PRESENTING THE

AMSTRAD

1512DD

This site is dedicated to the Amstrad 1512DD and other Amstrad 1512's. This site includes information about the 1512, some midi files and game(s) to download, a clock, links to some sites, pictures of the Amstrad1512 and some cartoons.

Thank you for visiting the site.

SITE INDEX:

On This Page
A BREIF GUIDE TO THE AMSTRAD 1512 Amstrad 1512 Models Processor and Compatability
The Links! Music and Games! The world famous RUNNING CLOCK!!
On Other Pages: Pictures and cartoons! Guestbook (Please sign it) The Forum (Please Visit)
A BREIF GUIDE TO THE AMSTRAD 1512

    The Amstrad 1512 was launched on September 1986. The Amstrad 1512 has a 8086 processor whilst the IBM computer at the time used a 8088 processor. It has 50 bytes of Non Volatile RAM (NVR), which retains it's contents when the machine is switched off, and 512Kb (½ a megabyte of RAM) which could be upgraded to 640 Kb. The Amstrad has a serial (RS232) port which was typically used for modems. A parallel port for a printer, and these are built into the machine and are labelled. On an IBM PC (of the time) they come on expansion cards and are not labelled. There are also ports for the keyboard, mouse and on the keyboard there is a port for a joystick. The Amstard 1512 is noticebly smaller than most IBM-compatible machines. There are three main reasons for this.

    REASON 1: One the bulkiest components of an IBM PC is the power supply. Amstrad took this out of the main box and incorporated it into the monitor. The space saved was considerable, and there is the added advantage of having no mains power in the system (computer) itself - the whole system can be plugged in with one power lead!

    REASON 2: The second space-saving trick is the one Amstrad used to cut the manufacturing cost. Inside an IBM PC, with the same functions as an Amstrad PC, there would be a couple of hundred chips. In fact an IBM has five times as many chips as an Amstrad 1512, which uses special purpose highly advanced, logic arrays which perform the same function. They take up a fraction of the space, but the main reason for using them is that they are far, far simpler - and that means cheaper - to assemble into a circut board.

    REASON 3: The third reason is that because the Amstrad PC includes so many functions as standard, it does not have to provide space on its expansion bus for cards to perform them. So it can manage very well with just three spare expansion slots (two if you have a hard disc).

      AMSTRAD 1512 MODELS:

        SD: one 360K disc drive

        DD: two 360K disc drives (my machine)

        HD10: one 360K disc drive and one 10-megabyte hard disc.

        HD20: one 360K disc drive and one 20-megabyte hard disc.

        Most users went for the DD version.

      All came with an 8086 processor, 512K of memory, keyboard , mouse, built-in clock/calender, and serial and parallel ports.

      This section will tell you about the processor and also a little bit about compatibillity.

      The Amstrad PC runs approximately twice as fast as as the original IBM model. The extra speed of the Amstrad PC comes from the central 8086 processor, and from the clock - actually a special crystal - which drives it. The 8086 by its nature is somewhat faster than the 8088 processor. The IBM's clock runs at 4.77 MHz, whilst the Amstrad goes nearly twice as fast, at 8MHz. As a combination of the fact that Amstrad uses the 8086, a higher clock speed and faster drives, enables the Amstrad PC to run between two to three times faster than the IBM.

      COMPATIBILITY:

      One test of compatibility is whether a PC will run IBM's own operating system (PC-DOS). The Amstrad does and surprisingly many clones can not. Another test is if it runs Lotus 1-2-3. The Amstrad does along with most other IBM software and faster than the IBM.



    Mail me!


    Some Midi files

    (I recommend "Red Dwarf" and "Mash")


    The Famous Google Search Engine


    Main downloads page here
    If you are interested in talking with other people who are interested in the Amstrad 1512 or you are looking to give away or sell your Amstrad 1512 or are interested acquiring an Amstrad 1512 then please visit the Forum and join it. You are free to talk about anything you want on the Forum.

    You can visit the Forum Here

    THE AMSTRAD

    1512DD HOMEPAGE

    Author's Statement

    Over the years that I have run this site I have seen in grown from just another homepage, to having a small group for fellow Amstard 1512 & 1640 fans and it is now the number one result on Google for "Amstrad 1512". It has been my pleasure to be the webmaster of this site and one of the most enjoyable tasks has been and is helping people when they contact me with questions relating to the Amstrad 1512 and hope that vistors will continue to do so.

Well thats it for the moment,I hope you liked it. Please come back or mail me if you have any enquiries about the Amstrad 1512.

I have made all my pages using Notepad. That is not using any WYSIWYG editor and doing the site entirely using pure HTML coding.

DISCLAIMER: This page is completely independent of Amstrad and all claims are made entirely by the author of this webpage. All information supplied is as factual as possible but maybe incorrect.

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