Happy Xmas and even happier 2002, collecting folks. Next year will be the year of the Lisa 1 arriving at BD's front door... I can feel it in me water, and that's not just because of the wine *%o)
Anyway, a recent trade visit from Swindon correspondent Rich Harding leaves me with some smart stuff - a BT Merlin Tonto (aka ICL OPD), an MB Simon (yay), a CPT 8520 word processor of yore, a Mac IIcx and an adapter for the Amstrad NC100 notebook - cheers Rich!

EEP - long time no update, though this hasn't helped by Winduhs deciding to give up the ghost *again* so I'm now running RedHat Linux 7.1 with the GiMP to do the pix. HTML editing is done by hand now since I can't use Dreamweaver any more, so blame any mistakes on my poor fingers :)
Anyway, an excellent trade with Leszek Helinski in Belgium results in a boxed Interton VC4000 pong, Sony HitBit HB-75P MSX machine, Philips Videopac G7400+ (the fabled 'Command Console' that didn't get released in the US), and another Oric Atmos. More games with the Videopac too.
Also arriving is another boxed Atari CX2600 and an excellent condition boxed Mattel Intellivision.....new games for the Atari VCS collection too.....

Junkshop bonanza! Boxed complete Amiga 1200 "Comic Relief" pack, boxed nearly complete GVP Hard drive for the Amiga500, original Interstate pong with outer box, Amstrad NC100 notebook with leatherette case and outer box, and a Wizard Joystick i/f and Sideways ROM board for the Electron!
Also finally got my paws on PSSST! for the Speccy as well as several other 16K Speccy games.

Good day for Macs yesterday - finally got an LCIII and just for good measure, a Performa 630.

Spectravideo SV328 MKII turns up - yay. Also comes with a dozen original apps/games and a tape drive. No PSU though.

<deep breath>. New additions: Unopened Tandata Prestel terminal, unused Spectrum +2A keyboards (spanish), unopened MicroProfessor printer, unopened Mac IIfx terminator, Milton Bradley Microvision and a daytime visit from south-western correspondent Lee Davison brings a mint BBC 64K box, packaging for my OU PT501, manuals for the KIM-1, unopened Welcome packs for the Beeb, a graphics tablet for the C64, Sun Sparcstation 5, another CBM PC-1, ROM boxes and apps for the Beeb......and a Merlin mousemat :) Cheers Lee! Have fun with the A2000......

Panasonic R-E-A-L 3DO found, obviously ignored by everyone this morning since it looks like a CD player, but since when did CD players have a joystick port? :)
Also put up pix of Richard's kit, ie the Amstrad and Apricot - links below.

Nice consignment arrives courtesy of Richard Howells, or should I thank his wife, Pam :) Amstrad PC1512SD and Apricot PC all boxed in what would be mint condition if it wasn't for 17 year old plastic's habit of yellowing......thanks both!

Superb almost unopened condition Spectrum +2 James Bond pack found, along with 4 more Sega MegaCD games also in good nick.
Apple result :) Component swappage results in a working ][GS with System 6.0......

Pix of the US haul and extras added. Check the Inhabitants page for updates. Also discovered my signed Apple ][GS is a ROM 00 machine and therefore won't run GS/OS.....bugger....still, that makes it pretty collectable in my book!

Good trip, if only for the laughs and Sam Adams Boston Lager :) The only machine I haven't tracked down yet is the unopened CoCo3, but that's coming. The Tano Dragon (2 of), the Laser 128 and the PC20 are all in my sweaty mitts.
Many thanks to Rich Beaudry for driving to my hotel in Nashua to drop off the Laser - star man! Hello to the rest of the family :)
Also now got 4 Atari 400/800 carts plus 128K RAM and 32K EPROM carts for my Z88 courtesy of Richard Davis - cheers!

Off to the US tomorrow with work, hopefully to come back with an unopened Tandy CoCo3, an unopened Tano Dragon 64 (aka the Dragon 64 :) a boxed Amstrad PC20 and a Laser 128 (Apple ][ clone), plus anything else I can find!

Swapped the bones of a Mac II for a nearly complete Mac IIsi.....thanks Chris!

Grandstand 2000 pong found in a junkshop.....didn't know these existed.

