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I have still got the same CPC I had when I was about 6! and that is about #$*! years ago now :o

Got mine in 1986, sold it in 1989, got an Atari STE, then an Atari Falcon. Owned the Falcon until 2 years ago when it finally failed beyond repair :'(

But there's light: At the same time I came back to the CPC and I enjoy it pretty much. I would not have the capacity anyway to focus on 2 different systems, and the CPC is my system of choice.

I got a green screen 464 at the end of 1988, upgraded to a colour screen 6128, and then moved on to an A500 in around 1992, and A1200 later on which I had for a few years before a PC was necessitated by university (late 1997).

All these computers were decommissioned or sold - the 6128 out of necessity to buy the A1200 I think.

I did had a tower PPC A1200 for a year or so in around 2000. Wish I'd kept it, it would fetch a pretty penny now. Unreliable though!

I bought a 464 a few years ago (and an A500, and Atari ST, both in boxes atm) but I really need a monitor for it to recreate the system - large monitors just feel wrong and blocky. I do have a DDI-1 (and DDI-4) and some other stuff I need to set up again after moving. I have a GX4000 too, which is good for playing the newer games (which are ported to CRT).

1986, still my main CPC 464  8)

1987
That one lasted a year or 18 months before I smashed the keyboard up in a blind rage.
The replacement I still have.

Quote from: eto on 12:29, 30 November 22Got mine in 1986, sold it in 1989, got an Atari STE, then an Atari Falcon. Owned the Falcon until 2 years ago when it finally failed beyond repair :'(

But there's light: At the same time I came back to the CPC and I enjoy it pretty much. I would not have the capacity anyway to focus on 2 different systems, and the CPC is my system of choice.

I'll give that Falcon a warm retirement home 😀

Got my first CPC in adulthood back in 2001, when I was studying in Cardiff and eBay was full of cheap stuff... 

Have had my 464 since 1985 and yep still works. Never needed a repair. :)

June 1985 CPC464 and GT65 green monitor. I still have it and it is perfectly functional

Quote from: Gryzor on 13:18, 30 November 22I'll give that Falcon a warm retirement home 😀

It was smashed to pieces by DHL (or maybe also the guy I sent it to for repairs ... not sure). After a hard accident it's remaining pieces have helped other Falcons to continue their retro life.

Quote from: eto on 15:07, 30 November 22

Quote from: Gryzor on 13:18, 30 November 22I'll give that Falcon a warm retirement home 😀

It was smashed to pieces by DHL (or maybe also the guy I sent it to for repairs ... not sure). After a hard accident it's remaining pieces have helped other Falcons to continue their retro life.

What a shame. I'd just *love* even an empty shell. 

CPC464 spanish + CTM644

I have it since 1987 and it still works :P

Most probably it was 1986 when dad brought the 6128 with green monitor home.

A life changing event, for sure. 

Kept it active until 1993, even did the first year's University assignments on it (Turbo Pascal under CPM). Then it spent several years in the closet and the disk drive stopped working. 4-5 years ago, I read an article about replacing the worn out disk drive belt with a supermarket elastic band. And when I did that and CAT displayed the disk's contents, I was a happy kid once again!

Now it resides next to my laptop (with a color LCD because how much green can you take in your life?) and the small one plays Solomon's Key on it!  

Got my CPC6128 with a CTM644 colour monitor back in 1988 and own it and use it since.
I bought a Plus 464 on ebay in 2010 and upgraded it to Plus 6128 with external 3.5" drives and 6 months ago I bought a nice CPC464 - first generation with tall keys.

d_kef

I got my green 6128 in summer 88"
Swapped the monitor with a color one the next year.
I still got them both.

Well, I got my CPC6128 for Christmas 1986/87 (parents and me payed a part of the needed money). And it had the great CTM644 from beginning. Since that time I work with it constantly. With the time external floppies, RAM and ROM expansions came to it, later spare keyboards and monitors (ebay) and other Z80 computers like the 6128plus (1992). Never ever I touched some unreliable stuff like commodore computers - especially bad are C64 and Amiga (while Plus4 seems to be a bit better). Other Z80 computers are cool (PcW - all kinds, Genie IIIs, Prof 180X, etc...). Also Atari 800XL is ok. But I don't care. There is still so much I want to code on and for the CPC6128 and 6128plus that this will last for the rest of my life.

Got the Amstrad CPC 6128 xmas 1988 (I was 8!). At the age of 16, I... put my Amstrads to the trash bin :-\ :doh:  :picard2:

But it was a different mindset back then. It's like a PS3 console right now, "an old thing of the past", but "not old enough to bring any nostalgia to it". Same thing for me towards my Amstrads in 1997. I had the new PC world to explore... (and a luck I did! ;D ). Plus, few years later, I had my studies and such, with a clear lack of (physical) space.

