OT: Your first 'puter

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Author Topic:   OT: Your first 'puter

Bazza posted 25-04-2001 01:10 AM GMT
This is slightly off topic, but so what eh.
My first computer was a TRS-80 Pocket computer with a whopping 1.5K of ram. I was in college studying Computer Science in those days and actually wrote a father/son update (anyone remember what that was) on it. It had a cassette interface so I just got the program to prompt for change of tape (Required for father/son updates). It actually helped me with my first BASIC projects. Main stream for Uni was COBOL in those days though (around 1981) so it was less helpfull as the months rolled by.
I then upgraded to a TRS80 Model I with 16K ram. Boy after 1.5K, 16K seemed like an unimaginable amount of memory. I could type flat out for 4 solid hours (at about 70 words / minute) before I filled up its memory. And it had a screen rather than a single 30 char LCD Display. WOW. Mind you, I used to use punched cards at college to run / edit my programs, so this much interactivity with the machine was fantastic.
The came the beloved c64 (After wanting an Apple II for the longest time).
After that the Amiga (A1000, one of the first I'd say). I used to just show the thing off with its multitasking OS etc.
Once Indy 500 came out for the PC, I bought one of those and have been on the upgrade path ever since (286 16mhz was the first). Of course, I need a PC for my contract development work so now I've got 2 PIII866's with GeForec2GTS sitting in my study. Both with the obligatory Logitech FF wheels.
What were other people's computer development through the years?
Mayhem posted 25-04-2001 10:00 AM GMT
Parents bought one of those old Binatone Pong consoles around '79 to keep me quiet. I remember us having to chuck it out because the batteries leaked and rusted the electrical contacts away.
Then they got me an Atari 2600 (old 6 switch woodgrain model) in mid 80, lots of fun playing Combat, Sky Diver, Maze Craze, Defender and more on that. For some reason they sold it Xmas 83. Guess they knew about the crash and wanted some money from it before it became impossible to sell. A wise move by them at the time.
They used the money to get a second hand C64 for me in early 84, and haven't looked back since. Sadly that machine is no longer with us, but plenty more to replace it. First games I played were Ghostbusters, Cuthbert in the Jungle, Matrix and The Hobbit. Despite taking ages to load, I loved playing the stuff. Still collecting 17 years on now!
I also have American consoles (for the speed and full picture) SNES, N64 and Gameboy, and will no doubt get a US Gamecube when it appears...
Mort posted 25-04-2001 10:45 AM GMT
Here in chronological order is the machines I owned from new!

1980. I got a Woodfinish Atari Vcs also after seeing my m8`s binatone unit(with a gun!) he was playing a game where you shot balloons. If anyone can remember this or if its emulated please tell me!
1982 I got my beloved Vic20 which is still with us and played Antimatter Splatter non stop/Space Snake and the Pacman copy Cosmic Cruncher.
1983 Speccy arrived on the scene, obviously this was used to play the Hobbit,Elite,Jetset
Willy. I used the old line, we have to have a decent computer for school(64`s were too expensive then to consider �300!)
1984 COMMY 64! Boots mispriced the unit at �150 rather than �250 and I raided my paper round money with help from my father to aquire the cheaper unit. This is still running with a few doner organs in it! You all know the great games so i won`t elaborate
but I did enjoy Ghostbusters at the time and
Miner 2049er.
1986 bought a 1541!
1987 Bought a A500 1.2 machine
1989 Bought a A1500
1992 Bought a 1200
1994 Bought a 386Dx40 and the upgrade path has left me with a P2 333 with 256mb under the bonnet and a lot of Retro equipment from Boot Fairs( ColecoVision,Genesis,Snes,Megadrive,Msx,Sinclair128k,Sinclair QL,ZX81,BBCB,AcornArchimedes ,sx64,64`s,vic20,Intellivision,Gameboy,Gamegear and my last buy a nice old Vectrex for �20
As you can see I have a rather full garage ;-)

BIGGEST JIM posted 25-04-2001 06:40 PM GMT
Cool subject!
I have quit a history too, although I always was "GAMES"-only, and still are. So no programming 'fun' for me.
My first memories of computers starts...mmm?...I guess when it all started, very early 80's. But I am not sure about the exact sequence of things, it all went sooo fast!
