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      /  The Computers That Made Britain
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RobertB 
The Computers That Made Britain
Posted on 15-Jun-2021 21:08:37
#1 ]
Super Member
Joined: 16-Jun-2006
Posts: 1481
From: Visalia, California

I just found this out today. The book, "The Computers That Made Britain," is available as a free e-book or you can purchase a hardcopy at:

https://wireframe.raspberrypi.org/books/computers-that-made-britain

Among the various platforms, CBM computers that are covered are the PET 2001, VIC-20, C64, and the Amiga.

Leaving out other CBM computers,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group -
http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network -
http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan
Nov. 6-7 Commodore Los Angeles Super Show 2021 -
http://www.portcommodore.com/class

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BigD 
Re: The Computers That Made Britain
Posted on 15-Jun-2021 21:13:34
#2 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 11-Aug-2005
Posts: 7307
From: UK

@RobertB

Thanks! That looks great! Worth a purchase to support them.

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simplex 
Re: The Computers That Made Britain
Posted on 16-Jun-2021 0:23:56
#3 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 5-Oct-2003
Posts: 896
From: Hattiesburg, MS

@RobertB

Oh wow, I'd never heard of this: Quote:
The best example of [Commodore CEO Marshall Smith's misunderstanding the computer market] was his cancellation of the company’s LCD portable computer project, being led – with little support from management – by Commodore engineer Jeff Porter. ‘We had initial orders from Sears for 50,000 or 100,000 units,’ Porter said.

Do I understand correctly that Commodore had a portable Amiga on the way, and he cancelled it? or are they talking about a different computer?

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BigD 
Re: The Computers That Made Britain
Posted on 16-Jun-2021 0:30:55
#4 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 11-Aug-2005
Posts: 7307
From: UK

@simplex

The LCD division was set up before the Amiga buy out and was based at MOS if I recall. It WOULD have been used for an Amiga laptop if C= had kept hold of it. They would have been one of the only US providers of LCD screens at the time and would have wiped the floor with vertical integration and bang for buck value for money/profitability.

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Nibunnoichi 
Re: The Computers That Made Britain
Posted on 16-Jun-2021 7:56:42
#5 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 18-Nov-2004
Posts: 969
From: Roma + Lecco, Italia

@simplex

Quote:

simplex wrote:
@RobertB
Oh wow, I'd never heard of this: Quote:
The best example of [Commodore CEO Marshall Smith's misunderstanding the computer market] was his cancellation of the company’s LCD portable computer project, being led – with little support from management – by Commodore engineer Jeff Porter. ‘We had initial orders from Sears for 50,000 or 100,000 units,’ Porter said.

Do I understand correctly that Commodore had a portable Amiga on the way, and he cancelled it? or are they talking about a different computer?

The only portable/LCD I remember from magazines back then was more like a portable C128 a-la Apple IIc, not an Amiga.

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Owner of various Commodore and a SAM440ep\OS4.1FE
See them on http://retro.furinkan.org/

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Rose 
Re: The Computers That Made Britain
Posted on 16-Jun-2021 8:06:53
#6 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 5-Nov-2009
Posts: 982
From: Unknown

@simplex

Quote:

simplex wrote:
@RobertB

Oh wow, I'd never heard of this: Quote:
The best example of [Commodore CEO Marshall Smith's misunderstanding the computer market] was his cancellation of the company’s LCD portable computer project, being led – with little support from management – by Commodore engineer Jeff Porter. ‘We had initial orders from Sears for 50,000 or 100,000 units,’ Porter said.

Do I understand correctly that Commodore had a portable Amiga on the way, and he cancelled it? or are they talking about a different computer?


https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=108

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Rob 
Re: The Computers That Made Britain
Posted on 16-Jun-2021 10:14:59
#7 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 20-Mar-2003
Posts: 6344
From: S.Wales

@simplex

The story goes that Smith cancelled the LCD machine after coming back from a trade show where the boss of Tandy had told him there was no future in such machines.

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simplex 
Re: The Computers That Made Britain
Posted on 16-Jun-2021 13:43:09
#8 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 5-Oct-2003
Posts: 896
From: Hattiesburg, MS

@Rose

Thanks. The article strongly implies that it was a portable Amiga, but your link makes it clear that it was a portable "something else".

Still amazing that Marshall Smith would let himself be conned by a competitor, of all things. Then again, that might well explain the state of the US steel industry at the time. (Smith came from US steel according to Roberto's linked book.)

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A1200 
Re: The Computers That Made Britain
Posted on 16-Jun-2021 16:37:38
#9 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 5-May-2003
Posts: 3087
From: Westhall, UK

Looks interesting, for £12 ordered the hardback.

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matthey 
Re: The Computers That Made Britain
Posted on 16-Jun-2021 18:53:02
#10 ]
Super Member
Joined: 14-Mar-2007
Posts: 1968
From: Kansas

Nibunnoichi Quote:

The only portable/LCD I remember from magazines back then was more like a portable C128 a-la Apple IIc, not an Amiga.


