My Computing Interests
Early days
My first computer was bought in 1979 - in the days when fruit was a popular source for a computer's name (Apple, Apricot, Acorn). It was a Tangerine Microtan 65. It came as a kit, costing £59.95, and comprised a 6502 processor running at 0.75MHz on a Eurocard with 1k of RAM, a 1K PROM (holding the system monitor - TANBUG) and a hexadecimal keypad connected to the processor board via a DIL socket. The 16 lines by 32 character display was via a TV interface. The single kilobyte of RAM and ROM seem very frugal in today's environment where we talk freely of gigabytes of memory.
Programming was in machine code initially, and then assembler. At this stage the height of its achievement was a primitive form of space invaders, entered laboriously from a printed listing by my son, Michael. Over the ensuing couple of years I acquired a proper keyboard (it was in a metal case and weighed several pounds), more memory (much more), a high-resolution graphics card (I never progressed to the three that would have been required for a coloured display), a board for housing EPROMs (which I 'blew' myself), other hardware whose nature I forget and a lot of software. I acquired a copy of Forth which I used to develop a primitive but useful, and fast, word processor. Eventually it was all housed in a 21 inch case. This computer is still in my loft.
My next computer was a Commodore
VIC-20. I bought it sometime around 1982 as the Microtan expanded, mainly for use by the rest of my family. The VIC-20 was the ancestor of the Amiga and good for games.
Advent of the BBC Model B
Things started to look up when the BBC model B appeared. It was fast, for its time, and used floppy discs for storage, a big improvement on tape cassettes which were used before this. Software appeared in quantity and BBC BASIC was easy to learn.
Around this time I was head of the Automation and Computing section at the Laboratory of the Government Chemist. My group worked on various aspects of laboratory automation as well as providing a computing service for the Laboratory. The automation work was aimed at designing and building, in-house, systems for automating a range of procedures in chemical analysis. I had some three dozen staff so, inevitably, most of my time was spent behind a desk. It was only by working with computers at home that I was able to keep up with development and maintain a position that kept me, not, unfortunately, one jump ahead of my staff but, at the worst only a couple of jumps behind. In the latter stages of my time in this post we were actively developing automated systems based on Forth-programmed robots (as can be seen in this picture). I'll leave you to work out who the lady with the handbag is.
In time my BBC model B was replaced by an Archimedes A310 and in turn this was replaced by an Archimedes A420/1 which, until recently, was still being used by my wife, Joan (she now has a Windows PC). In turn, the A420/1 was replaced by my present Acorn RiscPC which has been upgraded several times over the years.
My present set-up
Currently I use a two-slice RiscPC fitted with two CD drives and two hard discs (one a SCSI device). Although bought in December 1996 this is still very much a working computer - RiscPC don't wear out or become obsolete at the same rate as Windows computers. Over the years the RiscPC has been upgraded with a Strong-ARM processor, then a Kinetic processor and RISC OS 4.33. Sitting next to it I have a Windows PC; the two computers sharing keyboard, mouse, monitor and printers. I have a SCSI scanner and a SCSI CD R/W which I swap between computers by physically disconnecting and re-connecting the chain. These three computers (RiscPC and two Windows PCs) and a Kyocera FS-1000+ laser printer are networked via an SMC Barricade Router (SMC7004ABR). The network allows all three computers to access a colour laser printer (HP LaserJet 2605dn). The Barricade Router is in turn connected to a PTI Router (PAE-CE84) whose main function is to provide a digital modem for broadband access. I also have a Toshiba Portege A100 laptop which is connected to the network via a wireless link.
The network permits all four computers to share internet access. I normally use MS Internet Explorer for web-browsing, not because I think that it is particularly good but mainly because it gains access to virtually all sites. I use Pluto and my RiscPC for mail and news because in this way I avoid problems with viruses. The fact that Pluto is an excellent piece of software is a bonus.
My Genealogical software
I use PediTree on my Windows PC for my main genealogical files of linked people, Custodian 3 for maintaining my Pluck & Pluckrose One-name Study database, and TreeDraw from SpanSoft for tree drawing. I use Access for everything else related to my one-name study.
I use Dreamweaver MX 2004 for writing my websites. It is an excellent program for managing the whole process but I still prefer to use hand-coding for the final touches to individual pages.
