7 years, 2 degrees later and the constantly on machines never overheated.

[@roybixby6135]

I think that GEM was chosen because Ventura Publisher one of if not the leading desktop publisher of the time used it...

[@llothar68]

Good memorys. This was my third one after a ZX81 and a CPC464. Fuck this makes me depressive when you can't hide your age.

[@PeterCooperUK]

It was funny to hear about those rumours because my dad’s actually had a capacitor explode in the monitor and shoot flames out of the top one day 😂 Luckily he was an electronics engineer and managed to fix it

[@rebeccaschade3987]

I used to have one of these with a monochrome monitor. It felt a bit underwhelming at the time, as some of my friends had the C64, which it was easier to find games for at the time (IBM compatibles were mostly office machines in Norway at the time) and it had colours! I kind of wish it hadn't been thrown away back when I bought an Amiga 500 though, as it would've been a fun system to own today. Oh well. No point crying over spilt silicon.

[@slyer5515]

I used to repair Amstrad machines, most of the time it was low level formatting the HDD’s in debug g=c800:5 ahhh the good old days 😳 🤪

[@AxlePineapple]

we had the 1640 model (the one after this). actually correction: we still HAVE the 1640.

[@guyfellows2293]

Towards the beginning of the video you mention it has EGA graphics, but CGA at the end. From what I've read it has CGA plus a 640x200 mode at 16 colors - is it actually EGA compatible?

[@neomatrix4412]

sounds like a uk version of the tandy 1000 with deskmate and 16 color cga graphics, except it also had 3 voice sound

[@frederickbowdler8169]

A good product reasonably priced with a fantastic keyboard.😅😅😊😊😊😊😊😊❤

[@MistaMaddog247]

I really wished GEM had done much better on the PC cause I liked using it on the ST. Shame it not only got squashed by Microsoft but also gimped by Apple. Imagine using a multitasking version of it today...

[@robertclark8351]

Alkaline battery for the RTC, located under the display, IIRC. They tended to leak if left discharged too long, and created a mess. I recall one fanboy bringing a PC1512 to a PC user group meeting, giving rave reviews to GEM. Unfortunately he managed to get the system unit on the used market without the monitor, so it was non-functional. Unlike the typical clone, getting a replacement power supply was not straightforward.

[@wisteela]

The original video was good, but this one is excellent. I have a PC1512DD with colour monitor, which oddly, I've had for many years, but not yet tested. I plan to fit a spare hardcard in it.

[@zybch]

What a frankenstein part they were! Did they actually draw power from the ISA bus, or did they need external power the same as the MFM cables you had to run to the hard drive controller, though its hard to imagine the hard drives used would ever had saturated the ISA bus.

[@wisteela]

Mike Caddick Some were bus powered

[@MultiVince95]

Nice

[@rychuwstg]

i have this pc. 8086, 640kb ram, 20mb hdd, vga in slot, sound blaster in slot, dos 5.22 , classic pc

[@orderofmagnitude-TPATP]

I remember my local comic book store run by literally comic book guy from Simpsons, ran there stock on this thing in the year 2006

[@orderofmagnitude-TPATP]

I lie... it was pcw

[@wabbit234]

The 386 version of this machine was my families first computer. The included paint program was the first program I ever used if I am remembering correctly. The first game I ever played was some sort of breakout clone that came with an editor to create your own levels. I've never been able to figure out what that game was. If anyone has any idea please let me know.

[@NickeP86]

Hi there! I got me an Amstrad PC 1512 today and powered it up and everything seems to be working. The computer boots up, and then it asks me to insert a system disk. What exactly is the system disk that the Amstrad 1512 wants to have? Any name? I'm clueless here.

[@Inaflap]

I used the Amstrad briefly, but my first PC blew it away. A Viglen 286... clocked at 16MHz (when Turbo button engaged), 1MB RAM, 40MB HDD, 5.25" and 3.5" FDD. It also had a noisy case fan.

[@Nostalgianerd]

Viglen... now there's a brand that has faded away.

