Research Machines

last modified: January 13, 2006

Premier supplier of IT kit and services to schools in the UK. These days they are called RM and knock out various kinds of PC, but once upon a time they built the 380Z, which was many UK school students' (of a certain age) first taste of a "real" computer.

The 380Z lived in a 19" case with handles, a key switch and illuminated reset button on the front panel. It had a separate (and very high quality) keyboard, and booted CP/M off 8", later 5.25", floppies and it turned on with a key! At a time when a lot of kids had one box starts-up-in-the-basic-interpreter home computers with an audio cassette recorder for storage if they were lucky, this was a revelation.

The later Nimbus 186 was a popular model for schools:


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