ELWOOD'S COMPUTER PAGE

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Here's some of the home computers I've played with over the years.

Picture Computer link Year Software Description & comments

Tandy TRS-80 1980 Invaders Game After seeing a Sinclair ZX80 that a friend of mine had bought in 1979, I was determined to get a computer of my own. This was right at the start of the home computer explosion, and there wasn't much around at the time. The one I eventually chose was the model 1 level 1 TRS-80 which cost me all of Ł299 in late 1980 (I had to go one better than my friend!) It had a mere 4k of memory and a very simple BASIC language which I picked up very quickly, then forked out another Ł150 in April 1981 to upgrade it to level II and add an extra 12K of RAM to bring it up to 16k. (This was when I was earning about Ł25 a week!) I wrote a "Space Invaders" program on it later in the year after I had mastered level II Basic, and even managed to make sound effects for it (the Model 1 didn't have a sound chip! The sounds were produced by modifying the sound output for loading and saving programs to cassette tapes.) If you download David Keil's TRS-80 emulator for the Model 1, you can load my program as a virtual cassette tape and have hours of fun with the old blocky graphics!

Sinclair Spectrum 1982 By 1982 the home computer craze was picking up speed, and the "must-have" gadget for that year was the Sinclair Spectrum, so naturally I just had to get one. For its price and size, it was an incredibly powerful computer in 1982, with colours and sound and a whole 16k of memory as standard. I spent many happy hours programming this thing to do all sorts of weird and wonderful things, but unfortunately none of my labours seem to have survived.

Yamaha CX5M 1984 Hitch Hiker Suite
1, 2, 3
Voice data .VOG Now this was more like it - a computer and a synthesiser in one instrument! I was really getting into computer programming at the same time as composing so this was a godsend. It was quite tricky to set up and manipulate, but the sounds it produced were superb. I still have it, and surprise surprise, it still works! It was also the first instrument I owned which had MIDI, but like the guy who invented the telephone said, it's not much use without a second one to connect it to...

Commodore Amiga 1986 3D Labyrinth By 1986 the Commodore Amiga was the computer to be seen with, so I saved up and got myself an A500. It had a mouse and something called a GUI (Graphical User Interface) which was fascinating, and a huge leap from the old command-line BASIC computers that I was used to. Over the next few years I built it up into a mean machine with all the accessories I could get my hands on, including a CD-ROM drive, a built-in hard drive, a 68060 processor (whoosh!) and loads of extra memory. I still have it, and still use it; it's such a shame that this marvellous machine was made obsolete by the PC revolution and the total domination of Intel and Microsoft which we're stuck with today. The Amiga was a real hobbyists's computer, and by all rights should still be with us today. I blame Bill Gates for its demise. Anyway, here's my 3D Labyrinth game written in Hisoft BASIC, complete with sound effects.

Elwood's Home Page

*Picture*	*Computer link*	*Year*	*Software*	*Description & comments*
	Tandy TRS-80	1980	Invaders Game	After seeing a Sinclair ZX80 that a friend of mine had bought in 1979, I was determined to get a computer of my own. This was right at the start of the home computer explosion, and there wasn't much around at the time. The one I eventually chose was the model 1 level 1 TRS-80 which cost me all of Ł299 in late 1980 (I had to go one better than my friend!) It had a mere 4k of memory and a very simple BASIC language which I picked up very quickly, then forked out another Ł150 in April 1981 to upgrade it to level II and add an extra 12K of RAM to bring it up to 16k. (This was when I was earning about Ł25 a week!) I wrote a "Space Invaders" program on it later in the year after I had mastered level II Basic, and even managed to make sound effects for it (the Model 1 didn't have a sound chip! The sounds were produced by modifying the sound output for loading and saving programs to cassette tapes.) If you download David Keil's TRS-80 emulator for the Model 1, you can load my program as a virtual cassette tape and have hours of fun with the old blocky graphics!
	Sinclair Spectrum	1982		By 1982 the home computer craze was picking up speed, and the "must-have" gadget for that year was the Sinclair Spectrum, so naturally I just had to get one. For its price and size, it was an incredibly powerful computer in 1982, with colours and sound and a whole 16k of memory as standard. I spent many happy hours programming this thing to do all sorts of weird and wonderful things, but unfortunately none of my labours seem to have survived.
	Yamaha CX5M	1984	Hitch Hiker Suite 1, 2, 3 Voice data .VOG	Now this was more like it - a computer and a synthesiser in one instrument! I was really getting into computer programming at the same time as composing so this was a godsend. It was quite tricky to set up and manipulate, but the sounds it produced were superb. I still have it, and surprise surprise, it still works! It was also the first instrument I owned which had MIDI, but like the guy who invented the telephone said, it's not much use without a second one to connect it to...
	Commodore Amiga	1986	3D Labyrinth	By 1986 the Commodore Amiga was the computer to be seen with, so I saved up and got myself an A500. It had a mouse and something called a GUI (Graphical User Interface) which was fascinating, and a huge leap from the old command-line BASIC computers that I was used to. Over the next few years I built it up into a mean machine with all the accessories I could get my hands on, including a CD-ROM drive, a built-in hard drive, a 68060 processor (whoosh!) and loads of extra memory. I still have it, and still use it; it's such a shame that this marvellous machine was made obsolete by the PC revolution and the total domination of Intel and Microsoft which we're stuck with today. The Amiga was a real hobbyists's computer, and by all rights should still be with us today. I blame Bill Gates for its demise. Anyway, here's my 3D Labyrinth game written in Hisoft BASIC, complete with sound effects.