sinclair launches world's smallest folding bike

[Julesh]

Simon Brooke wrote:

<snip>
>
> As you can tell, you _really_ wouldn't want to be sat next to me at a
> dinner party!

I'd probably survive. Now - do you remember the Jupiter Ace? That was an
odd one!

Jules

 

[Simon Brooke]

in message <[email protected]>, Julesh
('[email protected]') wrote:

> Simon Brooke wrote:
>
> <snip>
>>
>> As you can tell, you _really_ wouldn't want to be sat next to me at a
>> dinner party!
>
> I'd probably survive. Now - do you remember the Jupiter Ace? That was
> an odd one!

I have two, one assembled after the company went bankrupt and had run
out of top halves of the case. So the top half is not so much missing
as never there. I've also got Memotech's prototype of a plugin keyboard
(proper keys) for the Jupiter Ace which never went into production. It
doesn't work (and I don't think it ever did) but both Aces work.

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
; ... of course nothing said here will be taken notice of by
; the W3C. The official place to be ignored is on www-style or
; www-html. -- George Lund

 

[Gawnsoft]

On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 09:12:31 +0100, "Just zis Guy, you know?"
<[email protected]> wrote (more or less):

>On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 23:44:58 GMT, Gawnsoft
><[email protected]> wrote in message
><[email protected]>:
>
>>I certainly swapped from civil engineering to electronics and comp sci
>>off the back of the summer twixt school and uni being spent on a
>>ZX81...
>
>And then switched to mechanical after spending the next summer on a
>CBR600 ;-)

A year using a combo of ICL punch-cards (using Pascal), NorthStar
Horizon CP/M machines (using Fortran), and various vintages of
Commodore Pet - including the ancient chiclet key ones (using Basic)
folllowed.

Weirdly, continuing on the comp. sci. joint honours course depended
more on the electrical engineering courses' marks than on the comp.
sci. marks, so I eded up doing electrical engineering because my marks
were worse for that than they were for comp. sci....

Still, at least I've now got a brand new shiney social science
qualification to add to the collection.


--
Cheers,
Euan
Gawnsoft: http://www.gawnsoft.co.sr
Symbian/Epoc wiki: http://html.dnsalias.net:1122
Smalltalk links (harvested from comp.lang.smalltalk) http://html.dnsalias.net/gawnsoft/smalltalk

 

[Gawnsoft]

On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 19:10:20 GMT, Julesh
<[email protected]> wrote (more or less):

>Simon Brooke wrote:
>
><snip>
>>
>> As you can tell, you _really_ wouldn't want to be sat next to me at a
>> dinner party!
>
>I'd probably survive. Now - do you remember the Jupiter Ace? That was an
>odd one!

Whayt's odd about having Forth in ROM? It sure beats having a
Microsoft BASIC!
--
Cheers,
Euan
Gawnsoft: http://www.gawnsoft.co.sr
Symbian/Epoc wiki: http://html.dnsalias.net:1122
Smalltalk links (harvested from comp.lang.smalltalk) http://html.dnsalias.net/gawnsoft/smalltalk

 

[Julesh]

Gawnsoft wrote:
> On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 19:10:20 GMT, Julesh
> <[email protected]> wrote (more or less):
>
>
>>Simon Brooke wrote:
>>
>><snip>
>>
>>>As you can tell, you _really_ wouldn't want to be sat next to me at a
>>>dinner party!
>>
>>I'd probably survive. Now - do you remember the Jupiter Ace? That was an
>>odd one!
>
>
> Whayt's odd about having Forth in ROM? It sure beats having a
> Microsoft BASIC!

Because every other little home computer in the very active mass market
of the time had BASIC in ROM (not Microsoft BASIC unless you were very
rich and had an IBM PC or similar - but Spectrum BASIC, Dragon BASIC,
ORIC BASIC, VIC-20 BASIC, BBC Basic etc.

While these BASICs were not the world's greatest programming languages,
they were easy to learn, easy to fiddle with, well-supported and popular.

What's odd about a home computer with Forth in ROM? Well I can't recall
anyone else trying to buck the market in such a splendid way! I can only
guess the company that released it thought the time of Forth had come.
They may had been right but as it looked such a dog, tacky white plastic
case and keys worse that those on a ZX-Spectrum, the world doesn't
appear to have beaten a path to its door.

There's a FAQ is at http://members.aol.com/autismuk/ace/faq.htm - As
this hasn't been updated since 1997 it's possible it is also odd in
being the only computer of the period that doesn't still have a loyal
fan club.

