Willy HQ

[Norman Sword]

Decided to use better maps to place the building better on the ground. The crude overlay, was just that very crude.

This places the building more accurately on the ground

Edited August 20, 2018 by Norman Sword

[Spider]

Thanks for the map pics Norman. :)

 

 

I'm slightly curious about something else now. The few common pics we see of Matt at his 'workstation' , are there any approximate dates for these ? I'm only asking this as I wonder if what was being 'worked on' at that time the pic was taken was perhaps JSW or MM...

Edited August 20, 2018 by Spider

[Norman Sword]

The most common file/picture of Matthew is this and a series of pictures taken at the same time. Either that or this was his favourite worn to bits jumper.

A couple of clues on the dating of this picture and therefore all the pictures taken at the same time.

The monitor is sat on a Tandy hard drive. Bought with the proceeds of Manic Miner
The portable computer he is sat behind is a Tandy model 100, This was sold originally under a different name, but became the model 100 for Tandy in 1985. (see post number 15 concerning this date)

The  third picture is taken at a residence in Birkenhead, after the completion of Jet set Willy. This was the time which achieved very little and is I supposed classed as "writing the megatree"

 

 

 

Addendum, due to having re-assigned the date for the model 100 as early as 1983 (possibly). The only definite clue for the date is the hard drive. Which is after Manic Miner.

Edited August 21, 2018 by Norman Sword

[Spider]

Thanks again Norman. :)

 

I vaguely recall seeing that 'portable' with if I am remembering correctly a few lines LCD display , years back when we actually had a 'Tandy' shop in town, was quite handy actually for odd electronic parts I occasionally wanted. I think it was possibly also sold with 'Radio Shack' branding too, or a similar model at least, that and the more traditional units of the time (plug into your TV / Monitor etc)

 

Going from the dates then its reasonable to assume the first pic was certainly post Manic Miner, although I suspect it may of been post JSW too if it was '85.

 

Its still interesting to know anyway.

[Norman Sword]

The Date I used 1985, was obtained from a history of Tandy site which listed their computer model history. I feel it is wrong, and I will change the date accordingly.

Manic Miner released August 83 by Bug Byte and later that year by Software Projects

 

Jet set willy released 1984. 

 

The megatree and the period after the release of Jet Set Willy are roughly the same. E.g. After the release of Jet Set Willy and around the end dates for the release of Jet Set Willy II. Which put the dates back to very vague.

 

(TRS stands for Tandy Radio shack) which is why I will call the computer a Tandy when it has a radio shack label

From another site listing the history of Tandy computers we get

 

TRS-80 Microcomputer System Model 1 Level 1 Radio Shack - Tandy 1977
TRS-80 Color Computer Tandy 1980
TRS-80 Model 100 Portable Computer Tandy Radio Shack 1983   <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Tandy 102 Portable Computer Tandy Radio Shack 1983
TRS-80 Colour Computer 2 Radio Shack Tandy 1983
Tandy TRS-80 Model IV Tandy 1983
TRS-80 Model 102 Portable Computer Tandy Radio Shack 1983
Tandy Color Computer 3 (CoCo 3) Tandy 30th July 1986
Tandy 1000 HX Personal Computer Tandy 1987
Tandy 1100FD Laptop Computer Tandy Radio Shack November 1989

Which is unfortunately no help. It simply dates the model 100 back as early as Manic Miner . e.g.83 

 

Perhaps the other site I read the date from was confused by the model 100's name, which was originally the Kyotronic 85, which sold in Japan.

 

As is usual I can not find the site in question (browser history will be in the 1000's, So I am not going through that) The gist of the original dialogue was that the tandy model 100, was named the Kyotronic  and designed and built in Japan. It did not sell very well and was eventually bought by Tandy and repackaged as the Model 100, sold in America in 84, and brought to the UK for 85. 

Wiki does not agree with that timeline and the model history of Tandy (as listed above) also does not agree.

So I am editing the dates listed with the pictures.