I wanted a Spectrum but ended up with one of these, as they’d dropped to £50 in Debenhams at the time. I had almost no software for it, which was a good incentive to concentrate on writing my own games rather than just playing them!
Same here, my dad ordered a Speccy from a catalog but they had run out so sent one of these. Never got around to sending it back...it really did force you to learn basic to get any joy from it. It was my dream for about a year to get hold of a basic-g cartridge, but no joy.
I feel your pain. All my friends had a Spectrum and I ended up with one of these. It came with two games, Jogger and Sidewinder, which were okay but after a couple of plays stopped loading. I tried to mail order some more games but nothing arrived. I couldn't ever find the cartridge games. In fact I think the guy in the video has more fun with it than I ever had with mine. No-one ever paid £149 or £199 for them - they were all sold off from the bargain bin.
My neighbour bought one of these for his daughter, back in the day. He also invested heavily in Betamax equipment. I expect he had eight-track tapes as well and later bought a C5. I think he had more money than sense.
The cartridge would have added 8k to 16k of ROM, so 4K RAM would not have been a huge limitation. The Colecovision had less RAM. The SORD also had a way of loading files from the tape directly into VRAM, so the 4K could have been used only for game logic and screen maps. This would have limited the games a little bit.
Actually the CGL, means Computer Games Ltd, not Computer Graphics Ltd. It was the same company that imported Nintendo Game & Watch handhelds, as well as Tomy and Gakken products.
8:00 RAM absolutely does not matter with cartridges. In fact, if you plug a cartridge into a 64k computer like the C64, the RAM in the location the cartridge goes in on the bus is disabled. So if you stick the gorf cartridge into a C64, it no longer has 64k, it has 48k The Gorf cartridge maps the 16k ROM into a 16k RAM chunk.
How big were the ROM cartridges? The SORD may have only had 4K usable RAM, but if the game ran from ROM then the game could have been 8K or even 16K. I guess it'd depend on if the ROM was mapped into memory space or if they just downloaded into RAM.
Looks like cartridges could go to 16K (without banking) and 8K OS. I don't see why you would bother copying the game into RAM (other than that's what Acornsoft did for the Electron). www.web8bits.com/Marcas/Sord/English/M5.html
Looks like it had the same video chip and the same sound chip as the TI99/4, as well as the ColecoVision. I'm surprised they didn't try to make a ColecoVision cartridge adapter in a bid to sell more units.
I don't think he was that bad at "Step Up" as he made out. At least on his first life he did extremely well, it seemed to me like he is rather familiar with the game. But after he died once, it went downhill... so maybe it was just Beginner's Luck ;)
I very nearly slipped up and bought one of those in 1983 but the C64 was so much more enticing spec and game wise but I was impressed with the build quality. The salesman was pushing me hard towards the M5 which made me even more wary. He obviously had a financial agenda.
From the description : "Created with the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund" What the heck does this mean? Does this mean you took money to make this video? Their web site says it gives grants from 10k Pounds to 10 million Pounds. So does this mean you took 10 THOUSAND POUNDS to make this video? WHAT A GRIFT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@tarstarkusz To be clear, the Centre were given a grant for camera equipment to tell stories like the M5 and interview key people from the computer industry, therefore all the videos have been created with help from the HLF If you honestly believe the HLF would hand over 10 grand for a 12 minute video on an obscure Japanese computer, you clearly have never dealt with them!
@@adipm They need a 10k Pound grant to make all of these videos? No. Even prosumer cameras don't touch this kind of money. This was not done with professional equipment. Look, i'm not making that big a deal about it. I posted that comment and never thought about it again until you replied. I just think it's pretty good work if you can get it.
I'd rather the NLF gave money to organisations like this than propping up opera and ballet - poofs football. People who want to see pansies kicking their legs in the air in their tights have enough money to pay for it themselves. I can just see the likes of Lord Mandelson and Sir Tony Blair enjoying their sugar plum fairies.
I had one , my dad bought it during mid 80s .
This was my first computer, before Commodore 64, Atari 520 ST and PC
My first home computer.
Quickly got myself hold of a Spectrum 48K.
I wanted a Spectrum but ended up with one of these, as they’d dropped to £50 in Debenhams at the time. I had almost no software for it, which was a good incentive to concentrate on writing my own games rather than just playing them!
Same here, my dad ordered a Speccy from a catalog but they had run out so sent one of these. Never got around to sending it back...it really did force you to learn basic to get any joy from it. It was my dream for about a year to get hold of a basic-g cartridge, but no joy.
I feel your pain. All my friends had a Spectrum and I ended up with one of these. It came with two games, Jogger and Sidewinder, which were okay but after a couple of plays stopped loading. I tried to mail order some more games but nothing arrived. I couldn't ever find the cartridge games. In fact I think the guy in the video has more fun with it than I ever had with mine.
