Here in Italy the Apple II family of computers wasn’t very common. The Apple II was used by my parents’ generation rather than my own, mostly because it was much more expensive than more “popular” alternatives. The configuration of this Apple IIe is fairly standard for the times: third party Centronics printer interface, Apple 80 columns + 64KB RAM expansion, mouse interface, and floppy controller; DuoDisk and monochrome monitor. Continue reading
I have to thank my English aunt for this computer (she shipped it to me in Italy) and one of her walking companions, the original owner. Some time ago I received an e-mail from my aunt, who wrote “I think you will be amazed by what I have”, and included a detailed list of all the items she was given: the computer in its original box, a tape reader, magazines, games, books; the box arrived a few days later… and I really was amazed! Continue reading
I remember Spectravideo mainly for its joysticks, even if the company started its business in the early eighties by producing games for the Atari 2600 and other systems, and then selling computers. In this post I pay my tribute to one of the most known joysticks, the QuickShot II.
A few days ago I found a box in the warehouse of my friend Carlo, containing some Sinclair items. They had some traces of humidity, fortunately on the outside only. I took them apart, cleaned, tested and then reassembled them, taking a few pictures as usual. Continue reading