...and here I am back at the helm :o)) Fully zapped and back at work tomorrow........eyes are dry but that's to be expected. Woohoo!

Eyes being lasered tomorrow as long as the surgeon can convince me I won't get halos round lights at night......wish me luck!

VTech 'Socrates' found in a local charity shop, boxed mint. 1988, so that's pretty much early learning at its earliest as far as educational kids computers goes :)
(that weren't Beebs anyway)

Thanks to Scott Calvey and the folks at Computer Active for the mention!

V.poor day. Boxed Vic-20 paddles was me lot!
Updated the list of Jan Lucas' Amstrad kit.

Another Amstrad CPC664 found with modulator and a box of disks, plus 16K Spectrum in Saga1 Emperor keyboard, all working.
Late update: Loads of Amstrad boxes arrive courtesy of Jan Lucas - cheers Jan! :)

Nice pair of Apricots this morning - a twin floppy PC (8086 based) and a single-floppy-but-with-hard-drive Xi.

Set up a new guestbook courtesy of Lycos.....

Tim King of "I wrote AmigaDOS" fame has sent me the world's only Amiga Phone :)

Normal service has to resume. New York is trying to get back to as-normal-as-possible so we must too.
My Z88 is now working after I read the manual......

Becca's Uncle was in the South Tower and all his co-workers got out, but he disappeared. If you're out there, Peter Ortale, we're hoping for you.....

oh.
my.
god.

I'm beyond words. All I can say is my sympathies go out to everyone affected by the terrible tragedy in the US. I can't say any more - this is way beyond my comprehension.......

Bonanza :) First off my excellent web host comes up with another TRS80 Model III (48K, twin drive), Commodore B700 that works and a Digital DECmate III that needs a keyboard/monitor cable - cheers Kevan! Today I picked up a Sinclair Oxford 300 calculator for 10p, several Dragon32 games for 20p each and Becca found me a PET 8032SK with floppy drive and printer for a tenner :o)

Too many days; too few updates! Recent arrivals: 16K Tandy TRS80 Model III that suffered at the hands of airport baggage handlers, boxed unused Radio Shack chess computer, yet another boxed Commodore P500 with 4040 floppy drive donated by Derek Harrison - cheers mate!
And I've fixed the Sharp MZ80K with help from Tony Duell; it's now up and running again after several years in silicon heaven.....moochos ta to Becca for the Tandy and Chess computer!

Binary Dinosaurs is on holiday at InFest 2001 in Bradford for the next 4 days, so if you've mailed me since yesterday I'll get back to you on tuesday or wednesday next week......

A visit from Richard Harding leaves me several Atari 2600jr's poorer (phew) but one Amiga Power PC board and Commodore CHESSmate richer. Cheers Rich!
Testing on the bust MZ80K PSU reveals a fault in the +5V circuit.....more testing to follow....

Good day today. Almost perfect boxed Videomaster Colourscore pong, Sanyo MPC100 MSX machine with games and a boxed tape deck, Atari 800XL with 1050 drive and a spare ZX81 and boxed Atari 2600jr just because they were there :o)

Christmas comes early. Not one, but 2 Compukit UK101s, one cased and one with its box, manuals, software, extra boards, all from Keith Raven - cheers Keith!
Compukit page created.

Lovely condition Sharp MZ80K arrives courtesy of Nick Reynolds and John Honniball; comes with boxed Interface module and boxed Printer.
Also with the Sharp is a smart white Jupiter Ace with 16K RAM pack, also courtesy of Nick. Smart bloke - ta!

Boxed Sega Light Phaser and Prinztronic Tournament 6 pong added; my own machine undergoes extensive heart surgery after a 17gb drive crash :(
Corrections and additions to the Acorn collection information comes courtesy of Matthias - cheers!

Amstrad NC200 in leatherette case arrives, along with a Tandy WP2 also in leatherette case.....maybe someone can explain why it looks like the Amstrad NC100?

BD's 300th machine is found - an almost mint C64 Light Fantastic pack with mint games, mint 1531 and only some dents on the outer box and slight staining on the keys to show that it isn't new.
.....followed by the 301st - a boxed Teleng Colourstars pong. Box is slightly foxed but the machine itself is perfect.
That'll be time for a pint then :o)

Yamaha CX5M found, complete with PSU and MIDI keyboard. Yamaha page created.

