Article: The 5 Most Ridiculously Awful Computers Ever Made

[VectorGamer]

The 5 Most Ridiculously Awful Computers Ever Made

[Foxsolo2000]

A man who does not know how to pull his punches

[darthkur]

A man who does not know how to pull his punches

 

 

Yeah, he should tell us how he really feels about those computers. Kind of funny though never the less. Really can't argue with most of his assessments, although I am completely unfamiliar with the two more modern ones he mentioned. But when he said ".....The Apple III, while aesthetically as retarded as any computer from the 80s....", I couldn't disagree more. Just about every computer back then had class and style of their own, unlike the bland PC boxes that we've been "blessed" with since the early 90's. He's also discounting how fantastically successful the Apple ][ was. It in fact kept the company alive the entire time they were trying to push the Mac.

[Retro Rogue]

Wonderful, yet another person getting facts wrong and ranting about them.

[S1500]

I trust all my computer news & computer purchasing decisions from a website called ethiopianreview.com

 

I get all my investment advice from Nigerian Financial Times as well.

[+remowilliams]

Wonderful, yet another person getting facts wrong and ranting about them.

That's exactly what I was just thinking. The TS1000 (and granted the machine was not without faults) section is especially stupid.

[MagitekAngel]

Factual errors aside, I thought it was hillarious.

[+5-11under]

Wonderful, yet another person getting facts wrong and ranting about them.

That's exactly what I was just thinking. The TS1000 (and granted the machine was not without faults) section is especially stupid.

My brother had a ZX80 and then a ZX81, which I think is the same as the TS1000. It may have been crappy by some standards, but for us, based on price, was the only available option. I didn't know anyone else who had a computer at the time.

 

We loved it, and it was life-changing for both of us in a couple of ways... we got to spend time together entering BASIC and Z80 machine code programs, and we learned how to program in BASIC and Z80.

 

Thanks,

5-11under

[bfutrel]

Would have been nice if that were the original source for that article. It's not.

 

http://www.cracked.com/article/120_the-5-most-ridiculously-awful-computers-ever-made/

 

Now with pictures!

[VectorGamer]

Would have been nice if that were the original source for that article. It's not.

 

http://www.cracked.com/article/120_the-5-most-ridiculously-awful-computers-ever-made/

 

Now with pictures!

 

 

Interesting that my companies Web content filter blocked access to the article...

 

Anyway, factual errors aside, I got a good laugh from that article...

[Tempest]

I love this line:

 

In an attempt to make the Audrey unique, which is marketing talk for "incompatible with anything and grossly inconvenient to use"

 

So true, so true...

 

Tempest

[desiv]

I love this line:

 

In an attempt to make the Audrey unique, which is marketing talk for "incompatible with anything and grossly inconvenient to use"

 

So true, so true...

 

Tempest

 

What? I love my 3COM Audrey. I still use it today, with a slightly hacked OS.

 

Now I have to read that article..

 

OK, just read it. I have two of them:

#5 3COM Audrey

#4 Coleco Adam

 

And I want two others:

#3 TS1000 (ZX80/ZX81/whatever); I wanted one of those so bad. Got a Vic 20 instead

#1 Apple ///

 

And I remember the #2, pocketmail (or whatever it was called, I forget already). I thought it was cool that you could hold it up to a phone to send/receive email. I'd already build an acoustic coupler for my Tandy Model 100, so I thought a portable was a great idea.

 

desiv

Edited September 21, 2009 by desiv

[Tom-Lynx]

With the author's criticism, I'm surprised he didn't mention the bug in the Timex Sinclair with the 16K memory cartridge attached to loose all its memory every time the slightest wiggle caused the 16K of RAM to budge in the connector slot. I cursed many many times over that bug and had all kinds of fixes, including large c-clamps, to try and get the damn thing to not crash all the time.

[Rik]

Hmmm,1st time I've heard of Adam's tape erasing problem.

[lhfreak]

The 5 Most Ridiculously Awful Computers Ever Made

 

 

I also read the story on the adult video games and was wondering about the 'Gigolo' single ender cart?!?! Was this just some mock up made for the article?

 

http://www.cracked.com/article_17206_10-most-perverted-old-school-video-games.html

[Foxsolo2000]

Wonderful, yet another person getting facts wrong and ranting about them.