I remember my uncle having one of these "pong" machines on his telly with a couple of joysticks, I loved it. This was in the end of the 70's.
We had a Philips games-machine-thing, I forgot the number, got it from my neighbour.
We only had "frogger" so we kept playing that for hours. Even my parents liked it!
Witnessing the effect on their children,
(hey, they're so busy playing, they forget to wine and behave badly all day...)
my parents started thinking about buying some sort of system to keep us occupied.
My friends had a colecovision-system, and a Atari type system, with Zaxxon, I can remember that.
I had all kinds of handheld games, nintendo Game & Watch and others, especially loved the wide-screens! (donkey kong & mario's)
Most of my friends started to have C64's.
Only one friend of mine got himself a Acorn. I played 'defender" on that one for the first time in my life.
At school I learned a little basic programming on a Philips 2000 computer which was quite hot those days.
After a lot of whining an moaning, I got my own c64 only in 1986!
In fact it was a C 128-D(iskdrive)but we only used the computer in it's 64-format.
I think there never was a decent amount of software especialized for the 128 , was there? My parents paid a massive 500 bps for it, and I got myself a color monitor as well.
(spoilt little brat I was)
I have to admit I was completely into "hacking" and (thus) software-piracy.
But I wasn't really aware of it being illegal, just as I ain't nowadays burning music on cd-r. (or like 'taping" in the old days)
So I had quite an extensive software library, I am talking about +2000 games!?!
And I played them all to death (the good ones)Only when I started to miss out on certain games, and I reallllly wanted them, I went out and bought them: I bought; MANIAC MANSION (absolutely fantastic!) and Microprose Soccer (the brilliant predecessor to Sensible Soccer, which was amazing too)
These games are still with me today, in all their completeness and utter-glory!
A couple of years ago my mom asked permission to give away all my c128 hardware to Polish children. I didn't mind.
So there went all my tapes and disks, AND .....all my zzap-megatapes as well!!!!!
(I had them all!)
I feel quit sick when I think about them.
Well, I hope those children had some fun with my old machine.
After the c128, I got directly into the (new) sega megadrive (buying it) reading "mean machines", following a certain Jaz (Julian Rignall to us)
I skipped the whole AMIGA business, although I had some friends who had one, as well as an ATARI ST. But the only reason that I was jealous was because of them having "KICK OFF", which was a brill footie-game.
After the Sega MD (fav. game:sensible soccer & ea-hockey), I bought a SNES(fav.game:chrono trigger & donkey kong country (only part one!), which I enjoyed the most (2nd to the c64)
I had also a 286 PC, but that was a mess, and only good for a game of chess. (hey, a poem)
Later I got more serious into PC's, with a pentium 100, later a P 150, I surfed the internet on those, and they worked out fine for me, just until recently this year.
I assembled a new system by myself, a Duron 700 mhz, with 128 mb, and a tnt2 32 mb videocard, which for me is luxury!
Now I can play a pixel-perfect 100% stunning full force version of "driver", and "Grand Prix 3", and Simcity 3000, and Rollercoaster-tycoon, which are my favourites now.
I do a lot of digital photo stuff on my PC as well as selling and buying 70's and 80's action figure toys.(on Ebay) I am a huge "BIG JIM" collector ('70's Mattel male action figure) and collect Star Wars and Six million dollar man stuff as well.
I also collect "old" console systems, no real retro stuff though, I have 2 sega MD's with a lot of "mint" games, my SNES and a LOT of games, I am a proud owner of a SEGA SATURN a UNDERRATED system (folks!) I still have a CD-I player etc, old handhelds and a bunch of old & cool and newer PC games.
I was also quite busy on the emulation-platforms, I have cd's full of emulators and software ( incl. a MAJOR c64 collection)but I just do NOT have enough time to follow everything closely.
Ok, this was a fairly quick "career"-oversight, haha.
Oi, just saw that I lost an Ebay auction for Zzap Issue 33, it went away for 12 bps!
I offered only 5, so shame on me!
'Till later,
ROb de V.
Andy1 posted 25-04-2001 06:55 PM GMT
Okay, we got a Binatone self-assembly kit in 1975 which my dad set about with a soldering iron, we then enjoyed Pong and all the usual varients (Tennis, Football, Squash).