In 2006-2007 I created few prods (homebrews) for the PSP, which gave me that great old feeling of making things for fun.. then I decided to get back into the Amstrads in 2008. That was an easy choice back then, the machines were still easily accessible, even on eBay for a quite decent price! And there were lots of support to get back into Z80 programming etc.

I did not vote for "how long have you owned your CPC", because I was 10 years without any Amstrad machines. Otherwise, the Amstrad machines are in my heart from the age of 8, which enters the category "25-35" :)

Since January 6, 1988. Almost 35 years. 

December 1987, my first OWN computer, still my same CPC today including the monitor.
This thing is exacty 35 years old now and still completely working. I typed-in and coded so many things on this machine and later tested and ran so much more, it's really crazy.

cpc1987.jpg

My memory is fuzzy, but I do know that I've had a few. Some time in the early 90s when my dad got his amiga was the first 464. That soon disappeared when my dad sold it for more amiga stuff.
My second one, I *literally found* in a cricket field. Worked beautifully for about six weeks then died a death.
Third, was a 6128 some time around 2005-2007ish. It got fried somehow and I have no idea exactly how it happened but it was ultimately scrapped (hindsight ugh).

2010 was the holy day - I found another 464 at a car boot. Negotiated the guy down from a fiver to TWO quid. I still have that CPC. For now, it is my baby. Until another 6128 comes along, at least.

First 464 was in 1984/5 a Christmas present for me and my brother. I can't remember what happened to that one. Then a couple of years later I got a 6128. Used Protext on it, with a Daisy Wheel printer to do some work stuff, and type up a management report for a nature reserve I volunteered at. That one went in the bin when the disc drive failed, sometime in the 90s. :picard:
My current 464 I got off eBay for £120. I have a Revaldinho RAM expansion, M4 and Lambda speak FS with it.
( I also have an original Atari 2600 console ( 6 switch woody) which has never needed to be repaired, apart from the joysticks broke playing DT's Decathlon. And a PS1).

If I count the 464 that I got for Christmas in 1987 (which I sold some time ago) and the 6128 Plus I bought in 1990 at launch with my own money and I still have then it's 35 years!  :o

December 1984 - CPC464 for Christmas which I still have. In the picture the monitor is the original and still works without any repairs. The computer itself has had a new power switch you could still get from RS until a few years ago. I have to confess that I built up a bit of an Amstrad collection when they were cheaper than now!

Cool, I never saw an Amstrad placed in a server rack before! :)

Let me join the club of old geezers :) I got my 464 with green screen in December 1985, so it's almost 37 years ago. I had to do without a disk drive for quite a while (at least it felt like it back then) and got a 3" disk drive around 1987, I think. Later on I also added a 5,25" drive, a color monitor, a Multiface 2 and a dk'tronics 64k memory expansion. Last time I used it, around 15 years ago, everything was working. I feel a bit sad to admit that it has been neglected since I got a 6128 with color screen from Marabu some years ago, but maybe the coming xmas season is a good time to resurrect it. 

Quote from: Prodatron on 17:55, 01 December 22Cool, I never saw an Amstrad placed in a server rack before!

@Prodatron  What do you think of the 464 on the wall mounted swivel arm  8)

It looks like it's floating in mid-air.......

Quote from: ComSoft6128 on 12:59, 30 November 221987
That one lasted a year or 18 months before I smashed the keyboard up in a blind rage.
The replacement I still have.

Wow. That really must have been some tantrum. :o My younger brother was capable of some fierce keyboard-bashing tantrums when a game wasn't going well for him, but he never managed to destroy any CPC keyboards.

The image in my head when I read about people chucking their CPC in the bin.  ;)

It was those f**King edge connectors >:(

6128 with Rombox & VIDI fine.
6128 with Rombox, VIDI & another peripheral (Teletext adaptor or RS232) sometimes was OK, sometimes not.
Solution - swap peripherals when required.
But over time this led to another problem - wear & tear on the edge connector on the 6128, eventually I could only get one peripheral at a time to work.
That particular day even that was problematic - the display kept rolling.
So after an hour (longer?) of moving the female connector "a wee bit this way and a wee bit that way" the Red Mist came down and I removed the 6128 from the desk, placed it on a table and smashed it with my fists until it was junk.
Not a solution to the problem but I felt calm afterwards.
I did the same to my bicycle one time and went full "Basil Fawlty" on that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv0onXhyLlE

