A mid 80s design, the 128 was a logical evolution from the 464 and the short lived 664 models, eventually being overtaken by the 512 and 640 series word processor orientated machines. Full specs at http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=111
This particular unit obtained for a stupid price on Ebay had been found collecting dust in a loft, a dry environment but not exactly a benign one. Due to distance issues (I'm on the South Coast and the collection was in Bedford) a work colleague who lived local kindly offered to pick up and bring in the next time he was on an early shift that required the use of his car. Initial examination found the usual collection of gunge on the plastic case and a rather odd effect where the lower half of the ivory key caps had yellowed to a point as if it had been used by a heavy smoker. The monitor was in good condition case wise but covered with the same gunge.
Stripping the computer down, an air line shifted the majority of the in-case fluff with the need of a brush in a few corners. The edge connectors needed polishing up and a PCB rubber did the honours. Lifting the motherboard from the case the plastics were consigned to the bath tub where a combination of bio soap powder and bleach for the yellowed keys along with copious amounts of elbow grease restored the case and keys back to an acceptable standard. Always a sweaty moment stripping a keyboard as you wonder how brittle the plastic lugs have become. The now clean plastics were put to one side while the 3" FDD was serviced. Usual issue, the rubber belt drive had rotted into a cooked sticky mess, restoration details of the same model drive on this site at http://golbornevintageradio.co.uk/forum/...p?tid=3816 , the same drive is fitted to Spectrum +3s.
Re-assembly of the lower case was not an issue. The upper case housing the keyboard was a struggle for some of the longer keys had actuated support bars underneath and these had to be clipped into place on the underside of the key cap before final clipping into place. The keyboard membrane was found to be in very good condition with no crumbling of the contact pad where it plugs into the motherboard Molex sockets, a notable quality improvement from similar ones fitted to ZX Spectrums.
The monitor was cleaned, opened and examined for any sign of failed capacitors or overheating parts. Thankfully all was in order, I'm finding that the quality of parts fitted to 80s and early 90s equipment is of excellent quality compared to days cheaper offerings with no doming off of smoothing capacitors, this particular example being Korea's finest. A quick de-fluff and re-assembly was a pig due to the need to line up the V-HOLD pot that protrudes from the rear of the monitor case. The monitor provides a 12v DC feed to the computer, but also requires a 5v DC feed back for correct operation. The plugs are interlocked in order not to allow accidental connections in the wrong sockets. For those who could not afford a monitor, Amstrad produced a monitor block that provided all the right voltages while outputting a UHF feed to a domestic colour television.
Powering up, was welcomed with the Amstrad logo, memory count and operating system, AmsDOS in this case. Picture quality was found to be sharp with no CRT burns on the phosphor coating. Putting in a CP/M disk the machine really came alive and felt more like a high end computer. A copy of Tasword was loaded and surprisingly good quality word processing, no bloatware like MS offerings, allowed printing to a standard centronics printer. The volume control pot was crackly in operation so off with the lid and a good squirt of contact cleaner to restore operation.
Ok, it's not the fastest computer on the block, a 4mhz Z80 processor is hardly going to set the world alight these days but for mid 85 not a bad offering as computers go, and light years ahead of what we were cutting our teeth on just a few years earlier.
Images 1 and 2, a gungy case, loft encrusted.
Image 3, interior of the case and motherboard.
Images 4 and 5, the CRT monitor and computer PSU.
Images 6 and 7, restored case and operating computer.
This particular unit obtained for a stupid price on Ebay had been found collecting dust in a loft, a dry environment but not exactly a benign one. Due to distance issues (I'm on the South Coast and the collection was in Bedford) a work colleague who lived local kindly offered to pick up and bring in the next time he was on an early shift that required the use of his car. Initial examination found the usual collection of gunge on the plastic case and a rather odd effect where the lower half of the ivory key caps had yellowed to a point as if it had been used by a heavy smoker. The monitor was in good condition case wise but covered with the same gunge.
Stripping the computer down, an air line shifted the majority of the in-case fluff with the need of a brush in a few corners. The edge connectors needed polishing up and a PCB rubber did the honours. Lifting the motherboard from the case the plastics were consigned to the bath tub where a combination of bio soap powder and bleach for the yellowed keys along with copious amounts of elbow grease restored the case and keys back to an acceptable standard. Always a sweaty moment stripping a keyboard as you wonder how brittle the plastic lugs have become. The now clean plastics were put to one side while the 3" FDD was serviced. Usual issue, the rubber belt drive had rotted into a cooked sticky mess, restoration details of the same model drive on this site at http://golbornevintageradio.co.uk/forum/...p?tid=3816 , the same drive is fitted to Spectrum +3s.
Re-assembly of the lower case was not an issue. The upper case housing the keyboard was a struggle for some of the longer keys had actuated support bars underneath and these had to be clipped into place on the underside of the key cap before final clipping into place. The keyboard membrane was found to be in very good condition with no crumbling of the contact pad where it plugs into the motherboard Molex sockets, a notable quality improvement from similar ones fitted to ZX Spectrums.
The monitor was cleaned, opened and examined for any sign of failed capacitors or overheating parts. Thankfully all was in order, I'm finding that the quality of parts fitted to 80s and early 90s equipment is of excellent quality compared to days cheaper offerings with no doming off of smoothing capacitors, this particular example being Korea's finest. A quick de-fluff and re-assembly was a pig due to the need to line up the V-HOLD pot that protrudes from the rear of the monitor case. The monitor provides a 12v DC feed to the computer, but also requires a 5v DC feed back for correct operation. The plugs are interlocked in order not to allow accidental connections in the wrong sockets. For those who could not afford a monitor, Amstrad produced a monitor block that provided all the right voltages while outputting a UHF feed to a domestic colour television.
Powering up, was welcomed with the Amstrad logo, memory count and operating system, AmsDOS in this case. Picture quality was found to be sharp with no CRT burns on the phosphor coating. Putting in a CP/M disk the machine really came alive and felt more like a high end computer. A copy of Tasword was loaded and surprisingly good quality word processing, no bloatware like MS offerings, allowed printing to a standard centronics printer. The volume control pot was crackly in operation so off with the lid and a good squirt of contact cleaner to restore operation.
Ok, it's not the fastest computer on the block, a 4mhz Z80 processor is hardly going to set the world alight these days but for mid 85 not a bad offering as computers go, and light years ahead of what we were cutting our teeth on just a few years earlier.
Images 1 and 2, a gungy case, loft encrusted.
Image 3, interior of the case and motherboard.
Images 4 and 5, the CRT monitor and computer PSU.
Images 6 and 7, restored case and operating computer.