1979 The Acetronic console. A second-rate Atari VCS copy with a superb Space Invaders clone.
1981 The Phillips 'Videopac' Console. Mostly crap with a touch-sensitive keyboard that was NEVER used, a great PAc-Man clone with loads of different maze layouts.
1983 Dragon 32. Green screen nightmare begins. cuthbert in the Jungle and Time Bandit are superb though.
1985 C64!!!! Nothing more to be said
1989 Amiga 500. My second-fave computer ever.
1992 SNES and Amiga 1200. Super Mario is one of the finest games ever.
1995 PC Pentium II 350, since upgraded. Emulation is discovered and life is good.
Mayhem posted 25-04-2001 11:20 PM GMT
Ah Big Jim, you're the other Zzap! bidder then. I was the one who pushed it up to 12 pounds now without winning. I've recently replaced issue #2, now #33 is the most important to get a replacement for in my collection (several things cut out and in bad shape).
iain posted 26-04-2001 02:12 PM GMT
Mayhem, you get a load of C= Formats or was it Your 64's a couple of months ago, I thought I was go9ing to win the bid until you came along and it went sky high! :(
Mayhem posted 26-04-2001 02:29 PM GMT
Commodore Users I think. I've now failed to win THREE issue #33 of Zzap! on eBay, and I'm a little pissed off! Now I've replaced issue #2, #33 is the highest priority to get (as it is in the worst condition of any of my issues). I'll only pay so much for them however, otherwise it is silly.
However... given I have come on a lot of spare early issues in good condition (including #1) I will be tempted to put them on the auction place because I could get a bundle for them...
Mort posted 26-04-2001 02:51 PM GMT
Mayhem, I may have a spare 33 knocking around which I would swap for a better issue 1 and about a �5 or a drink at back in time!
Mayhem posted 26-04-2001 04:31 PM GMT
Would have a think on that. Though the #1 I would figure is worth �25 abouts. More if it was in better condition. I will probably save this one for eBay and watch the rabid hordes descend on it no doubt...
I'd definitely swop the #33 if you have it (as long as it is complete in decent condition with nothing missing or cut out and the cover on the staples) for one of the '86 or '87 year issues I have plus a drink or so at BIT Live :)
Matt posted 26-04-2001 10:27 PM GMT
Silly question...
What's the URL for eBay then? I've never been there before, I might take a visit to see what's going on...
Thanks,
/Matt :)
Mort posted 26-04-2001 11:10 PM GMT
Found 33, the cover is on but with the aid of the mystical sellotape! but good news it has nothing missing internally and even the poster which unfortunately is a little worse for wear! ;-) it was on my wall and loose in the attic for about 4 years .
By the way I need a better copy of 58 as I have lost the zzaptionaire from it. That would be one to get again. See other post
Mayhem posted 27-04-2001 09:45 AM GMT
I'll check back against my own copy of #33 and make a decision. Will probably take it anyhows. My latest issue I have spare is #24, so have a think on any from the #10s and #20s you might need...
BIGGEST JIM posted 27-04-2001 04:04 PM GMT
Hi guys,
so what's all this swopping over here?
Matt. ebay is VERY cool, I am a enthusiasitc buyer & seller.
url: www.ebay.co.uk or go to the Worldwide Ebay (USA) www.ebay.com (from the homepage you can choose to go to the 'sister'/european links.
Check also Germany and Italy for cool mags every now and then!
Talking about swopping issues, who's interested in swopping issue 3 & 4 for a couple of issues between 16 & 40???
Any one in need of perfect examples of issue 44 & 46 swapping it for (again) issues between 16-40???
Just lemme hear it!
Bye, Rob de V.
kev posted 02-05-2001 03:17 PM GMT
Think I'd buy an ST now so i could play Kick Off 2 again! Play Match Day II constantly on my C64 emulator.....
Morpheus posted 11-05-2001 02:53 PM GMT
I got my first home computer in erm Christmas 1985? It was a C64. I was quite disappointed, because my dad had promised us a VIC-20 after we'd played with one round a friends house.
Never even heard of a C64.
It came with two paddles (into one port), a joystick, and two cartridge games - clowns and erm what was the game, zaxxon, something with two x's in it. A strange 2d space scroller that was really quite good, not "Zaxion" or whatever the latter 3d versin was.