Cheers


Jules

 

[Andy Leighton]

On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 22:54:12 GMT, Julesh <[email protected]> wrote:
> Gawnsoft wrote:
>> On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 19:10:20 GMT, Julesh
>> <[email protected]> wrote (more or less):
>>
>>
>>>Simon Brooke wrote:
>>>
>>><snip>
>>>
>>>>As you can tell, you _really_ wouldn't want to be sat next to me at a
>>>>dinner party!
>>>
>>>I'd probably survive. Now - do you remember the Jupiter Ace? That was an
>>>odd one!
>>
>>
>> Whayt's odd about having Forth in ROM? It sure beats having a
>> Microsoft BASIC!
>
> Because every other little home computer in the very active mass market
> of the time had BASIC in ROM (not Microsoft BASIC unless you were very
> rich and had an IBM PC or similar - but Spectrum BASIC, Dragon BASIC,
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Bad example - the Dragon did have Microsoft Basic. Although it was
also very easy to switch it out and run a proper operating system
namely OS-9 if you had a disk drive etc.

--
Andy Leighton => [email protected]
"The Lord is my shepherd, but we still lost the sheep dog trials"
- Robert Rankin, _They Came And Ate Us_

 

[Ian Smith]

On Fri, 09 Jul, Gawnsoft
<[email protected]> wrote:

> One which will accept wheel-circumference measurements down to about
> 360mm, I'd guess.

One of my computers (I forget which) had an optional in-line-skate
mount and could take wheel sizes down to 30mm or something
equally silly.

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

 

[Ian Smith]

On Sat, 10 JulGawnsoft wrote:
> On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 19:10:20 GMT, Julesh
> <[email protected]> wrote (more or less):
>
> >I'd probably survive. Now - do you remember the Jupiter Ace? That
> >was an odd one!
>
> Whayt's odd about having Forth in ROM? It sure beats having a
> Microsoft BASIC!

I wanted one of them. As it was, I ended up with a spectrum and had
to wait 20 years to learn Forth.

Now, however, I finally have Forth - in a couple of lego bricks.
There's an alternate firmware for teh lego RCX that makes it talk
Forth rather than teh lego-supplied drag coloured blocks around teh
screen into a limitted flow-chart affair - pbForth (for programmable
brick Forth, I believe).

I'm currently working on a holonomic platform (a killough) using 2
RCXs in forth communicating with each other by IR. Sadly, I need a
few more 40 tooth gears for the drive arrangement I've come up with.
Happily, my daughter gets a birthday treat trip to legoland
tomorrow, and ther just might be an opportunity to purchase such
critical supplies!

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

 

[Graeme]

Gawnsoft <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> Weirdly, continuing on the comp. sci. joint honours course depended
> more on the electrical engineering courses' marks than on the comp.
> sci. marks, so I eded up doing electrical engineering because my marks
> were worse for that than they were for comp. sci....

This seems a fairly common route. I started in joint compsci/elec. eng. as
my director of studies recommended it, as he did to his whole group. With
only one exception, by the end of the second term everyone had reverted to
their original choice of just elec. eng. as the work load was just plain
silly, i.e. equivalent of almost two concurrent degree courses with very
little shared.

Graeme

 

[Julesh]

Andy Leighton wrote:

>>Because every other little home computer in the very active mass market
>>of the time had BASIC in ROM (not Microsoft BASIC unless you were very
>>rich and had an IBM PC or similar - but Spectrum BASIC, Dragon BASIC,
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Bad example - the Dragon did have Microsoft Basic. Although it was
> also very easy to switch it out and run a proper operating system
> namely OS-9 if you had a disk drive etc.
>

Thanks. I didn't know that. I remember seeing one at a computer show ~
1983 but never actually used one or knew anyone who bought one.


Jules

 

[Julesh]

Ian Smith wrote:

> On Sat, 10 JulGawnsoft wrote:
>
>> On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 19:10:20 GMT, Julesh
>><[email protected]> wrote (more or less):
>>
>>
>>>I'd probably survive. Now - do you remember the Jupiter Ace? That
>>>was an odd one!
>>
>>
>> Whayt's odd about having Forth in ROM? It sure beats having a
>> Microsoft BASIC!
>
>
> I wanted one of them. As it was, I ended up with a spectrum and had
> to wait 20 years to learn Forth.
>
> Now, however, I finally have Forth - in a couple of lego bricks.
> There's an alternate firmware for teh lego RCX that makes it talk
> Forth rather than teh lego-supplied drag coloured blocks around teh
> screen into a limitted flow-chart affair - pbForth (for programmable
> brick Forth, I believe).
>
> I'm currently working on a holonomic platform (a killough) using 2
> RCXs in forth communicating with each other by IR. Sadly, I need a
> few more 40 tooth gears for the drive arrangement I've come up with.
> Happily, my daughter gets a birthday treat trip to legoland
> tomorrow, and ther just might be an opportunity to purchase such
> critical supplies!
>
> regards, Ian SMith

I'll not believe the 20 years excuse Did no-one bring out a Forth
for the Spectrum? Since this thread started I got all nostalgic and
googled for more info on the Ace and found that there's an emulator for
the PC. I'll add that to my list of displacement activities, once I've
got tired of revisiting Jetset ***** (ooh mother!)on a Spectrum emulator.

