0082 We have a ton of Amstrad computer goodness!

Always amazed how Schneider, the distribuitor of Armstrad in Germany, decided "no, this is too colorful, we need to make everything gray"

Noels Retro Lab is the on-line Amstrad Guru.

Noel’s Retro Lab has a ton of videos and info on the CPC machines.

Thge Amstrad 6128 was often used as a development machine for the Spectrum because it had a disk drive and could build Speccy executables. The Oliver Twins wrote Dizzy for the Spectrum using one.

Alex is a certified legend for sending you those devices. My first computer was a 464. Roland On The Ropes was the first game I ever loaded up on there. Memories! ❤

I still remember loading up Robocop on my mate's 6128 for the first time and hearing the speech on the title screen - I was blown away!

"I'm probably talking out my backside..." Still better information than a lot of subject matter experts talking out of their frontside...

The Amstrad CPC wasn't as popular as the C64 or Spectrum in the UK, but it was very popular in France. This may account for the high sales numbers in Europe overall. When I was very young, I remember having conversations with friends at school about which was best - the Spectrum, C64 or Amstrad. The same games were often sold on all these systems at the time - often in the same boxes with a different "system" sticker - and it was always fun to compare as they differed widely. Each system had its fair share of titles that were the best on that particular machine. Often, manufacturers put the screenshots on the back from the Arcade, or the newer 16 bit machines like the ST or the Amiga - so us 8 bit owners never knew what we were getting. Looking back it was an extremely fun time - never to come again.

I had both of those computers and Spindizzy was my favourite game. The physics of the game were marvellous.

THANK YOU for whomever sent all that in. Its a boon to all of us what an amazing enthusiast setup out the box.

I have still my CPC6128 since 1986, together with its monochrome green monitor :) Me and my brother convinced our parents that we needed the computer for school. It was used like 99% of the time playing games :P Classics like "Gryzor:", "Ikari Warriors", "Impossible Mission" and many others I played them in this machine for some years ... before upgrading to a Amiga 500 :) It still works. So I believe anyway, it was working at least, last time I tried it, a few years ago - I keep the computer displayed on a shelf over my desk. Here in Greece where I'm from, the Amstrad machines ( especially the 6128 ) were pretty popular.

I loved this episode. I had cpc464, but it was branded as Schneider cpc464 as my first computer when I was 10 years old (so around '88). It was purchased in Germany. With green monitor. Schneider didn't have colourful keys, but otherwise looked the same as Amstrad. I was a kid so I didn't fiddle with it as much as I could have, but I played the games I could find and did some basic programming. The C64 was definitely more popular at the time, but my dad bought me this, probably because it came with a monitor. It originally came with a demo cassette as well. I remember playing chukie egg, dizzy, green beret, etc. This brings so many memories. I had it until i bought 386dx.

The 464 was my first computer, which my family got back in '85. Started programming on that thing and have been programming pretty much everyday of my life since.

The CPC464 had three major MB revisions. The one with the joystick port on the side is the latest, roughly half-sized.

The Amstrads were supplied with a green or colour monitor. The monitors have fixed leads on them for video and a 5V supply for the computer. You could also get the MP-1 unit which had the same leads as the monitors and powered the computer, but outputted an RF signal for use with a TV. Our 464 came with a green monitor and my dad later got the RF modulator. The 664 and 6128 also required 12V for the disk drive, the lead flying off the computer is to supply power IN! Amstrad's way of preventing 5V/12V going to the wrong places. Later monitors and the MP-2 RF modulator added a 12V out socket for these computers but kept the same 5V and video cables as before.

This is a step back in time for me, In my younger days of being a Tv/Video repair Tech, the shop I worked for started selling these machines ( in Australia by the way) , and I remember drooling over them, when we unpacked & set them up to test out, I never owned one, I had a Sega SC3000 instead, which very few of those here would have heard of before, if any ?, anyway I had lots of fun as a kid writing Basic programs & playing games , im 56 now, ahhh memories ...... Many Thanks :)

The CPC 6128 was THE computer I spent most of my time with as a child and I loved it. My two favorite games were and still are Head over Heels and The Guild of Thieves.

Yes, the CPC was a great computer, I had the 464 (Schneider version) and later a drive from Vortex with additional RSX commands (integrated dissambler). That was a great time, thanks for the video.

I have fond memories of this 6128. I took the Pascal programming course at my technical university, and they had class full of those 6128 in CP/M mode. When I saw the |cpm prompt, it was the trip 35 years back in a blink of an eye.

6128 was a great machine, I used it for 11 years straight. The joystick port is a standard 9-pin Atari if I recall correctly so practically anything should work (I remember using my friend's Sega Master System joypad with it, zero issues). As for games that are not crappy ZX ports, here's a few: Robocop, Batman: The Movie, Defender of the Crown, Rick Dangerous (and the sequel), Pirates!, Captain Blood; also, anything by Spanish companies like Opera, Dinamic, Topo Soft which were famous for awesome graphics. Oh, and instead of typing |dir you can just do cat instead (short for catalogue, I guess).