It wasn't until March that year that I got a tape recorder for it, one of the proper ones. I shopped around until I got one for �40 rather than �45, and spent the other �5 on Gridrunner. Fantastic game. :)

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Author	Topic: OT: Your first 'puter
Bazza	posted 25-04-2001 01:10 AM GMT This is slightly off topic, but so what eh. My first computer was a TRS-80 Pocket computer with a whopping 1.5K of ram. I was in college studying Computer Science in those days and actually wrote a father/son update (anyone remember what that was) on it. It had a cassette interface so I just got the program to prompt for change of tape (Required for father/son updates). It actually helped me with my first BASIC projects. Main stream for Uni was COBOL in those days though (around 1981) so it was less helpfull as the months rolled by. I then upgraded to a TRS80 Model I with 16K ram. Boy after 1.5K, 16K seemed like an unimaginable amount of memory. I could type flat out for 4 solid hours (at about 70 words / minute) before I filled up its memory. And it had a screen rather than a single 30 char LCD Display. WOW. Mind you, I used to use punched cards at college to run / edit my programs, so this much interactivity with the machine was fantastic. The came the beloved c64 (After wanting an Apple II for the longest time). After that the Amiga (A1000, one of the first I'd say). I used to just show the thing off with its multitasking OS etc. Once Indy 500 came out for the PC, I bought one of those and have been on the upgrade path ever since (286 16mhz was the first). Of course, I need a PC for my contract development work so now I've got 2 PIII866's with GeForec2GTS sitting in my study. Both with the obligatory Logitech FF wheels. What were other people's computer development through the years?
Mayhem	posted 25-04-2001 10:00 AM GMT Parents bought one of those old Binatone Pong consoles around '79 to keep me quiet. I remember us having to chuck it out because the batteries leaked and rusted the electrical contacts away. Then they got me an Atari 2600 (old 6 switch woodgrain model) in mid 80, lots of fun playing Combat, Sky Diver, Maze Craze, Defender and more on that. For some reason they sold it Xmas 83. Guess they knew about the crash and wanted some money from it before it became impossible to sell. A wise move by them at the time. They used the money to get a second hand C64 for me in early 84, and haven't looked back since. Sadly that machine is no longer with us, but plenty more to replace it. First games I played were Ghostbusters, Cuthbert in the Jungle, Matrix and The Hobbit. Despite taking ages to load, I loved playing the stuff. Still collecting 17 years on now! I also have American consoles (for the speed and full picture) SNES, N64 and Gameboy, and will no doubt get a US Gamecube when it appears...
Mort	posted 25-04-2001 10:45 AM GMT Here in chronological order is the machines I owned from new! 1980. I got a Woodfinish Atari Vcs also after seeing my m8`s binatone unit(with a gun!) he was playing a game where you shot balloons. If anyone can remember this or if its emulated please tell me! 1982 I got my beloved Vic20 which is still with us and played Antimatter Splatter non stop/Space Snake and the Pacman copy Cosmic Cruncher. 1983 Speccy arrived on the scene, obviously this was used to play the Hobbit,Elite,Jetset Willy. I used the old line, we have to have a decent computer for school(64`s were too expensive then to consider �300!) 1984 COMMY 64! Boots mispriced the unit at �150 rather than �250 and I raided my paper round money with help from my father to aquire the cheaper unit. This is still running with a few doner organs in it! You all know the great games so i won`t elaborate but I did enjoy Ghostbusters at the time and Miner 2049er. 1986 bought a 1541! 1987 Bought a A500 1.2 machine 1989 Bought a A1500 1992 Bought a 1200 1994 Bought a 386Dx40 and the upgrade path has left me with a P2 333 with 256mb under the bonnet and a lot of Retro equipment from Boot Fairs( ColecoVision,Genesis,Snes,Megadrive,Msx,Sinclair128k,Sinclair QL,ZX81,BBCB,AcornArchimedes ,sx64,64`s,vic20,Intellivision,Gameboy,Gamegear and my last buy a nice old Vectrex for �20 As you can see I have a rather full garage ;-)