Enjoy your trip to Legoland. On one trip we took there a couple of years
ago it suddenly starting raining. I'm now the very proud owner of a
bright green golf umbrella with pictures of Lego bricks on it.


Jules

 

[Gawnsoft]

On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 22:54:12 GMT, Julesh
<[email protected]> wrote (more or less):

>Gawnsoft wrote:
>> On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 19:10:20 GMT, Julesh
>> <[email protected]> wrote (more or less):
>>
>>
>>>Simon Brooke wrote:
>>>
>>><snip>
>>>
>>>>As you can tell, you _really_ wouldn't want to be sat next to me at a
>>>>dinner party!
>>>
>>>I'd probably survive. Now - do you remember the Jupiter Ace? That was an
>>>odd one!
>>
>>
>> Whayt's odd about having Forth in ROM? It sure beats having a
>> Microsoft BASIC!
>
>Because every other little home computer in the very active mass market
>of the time had BASIC in ROM (not Microsoft BASIC unless you were very
>rich and had an IBM PC or similar - but Spectrum BASIC, Dragon BASIC,
>ORIC BASIC, VIC-20 BASIC, BBC Basic etc.
>
>While these BASICs were not the world's greatest programming languages,
>they were easy to learn, easy to fiddle with, well-supported and popular.

Oric BASIC was licenced from Microsoft. As was Dragon BASIC, and
Commodore BASIC (as used in the PET, the VIC and the 64)

Only Acorn and Sinclair commissioned their own, aficr.


>What's odd about a home computer with Forth in ROM? Well I can't recall
>anyone else trying to buck the market in such a splendid way! I can only
>guess the company that released it thought the time of Forth had come.

Well, at that time, for games on microcomputers, Forth's time was at
hand. Most coin-op arcade video games were written in Forth at the
time.

>They may had been right but as it looked such a dog, tacky white plastic
>case and keys worse that those on a ZX-Spectrum, the world doesn't
>appear to have beaten a path to its door.

Yes - the manufacturing quality did leave a lot to be desired.

>There's a FAQ is at http://members.aol.com/autismuk/ace/faq.htm - As
>this hasn't been updated since 1997 it's possible it is also odd in
>being the only computer of the period that doesn't still have a loyal
>fan club.

Ace's still change hands for money - check e-bay.


--
Cheers,
Euan
Gawnsoft: http://www.gawnsoft.co.sr
Symbian/Epoc wiki: http://html.dnsalias.net:1122
Smalltalk links (harvested from comp.lang.smalltalk) http://html.dnsalias.net/gawnsoft/smalltalk

 

[Gawnsoft]

On Sun, 11 Jul 2004 15:24:23 GMT, Julesh
<[email protected]> wrote (more or less):

>Ian Smith wrote:
>
>> On Sat, 10 JulGawnsoft wrote:
>>
>>> On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 19:10:20 GMT, Julesh
>>><[email protected]> wrote (more or less):
>>>
>>>
>>>>I'd probably survive. Now - do you remember the Jupiter Ace? That
>>>>was an odd one!
>>>
>>>
>>> Whayt's odd about having Forth in ROM? It sure beats having a
>>> Microsoft BASIC!
>>
>>
>> I wanted one of them. As it was, I ended up with a spectrum and had
>> to wait 20 years to learn Forth.
>>
>> Now, however, I finally have Forth - in a couple of lego bricks.
>> There's an alternate firmware for teh lego RCX that makes it talk
>> Forth rather than teh lego-supplied drag coloured blocks around teh
>> screen into a limitted flow-chart affair - pbForth (for programmable
>> brick Forth, I believe).
....
>I'll not believe the 20 years excuse Did no-one bring out a Forth
>for the Spectrum? Since this thread started I got all nostalgic and
>googled for more info on the Ace and found that there's an emulator for
>the PC. I'll add that to my list of displacement activities, once I've
>got tired of revisiting Jetset ***** (ooh mother!)on a Spectrum emulator.

There's a (very good) PC emulator for the Oric, and the Forth is
available.

Or Charles Moore has made his latest opus, colorForth, available for
the PC for free.


