Day 266(23) - #sharptember - And finally, we have the stunning, rare and viciously expensive Sharp X68000. I don't own one of these, and looking at their prices online, I suspect I never will. This is Japan's answer to the Amiga or ST, yet it was never sold on these shores ... 1/4

Day 265(22) - #sharptember - I've just spent the last 21 days breaking down Sharp's MZ range of computers. So I hope you're sitting comfortably when I tell you there's ANOTHER complete range of Sharp micros - the X1 series! ... 1/5

Day 264(21) - #sharptember - I thought I'd leave the first MZ to last because it's not really a computer in the traditional sense - but it's so bizarre I couldn't ignore it completely. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Sharp MZ-40K ... 1/3

A #sharptember bonus post of the gang all together before I put them back in their crates!

Day 263(20) - #sharptember - Although we might have met all of the 'classic' MZ machines, don't think we're done with the MZ series entirely. Oh no. There's many curious machines in their business line up - like this, the MZ-2800, half Z80B based MZ-2500 clone, half 286 PC ... or ... 1/6

Day 262(19) - #sharptember - It might look like a bit of up market hi-fi, but this is really the last of the 'classic' range of Sharp MZs - the MZ-2500, or 'Super MZ' from 1985. Alongside the cassette drive, we're now embracing the future with a pair of 3.5" floppies ... 1/3

Day 260(17) - #sharptember - So here's the second replacement for the MZ-700 - the MZ-800! As I understand it, this one was only (mostly?) for export and took a slightly different route from yesterday's MZ-1500 ... 1/3

Day 260(17) - #sharptember - In classic Sharp fashion, when it came to replacing the MZ-700, they did so with two similar looking (but very different internally) machines - the Japan-only MZ-1500 and the mostly for export MZ-800 ... 1/3

Day 259(16) - #sharptember - Blimey, we're over halfway through the month and we've only just got to the MZ-700 ( #sharptober anyone?). Deep down, this is kinda an MZ-80A with colour - and it still loads BASIC off tape - but feels much more like a home microcomputer ... 1/3

😱 I am sooooo not ready ... time to get dusting off those Dragons!

Day 258(15) - #sharptember - While we've got the MZ-2000 on the table, let's take a peek inside. As always, pause to admire the strut that keeps the lid up! ... 1/4

Day 257(14) - #sharptember - The MZ-80B was replaced in June 1982 with this, the just as pretty (if not prettier) MZ-2000. Like the 80B, it's got a 4Mhz Z80, 64K of memory and a software controlled tape drive that's quite prone to failure ... 1/2

Day 256(13) - #sharptember - Of course, there's an MZ-80 I've left out ... the MZ-80B. This beast is the business version and came out, I think, in late 1981 (struggling to find a Japanese source for that). There was possibly a 32K Japanese poverty model, but the UK version is fully loaded ... 1/2

Day 255(12) - #sharptember - So once you've got floppies attached to your MZ-80K or A, what next? Well, you can now load BASIC in seconds rather than minutes - if you can get hold of a copy of Disk Basic (took me a while). Or you can run Sharp's more serious FDOS, a sort of CP/M.

Day 254(11) - #sharptember - If you'd like to upgrade your MZ-80A to use floppies, the process is a little different. First you need to track down one of these - an MZ-80AEU - which slots into the back of your machine. This then gives you the slots you need to add a floppy controller ... 1/2

Day 252(10) - #sharptember - So what are the expansion options for your Sharp MZ-80K? Well, you'll need an MZ-80I/O box (in the middle), which takes expansion cards, such as the floppy controller I'm using here (and/or a serial or parallel board to drive a printer) ... 1/3

Day 251(9) - #sharptember - So let's quickly recap on the Sharp MZ-80 family! MZ-80K - red monitor cover, 20K, Jan 1978 MZ-80C - dark red cover, 'typewriter' keyboard, 48K, Nov 1979 MZ-80K2 - brown monitor, 32K, May 1980 MZ-80K2E - green monitor, 32K, Oct 1981 1/3

Day 250(8) - #sharptember - And, eventually, here's the final member of the home MZ-80 family, the MZ-80A. The differences are subtle - the display no longer flickers when the CPU is accessing the VRAM (of which there's 2K rather than 1K) and there's a socket for a 'user' ROM ... 1/2

I do love the Thomson machines too ...

Day 249(7) - #sharptember - If there's one thing we're learning about the early Sharps, it's to expect the unexpected ... and hence you won't be surprised to hear this ISN'T a Sharp MZ-80A, but a Sharp MZ-1200 ... a Sharp MZ-80K in a Sharp MZ-80A case ... 1/3

Day 249(6) - #sharptember - Another day, another Sharp MZ-80K variant, this time a gorgeous MZ-80K2E. With the MZ-80K2, they've stopped asking you to build your own machine. Now they're selling pre-assembled machines with 32K ... 1/4

Day 248(5) - #sharptember - Remember back on day 1 that I said the 'K' in MZ-80K stood for 'kit' - but I wasn't sure quite what form the original kit took? Well now I've found a picture! ... 1/2

Day 247(4) - #sharptember - So what's so exciting about this MZ-80K prototype? Well, it's the fact that IT BOOTS INTO BASIC. Already I can feel diehard Sharp fans getting dizzy and having to sit down. "You mean this ISN'T a clean computer?" Well ... no ... it's not ... 1/3

Day 246(3) - #sharptember - Armed with a tiny bit of Japanese (プロトタイプ means 'prototype'), I've unearthed a world of stuff on the development on the MZ-80K. And let's start with the prototype itself ... this a flyer from September 1978 ... 1/2

Day 245(2) - #sharptember - While I've got the MZ-80Ks on the table, we might as well take a peek inside and look for differences. I love how these machines open up - I would imagine they were inspired by the Commodore PET ... 1/3

September is now (un)officially #Sharptember 😀🙂To kick things off here is the best photo ever taken of the Sharp MZ-80A and its disk drives - courtesy of @heredragons.be The 80A came out in 1982 as a direct successor to the MZ-80K. It is a Z80 machine running at 2MHz.