BIGGEST JIM	posted 25-04-2001 06:40 PM GMT Cool subject! I have quit a history too, although I always was "GAMES"-only, and still are. So no programming 'fun' for me. My first memories of computers starts...mmm?...I guess when it all started, very early 80's. But I am not sure about the exact sequence of things, it all went sooo fast! I remember my uncle having one of these "pong" machines on his telly with a couple of joysticks, I loved it. This was in the end of the 70's. We had a Philips games-machine-thing, I forgot the number, got it from my neighbour. We only had "frogger" so we kept playing that for hours. Even my parents liked it! Witnessing the effect on their children, (hey, they're so busy playing, they forget to wine and behave badly all day...) my parents started thinking about buying some sort of system to keep us occupied. My friends had a colecovision-system, and a Atari type system, with Zaxxon, I can remember that. I had all kinds of handheld games, nintendo Game & Watch and others, especially loved the wide-screens! (donkey kong & mario's) Most of my friends started to have C64's. Only one friend of mine got himself a Acorn. I played 'defender" on that one for the first time in my life. At school I learned a little basic programming on a Philips 2000 computer which was quite hot those days. After a lot of whining an moaning, I got my own c64 only in 1986! In fact it was a C 128-D(iskdrive)but we only used the computer in it's 64-format. I think there never was a decent amount of software especialized for the 128 , was there? My parents paid a massive 500 bps for it, and I got myself a color monitor as well. (spoilt little brat I was) I have to admit I was completely into "hacking" and (thus) software-piracy. But I wasn't really aware of it being illegal, just as I ain't nowadays burning music on cd-r. (or like 'taping" in the old days) So I had quite an extensive software library, I am talking about +2000 games!?! And I played them all to death (the good ones)Only when I started to miss out on certain games, and I reallllly wanted them, I went out and bought them: I bought; MANIAC MANSION (absolutely fantastic!) and Microprose Soccer (the brilliant predecessor to Sensible Soccer, which was amazing too) These games are still with me today, in all their completeness and utter-glory! A couple of years ago my mom asked permission to give away all my c128 hardware to Polish children. I didn't mind. So there went all my tapes and disks, AND .....all my zzap-megatapes as well!!!!! (I had them all!) I feel quit sick when I think about them. Well, I hope those children had some fun with my old machine. After the c128, I got directly into the (new) sega megadrive (buying it) reading "mean machines", following a certain Jaz (Julian Rignall to us) I skipped the whole AMIGA business, although I had some friends who had one, as well as an ATARI ST. But the only reason that I was jealous was because of them having "KICK OFF", which was a brill footie-game. After the Sega MD (fav. game:sensible soccer & ea-hockey), I bought a SNES(fav.game:chrono trigger & donkey kong country (only part one!), which I enjoyed the most (2nd to the c64) I had also a 286 PC, but that was a mess, and only good for a game of chess. (hey, a poem) Later I got more serious into PC's, with a pentium 100, later a P 150, I surfed the internet on those, and they worked out fine for me, just until recently this year. I assembled a new system by myself, a Duron 700 mhz, with 128 mb, and a tnt2 32 mb videocard, which for me is luxury! Now I can play a pixel-perfect 100% stunning full force version of "driver", and "Grand Prix 3", and Simcity 3000, and Rollercoaster-tycoon, which are my favourites now. I do a lot of digital photo stuff on my PC as well as selling and buying 70's and 80's action figure toys.(on Ebay) I am a huge "BIG JIM" collector ('70's Mattel male action figure) and collect Star Wars and Six million dollar man stuff as well. I also collect "old" console systems, no real retro stuff though, I have 2 sega MD's with a lot of "mint" games, my SNES and a LOT of games, I am a proud owner of a SEGA SATURN a UNDERRATED system (folks!) I still have a CD-I player etc, old handhelds and a bunch of old & cool and newer PC games. I was also quite busy on the emulation-platforms, I have cd's full of emulators and software ( incl. a MAJOR c64 collection)but I just do NOT have enough time to follow everything closely. Ok, this was a fairly quick "career"-oversight, haha. Oi, just saw that I lost an Ebay auction for Zzap Issue 33, it went away for 12 bps! I offered only 5, so shame on me! 'Till later, ROb de V.
