Date   : Thu, 08 Apr 2010 20:05:47 +0100
From   : zeem.uk@... (Alex Taylor)
Subject: Free Stuff Tranche 1 (Sheffield)

On 8 April 2010 17:17, Tim Fardell <tim.fardell@...> wrote:

> Excellent. If it still does exactly what you want, no need to get rid
> of it.

I read a magazine article a while back, which I think I took a scan
of, about author Hunter Davies who was still using a PCW 9512 until
very recently. He still has it, the article was about how the iMac
he'd eventually bought to replace it was over-complicated and how he
still loved using the old technology as it did exactly what he wanted.
Although I think a lot of it boiled down to the fact that he'd learnt
how to use the Amstrad over many years, whereas the iMac was new to
him, and worked differently.


>On 8 April 2010 18:04, Jules Richardson <jules.richardson99@...> wrote:

> I did a considerable number of belt replacements on those machines when
> working at a computer repair shop in the early 90s; lucrative for the shop
> owner. Gradually we stopped seeing them - as this was around the time PCs
> started dropping significantly in price, I assume folks were just upgrading
> (although whether they retired the Amstrads due to belt failures, I don't know)

I did one of these at the PC shop I worked at in the late 90s, using
some of my own parts. The only other non-PC job I did there was
recovering some university student's work from some Amiga disks after
their A1200 died. I think both those people had struck lucky with me
working there, as I'm sure many other PC shops wouldn't have been able
to help.


On 8 April 2010 19:21, Mike Tomlinson <mike@...> wrote:

> It was impossible to test the disk drives outside the 8256.  You may
> recall the drives, when installed, are housed in a surprisingly thick
> steel cage, sometimes with an additional shiny metal inner layer.

I'm sure I've had them working while hanging out the front of the machine.

> And did you ever lose the write-protect pin during a belt change :o)

Rules of Amstrad Disk Drive Repair Club:

1. Don't lose the write protect pin
2. Don't lose the write protect pin
3. Don't lose the write protect pin

:D

-- 
Alex Taylor