My spare Lisa bits arrive at last - only 2 months late!

Boxed Apple][ GS arrives with everything except manuals.....smart!

I've had several comments along the lines of 'good to see pictures but where's the bumf/history?' The easy answer is it's a lot easier to find the machines than it is to find the information, particularly if there's no manual. Web searches can only go so far, and I want to provide more info than many of the other online museums that can only include release date/CPU/memory/sound etc. If you'd like more details on a particular machine then mail me and I'll see what I can dig up.

Very bitty day today. V.poor turnout despite the good weather.
Amstrad NC100 Notebook found, and in buying 3 boxed GX4000 games he chucked in the boxed GX4000 too.....um....ta for that.
Also found a Currah uSlot for the Speccy so you can have your Currah uSpeech and Some Other Peripheral on the go at the same time, a SpecDrum digital drum synth for the Speccy, some Commodore IEEE cables for the PET, an Atari joystick converter for the Speccy and a Commodore SR-1800 scientific calculator.

Teleng Colourstars cartridge Pong found with 3 carts. And it works :)

9 boxed Atari 7800 games found in a charity shop for 75p each :)

Another scorching day sees the arrival of a fully boxed Amiga 2000 with boxed 1081 monitor and a Jupiter Ace plus PSU, both donations from an excellent bloke called Dave Viner. Or should I thank his wife? :o)
Jupiter Cantab page created.

Pix of Atari calculator, CD32 expansion and Amiga Cartoon Classics box added. And it's *hot*, well, for the UK anyway :) 27 degrees? Don't mind if I do.....Wossat in old money - 84 Farenheit? Not bad.

Acorn Archimedes 5000 added, along with an NEC PC-8201A laptop with printer, cassette drive and floppy drive. Pix of the PET 2001-8, Commodore PC-I added too. NEC page created. Oh yeah, I also found this :o)

A really sad note to finish the week off - one of the creators of USENET has died, age 45. RIP Jim.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/20074.html

Epson PX8 swapped for an Epson HX20 - thanks Bill. Apple Powerbook 180 added to Apple page, Commodore CD32 expansion unit added. Another Atari Jaguar cart ("Iron Man") joins the ranks too.
Crowning glory - Commodore PET 2001-8 donated by Dave Hills, complete with some software, manuals and schematics. Many thanks Dave :)

Mint condition Amiga 500 "Cartoon Classics" pack found, complete with all software and manuals.

Added pix of the Camputers Lynx 96 and the Nascom 1.

Another poor day salvaged in the last 5 minutes *again*. Better condition Amstrad Mega-PC, standalone Sinclair QL and 4 Speccy +2s found. Total cost - £8! Bambino 'Race'n'Chase' tabletop added too, boxed.

Digital DECstation 3100 added. Cheers Bill!

Courtesy of Peter Fairbrother several Camputers items get added to the museum - what a sound bloke and no mistake.

Commodore PC-I found at a boot sale, with green screen monitor, books and DOS 3.2.1. Yet another CBM machine that never made it.....bless....

Wow - a donated never-completed Nascom 1 arrives along with an Apple ][ Europlus with loads of bits.....thanks Chris, you're a star! Also some GEOS disks for the C128 and the transport protector for my Commodore 1541-II floppy.
Nascom page created and marks the 50th manufacturer!

Really poor day salvaged in the last 5 minutes by the appearance of a Mac Performa 6320, a mint unused Oric MCP40 printer and a TRS80 graphic plotter!

Boxed Archimedes 310 with boxed AK11 monitor added, along with a stack of mint Vic-20 games and an excellent condition boxed C2N data recorder.

Happy birthday to me! Also just found out I've been featured in the 'What's on the net' section in the Daily Telegraph! </me falls over with shock>

Amiga 2000 with keyboard added.

Got a job! I'm not chuffed at all :o))
Commodore 1701 monitor and boxed 1541 II floppy added to the Commodore page, plus some logic probes so I can start working on my dead machines if time allows.