Andy1	posted 25-04-2001 06:55 PM GMT Okay, we got a Binatone self-assembly kit in 1975 which my dad set about with a soldering iron, we then enjoyed Pong and all the usual varients (Tennis, Football, Squash). 1979 The Acetronic console. A second-rate Atari VCS copy with a superb Space Invaders clone. 1981 The Phillips 'Videopac' Console. Mostly crap with a touch-sensitive keyboard that was NEVER used, a great PAc-Man clone with loads of different maze layouts. 1983 Dragon 32. Green screen nightmare begins. cuthbert in the Jungle and Time Bandit are superb though. 1985 C64!!!! Nothing more to be said 1989 Amiga 500. My second-fave computer ever. 1992 SNES and Amiga 1200. Super Mario is one of the finest games ever. 1995 PC Pentium II 350, since upgraded. Emulation is discovered and life is good.
Mayhem	posted 25-04-2001 11:20 PM GMT Ah Big Jim, you're the other Zzap! bidder then. I was the one who pushed it up to 12 pounds now without winning. I've recently replaced issue #2, now #33 is the most important to get a replacement for in my collection (several things cut out and in bad shape).
iain	posted 26-04-2001 02:12 PM GMT Mayhem, you get a load of C= Formats or was it Your 64's a couple of months ago, I thought I was go9ing to win the bid until you came along and it went sky high! :(
Mayhem	posted 26-04-2001 02:29 PM GMT Commodore Users I think. I've now failed to win THREE issue #33 of Zzap! on eBay, and I'm a little pissed off! Now I've replaced issue #2, #33 is the highest priority to get (as it is in the worst condition of any of my issues). I'll only pay so much for them however, otherwise it is silly. However... given I have come on a lot of spare early issues in good condition (including #1) I will be tempted to put them on the auction place because I could get a bundle for them...
Mort	posted 26-04-2001 02:51 PM GMT Mayhem, I may have a spare 33 knocking around which I would swap for a better issue 1 and about a �5 or a drink at back in time!
Mayhem	posted 26-04-2001 04:31 PM GMT Would have a think on that. Though the #1 I would figure is worth �25 abouts. More if it was in better condition. I will probably save this one for eBay and watch the rabid hordes descend on it no doubt... I'd definitely swop the #33 if you have it (as long as it is complete in decent condition with nothing missing or cut out and the cover on the staples) for one of the '86 or '87 year issues I have plus a drink or so at BIT Live :)
Matt	posted 26-04-2001 10:27 PM GMT Silly question... What's the URL for eBay then? I've never been there before, I might take a visit to see what's going on... Thanks, /Matt :)
Mort	posted 26-04-2001 11:10 PM GMT Found 33, the cover is on but with the aid of the mystical sellotape! but good news it has nothing missing internally and even the poster which unfortunately is a little worse for wear! ;-) it was on my wall and loose in the attic for about 4 years . By the way I need a better copy of 58 as I have lost the zzaptionaire from it. That would be one to get again. See other post
Mayhem	posted 27-04-2001 09:45 AM GMT I'll check back against my own copy of #33 and make a decision. Will probably take it anyhows. My latest issue I have spare is #24, so have a think on any from the #10s and #20s you might need...
BIGGEST JIM	posted 27-04-2001 04:04 PM GMT Hi guys, so what's all this swopping over here? Matt. ebay is VERY cool, I am a enthusiasitc buyer & seller. url: www.ebay.co.uk or go to the Worldwide Ebay (USA) www.ebay.com (from the homepage you can choose to go to the 'sister'/european links. Check also Germany and Italy for cool mags every now and then! Talking about swopping issues, who's interested in swopping issue 3 & 4 for a couple of issues between 16 & 40??? Any one in need of perfect examples of issue 44 & 46 swapping it for (again) issues between 16-40??? Just lemme hear it! Bye, Rob de V.
kev	posted 02-05-2001 03:17 PM GMT Think I'd buy an ST now so i could play Kick Off 2 again! Play Match Day II constantly on my C64 emulator.....
Morpheus	posted 11-05-2001 02:53 PM GMT I got my first home computer in erm Christmas 1985? It was a C64. I was quite disappointed, because my dad had promised us a VIC-20 after we'd played with one round a friends house. Never even heard of a C64. It came with two paddles (into one port), a joystick, and two cartridge games - clowns and erm what was the game, zaxxon, something with two x's in it. A strange 2d space scroller that was really quite good, not "Zaxion" or whatever the latter 3d versin was. It wasn't until March that year that I got a tape recorder for it, one of the proper ones. I shopped around until I got one for �40 rather than �45, and spent the other �5 on Gridrunner. Fantastic game. :)