That's exactly what I was just thinking. The TS1000 (and granted the machine was not without faults) section is especially stupid.

My brother had a ZX80 and then a ZX81, which I think is the same as the TS1000. It may have been crappy by some standards, but for us, based on price, was the only available option. I didn't know anyone else who had a computer at the time.

 

We loved it, and it was life-changing for both of us in a couple of ways... we got to spend time together entering BASIC and Z80 machine code programs, and we learned how to program in BASIC and Z80.

 

Thanks,

5-11under

 

Yes the ZX-81 was particularly useful as a doorstop back in its heyday

[+5-11under]

Wonderful, yet another person getting facts wrong and ranting about them.

That's exactly what I was just thinking. The TS1000 (and granted the machine was not without faults) section is especially stupid.

My brother had a ZX80 and then a ZX81, which I think is the same as the TS1000. It may have been crappy by some standards, but for us, based on price, was the only available option. I didn't know anyone else who had a computer at the time.

 

We loved it, and it was life-changing for both of us in a couple of ways... we got to spend time together entering BASIC and Z80 machine code programs, and we learned how to program in BASIC and Z80.

 

Thanks,

5-11under

 

Yes the ZX-81 was particularly useful as a doorstop back in its heyday

 

A few years later, yes. The shape was pretty close, but it was too light, I think.

5-11under

[Foxsolo2000]

ITs funny back in the day I so badly wanted the Adam computer system along with the colecovision game system to boost its memory. Its only years later that I am extremely grateful that the thing was so expensive that I could never afford one

[Seob]

In an attempt to make the Audrey unique, which is marketing talk for "incompatible with anything and grossly inconvenient to use"

Makes me think of IBM computers. The only computer that wasn't IBM compatible was the IBM itself. Using different type of add-on cards, memory that only worked if you bought the expensive IBM ones.

Since it was still in the pioneering fase of the home computer i think it's a nice little machine.

Here a qoute from the manual:

From the Sinclair ZX81 Operating Supplement:

Question: "My computer seems to be 'crashing' when I use the 16K RAM module, even though it never does when I use the computer alone. What can be the problem?"

 

Answer: "If the 16K is causing your computer to 'crash' after a few minutes of use, then you should try the following: Clean the contacts by vigorously rubbing the electrical contacts on the printed circuit board with a pencil eraser. Tape the RAM pack to the computer to prevent loss of contact due to accidental movement."

LOL.

 

And here is the doorstopper

 

Nice site of old home computers:

Old computers

[Video]

Awesome, never heard of the Audry though, it sounds kinda like the MSN companion I got back in the late 90's early 00 area. Piece of shit that was and of course, I get the version that can't be hacked (easily, I'm sure someone could do it but not me) so now I got a really oddball paperweight, as it's useless without a service, and when I tried putting a new OS on, it got stuck in the "Upgrading" mode....which looks like dos, only isn't as useful

[Rik]

I'm glad i was strictly into gaming and not into home computers at a time when that was in its infancy stage.Imagine $600.00+ for an Adam,that was likely to have major problems right out of the box,and those others as well.

[WilsonCat]

Is it bad that I owned two of the 5? Adam is long gone , but I still have the T1000 + 16K module. I fired it up a month ago and tried to load some of the tapes that I had for it. No good, probably due to the age of the tapes. The power jack is flaky too but it works.

[+remowilliams]

We loved it, and it was life-changing for both of us in a couple of ways... we got to spend time together entering BASIC and Z80 machine code programs, and we learned how to program in BASIC and Z80.

Same here. The TS1000 was cheap and varied wildly in reliability (I believe the first two I got were DOA), but the ZX series changed a whole lot of lives and helped teach many, many folks computer basics and programming skills.

[roland p]

Back in those days I liked every computer available. And I still do, especially compared to the junk made today. At least computers where unique back then.

[Vic George 2K3]

Now that I've seen the article with pictures in it, I still think he could've made his point without having to resort to profanity. But nevertheless...

 

Being one that had both the Timex/Sinclair 1000 and the Coleco Adam, I can relate to both computer systems' set of problems. Fortunately, I managed to keep my Adam data pack tapes stored away from the computer so they would not get erased by its magnetic surge during power-up, and I never left any of them in the data pack drive during a power-up or a power-down. Still, having to have the printer be the essential part of the system's power supply just wasn't a very good way to design a computer.