A history of the microcomputer industry in 300 adverts

Hyper Micro: Three computer architectures combined to give the best advantages of each

In the olden days of computing, i.e. the 1970s, there were essentially three types of computers: room-sized mainframes like IBM's 360, refrigerator-sized minicomputer systems like...

Switch on to the world's first plug-in-and-go multi-user computer

Comart was another member of a small group of companies that survived from the 1970s and through the era of the IBM PC, although it wasn't entirely unscathed as it had been bought...

As recommended by the inventor of the PC modem

Hayes did not really "invent" the PC modem, as the devices - a contraction of modulator/demodulator - had been around in some form since the 1920s, although they weren't commercia...

Our new thoroughbred has lots of room for growth

Perhaps confusing the world of thoroughbred horses for that of pedigree dogs, this advert from Ferranti is for its new XT IBM-compatible personal computer. It's a bit confusing t...

Available now! The Tandy 1000EX

Pitched as a competitor to IBM's ultimately-doomed PC Jr., Tandy's 1000 EX was a version of its Tandy 1000 IBM-compatible PC, with everything built into a home-friendly all-in-one...

Zenith: The leading light

Zenith Data Systems had started out in 1979 as a division of the Zenith Radio Company, after the latter had bought the famous Heath company from Schlumberger. Heath - trading in ...

Altos Computer Systems offer you the drive to succeed absolutely free

Altos was one of relatively few microcomputer manufacturers that made the transition from the 1970s through the era of the IBM PC and was still around on the other side. From 197...

Tulip: Pick the one that stands out from the rest

To its credit, it took Tulip a good eight years since its founding in 1979 to use the most obvious metaphor in its adverts - a field of actual tulips. In this case, it goes one s...

Archimedes: 1987 Microcomputer of the year

Acorn's Archimedes - also known in at least some parts of the press as the ARM - had been launched in 1987 and first started shipping to dealers in early Autumn. Acorn's Stephan...

We asked our designers for a portable PC. They got completely carried away.

Launched at Comdex Fall '87 in Las Vegas and at the UK's Which Computer? Show, the PPC range of not-quite-laptops was Amstrad's entry into the portable market. It was fully IBM c...

How good are Tandy computers? Ask someone who's bought two million of them

Tandy's TRS-80 - the Tandy Radio Shack/Z80 - was one of the first three "appliance" computers - those you could take out of a box, plug in and use right away - ever, when it was l...

Mission 386.2: The world's first 20MHz 80386 machine.

Here's another nice example of how it seemed every company even vaguely related to electronics was getting into the microcomputer game, in this case UK high-end hifi manufacturer ...

At Micronet we're really talking

Launched at the beginning of 1983, Micronet was a Viewdata dial-up service created as a Prestel project of East Midland Allied Press, the publishing and printing group. Micronet...

They may be smiling now, but they are about to encounter... Psyclapse and Bandersnatch

Imagine had formed when programming wunderkind Eugene Evans and two other senior staff left well-known software house Bug-Byte, which had been famous for Commodore and Sinclair ga...

The New Tandy 102: Technology ni yoru shinpo

It's three years since Tandy launched its TRS-80/100 portable computer, and it's back with an updated model, which is smaller and now comes with a built-in modem. It's also compl...