One of my cartoons for Monday's Metro

This is shaping up to be a really fantastic event with a huge number of exhibitors. I’ll be there with my MZ-700 and MZ-80K. Tickets are still available for the Sunday !

retrofest.uk .. Tickets still available for Sunday, I think ! Are we nearly there yet:-

IT'S ONE WEEK TO RETROFEST! Saturday is sold out and Sunday is going fast. Run to your computer and buy tickets now to avoid disappointment! See you next week! www.retrofest.uk/tickets.php

Isambard can barely contain his excitement - because it's Retrofest in just TWO WEEKS! Tickets are selling fast - www.retrofest.uk/tickets.php #retrofest2026

I've just about worn out last years, due to many cups of tea a day and naughty over exposure to dishwasher for cleaning, so I'm in the market for one :-)

It's that time of year... Only a few weeks to go... Get your tickets NOW for 30th or 31st of May at retrofest.uk

Fozzie Bear first appeared in the Muppet Show in 1976 and the NewBear 77-68 computer design, with its egg shaped Bear logo, in 1977 - Coincidence, I don't think so :-) Come and see plenty of retro computer related stuff at the Steam Museum, Swindon, UK on the last weekend of May www.retrofest.uk

Retrofest 2026 in Swindon is not long now - hope to see you there so you can gaze and point at my mess of wires!!😅😎 youtu.be/oKRC85vtLmk #restofest2026 #retrocomputing #homebrewcomputer

FIVE WEEKS 😱

In the UK, 1980s home computers typically loaded software from audio cassettes, but did you know software sometimes came on records? These ‘flexi discs’ were given away on magazine covers. They were cheap to manufacture and more convenient to distribute than bulky cassettes. #record #computer

KUMA computers were founded in 1983 by Tim Moore and John Day. Tim developed the NewBear 77-68 computer kit(s) and ran NewBear (part of Newbury Labs) from 1977 until then. I believe John Day was mainly involved in sales activity at NewBear.

RetroFest 2026 is happening again in Swindon 30th and 31st of May. youtu.be/DScdsdFIP_A?...

I made a video, as I occasionally do. This one is about the world of email before we all started using Internet email, in particular company group mail. youtu.be/czpiHZPyxLU

We're going to do it all over again! Very excited to announce RetroFest 2026 to be held at Swindon's STEAM museum on the 30th/31st May. If you'd like to exhibit, just full in the form - and if you'd like to come, why not buy a ticket! They also make wonderful Christmas presents :) - retrofest.uk

Here’s my (later than sort of planned) video on the Retrofest event held in Swindon/organised by @shortcircuit.org.uk Follow me as I take some janky video footage of old tech 😅 and marvel at this great event and exhibitors. #retrocomputing #retrofest youtu.be/YLqbKywPXfg

He may not be a Red Arrow but John does make exceedingly good videos. This one on the OSI Superboard II & UK101 is well worth a watch. www.youtube.com/watch?v=93XW...

Big heads up to the team at Retrofest 2025 at Steam in Swindon last weekend. Amazing show of old computing and electronics. Next year is going to be epic! This is me with my rather simple setup playing Quake on Dual 3Dfx Voodoo 2.

I wish I could have gone, but this almost makes me feel like I was there!

In between talking to folk at my table about the Tatung development system, I managed to grab a few minutes to walk around and see what my fellow exhibitors were up to. Apologies for the sound - shot live on iPhone, and it was very noisy in the hall.

Well, we eventually got home :-)

You need to get yourself a RC2014 Mini 2 Picasso. Lovely Z80 based goodness.

Great time at Retrofest 2025 at the STEAM museum in Swindon UK this weekend. Surprisingly our trains-being-driven-by-old-computers setup kept going OK, so the Replacement Bus driver spent most of the time relaxing in a little hut :-)

It might take a while, but we are off to RETROFEST 2025 at the STEAM museum in SWINDON, UK for the weekend - Some last minute tickets might still be available if you hurry :-) www.retrofest.uk

Not quite enough table space for a VAX 11/780, so i had to make one out of LEGO ... It's not much more intelligent than my BBC Micro, but it does run the classic `Adventure` game :-)

One way or another we'll get to RETROFEST 2025 on May 31st and June 1st at the STEAM museum in Swindon, UK... www.retrofest.uk

Spent too much time on this

Isambard Kingdom Brunel would like to remind you that it's just TWO WEEKS until RetroFest! retrofest.uk

This little old Casio TV would like to come to the party :-) ... RETROFEST 2025... May 31st & June 1st at STEAM, SWINDON, UK

You don't see one of these every day :-) ...

It's only FOUR WEEKS to go until RetroFest. Our exhibitors are slaving away to get their machines ready - and what better way to test them than displaying our logo! Tickets are selling fast, so we recommend buy one in advance if you can - www.retrofest.uk/tickets.php

Mainly for writing code for the brother's genuine 77-68s I tend to use a more modern device simulating the old iron, mostly because I am incapale of maintaining the real thing :-) ... Here is what I use for 77-68 code testing - A LEGO Newbear 77-68... The mess inside is based on an Arduino DUE.

(David Attenborough voice) "It's very rare to spot a Commodore PET in the wild, as they are normally masters of camouflage. However, this older PET, quietly feeding among the trees, hadn't spotted our cameraman ..."

I really enjoyed talking to Lee he’s a wonderful chap 😀👍🏻

An update on RetroFest 2025 😀

To all you YouTubers and particularly the Big Red Arrow Club... youtu.be/THUADgyaLJU

Retrofest 31st May->1st June 2025, Swindon UK ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCZ-...

We are VERY excited to announce our first major retro event - RetroFest 2025, to be held at STEAM, the GWR museum in Swindon on 31st May / 1st June. Over 40 exhibitors will be bringing a vast range of computers from the 70s, 80s and 90s. More info - retrofest.uk

one of my favorite data structure hacks for a doubly linked list is instead of storing a 'next' pointer in each cell, store the XOR of the 'next' pointer and the 'previous' pointer in a 'next_prev' field. iterator is the &prev_cell if going forward or the &next_cell if going backward

Loose regulation, austerity, repeat: The UK economy, explained. From the new Private Eye, out now.

and a few more...

A few piccys from a small retro event in Thatcham in October