Floppy Days 136 - Grundy New Brain Peripherals to Web Sites with Chris Espoinidis

Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast

Grundy NewBrain Peripherals thru Web Sites with Chris Despoinidis

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0 Floppy Days Tune 1 min 13 sec Vintage Computer Ads 1 min 42 sec Intro 5 min 17 sec bumper - Chris Espoinidis 5 min 28 sec New Acquisitions 6 min 33 sec bumper - Gerald McMullon 7 min 16 sec Upcoming Computer Shows 12 min 01 sec bumper - Steve O’Hara-Smith 12 min 27 sec Peripherals 22 min 37 sec Using the Machine 33 min 14 sec User Groups/Newsletters 38 min 36 sec Books & Manuals 41 min 47 sec Software 44 min 11 sec Ads 46 min 45 sec Modern Upgrades 51 min 43 sec Emulation 59 min 07 sec Buying One Today 1 hr 02 min 52 sec Community 1 hr 04 min 50 sec Current Web Sites and Videos 1 hr 12 min 45 sec Closing

Hello, and welcome to episode 136 of the Floppy Days Podcast. I’m Randy Kindig, the host of this show, and I’ll be your guide to a journey back to the year 1982, when a very interesting, low-cost machine entered the market in Great Britain. This is the final episode on the Grundy New Brain, not a well-known machine, most particularly here in the United States where very few have even heard of it; let alone ever owned one.

If you want to know more, I’ve recently published interviews with John Grant, Steve O’Hara-Smith, and Gerald McMullon concerning their involvement with the New Brain back in the day. I also, in the most recent episode, discussed tech specs around the machine with my co-host.

Regarding that, in that last episode, to help me talk about the machine, I enlisted Chris Espoinidis to co-host this episode. Chris manages the New Brain Emulator site from his home in Greece. Even though Chris created one of the premier New Brain emulators in existence, and that was the primary focus of his Web site initially, his site has become one of the best places (along with Gerald McMullon’s Website) to get any and all New Brain information (which quite honestly is quite sparse).

The focus of this last episode detailing the machine, Chris and I will cover things like peripherals, Web sites, books & magazines, software, using the machine, emulators and all of the topics that have become the standard for machine coverage on Floppy Days. This episode will complete all the details we know on the New Brain, with the intent to impart every bit of information to you that I could find about this little-known machine.

Before we do that, I will talk about upcoming shows.

Upcoming Shows

• Interim Computer Festival SPRING - March 23rd and 24th, 2024 - Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://sdf.org/icf/

• Midwest Gaming Classic - April 5-7 - Wisconsin Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/

• VCF East - April 12-14, 2024 - Wall, NJ - http://www.vcfed.org

• Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - April 13-14 - Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/

• The Commodore Los Angeles Super Show - April 13-14 - Burbank VFW Hall, Burbank, CA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=class:start

• VCF Europa - April 27-28, 2024 - Munich, Germany - https://vcfe.org/E/

• The 32nd Annual “Last” Chicago CoCoFEST! - May 4-5, 2024 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/

• VCF Southwest - June 14-16, 2024 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at UT Dallas - https://www.vcfsw.org/

• Boatfest Retro Computer Expo - June 14-16 - Hurricane, WV - http://boatfest.info

• Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 22-23 - Old Rainier Brewery Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start

• Kickstart Amiga UK Expo - June 29-30 - Nottingham, UK - https://www.amigashow.com/

• Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 19-21, 2024 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/

• VCF Midwest - September 7-8 - NEW VENUE TBD - http://vcfmw.org/

• Portland Retro Gaming Expo - September 27-29, 2024 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/

• Tandy Assembly - September 27-29, 2024 - Courtyard by Marriott Springfield - Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/

• Chicago TI International World Faire - October 26, 2024 - Evanston Public Library (Falcon Room, 303), Evanston, IL - http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/faire/

• http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html

• Facebook show schedule - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/

Newsletters

• NewBrain Online (Dutch/Netherlands) - https://retro.hcc.nl/newbrain/newbrain-online.html

Books and Manuals

• books/manuals at archive.org - https://archive.org/search?query=grundy+newbrain

Modern Upgrades

• NewBrain SD-Box

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G5fARz7HnM

• https://newbrainemu.eu/new/download/nb-sd-card-box-v-2-circuit-diagram/

Emulation

• NewBrain Emulator by Chris

• https://newbrainemu.eu/new/download/newbrain-emulator-beta-4/

• https://github.com/cdesp/NB-Emulator-V.3

Buying One Today

• https://www.ebay.com/itm/325473049117 - $999 BIN (from Greece)

• Grundy NewBrain Model AD.Complete with PSU, Manual, AZERTY !! Tested & Working!! - https://www.ebay.com/itm/334406491114 - 995 euro (from Netherlands)

• untested, no power supply - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256162599251 - 449 pounds BIN (from UK)

Community

• Forums

• AtariAge - https://forums.atariage.com/search/?q=grundy&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=116

• Stardot - https://www.stardot.org.uk/forums/search.php?keywords=grundy&fid%5B0%5D=45

Current Web Sites/Videos

• https://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/Museum/Grundy/

• https://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/Museum/Grundy/gerald.php

• https://web.archive.org/web/20160303192051/http://newbrain.hcc.nl/

• https://www.newbrainemu.eu/

• Article on NewBrain in Popular Computing Weekly (PCW) - https://newbrainemu.eu/component/option,com_docman/task,doc_download/gid,99/Itemid,52/

• Grundy NewBrain Model A repair

• http://www.8bit-homecomputermuseum.at/repair/newbrain/newbrain.html

• http://www.8bit-homecomputermuseum.at/repair/newbrain/newbrain_ad_repair.html

• Series of videos on fixing the NewBrain from the Clueless Engineer - https://www.youtube.com/@Brfff/search?query=grundy

• Several videos by Chris on using the emulator and many other videos - https://www.youtube.com/@CDESP072

• NewBrain Robot Car - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T6mNi2ula4

References

• history article by Gerald McMullen - https://newbrainemu.eu/component/option,com_docman/task,doc_download/gid,96/Itemid,52/

• https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/5291/Grundy-NewBrain-AD/

• https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/8265/Grundy-Business-Systems/

• https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=176

• https://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/Museum/Grundy/index.php

• https://www.theregister.com/2012/07/02/newbury_labs_grundy_business_systems_newbrain_is_30_years_old/