CPC prototype - remember that?

[Gryzor]

Remember the extremely interesting thread from the Zone about a gray prototype (possibly wearing a 6802 instead of a Z80)? Anyone remembers any details? I think it was all wired up, minimum number of chips in there...

[arnoldemu]

Remember the extremely interesting thread from the Zone about a gray prototype (possibly wearing a 6802 instead of a Z80)? Anyone remembers any details? I think it was all wired up, minimum number of chips in there...

Yes I remember and I still have the photos from the thread. But I don't know if I've got permission to upload them???
The one that was shown was the final prototype with Gate-array simulator board and z80 cpu.
I don't think the 6502 version was ever made.

[Ygdrazil]

Hi Arnoldemu

Who owns the images?

Were they uploaded to the Zone back then or are we talking about newer before shown image 

/Ygdrazil

Yes I remember and I still have the photos from the thread. But I don't know if I've got permission to upload them???
The one that was shown was the final prototype with Gate-array simulator board and z80 cpu.
I don't think the 6502 version was ever made.

[arnoldemu]

Hi Arnoldemu

Who owns the images?

Were they uploaded to the Zone back then or are we talking about newer before shown image 

/Ygdrazil

They were the ones from the zone I think.
I'll upload them tonight if I get time.

[redbox]

The one that was shown was the final prototype with Gate-array simulator board and z80 cpu.

I'd be really interested in seeing these too...!

[Gryzor]

Ohhh yes please do! We could make a lovely article out of them...

Remember who owned it?

Btw, I seem to remember that a 6502 version did exist as a prototype... but I can't base it anywhere. Given the point of switching from the 6502 to the Z80, it would be possible...

[arnoldemu]

Ohhh yes please do! We could make a lovely article out of them...

Remember who owned it?

Btw, I seem to remember that a 6502 version did exist as a prototype... but I can't base it anywhere. Given the point of switching from the 6502 to the Z80, it would be possible...

hmmm.. I don't think I have anything new. the pics I have are the same as on the wiki. See the cpc prototype section.

[redbox]

Oooh, I want a grey 464 now.

How much did the one on eBay in 2005 go for?

[Gryzor]

IIRC, not THAT much. I mean, if I didn't have a great-sounding but crap-paying job back then, I'd have taken it...

[redbox]

IIRC, not THAT much. I mean, if I didn't have a great-sounding but crap-paying job back then, I'd have taken it...

Me too, as I've only been able to afford stuff like this in the last couple of years - and now nothing is available any more 

[Gryzor]

Yeah - sucks, don't it?

[MacDeath]

I do own a grey 464...
It's even a 4128 indeed, with monochrome screen...

It's called a ZX spectrum +2...from amstrad.


But you can clearly see it was a prototype : no numeric paddle on the right of the keyboard.
And the CRTC-VGA wasn't well finished.

Yet I have never seen speccy ports running that fast and that well on an Amstrad.
It can even get those lovely colour clashes the world envy us.

[Gryzor]

Well, actually the Amiga 600 lacked a numerical keyboard as well. And I'm typing on a Logitech Edge keyboard which is fantastic (and lacks the numerical keyboard as well )

[arnoldemu]

I do own a grey 464...
It's even a 4128 indeed, with monochrome screen...

It's called a ZX spectrum +2...from amstrad.


But you can clearly see it was a prototype : no numeric paddle on the right of the keyboard.
And the CRTC-VGA wasn't well finished.

Yet I have never seen speccy ports running that fast and that well on an Amstrad.
It can even get those lovely colour clashes the world envy us.

ha ha ha

but I think your "amstrad" is unique because the grey colour is not the same as the one in the picture for the prototype!!!!
Do you have a pre-prototype?
Does your Amstrad come with coloured stripes in the border when it loads? One of them super-CPC's I think?

[dragon]

I have found who have the prototype:


http://homecomputermuseum.co.uk/#&&url=http://homecomputermuseum.co.uk/default.aspx?modelid=40085&ct=gallery&search=&categoryid=6&itemid=

Take a look at the pictures, the prototype includes "graphics update chip"*lol.

[TotO]

Jaja! PAL video? 

[robcfg]

Nice, the page makes my browser crash...

[dragon]

There is at leat three prototypes, these, the ebay and the guardian newspaper all appear have different number.

[gerald]

Nice, the page makes my browser crash...

These page made my brain crash.
So much waste of network and processing power for such a bad visual result and wasted space.
Yeah, all javascript and image in place of proper font.

[scruss]

The Reg article from 2014 has pictures of a grey CPC, courtesy my former editor Simon Rockman: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/12/archaeologic_amstrad_cpc_464/
According to Vik Olliver, the really early proto work was done on a knocked-off "Richard Russell board", a forerunner of the BBC Micro used internally in the BBC. Richard Russell — lifelong developer of BBC BASIC on everything but Acorn machines: http://www.bbcbasic.co.uk/index.html — claims that the machine was nothing special and we shouldn't get nostalgic over it.

[dragon]

And where that prototype come from Your editor have it?. We need good pictures of the internal boards.

[Bryce]

The Reg article from 2014 has pictures of a grey CPC, courtesy my former editor Simon Rockman: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/12/archaeologic_amstrad_cpc_464/
According to Vik Olliver, the really early proto work was done on a knocked-off "Richard Russell board", a forerunner of the BBC Micro used internally in the BBC. Richard Russell — lifelong developer of BBC BASIC on everything but Acorn machines: http://www.bbcbasic.co.uk/index.html — claims that the machine was nothing special and we shouldn't get nostalgic over it.

Technically, it probably isn't anything special, although there were versions where the Gate Array was completely done in discrete logic. But even if it's a standard board inside, the fact that it is a prototype in a different colour makes it special anyway from a historic point of view.

Bryce.

[scruss]

And where that prototype come from Your editor have it?. We need good pictures of the internal boards.

No idea — haven't been in touch with Simon Rockman since 1992. Those might be old Amstrad promo photos, I don't know.

[scruss]

Technically, it probably isn't anything special, ...

The Richard Russell board didn't have any form of gate array, and wasn't in the same form factor. It may have been an early dev system used by the team.