#nascom — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #nascom, aggregated by home.social.
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I made a thing! For those 3-4 people in the Fediverse who tinker with #Nascom and #GeminiMicrocomputers, I present: The 80-Bus Stop - convernient and safe storage for your 8x8" expansion cards. Enjoy ;-)
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Any other #Nascom or #Gemini #vintagecomputing geeks out there? I inherited a rather large collection from my late dad, but so far I've only found a handful of people why are into the #Galaxy computers made by Gemini Microcomputers Ltd., and none in the Fediverse yet. The Geminis were made in #England and mostly featured the #Zilog #z80 although they very briefly ventured into Motorola 68K world before throwing in the towel.
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So my dad and I went on a last #roadtrip together. We rarely spoke, and almost never about personal things. He had two other families after mine, and gave most of his attention to the people right in front of him. That unfortunately meant that both of his grandchildren missed out on their grandfather and vice versa, which is probably the thing I'm most sad about. Fortunately we managed to catch up a bit during the last three months before he died.
When we spoke, we spoke about electronics and computers. The car is full of ancient vintage computers I saved from his estate. For the curious, it's Z80 based, #Nascom compatible computers from #GeminiMicrocomputers. More about that later.
So here he is, and so are some of his things. Peculiar how I'm flooded with emotion, when I hold some of the tools that I remember from growing up in his computer workshop. It was one of the few things we shared and he taught me - #computers and #electronics.
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It's 1984 and my dad just finished his advertisement for the big Christmas computer fair. He had invested heavily in the Gemini series from #Gemini Microcomputers Ltd in England. I believe it was a #NASCOM compatible system, but the company unfortunately went bankrupt a couple of years later.
The 80s were full of opportunities and disappointments in the field of micro or even home computers. So many interesting ideas, so much competition and so few made it through. Everyone remembers the Commodore 64. Few remember the #Lynx, the #Enterprise, the #NewBrain or the #Gemini. Remember #CPM? No? #DOS won that race. Competition lead to better solutions which eventually gave us the computers we have today. Shoulders of giants and all that.