I got my 6128 which is the oldest one in my collection in April 17.  Won it on eBay for 60 quid with a monitor and some games.  I remember collecting it and the husband didn't seem best pleased his wife had sold it.  I have since sold the monitor as it takes up too much space.  I also have a gx4000, 464 plus I've converted to 6128 plus and a 6128 plus.  Along with a pcw8512.  Tbh I haven't used them much recently due to other commitments.  Originally my dad bought a 464 in 1984 or maybe it was 1985 later the 6128 was purchased by him.  They were all sold in about 1991, my brother had moved on to a Amiga, my dad has bought a pc by then and I bought a PC 386. My mum gave away my gx4000 I bought new in 1990 about 2000, I'd left it in the loft after moving out and she gave it to a work colleague, I wasn't best pleased when I found out but my fault for leaving it there.

1992 to 1999, 2022-now

First view in 1988, when smuggled CPC 6128 with green monitor cost PLN 750,000 and not for purchase (my father was earning PLN 33,000 per month  at that time)
In 1992 we bought CPC for PLN 2 million (my father earned PLN 10 million at the time) (big inflation)
In 1999 I sold it for PLN 200 (after denomination PLN 10,000 to 1)
In 2022 i bought it for 1500 PLN.  ;D

32-33 years if memory serves my well.

My first computer was an Atari 800XL which I got when I was 9. Then at the school we had CPC6128s with color monitors, and as much as I love the Atari and I know understand it much better, the old Basic dialect was not as good as Locomotive's and it was very difficult to get software for it in Spain.

So, I asked my parents and got a CPC464 with green monitor, which made my happy for many years, and it still does.  8) Both of them, actually!

My 664 got into my home in 1985, and is mine since 1988 when my father got his 386.
Sadly the CTM644 and the tapes were thrown away while I was at the university. Anyway very grateful to have kept the 664 and a lot of 3" discs.

Christmas 1986, the 464 arrived and I learned to code
I've been a programmer since 1993 that is my day job ever since

A green screen 464 in 1985. Then a few years later, I bought a colour screen 6128 from a richer friend who was upgrading to an Amiga, and sold the 464 to a poorer friend who had no computer.

And I had fun with that for years, but then one day my cousin spilled a whole glass of orange juice into my box of programming disks and destroyed all that. And soon after that the disk drive stopped working and I didn't know about the drive belt thing either. I had bought a second-hand Amiga by then and I was moving away to university so I gave the CPC to a friend who was into electronics and repairing stuff. But he probably just threw it away in the end I guess.

So then 20 years later here's me spending a pile of money and getting another one shipped over from the other side of the world. 

Got my CPC464 just before Christmas 1986, and cue the disappointment that it wasn't a Vic 20! Basically earlier that summer I was in the UK and I couldn't get off the uncle's Vic 20. Played Pharohs Curse until my eyes went blurry! Of course, 10 year old me had no idea of the shelf life of a machine and how progress worked.

Then made the mistake of waiting what felt like an eternity loading Sultan's Maze. I love mazes but this is fucking terrible, I'm sorry! Oh Mummy, Harrier Attack and Galactic Plague started to rapidly make me come around. Before I knew it, I discovered other games that weren't Amsoft that really blew me away at the time. Wait a second... arcade conversions at home? I'm in! Ghosts N Goblins, Donkey Kong, Buggy Boy... countless hours burned.

By 1989 between tape duplicating and the stuff I had bought, mostly compilations, I had amassed a collection of over 500 games. So much choice but I was never sitting around wondering what to play next. By 1990, the plus range was coming out. I'm 14 at this point but I just got the feeling that the end was nearing. Sega's Master System had been around a couple of years and now the NES was starting to hit the shelves, so the Speccy and Amstrad shelves in the shops were starting to gradually shrink to make more room for the consoles. 

By 1991, I'm hardly home. I'm 15, I quit school early and I'm hitting the rock and metal clubs and my trusty Amstrad is getting less and less use but by 1994, I'm burnt out by the bars and I just want to stay at home. Found a copy of AA with Turbo The Tortoise on the cover and at this point, I had bought a DDI-1 interface and drive from someone I knew who was willing to sell it. Of course, by then... good luck finding discs for the bloody thing! But I was able to source some and started transferring BASIC loader tape titles (Hello Elite Systems!) over to discs and enjoying fast loading. 

This kept going up until around 1998 when I got my first PC and figured, I can emulate. I'd never use my real hardware again (Here's where 2017 Neary wants to go and absolutely strangle 1998 Neary with his own pubic hair!). I moved out of my old place in 2006 and left a couple of different Amstrads, 2 big boxes of discs and a Multiface II in the attic.