--
Cheers,
Euan
Gawnsoft: http://www.gawnsoft.co.sr
Symbian/Epoc wiki: http://html.dnsalias.net:1122
Smalltalk links (harvested from comp.lang.smalltalk) http://html.dnsalias.net/gawnsoft/smalltalk

 

[Gawnsoft]

On Fri, 09 Jul 2004 10:56:04 +0100, "Colin Blackburn"
<[email protected]> wrote (more or less):

>On Thu, 8 Jul 2004 11:04:02 +0000 (UTC), davek
><[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Its wheels are a quarter the size of those on a regular bicycle, but
>> Sinclair promises a smooth and sturdy ride for most cyclists. "You
>> require
>> no extra energy to ride the A-bike and it can go up to 15 miles per hour
>> (24 kph)," he told Reuters.
>
>Does it have a speed limiter then?

At a guess he's saying this to ensure the electric assisted version is
street-legal in the UK, as they are licence exempt only when available
in up-to-15mph form.


--
Cheers,
Euan
Gawnsoft: http://www.gawnsoft.co.sr
Symbian/Epoc wiki: http://html.dnsalias.net:1122
Smalltalk links (harvested from comp.lang.smalltalk) http://html.dnsalias.net/gawnsoft/smalltalk

 

[Jose Marques]

On Fri, 9 Jul 2004, Colin Blackburn wrote:

> Can you recommend a currently available calculator with RPN? DO HP still
> do RPN calculators?

A Palm, memory card and Power48:

http://power48.mobilevoodoo.com/

Works quite well on a T3.

--
Jose Marques

 

[Pyromancer]

Upon the miasma of midnight, a darkling spirit identified as Julesh
<[email protected]> breathed:

>I'll not believe the 20 years excuse Did no-one bring out a Forth
>for the Spectrum?

There was a games development system for the Spectrum called, IIRC,
"White Lightening" that was based on Forth. I had a copy, but never had
the time to really get to grips with it. Real interest in computing
didn't return till 1989 and my first PC, the 'Sinclair' PC200.
Installing hardcards (remember them?) was fun!

--
- Pyromancer.
- http://www.inkubus-sukkubus.co.uk <-- Pagan Gothic Rock!
- http://www.littlematchgirl.co.uk <-- Electronic Metal!
- http://www.revival.stormshadow.com <-- The Gothic Revival.

 

[Simon Brooke]

in message <os_Hc.28738$I%[email protected]>, Julesh
('[email protected]') wrote:

> What's odd about a home computer with Forth in ROM?  Well I can't
> recall anyone else trying to buck the market in such a splendid way! I
> can only guess the company that released it thought the time of Forth
> had come. They may had been right but as it looked such a dog, tacky
> white plastic case and keys worse that those on a ZX-Spectrum, the
> world doesn't appear to have beaten a path to its door.

They also look pretty tacky inside, too - even compared to a ZX80 and
certainly to a ZX81. The chip-count is huge, the PCB layout definitely
didn't benefit from any CAD, and there is a huge heatsink crudely cut
out of sheet aluminium that covers half the board.

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

-- mens vacua in medio vacuo --

 

[MartinM]

Tony Raven <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> MartinM wrote:
> >
> >
> > I heard an urban myth once that a chap walked into Sir Clive's office
> > (about 15 years ago) unrolled a flat screen colour tv like a
> > certificate, and promptly left never to be seen again.
>
> Just another example of young, wealthy and bored aliens get their kicks
> from 'buzzing' pre-star travel planets and making contact only with
> people whom no-one will ever believe.

"somewhere in the Eastern spiral arm of the galaxy blah blah blah-
still think digtal watches are a pretty neat idea"

Perhaps Clive gets all his ideas from aliens, keeps us from inventing
anything useful like spaceships so we could leave the solar system,
could not allow that could they?

"yeah I'll have a quintillion zorgs of Lager please"

 

[Arthur Clune]

Gawnsoft <[email protected]> wrote:
: On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 15:46:03 GMT, Julesh
: <[email protected]> wrote (more or less):

:>The QL promised a 32-bit 68000 processor

: Surely you mean 16-bit?

Nah. It *promised* 32 bits. What it actually had was a matter of semantics

(8 bit bus if I remember correctly)

Arthur


--
Arthur Clune http://www.clune.org
"Technolibertarians make a philosophy out of a personality defect"
- Paulina Borsook

 

[Julesh]

Gawnsoft wrote:

> There's a (very good) PC emulator for the Oric, and the Forth is
> available.

I had to read that a couple of times. The program runs on a PC and
emulates an Oric - not the other way round (which would be worth seeing!)
>
> Or Charles Moore has made his latest opus, colorForth, available for
> the PC for free.
>
>

I will have a look at that.


Cheers


Jules