Day 244 - and #retrorandom is being taken over by #sharptember - a whole month of Sharp based goodness! So let's start with this beauty - and a great example of why, as I collector, I enjoy Sharps so much. Do you know what it is?

Day 242 - #retrorandom - Sadly, this Belgian beauty isn't mine, it belonged to an exhibitor at the 2019 Retro Computer Festival in Cambridge. I would however REALLY REALLY like one. Built by disgruntled Texas Instruments employees around the 8080 processor - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DAI_Per...

Day 241 - #retrorandom - I got this Apricot portable back in 2021 and I still need to repair the battery bombed keyboard. It's a stunning, futuristic machine even now, 41 years after its release.

Day 240 - #retrorandom - It's a lovely Laser! The Vtech Laser 310 to be exact - a budget Z80 based computer from Hong Kong that became very popular (under the Dick Smith brand) in Australia.

I bought this for far too much money. It worked. It stopped working. I fixed it. It works again. I am happy.

Day 239 - #retrorandom - I love the look of the Atari 400, especially the retro/futuristic keyboard. Rather glad I never had to use on in anger back in the day though ...

Day 238 - #retrorandom - Four computers, 5x 6809s, what more can I say?

Day 237 - #retrorandom - It's not just fancy shmancy computers here! Here's my workaday Spectrum +2 which I bought waaay back in 2017. It's working in this photo, although I note it's since developed a memory fault and needs a repair ...

Day 236 - #retrorandom - Just four years separate the release of these computers - and there even was a time when both were current Apple computers and you could have chosen between them. Yet the differences in architecture - and philosophy - makes them feel eras apart.

Day 235 - #retrorandom - I got this TRS-80 Color Computer in 2020, and I do think they're pretty handsome. Amazing to think they date back to 1980 - launched 45 years ago, next month.

Day 234 - #retrorandom - And today it's truly random, just a pile of computers on the floor! Not sure what's going on here, I suspect it's part of moving house.

Day 233 - #retrorandom - new shelves and so many decisions! Do I sort by brand? By size? By colour? Decisions, decisions!

Day 232 - #retrorandom - This gorgeous little pocket terminal is branded Digital but is actually made by IXO. There's even a modem in there, which I'm guessing is 300 baud. It's got a polaroid battery pack (from a camera), but once it's connected it can run off the power from the phone line.

Day 231 - #retrorandom - I've often said you can't have enough Dragons ... but can you have too many Cocos? I've been (relatively) restrained, with just one of each major model (1, 2 and 3) plus my Brazilian clone. Although I know there's a few unusual ones out there I could collect too ...

Day 230 - #retrorandom - Okay, did anyone here ever take these warnings seriously? I HAD to know what was inside my computer and no sticker was ever going to put me off opening it up ...

Day 229 - #retrorandom - Okay, that does it, when I'm home from my hols, I'm going start 'Project Newbrain' and try and understand why I have so many dead machines. I'm aware of the issue with 'start up' caps, but I'm sure I fixed that on mine ages ago ...

Day 228 - #retrorandom - It's Sharp portable repair time back in 2023, ready for the Festival of Portable Computing in Cambridge. I need to revisit some of these repairs, as I rushed them at the time and have a better understanding of what's going on now!

Day 227 - #retrorandom - I wish this Oric Atmos system was mine, but it actually belongs to the Cambridge museum. However, when I spotted the drive, I had to get it set up. I don't imagine I'll ever be able to afford one of these, but a man can dream!

Day 226 - #retrorandom - You can't have too many Dragons. And these aren't even my Dragons. These belong to the Centre for Computing History and I was just testing them ...

Day 225 - #retrorandom - Another reminder, this time from 2015, that I really must repair this computer. It was my first ever vintage computer purchase and I owe this to it!

Day 224 - #retrorandom - I promise that after I took this photo, the ZX81 was carefully dusted off and returned to the shelf, but ... I'm sorry ... I couldn't resist.

Day 223 - #retrorandom - It's 2018 and I've got the Centre for Computing History's gorgeous maxed out Newbrain up and running. There's a memory expansion and floppy controller in that metal case (and a enormous PSU at the rear), making a neat little CP/M capable machine ...

Day 222 - #retrorandom - Okay, maybe I won't do a Dragon 200 for every day I'm in Spain, but surely one more won't hurt? Here were with it along side the Welsh original. The 200 is 99.9% identical to a Dragon 64, the only technical difference, aside from the case, is the power LED.

Day 221 - #retrorandom - I'm currently in Spain - but unlike last week, when I was in France, I don't have a collection of Spanish computers to theme my posts. In fact I have just this one ... the Eurohard Dragon 200. But it's so gorgeous, maybe I could post different pictures of it every night?