2017 comes along and a friend gives me his old 6128+ and it all comes back to me. I start collecting machines again like it's going out of fashion as the prices are slowly rising. I regret nothing at that point given the prices of some of the machines are going for, the Plus machines in particular. My list is below. And here we are in 2023 and I'm still loading games from tape on my trusty CPC464. :) 

Quick update: My 464 is alive and kicking. I was able to load games (Boulder Dash, World Series Baseball and some others) from tape without any troubles. Eat this, 6128!

(I understood the op to mean how long you've had your current CPC, not when you first got one? But I don't complain)

Quote from: Gryzor on 19:16, 02 February 23(I understood the op to mean how long you've had your current CPC, not when you first got one? But I don't complain)

But... shouldn't that be the same?  :laugh:

Quote from: BSC on 19:09, 02 February 23Quick update: My 464 is alive and kicking. I was able to load games (Boulder Dash, World Series Baseball and some others) from tape without any troubles. Eat this, 6128!

All you need now is an external Gotek and a RAM expansion and enjoy the fun! :D

Quote from: Gryzor on 19:16, 02 February 23(I understood the op to mean how long you've had your current CPC, not when you first got one? But I don't complain)

Given that it wasn't specified, I figured my CPC history would check all the boxes. If it adds to the discussion, it can't be that harmful after all.  :)

Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 10:12, 03 February 23

Quote from: Gryzor on 19:16, 02 February 23(I understood the op to mean how long you've had your current CPC, not when you first got one? But I don't complain)

Given that it wasn't specified, I figured my CPC history would check all the boxes. If it adds to the discussion, it can't be that harmful after all.  :)

Nope, not harmful, but interesting and entertaining. The title *does* specify that: "How long have you owned your CPC", not "what is your history with the CPC", but no biggie.

Quote from: Gryzor on 10:14, 03 February 23

Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 10:12, 03 February 23

Quote from: Gryzor on 19:16, 02 February 23(I understood the op to mean how long you've had your current CPC, not when you first got one? But I don't complain)

Given that it wasn't specified, I figured my CPC history would check all the boxes. If it adds to the discussion, it can't be that harmful after all.  :)

Nope, not harmful, but interesting and entertaining. The title *does* specify that: "How long have you owned your CPC", not "what is your history with the CPC", but no biggie.

True but which CPC? Your first, your second, your third? ;) 
Then does that disqualify Plus machines? Seeing as they're not actually CPC's despite the deluded believing there's such a thing as a "CPC Plus".

Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 10:17, 03 February 23True but which CPC? Your first, your second, your third? ;)

At least for the poll, I think the question is: From all the CPC related machines you currently own, please choose the one which is longest (and without major interruptions) in your possession. If a Plus is the one you have longest, then choose the Plus to answer the poll.

However, I'm not sure if this is, what everyone understood or what was meant by nicf82. The results would mean, almost half of us kept their CPC since their childhood. But of course it's possible.

And now the personal stories become interesting: When did you get your first CPC? What do you remember most? Did you ever get rid of it? When did you come back and why is a CPC still fascinating >35 years later? I would love to read more of these personal stories...

Quote from: eto on 10:56, 03 February 23

Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 10:17, 03 February 23True but which CPC? Your first, your second, your third? ;)

And now the personal stories become interesting: When did you get your first CPC? What do you remember most? Did you ever get rid of it? When did you come back and why is a CPC still fascinating >35 years later? I would love to read more of these personal stories...

I'll bite.

When did I come back? I don't think I ever really left. During the 90s, I would write games reviews for Kev Thacker's old site and then when he redid his site to make it more technical, David Wykes hosted the reviews and then I would continue reviewing for T.A.C.G.R right up until about 2002. I was still hooked on CPC games throughout the 2000s and the 2010s, and there would always be an emulator on all my machines. I would play some of the games while travelling, or on break from work etc.

I think around 2016, all the talk around here of people modding and recreating new boards gave me the itch to find an actual machine again. I didn't really see the point in getting real hardware initially because where am I going to get a RAM upgrade? Where am I going to get a Multiface? I sure as shit aren't going to find 3 inch disks anywhere, and could barely source blank tapes. Then the likes of @TotO for the Mother X4 and the Z Mem, and @talrek and his MFII clone. It got me to thinking, I can actually use the stuff I used to, which is pretty cool! Then you have Goteks, TZXDuinos, M4's, C4CPC's

In 2017, I met @CraigsBar when he had a bunch of spare 3 inch disks to spare. When he dropped them over to my place, we just got along and before I knew it, he was repairing a Speccy I had which was giving all sort of problems and I was crashing in his after a lot of gaming, repairs and drinking! How the poor guy still puts up with me but upon seeing his collection of machines, it was a big inspiration for me collecting the machines I have now. The Amstrad ones are listed below, but I also have Atari's, a Speccy, a C64 and other consoles too.

