Tatung Computer Forum

Welcome! I struggle to house one TC01!

hi guys and thanks for letting me join your forum.
my name is dave im new to the tatung computer but i do like to work on old 8bit and 16bit hardware
just picked up three Einstein's with the hope of making two fully refurbed and getting the third one a doner machine working as well for spares.
im based up north near newcastle (gateshead )
looking forward to asking loads of daft questions lol
cheers
again Gotang

Gotang wrote: ↑Tue Nov 30, 2021 1:39 pm hi guys and thanks for letting me join your forum.
my name is dave im new to the tatung computer but i do like to work on old 8bit and 16bit hardware
just picked up three Einstein's with the hope of making two fully refurbed and getting the third one a doner machine working as well for spares.
im based up north near newcastle (gateshead )
looking forward to asking loads of daft questions lol
cheers
again Gotang

Welcome!! 3 is good going Are they working or need some tinkering?

Welcome! I only have two. Must try harder!

Gotang wrote: ↑Tue Nov 30, 2021 1:39 pm hi guys and thanks for letting me join your forum.
my name is dave im new to the tatung computer but i do like to work on old 8bit and 16bit hardware
just picked up three Einstein's with the hope of making two fully refurbed and getting the third one a doner machine working as well for spares.
im based up north near newcastle (gateshead )
looking forward to asking loads of daft questions lol
cheers
again Gotang

Welcome! Three all in one go that's good going! Have fun

Hi

Thank you for letting me join your forum.

I do a fair amount on the Internet under the pseudonym 'breakintoprogram'. This includes some computer restorations, software archiving, coding in Z80, and developing new hardware.

I used Tatung Einstein's for a few years as a games developer in the North West back in the late 80s, early 90s, working at a company called Software Creations, using Mike Webb's excellent Z80 Assembler to write the game code on the Tatung, and squirting the assembled binary down to the target machine (Amstrad CPC or Spectrum) to test over the parallel port.

Recently purchased a working TC-01 off eBay to attempt to recover some data from a handful of 3" disks from back then. I could have just used a Greaseweazel and bought a 3" drive, but where's the fun in that! Anyway, owning the Tatung is a win for nostalgia, that's for sure.

Hopefully going to be powering the machine up tomorrow after giving at a superficial check, to ensure nothing shook loose during delivery, then see if it'll read any disks.

Welcome to the group/forum. We need more EInstein enthusiasts, especially ones who had personal experience of them in the 80s.

Can you remember which games you developed on it? Would be a good nostalgia trip!

Mike.

Hi Dean, a warm welcome to the forum.

Fascinating to hear that you used an Einstein to develop code for the Amstrad/Spectrum.

I thought 'breakintoprogram' sounded familiar, and I realise I've previously used your website (www.breakintoprogram.co.uk) for Z80 opcode reference and enjoyed reading your posts

I'll get out my Amstrad CPC and have a play with LED Storm, Ghouls n Ghosts, Sly Spy (Secret Agent) and Gauntlet III: The FInal Quest!

Welcome Dean!

Great website and info.

MikeDHalliday wrote: ↑Sat Apr 02, 2022 8:31 am Welcome to the group/forum. We need more EInstein enthusiasts, especially ones who had personal experience of them in the 80s.

Can you remember which games you developed on it? Would be a good nostalgia trip!

Mike.

Thanks for the warm welcome.
The Spectrum/CPC versions of Sly Spy and Gauntlet III, and the CPC versions of LED Storm and Ghouls n Ghosts.
I've got a selection of disks from Tim Follin, who I'm still mates with, which contains the source code for music developed on the Tatung. It was typed into the assembler in a kind of macro language. Hoping to recover the data off those disks and put it into the public domain. And Mike Follin has mentioned he's got some backup disks somewhere...