From: "Bob Billing (AKA Uncle Bob)" Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Magnetic Bubbles, Apples and other things. Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2001 09:40:13 +0000 Message-ID: <3A7145FD.1A412184@tnglwood.demon.co.uk> References: <94idpm$cbm$1@flood.weeg.uiowa.edu> <94laag$v5q$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <3A713B73.39BBF20B@mail.bcpl.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: tnglwood.demon.co.uk X-NNTP-Posting-Host: tnglwood.demon.co.uk:158.152.132.30 X-Trace: news.demon.co.uk 980502075 nnrp-10:27466 NO-IDENT tnglwood.demon.co.uk:158.152.132.30 X-Complaints-To: abuse@demon.net X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.72 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.2.14-5.0 i586) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 40 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news.tele.dk!195.64.68.27!newsgate.cistron.nl!bullseye.news.demon.net!news.demon.co.uk!demon!tnglwood.demon.co.uk!falstaff.tanglewood!nobody Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:74238 Ken McMonigal wrote: > With talk of drums rotating and mercury delay lines and such, it > got me thinking about the poor magnetic bubble. Whatever happened > to it? We were using Intel 8085's in 1983 & one guy tried one of those This reminds me of a curious story in which I played a small part. When I graduated in 1977 I went to work for a firm in London who were selling accounting systems to the merchant banks. These systems were built around PDP11 computers. We were approached by someone who, if memory serves me, was called Bill Strickland. He was the first Apple dealer in the UK and had one of the original machines built around IIRC a 2650. I was given the job of evaluating the machine to see if it was any use in the banking environment. I turned in a fairly lengthy report suggesting that it had potential if it could be given more storage capacity. I looked at magnetic bubble as a possible way of providing that capacity. While I was doing the evaluation I wrote a couple of programs for the machine, including a music composer. Strickland then went on to present the machine in Harrods department store, in London, during the run up to Christmas 1977. I believe that this was the first tim a computer was offered for sale as a retail item in the UK. One of the programs he used to demonstrate it was my music composer. I'm typing this from memory - but if I'm right then I wrote one of the first programs to be demonstrated in a retail shop in the UK. As the twenty-fifth anniversery is coming up next year I wonder if any of the other posters can help me get the details straight, with a view to commemorating the event in some way. -- I am Robert Billing, Christian, inventor, traveller, cook and animal lover, I live near 0:46W 51:22N. http://www.tnglwood.demon.co.uk/ "It burned me from within. It quickened; I was with book as a woman is with child." CS Lewis - Till we have faces, Ch 21. ###### From: Steve O'Hara-Smith Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: Magnetic Bubbles, Apples and other things. Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2001 20:38:29 +0100 Organization: EuroNet Internet Lines: 16 Message-ID: References: <94idpm$cbm$1@flood.weeg.uiowa.edu> <94laag$v5q$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <3A713B73.39BBF20B@mail.bcpl.net> <3A7145FD.1A412184@tnglwood.demon.co.uk> NNTP-Posting-Host: p610.vcu.wanadoo.nl X-Trace: buty.wanadoo.nl 980540325 40832 194.134.201.138 (26 Jan 2001 20:18:45 GMT) X-Complaints-To: The appropriate party according to NNTP-Posting-Host: NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2001 20:18:45 +0000 (UTC) User-Agent: tin/1.5.6-20000803 ("Dust") (UNIX) (FreeBSD/4.2-STABLE (i386)) Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!newsfeed-zh.ip-plus.net!news.ip-plus.net!news.tesion.net!news.belwue.de!news-stu1.dfn.de!news-koe1.dfn.de!news-fra1.dfn.de!news0.de.colt.net!colt.net!newsfeeds.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!skynet.be!newshub1.nl.home.com!news.nl.home.com!news2.euro.net!news.wanadoo.nl!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:74234 "Bob Billing (AKA Uncle Bob)" wrote: > Ken McMonigal wrote: > I'm typing this from memory - but if I'm right then I wrote one of the > first programs to be demonstrated in a retail shop in the UK. As the > twenty-fifth anniversery is coming up next year I wonder if any of the > other posters can help me get the details straight, with a view to > commemorating the event in some way. You would be ahead of me (I think) I had a demo program on one the first TRS-80s delivered to Tandy Cambridge in the UK (first batch). I think that was 1978 but I'm not sure. I had to write the code sitting in the shop stopping to talk to customers about the machine, we only had the one you see. One 11 year old that kept spotting my typos was a particualar annoyance. ###### Message-ID: <3A71F704.822C8B3B@ev1.net> Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2001 14:15:32 -0800 From: Charles Richmond Reply-To: richmond@ev1.net Organization: Cannine Computer Center X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7C-CCK-MCD {C-UDP; EBM-APPLE} (Macintosh; I; PPC) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: Magnetic Bubbles, Apples and other things. References: <94idpm$cbm$1@flood.weeg.uiowa.edu> <94laag$v5q$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <3A713B73.39BBF20B@mail.bcpl.net> <3A7145FD.1A412184@tnglwood.demon.co.