No-one ever paid £149 or £199 for them - they were all sold off from the bargain bin.
My neighbour bought one of these for his daughter, back in the day. He also invested heavily in Betamax equipment. I expect he had eight-track tapes as well and later bought a C5. I think he had more money than sense.
Looks like a nice little machine. I didn't even know this computer existed.
Very cool! Thank-you very much for sharing! The people in the UK are so lucky to have The Centre for Computing History. Hopefully one day I can visit.
The cartridge would have added 8k to 16k of ROM, so 4K RAM would not have been a huge limitation. The Colecovision had less RAM.
The SORD also had a way of loading files from the tape directly into VRAM, so the 4K could have been used only for game logic and screen maps. This would have limited the games a little bit.
Actually the CGL, means Computer Games Ltd, not Computer Graphics Ltd. It was the same company that imported Nintendo Game & Watch handhelds, as well as Tomy and Gakken products.
8:00 RAM absolutely does not matter with cartridges. In fact, if you plug a cartridge into a 64k computer like the C64, the RAM in the location the cartridge goes in on the bus is disabled. So if you stick the gorf cartridge into a C64, it no longer has 64k, it has 48k The Gorf cartridge maps the 16k ROM into a 16k RAM chunk.
Looks cool there where so many computers released at that time a lot of them where interesting.
I still have my SORD, it's still in its original suitcase.
Nice to see computers I've never heard of.
In 1981, I had an HP9845C which wiped this crap completely off the table.
How big were the ROM cartridges? The SORD may have only had 4K usable RAM, but if the game ran from ROM then the game could have been 8K or even 16K. I guess it'd depend on if the ROM was mapped into memory space or if they just downloaded into RAM.
Looks like cartridges could go to 16K (without banking) and 8K OS. I don't see why you would bother copying the game into RAM (other than that's what Acornsoft did for the Electron). www.web8bits.com/Marcas/Sord/English/M5.html
Most games were 8K, Mahjong was 16K and I released my own 16K game Photon in 2019. You could create a cart with 52K if you want.
In the samurai cop universe this would be called a katana
I love these vids on the really obscure micros of the early 80s
Looks like it had the same video chip and the same sound chip as the TI99/4, as well as the ColecoVision. I'm surprised they didn't try to make a ColecoVision cartridge adapter in a bid to sell more units.
I remember these machines coming out in my local computer shop. I always assumed they were MSX being Japanese. Super interesting video
I still enjoy a game of Dragon Attack on my Sord
Can I buy a sore m5 computer
They crop up from time to time on eBay, but the prices are eye watering
@@algiles881that’s ok I can always use Mercari, Yahoo Japan, and Surugaya to get it ^_^
Always thought this was a cool looking machine; almost like a predecessor to the MSX in many ways.
There were many men aboard those ships. They were murdered!
Must you survive by murder??
I don't think he was that bad at "Step Up" as he made out.
At least on his first life he did extremely well, it seemed to me like he is rather familiar with the game.
But after he died once, it went downhill... so maybe it was just Beginner's Luck ;)
I very nearly slipped up and bought one of those in 1983 but the C64 was so much more enticing spec and game wise but I was impressed with the build quality. The salesman was pushing me hard towards the M5 which made me even more wary. He obviously had a financial agenda.
Without software, you just have a plastic box of electronic components. The C64 was a good choice.
This is yet another clone of a Colecovision/MSX Same processor, same graphics chip, same audio chip.
Nice-looking machine.
Having a Reset key right above the Return key seems to be a bit of a caution, though.
That ensured you could never fill up the 4K RAM when typing in a BASIC program.
From the description : "Created with the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund"
What the heck does this mean? Does this mean you took money to make this video? Their web site says it gives grants from 10k Pounds to 10 million Pounds. So does this mean you took 10 THOUSAND POUNDS to make this video?
WHAT A GRIFT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No, silly rabbit. It means the museum itself is supported by the HLF due to its preservation and educational work. No grift here; you can stand down.
@@danwilkin758 Perhaps. But that's not what it says.
@tarstarkusz To be clear, the Centre were given a grant for camera equipment to tell stories like the M5 and interview key people from the computer industry, therefore all the videos have been created with help from the HLF
If you honestly believe the HLF would hand over 10 grand for a 12 minute video on an obscure Japanese computer, you clearly have never dealt with them!
@@adipm They need a 10k Pound grant to make all of these videos? No. Even prosumer cameras don't touch this kind of money. This was not done with professional equipment.
Look, i'm not making that big a deal about it. I posted that comment and never thought about it again until you replied. I just think it's pretty good work if you can get it.
I'd rather the NLF gave money to organisations like this than propping up opera and ballet - poofs football. People who want to see pansies kicking their legs in the air in their tights have enough money to pay for it themselves. I can just see the likes of Lord Mandelson and Sir Tony Blair enjoying their sugar plum fairies.