A blast from the past: old computer ads

[Scrag Meister]

Hmm, can't see any mention of the Oric range.

When I was at school there was one kid who always bought something different to everyone else.

When we were all swapping tapes on spectrum and C64 he was being a loner with his Oric and his Memotech. Get with the group will you!.

[Churchill]

I had an Oric-1 and an Oric Atmos. I think we went into a shop and paid money and the man gave us a box with a computer in it. Radical I know.

When the machine was originally offered for sale it was Mail Order only and suffered major supply problems.

"The appearance of the Oric-1 has demonstrated once again the almost comical inability of British micro manufacturers to launch a new machine properly. Funded by British Car Auctions and utilising the considerable experience of Tangerine Computers, the Oric is aimed at the fastest growing sector of the micro market - the sub-£200 home computer. The delivery difficulties that dogged both the BBC and the Sinclair Spectrum should have alerted Oric to the pitfalls ahead, but the new company observed their rivals mistakes, then promptly went out and repeated them. Adverts inviting customers to send off their cheques began appearing in October. 30,000 orders were received in the first two months and Oric was confident that large numbers would be delivered in time for Christmas. But delivery of ROM chips was delayed, and it became apparent that Oric's deadlines were hopelessly optimistic... It's unfortunate that Oric should have set about marketing its product in this unprofessional and slapdash way - it can do the company's reputation no good and, what is worse, it's liable to be reflected in the consumer developing a distrust of the computer that it really does not deserve."

[gingerjedi]

When the machine was originally offered for sale it was Mail Order only and suffered major supply problems.

Raspberry Pi production derailed due to manufacturing error, initial shipments still on schedule -- Engadget

Glad to see the UK computer manufacturing industry has moved on since then.

[Churchill]

Ah.

Vapour ware.

That never happens these days.

How's that Raspberry Pi thing doing?

Finally placed my order 2 days ago with Farnell - f*ckers!

Piss up in a brewery springs to mind.

[Churchill]

Has it passed EMC yet?

Do Not ******* Start Me On That One!

[Paddy]

I have about 12 classics in my attic including...

[Sysman]

Finally placed my order 2 days ago with Farnell - f*ckers!

Piss up in a brewery springs to mind.

Farnell. Is that the same company that used to do computer power supplies?

Maybe some cheapskate supplier under-specced the power requirements, but in the early 1980s Farnell power supplies caused us some grief.

[NotAllThere]

Neon - the successor to Minter's Trip-a-tron - may yet prompt me to buy an x-box 360.

[NickFitz]

Raspberry Pi production derailed due to manufacturing error, initial shipments still on schedule -- Engadget

Glad to see the UK computer manufacturing industry has moved on since then.

The BBC Micro delays came about in a rather odd way: the Video ULA needed to be clocked at 18MHz, but manufacturers Ferranti weren't certain it would be possible to achieve a good enough yield with the chip-making facilities of the day. Acorn asked them to give it a try, and on the trial batch they were delighted to find that yields were perfectly fine.

So they announced the launch and went into production, whereupon it became apparent that the trial run had been pure fluke and yields in full-scale manufacturing were abysmal