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit NNTP-Posting-Host: taydal-207-55-153-46.ev1.net X-Trace: newsa.ev1.net 980540378 taydal-207-55-153-46.ev1.net (26 Jan 2001 14:19:38 -0600) Lines: 32 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!newsfeeds.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!newsfeed00.sul.t-online.de!newsfeed01.sul.t-online.de!t-online.de!blackbush.xlink.net!uni-erlangen.de!news-nue1.dfn.de!news-lei1.dfn.de!news-was.dfn.de!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.skycache.com!Cidera!newsa.ev1.net Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:74253 "Bob Billing (AKA Uncle Bob)" wrote: > > Ken McMonigal wrote: > > > With talk of drums rotating and mercury delay lines and such, it > > got me thinking about the poor magnetic bubble. Whatever happened > > to it? We were using Intel 8085's in 1983 & one guy tried one of those > > This reminds me of a curious story in which I played a small part. When > I graduated in 1977 I went to work for a firm in London who were selling > accounting systems to the merchant banks. These systems were built > around PDP11 computers. > > We were approached by someone who, if memory serves me, was called Bill > Strickland. He was the first Apple dealer in the UK and had one of the > original machines built around IIRC a 2650. I was given the job of > evaluating the machine to see if it was any use in the banking > environment. I turned in a fairly lengthy report suggesting that it had > potential if it could be given more storage capacity. I looked at > magnetic bubble as a possible way of providing that capacity. > Trust me on this...Apple *never* used a Signetics 2650 in *any* of their machines... The Apple ][ series was based on the MOS Technology 6502. IIRC, the 2650 is more an early type of controller and is very limited... something on the order of the National SC/MP or the Fairchild F8. These processors make it difficult when addressing more than 4k of memory. -- +-------------------------------------------------------------+ | Charles and Francis Richmond | +-------------------------------------------------------------+ ###### Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!not-for-mail From: Neil Franklin Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: Magnetic Bubbles, Apples and other things. Date: 26 Jan 2001 22:25:02 +0100 Organization: My own Private Self Lines: 18 Message-ID: <6uu26mgg5t.fsf@chonsp.franklin.ch> References: <94idpm$cbm$1@flood.weeg.uiowa.edu> <94laag$v5q$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <3A713B73.39BBF20B@mail.bcpl.net> <3A7145FD.1A412184@tnglwood.demon.co.uk> <3A71F704.822C8B3B@ev1.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: chonsp.franklin.ch X-Trace: chonsp.franklin.ch 980544302 734 10.0.3.2 (26 Jan 2001 21:25:02 GMT) X-Complaints-To: news@chonsp.franklin.ch NNTP-Posting-Date: 26 Jan 2001 21:25:02 GMT X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.7/Emacs 20.4 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:74266 Charles Richmond writes: > "Bob Billing (AKA Uncle Bob)" wrote: > > > > We were approached by someone who, if memory serves me, was called Bill > > Strickland. He was the first Apple dealer in the UK and had one of the > > original machines built around IIRC a 2650. I was given the job of > > > Trust me on this...Apple *never* used a Signetics 2650 in *any* of their > machines... The Apple ][ series was based on the MOS Technology 6502. And dito the Apple I before it, and every other Apple machine after it until the first Macs (68000) and the IIgs (65802 or 65816). -- Neil Franklin, neil@franklin.ch.remove http://neil.franklin.ch/ Hacker, Unix Guru, El Eng FH/BSc, Sysadmin, Roleplayer, LARPer, Mystic ###### From: jmfbahciv@aol.com Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: Magnetic Bubbles, Apples and other things. Date: Sat, 27 Jan 01 13:20:52 GMT Organization: UltraNet Communications, Inc. Lines: 26 Message-ID: <94um8v$203$7@bob.news.rcn.net> References: <94idpm$cbm$1@flood.weeg.uiowa.edu> <94laag$v5q$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <3A713B73.39BBF20B@mail.bcpl.net> <3A7145FD.1A412184@tnglwood.demon.co.uk> X-Trace: UmFuZG9tSVbLzM8bXWTABIJhVxV9nSwdS7mtYXru/ekon7VuVQbZPh+ImZUw1hQA X-Complaints-To: abuse@rcn.com NNTP-Posting-Date: 27 Jan 2001 14:34:07 GMT X-Newsreader: News Xpress Version 1.0 Beta #4 