The Commodore SX-64 was released in 1984 but had a composite 5" CRT and weighed 23 lbs (10.5kg).




My aunt and uncle had a Commodore SX-64 which they used as a POS for their bookstore. I created a more advanced POS using SuperBase Professional for their Amiga 1000 but they ended up closing the bookstore instead.

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simplex 
Re: The Computers That Made Britain
Posted on 16-Jun-2021 20:53:33
#11 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 5-Oct-2003
Posts: 896
From: Hattiesburg, MS

@matthey

As a completely unrelated aside, Intel released at least two versions of the 386. One was the 386SX, a somewhat crippled version of the 386. I always wondered why they'd do that, when the obvious reading is "386 SuX."

Of course I was dumb enough to buy one because it was in my budget. Later I saw the light and bought the A500.

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rzookol 
Re: The Computers That Made Britain
Posted on 16-Jun-2021 21:47:41
#12 ]
Regular Member
Joined: 4-Oct-2005
Posts: 318
From: Poland, Lublin

@RobertB

No Tatung Einstein mentioned :(

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A1200 
Re: The Computers That Made Britain
Posted on 17-Jun-2021 10:43:56
#13 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 5-May-2003
Posts: 3087
From: Westhall, UK

@simplex

Yes that followed into the 486 CPUs too - in fact a 386DX wasn't a million miles off the real world experience of a 486SX from memory - especially if the clock on the 386 was higher than the 486.

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BigD 
Re: The Computers That Made Britain
Posted on 17-Jun-2021 12:30:25
#14 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 11-Aug-2005
Posts: 7307
From: UK

@A1200

I bet the top spec Intel 486 chips aren't selling for upwards of £320 like the 68060 Rev6 ones are right now!

Last edited by BigD on 17-Jun-2021 at 12:30 PM.

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Nibunnoichi 
Re: The Computers That Made Britain
Posted on 17-Jun-2021 13:39:19
#15 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 18-Nov-2004
Posts: 969
From: Roma + Lecco, Italia

@matthey

But the SX/Executive wasn't a prototype even though it wasn't that popular... I was talking about the one linked by Rose.

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See them on http://retro.furinkan.org/

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matthey 
Re: The Computers That Made Britain
Posted on 17-Jun-2021 20:58:26
#16 ]
Super Member
Joined: 14-Mar-2007
Posts: 1968
From: Kansas

Nibunnoichi Quote:

But the SX/Executive wasn't a prototype even though it wasn't that popular... I was talking about the one linked by Rose.


There would have been a SX-64 prototype before it was released. It was only about a year before the LCD prototype and was not very popular despite being C64 compatible. The LCD prototype was quite a bit lighter and had a wider screen which may have been better for typing into. The success was likely to hinge on the quality and functionality of the included software. CBM was not known for polished software. It was difficult to make a successful portable back then and there were many failures for many years before they caught on.

Grid Compass (1982)


Tandy TRS-80 Model 100 (100-1983, 200-1984, 600-1985, 102-1986)


Atari Portfolio (1989)


Poqet PC (1989)


Psion MC400 (1989)


These were mostly Intel 8 bit based which is not a bad choice as they had good code density and could have some MS-DOS compatibility for business software. The CBM LCD was not compatible with the C64 or MS-DOS and the 6502 architecture has poor code density. TI had released the CC-40 in 1983 and had a CC-70 prototype with larger 8x80 character LCD screen but also had a lack of software problem despite an affordable price. Maybe if CP/M compatibility could have been included like the C128 it would have helped but the portable LCD standard was already transitioning to Intel 8 bit with MS-DOS.

The Amiga was made possible because of Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI). This allowed Jay Miner to design an Amiga with more transistors than could be easily produced at design time. CBM bought MOS which had the technology to produce the advanced Amiga custom chips. CBM did not reinvest in their own technology and R&D and quickly fell behind though. They had to pay HP to manufacture the Amiga custom chips in the superior CMOS which Jay publicly complained about. Also, CBM should have been continuing to integrate and upgrade the Amiga custom chips to reduce costs, reduce power and keep them competitive. Had they done so, they could have had the SoC they needed to compete in the LCD portable market which transitioned to 32 bit ARM cores after Intel 8 bit cores. ARM didn't even have good code density with the original ISA and performance came from clocking up the weak cores and adding caches which came with the StrongARM design (DEC architects like Daniel Dobberpuhl who later worked for PA Semi). One of the most popular OSs for ARM portables was Psion's EPOC which later became Symbian and had a larger market share (67%) than Android and iOS until it's open source status was revoked in 2010. It is a 32 bit OS with preemptive multitasking microkernel like the AmigaOS. If CBM had continued to invest in technology and integrate the Amiga, they could have had 68k Amiga hardware and AmigaOS to compete with ARM and Symbian in the 2nd generation of mobile LCD devices.

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A1200 
Re: The Computers That Made Britain
Posted on 19-Jun-2021 16:24:38
#17 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 5-May-2003
Posts: 3087
From: Westhall, UK

Book arrived today - really nice looking thing and arrived so quickly. I hope to read it soon.

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