I've been using real hardware since.

I couldn't just say that I've had my CPC for a couple of years. That wouldn't be the full picture...

I've had my original CPC464 with CTM640 since around October 1985.
Never had an issue at all, both CPC and CTM are still going strong, and especially the CPC is in 'as new' condition.

Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 10:11, 03 February 23

Quote from: BSC on 19:09, 02 February 23Quick update: My 464 is alive and kicking. I was able to load games (Boulder Dash, World Series Baseball and some others) from tape without any troubles. Eat this, 6128!

All you need now is an external Gotek and a RAM expansion and enjoy the fun!

Actually I do own a dk'tronics 64k expansion since the 80s which served me fine during my real-hardware-era (from 1985 to 1994).

After going virtual in the 2000s, there was no need for that until I got my CPC 6128 around 10 years ago. I purchased an M4 at one point (awesome device!) which was very useful for cross-dev and have also recently bought a GreseWeazle which is of no use because I forgot to order the right cables (believing I already had them), even though I am wanting to transfer my old source codes from disk to .dsk for years. It feels kind of funny that with the never-ending supply of new hardware for the CPC, I am still unable to just turn those damn disks into images (rant-mode off)

Quote from: BSC on 11:52, 04 February 23

Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 10:11, 03 February 23

Quote from: BSC on 19:09, 02 February 23Quick update: My 464 is alive and kicking. I was able to load games (Boulder Dash, World Series Baseball and some others) from tape without any troubles. Eat this, 6128!

All you need now is an external Gotek and a RAM expansion and enjoy the fun!

Actually I do own a dk'tronics 64k expansion since the 80s which served me fine during my real-hardware-era (from 1985 to 1994).

After going virtual in the 2000s, there was no need for that until I got my CPC 6128 around 10 years ago. I purchased an M4 at one point (awesome device!) which was very useful for cross-dev and have also recently bought a GreseWeazle which is of no use because I forgot to order the right cables (believing I already had them), even though I am wanting to transfer my old source codes from disk to .dsk for years. It feels kind of funny that with the never-ending supply of new hardware for the CPC, I am still unable to just turn those damn disks into images (rant-mode off)

I got a DDI-5 from Zaxon a few years back and hook a Gotek to my 464 for anything to almost replace my original 1993 setup only that was a DDI-1. I'm always chopping and changing ways to load games. Some days it's a Dandanator, other days it's an M4, others it's a Gotek and other days it's a TZXDuino to load CDT's (I've tape input mods in both my 464's for it).

Some days I'll even load the original tapes. I bought a load of games over the last few years before the prices went insane. I also have a box of my original tapes which still work surprisingly!

Always love the opportunity to load a tape... And I'm grateful people nowadays release their stuff on cdt as well! 

Quote from: Gryzor on 13:58, 04 February 23Always love the opportunity to load a tape... And I'm grateful people nowadays release their stuff on cdt as well!

Fun fact - Some of the first cdts to surface have me credited.

You'll find 720 degrees and Bruce Lee CDT's have my name on them on CPC-Power! I created the wav's from my tapes for A.D.A.T.E back in the day. (Think that stands for Amstrad Disk And Tape Emporium or something like that).

Haha even ADATE is vintage now... Oh good old ADATE! Thanks for sharing your tapes btw  :)

Quote from: Gryzor on 16:28, 04 February 23Haha even ADATE is vintage now... Oh good old ADATE! Thanks for sharing your tapes btw  :)

Looking back at that, I wish I had more time to contribute to it at the time, but I wasn't the most patient person in my mid 20s so to learn something or to take the time out to do so was something quite rare. Especially that I had so many tapes but it was such a messy process to do back then. It's a lot easier to do now, thankfully. :)

Funnily enough, been then I couldn't fathom what GODS made and maintained these sites! I'm so grateful... 

Quote from: Gryzor on 20:20, 07 February 23Funnily enough, been then I couldn't fathom what GODS made and maintained these sites! I'm so grateful...

Greek Gods clearly! :laugh:
(That one wrote itself!)

<gif>ba-dum tsss</gif>

Quote from: Gryzor on 20:32, 07 February 23<gif>ba-dum tsss</gif>

I know you laughed!