Stephen Hawking letter to Clive Sinclair

A place to discuss general QL issues.
Post Reply
User avatar
Sparrowhawk
Super Gold Card
Posts: 663
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2010 12:33 pm
Location: @131072
Contact:

Stephen Hawking letter to Clive Sinclair

Post by Sparrowhawk »

Not sure if this is already known. It was new to me so thought I’d share.

https://mastodon.social/@Dtl/112485776797931733


a.k.a. Jean-Yves
User avatar
bwinkel67
QL Wafer Drive
Posts: 1239
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2019 2:09 am

Re: Stephen Hawking letter to Clive Sinclair

Post by bwinkel67 »

I used one of the Charles River Data Systems 68K computers at my first job in 1990. It used 8" floppies as well as tape drives that I used to install UNIX on for my company (I started as a sys admin). Pretty cool system though I don't remember much about it other than it was about the size of a 2 drawer file cabinet but on its side.


ones' complement
Trump Card
Posts: 161
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2021 1:19 am

Re: Stephen Hawking letter to Clive Sinclair

Post by ones' complement »

Don't recall seeing link to this: Interesting perspective from engineer who worked at Sinclair (web archive appears to have retained more of the images).


User avatar
Sparrowhawk
Super Gold Card
Posts: 663
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2010 12:33 pm
Location: @131072
Contact:

Re: Stephen Hawking letter to Clive Sinclair

Post by Sparrowhawk »

@bwinkle67 I'd never heard of that system or indeed the company until the post on Mastodon. Interesting history.

I found this pdf which may bring back some fond memories for you - if it's the right system? http://www.1000bit.it/ad/bro/charles/Ch ... iverse.pdf

@onescomplement: thanks for those links. Another fascinating glimpse into the world of Sinclair.


a.k.a. Jean-Yves
User avatar
bwinkel67
QL Wafer Drive
Posts: 1239
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2019 2:09 am

Re: Stephen Hawking letter to Clive Sinclair

Post by bwinkel67 »

Sparrowhawk wrote: Fri May 24, 2024 11:28 am @bwinkle67 I'd never heard of that system or indeed the company until the post on Mastodon. Interesting history.

I found this pdf which may bring back some fond memories for you - if it's the right system? http://www.1000bit.it/ad/bro/charles/Ch ... iverse.pdf
Yup, that was the form factor. I seem to recall it being a darker color, like brown or black, but it's been a lobg time. It did have that huge floppy in the front but we also had a big tape drive to load UNIX with. UNIX back then took a weekend to install :-/


qbits
Trump Card
Posts: 185
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2016 3:32 pm

Re: Stephen Hawking letter to Clive Sinclair

Post by qbits »

Hi,

Interesting read, running a campus broadband network we had an engineering suite of UNIX machines.
I guess that where I got introduced to the 68000 processors just before buying my first QL.

QBITS


User avatar
xelalex
Bent Pin Expansion Port
Posts: 95
Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2011 9:55 am

Re: Stephen Hawking letter to Clive Sinclair

Post by xelalex »

So did the Relativity Group actually get the machines they asked for as a donation from Sinclair? If so, is anything known about how they were used?


Post Reply