[@Inaflap]

Nostalgia Nerd They sold a lot to UK universities in the 1990s and to schools in the 2000's. Actually Viglen was bought by Alan Michael Sugar Trading in 1994. So from the Pentium machines onward I guess they were Amstrad PC's in disguise. They still sell online.

[@panteleon1]

My first computer, i was in middle high school when i bought it used, it was a great first step but soon i realized that this PC was not upgradeable and i traded it for a used Amiga 500 my first flip when i was only 15

[@Lachlant1984]

Do you know when Amstrad stopped making IBM PC compatible systems? What was the last model they made?

[@SurvivalSpec]

SHOGUN was my game on this one

[@zybch]

I had the PC1640-HD, with EGA display. This machine had an intel 8088 CPU, not the 8086 you list in this video. I'm pretty sure the 1512 and 1640 used exactly the same CPU, the 8088. 8086 is a 16-bit processor with a 16-bit data bus and 6-byte instruction queue. 8088 is an 8-bit processor with an 8-bit data bus and a 4-byte instruction queue. I'm not 100% sure of the speed but I believe it was 7.4Mhz not 8. The crappier chip was still 100% compatible with the x86 set, but significantly cheaper.

[@KarlAdamsAudio]

I'm fairly sure the PC1640 had the 8086 processor - I recall swapping the CPU chip in mine for an NEC V-30, giving a marginal speed improvement - if the original processor were an 8088, the NEC equivalent would have been the V-20 instead.

[@mbr5742]

Due to a lawsuit between DRI and that other company the DOS and Atari versions of GEM where not identical. The Atari one stil had moveable windows and more than two. Atari was not included in the lawsuit by that other company and could retain all original features since they had bought a full right to develop from DRI

[@IkarusKommt]

DOS is not based on CP/M. It just has a certain compatibility with its API. And the 8086 processor was a toy not capable to do the real office work or gaming.

[@hydrochloricacid2146]

I found a dec rainbow 100a computer in my attic. Still don't know if i should restore it...

[@wisteela]

Needs doing. Pretty rare now.

[@hydrochloricacid2146]

Paul Potter video cable seems dead imo

[@BilisNegra]

8:50 This is by no means a clumsy unforgivable error. Massive demand for a model that just adding the hard drive made the machine twice as costly is not something I would call predictable.

[@treyriver5676]

I have a task of selling amstrad ppc's here in the United States both the rather odd laptop using a full size keyboard which was a neat idea but with the very poor LCD screen not that the competitor screens were significantly better that time as well as the 512 and 640 K desktops they are pretty much as good as any other clone at the time with the problem of the monitor power supply combination meaning that to change video displays was very difficult and functionally impossible to upgrade to a better video display unit like EGA or even the less powered CGA 16 and EGA Wonder video standards

[@timking3587]

First "real" PC the good old Amstrad 1512. Had a MSX Toshiba before but all the word processing was done on Wordstar on 1512. Double Dragon on that machine 😂

[@PhillipOliverWholes]

Can you plug a Genesis controller into the joystick port? That would be sweet.

[@Wormetti]

Yes but I think only one of the buttons will work.

[@wisteela]

Not compatible

[@FindecanorNotGmail]

0:45 Most ridiculous Enter key ever.

[@wisteela]

That was like on most PCs of the time

[@brokenscart7989]

Findecanor the extra height is normal in U.K. keyboards today (no weird bulge though)

[@FindecanorNotGmail]

The key uses a lot of space on the keyboard but the actual active surface-area is only 1×1. It wastes a total 1.75 keys' worth of keyboard real-estate. The point of having a backwards-L key would otherwise be to provide the user with _more_ surface area, making the key easier to hit. The designers of the key _could_ have made it 1.5 units high - which would not have made it bind on off-centre key presses and would still have not required any stabiliser bars.

[@okaro6595]

That os similar to the one in the IBM PC. There actually were third part add ons for the IBM PC that made the key larger.