Just discovered I've been in the Netsurfer Digest; have to mail them and say ta for the glowing writeup :) They're at:
http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/nsd.07.16.html

German VC20 found bolted to a bit of school desk lid today! Odd, to say the least. Pix as they happen, particularly if it's found to work!

Amstrad PC1512DD arrives in excellent nick courtesy of Pat - ta!

Mint boxed Sega Megadrive II, Speccy Multiface 1 and Doodler ZX81 lightpen added, also got a bunch of Vic-20 carts and cassettes.

Added the schematics for the Commodore P500 to the P500 page.

More reviews added to the adverts section, including the ZX81 and Jupiter Ace.

ICL One-Per-Desk arrives courtesy of Becca and the local auction rooms......total cost £2.34!

Validated all the main pages with w3.org's HTML 4.01 validator and fixed the errors. BD is now Netscape 4/IE4 and above compliant! 'Bout time too :)

Boxed Commodore A590 hard disk for the Amiga added, as well as part boxed Interstate pong and another boxed Atari 7800 to complete the museum's boxed one.

Boxed Atari 520STfm added, along with a boxful of sequencing software and games.

Many toys from the US of A, all unused - Timex Sinclair TS2068 (unboxed), TS1000 mint boxed and TS1500 boxed as mint as can be expected!

Magnavox Odyssey "Baseball" game arrives - perfect, considering it's from 1972!

Picked up the Binatone TV Master MK8 I won for the Pong page. Cheers John!

First boot sale and my first PowerPC Macintosh - the Performa 6200.

Boxed Super Nintendo added to new Nintendo page

More adverts and reviews added, including Sinclair PC200 and Spectrum 128K, SAM Coupe and Enterprise 64.
Boxed Sega MegaCD added to Sega page
Tomy Alien Chase handheld added

Adverts section added for your nostalgic pleasure.

Another smart swap with Bill Garforth results in a Sinclair PC200 all the bits!
Fixed the guestbook too - s'not perfect but it's FREE :)

Boxed Sega Megadrive and a black-fascia'd Atari 2600 Jr added, plus more carts.

Added some notes on the development of the serial ports for the VIC-20 and C64

Boxed bonanza! Very early Amiga 500, Amiga 600HD and perfect boxed original C64 added.
Amiga 1500 with keyboard and mouse added.
Binatone Superstar added to Pong page.

Another Memotech update on the stretched MTX512

Smart condition Atari 7800 arrives, fully boxed with the wee thumbpads for the controllers. (*rare* <grin>). Also Amstrad CT1 clock radio module to complement the MP3 TV Modulator for the CPC series machines, and a Prinztronic colour pong. Older Atari 7800 moved to Sale page.

Excellent condition boxed Amiga 1200 put on Commodore page, or rather the *box* is. Machine's bust but it was cheap :) Came with the software pack and a new floppy drive.
Also picked up a half boxed ZX81 with US RAM pack. Tad battered though!

Moved to a new server today so I'm now nestling alongside Kevan's Computer Collection thanks to the owner, Kevan Heydon. Cheers mate!
Update on the Stretched Memotech MTX512.....

Many pix of the new Memotech and the hoard from the 15th uploaded.
Wallow in nostalgia with the ZX80 advert!
Updated the Atari VCS pix
Redone some of the Sinclair pages
Put a 'last update' section on the inhabitants page so you can see what's changed more easily. Good to you, I am :) And yes, I *do* have better things to do!

Some web digging has found one of the founders of Memotech and the chief designer of the MTX machines, so hopefully he'll come back to me and help to explain the stretched MTX512.
Also found another Mattel Aquarius and a Binatone TV Master MK10 pong in a secondhand shop :)

Excellent night tonight. On a sad note my temporary custodianship of the 2nd Commodore P500 has ended but hopefully it's off to be fixed.
Still - start the year in the way I intend to go on! Machines added: boxed EACA Color Genie, boxed JVC HC-7GB MSX machine, strange long Memotech MTX512 (3 1/2 inches longer), another Dragon 32, another Toshiba HX10 (boxed starter kit but without the box!), Expert cart for the C64 and boxed C64 modem.
Coming soon (ie once I've scanned it) - an advert from June 1980 for the Sinclair ZX80 *kit*, so it was only 3 or 4 months old :o)

Something important happens today.....can't remember what. *g*