Birbla

Discussion summary

Apricot Computers was a British brand known for its distinctive PCs in the 1980s, with some users recalling their design and performance positively. Discussions mention their hardware, software compatibility, and historical significance.

What the discussion says

  • Some users praise Apricot's design and innovation.
  • Others criticize their hardware quality and availability.
  • Mention of other underrated brands like Star Labs and Grid.
  • Appreciation for the Grid Compass's futuristic look.
“Apricot PCs stood out in design back in the day.”
— nonamesleft
“The Grid Compass looked like it was from the future.”
— Scramblejams

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  • Hacker News
  • There's a review from PCW of the Apricot F10 in the 1985/09 issue [1]

    1: https://pcw.oobergeek.net/magazines/PCW-1985-09.pdf

    by spacedcowboy
  • Elonex were another UK-based PC brand that manufactured their own 386/486 boards for their systems in the early 90s.
    by pixelesque
  • The first 486 reviewed by BYTE magazine was an Apricot. It was a pretty nice machine compared to the Dells you see advertised just inside the front cover. https://vintageapple.org/byte/pdf/198909_Byte_Magazine_Vol_1...
    by mattgrice
  • The ACT Sirius 1 (Victor 9000) was amazing for its time.

    The other Apricot PCs were great, but so many of their machines were sidelined because they were only DOS-compatible and not generally IBM PC-compatible, and so could only run certain software.

    by qingcharles
  • Used them at my Dad's PCB manufacturing business in South Wales for standard accounts and payroll, then went on to develop production control software for the company with my cousin: still have a pile of 3.5" floppies with Pascal code on them somewhere. Happy days!

    At one time we actually ended up manufacturing PCBs to go into various Apricot machines: I vaguely recall the odd little LCD display ("microscreen") on some of the keyboards: did it have printed carbon pads for the membrane keyboard?

    As far as we were concerned, they were great machines.

    by spiffx
  • The first company I worked for was 'Orchard Computers', because they sold Apple, Acorn and Apricot.

    Around 1993-4

    by awesomeusername
  • > Glenrothes, Scotland

    For non-UK readers, Glenrothes is a giant electronics manufacturing hub, much like Shenzen. It benefits from excellent road and rail links to financial centres like Freuchie and has world class sea and air port facilities. 97.8% of European advanced electronics are built within 500 leagues of Glenrothes.

    by jimnotgym
  • One of my first roles in the early 90s was on a UK government project.

    They used Apricot desktops, talking to IBM mainframes running COBOL. The desktops ran OS2.

    The project also had Unix machines made by British Telecom and Apple Macs for word processing.

    Looking back, it’s amazing how diverse the computing environment was.

    by axisofdenial

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