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news-fra1.dfn.de!news.tele.dk!209.50.235.254!europa.netcrusader.net!207.172.3.44!feed2.news.rcn.net!feed1.news.rcn.net!rcn!207-172-255-80 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:74410 In article , Steve O'Hara-Smith wrote: >"Bob Billing (AKA Uncle Bob)" wrote: > >> Ken McMonigal wrote: > > >> I'm typing this from memory - but if I'm right then I wrote one of the >> first programs to be demonstrated in a retail shop in the UK. As the >> twenty-fifth anniversery is coming up next year I wonder if any of the >> other posters can help me get the details straight, with a view to >> commemorating the event in some way. > > You would be ahead of me (I think) I had a demo program on one the first >TRS-80s delivered to Tandy Cambridge in the UK (first batch). I think that >was 1978 but I'm not sure. I had to write the code sitting in the shop >stopping to talk to customers about the machine, we only had the one you see. >One 11 year old that kept spotting my typos was a particualar annoyance. ROTFLMAO. /BAH Subtract a hundred and four for e-mail. ###### From: Charles Eicher Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: Magnetic Bubbles, Apples and other things. Date: 26 Jan 2001 14:07:28 -0800 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 30 Message-ID: <94ssf001va5@edrn.newsguy.com> References: <94idpm$cbm$1@flood.weeg.uiowa.edu> <94laag$v5q$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <3A713B73.39BBF20B@mail.bcpl.net> <3A7145FD.1A412184@tnglwood.demon.co.uk> <3A71F704.822C8B3B@ev1.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-091.newsdawg.com Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!newsfeed-zh.ip-plus.net!news.ip-plus.net!news.tesion.net!news.belwue.de!news-stu1.dfn.de!news-mue1.dfn.de!news.augsburg.net!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!edrn Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:74496 In article <3A71F704.822C8B3B@ev1.net>, Charles says... > >"Bob Billing (AKA Uncle Bob)" wrote: >> >> Ken McMonigal wrote: >> >> > With talk of drums rotating and mercury delay lines and such, it >> > got me thinking about the poor magnetic bubble. Whatever happened >> > to it? We were using Intel 8085's in 1983 & one guy tried one of those >> >> This reminds me of a curious story in which I played a small part. When >> I graduated in 1977 I went to work for a firm in London who were selling >> accounting systems to the merchant banks. These systems were built >> around PDP11 computers. >> >> We were approached by someone who, if memory serves me, was called Bill >> Strickland. He was the first Apple dealer in the UK and had one of the >> original machines built around IIRC a 2650. I was given the job of >> evaluating the machine to see if it was any use in the banking >> environment. I turned in a fairly lengthy report suggesting that it had >> potential if it could be given more storage capacity. I looked at >> magnetic bubble as a possible way of providing that capacity. >> >Trust me on this...Apple *never* used a Signetics 2650 in *any* of their >machines... The Apple ][ series was based on the MOS Technology 6502. Confirmed. On a related note, I do recall evaluating a bubble memory board for the Apple II, way back in the early days. It wasn't really cost effective, so my Apple dealership didn't pursue it. ###### From: "Bob Billing (AKA Uncle Bob)" Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: Magnetic Bubbles, Apples and other things. Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2001 22:37:58 +0000 Message-ID: <3A71FC46.7AAB019C@tnglwood.demon.co.uk> References: <94idpm$cbm$1@flood.weeg.uiowa.edu> <94laag$v5q$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <3A713B73.39BBF20B@mail.bcpl.net> <3A7145FD.1A412184@tnglwood.demon.co.uk> <3A71F704.822C8B3B@ev1.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: tnglwood.demon.co.uk X-NNTP-Posting-Host: tnglwood.demon.co.uk:158.152.132.30 X-Trace: news.demon.co.uk 980581896 nnrp-01:19508 NO-IDENT tnglwood.demon.co.uk:158.152.132.30 X-Complaints-To: abuse@demon.net X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.72 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.2.14-5.0 i586) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 12 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news.tele.dk!193.190.198.17!newsfeeds.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!skynet.be!newshub1.nl.home.com!news.nl.home.com!bullseye.news.demon.net!news.demon.co.uk!demon!tnglwood.demon.co.uk!falstaff.tanglewood!nobody Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:74628 Charles Richmond wrote: > machines... The Apple ][ series was based on the MOS Technology 6502. You are right - two separate projects blurred into one another - 2650 was the CUPG machine. -- I am Robert Billing, Christian, inventor, traveller, cook and animal lover, I live near 0:46W 51:22N. http://www.tnglwood.demon.co.uk/ "It burned me from within. It quickened; I was with book as a woman is with child." CS Lewis - Till we have faces, Ch 21.