[@wisteela]

***** Oh wow

[@griftereck]

back in the 90s I had a PC1512 with mono monitor. dual 5 1/4" disc drives and a hard card. think it had a 30mb hd on that. I had a Sinclair PC200 at the same time. which is a similar board, in a ST style case. I sometimes put the hard card in the PC200. So I could have colour graphics on the tv. Also the PC200 had a 3.5" disc drive. was easier to get software on 3.5" discs then. Ive got a PC1640HD now. Its got a 5 1/4" disc drive with a HD beside it. Thinking of putting the 5 1/4" drive in a Dell pc to get discs loaded with games. As Im unsure how to transfer software over serial cable. Null modem and all that nonsense

[@picklerick814]

"halt and catch fire" be like

[@itsmegordy]

My first job - Desktop publishing on this thing with software called 'Jetsetter' - my god it was shite lol

[@mrwebber35]

I basically have an orphan Amstrad PC1512 without any OEM software. Can anyone provide me with a download link to get it up to snuff?

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

Did anyone even think of sticking a 8087 processor into the FPU socket would have made it faster, I even thought of doing this and it so happens that I still have one but it is in the roof-space bit I don't think it is working as the batteries may have leaked, the secret 16 colour mode is called the PCGA16 colour mode, if you where to do bit banging you could get speech out of the AMSTRAD PC1512.

[@Nostalgianerd]

You could get an 8087 upgrade for £150.

[@ArtoPekkanen]

Hehe, with these retro computer's often the computer itself costs very little compared to the hardware expansions/upgrades :) This could imply that people generally did not upgrade these computers, and thus there's not much expansions/upgrades left to sell, which in turn makes the price really high.

[@zybch]

Wouldn't have made it any faster except in programs that could utilize it. I used to use an 8087 emulator (frankie87) for a couple of programs I had that required a co-processor. At the time that thing cost an arm and a leg and being a high school student I was never able to, nor could justify buying one.

[@CommodoreFan64]

I don't know I'd rather have a separate PSU in the base unit instead of a single one in the monitor, as back in the day I had a few IBM 286, and 386 clones(Compaq, and leading edge) with some power supplies that went bust, and it was easy enough going to my local computer repair shop telling them the part I needed, and if they had one in stock then it was easy enough to have back up, and running the same day. I don't think this would have been as simple cost wise, so yeah bad design, and I can see why people freaked out that the PSU in these things had no fan to help with cooling.

[@brandonevans9342]

the monitor supplies the PC power? odd

[@dryster123]

What does that mean? "because my original one almost exactly 2 years ago was a pile of unreserved crap"

[@martinbrewer7629]

Amstrad, this is so amstradingly amstrad… What Amstrad did was totally amstrad the market, making all the good bits of the British home computer scene an amstrading history… Ordered an Amiga after these amstrading amstrads killed off the speccy… Amstrads!!!

[@90adriaan]

1:54 - "(copyright) 2015". Whut?!?

[@Nostalgianerd]

It's taken from an Amstrad CPC emulator.... includes some additions, including ParaDOS

[@LennyG2006]

So I guess the question is. . . will it play Crysis?

[@Nostalgianerd]

You bet your god damn ass. 160fps+

[@SlavomirG]

in 620x200 at 16 colours

[@solangoose8372]

Hard drives failed for fun on these.

[@Michirin9801]

640 x 200 at 16 colours? Whoa! I bet making art with those specs would be pretty sweet...

[@wisteela]

It's amazing what could be done

[@si4632]

yeah really does highlight what an amazing machine the amiga was

[@Michirin9801]

***** Except this video isn't about the Amiga >w>'; But I'll not disagree with that statement!

[@si4632]

its just amazing that sugar the dodgy geezer made any cash at all lol

[@wisteela]

***** I've used them, and I have one. Very capable computers for their time.

[@keyalpha1]

I had 1640... and it sucked noodles.

[@beingatliberty]

The PC1512 though cheap was pretty awful, and so many PCW's had already been sold, GEM and CPM was already were already on the way out at this point, Id be interested to know the story of MEJ's role in amstrad machine design, as the CPC6128 was in my opinion the finest machine amstrad ever produced.

[@johnnycarter6056]

🙄😃