System Information: Amstrad PCW 9256 / 9512 / 9512+

Development, History, Games, Internals, Additional Information, Photos

 

Specifications Table
Manufacturer: Amstrad
Year Released: 1987
 		Year Discontinued: 1994 
Size & Weight: Unknown at this time
Storage: 3" Hitachi Disk Drive (720K) Later Models used Sony 3.5" Disk Drives
CPU: Zilog Z80A
Speed: 4Mhz
Additional Processors: Amstrad Designed ASIC Custom Chip
System Memory: 256K or 512K RAM (depending on model)
Graphics Modes: 720px x 256px
Max Colours: 2 (monochrome display)
Sound: Internal Beeper
Ports: Centronics Parallel Port / Expansion Port
Power Rating: Mains operated. All power supplied by monitor.
Original Cost £499



 

 

9 out of 10

Retro-Zone.Org - Retrospective Review:

The PCW 9xxx series took all that was great about the 8xxx series and addressed some of the major issues too. The case was redesigned to be a little more desk space friendly and support was added for non-Amstrad printers. The DOT matrix printer got replaced with a Daisy wheel printer for true "letter quality" printing and later models even switched to the standard 3.5" disk drives. The keyboard was now a lot more accessible too and looked a lot more like an IBM keyboard.
The improved display (which did not flicker as much at the green screen 8xxx monitor) also made the PCW a lot easier to work with.

Do I have one in my Collection?

 

YES

I managed to get a boxed PCW 9512 from eBay for only £2. But I was still upset as the item was described "as new" - however there were marks to the monitor casing and the disk drive was not functional. Am I being too picky? Anyway The drive is not a problem to repair (probably just the belt needs replacing.) It also came with all manuals / software and an extra Spanish keyboard!


 Additional Links:





 

Development:

Reportedly designed (outlined anyway) by Sir Alan Sugar himself on a business flight to the Far East. The premise was simple - make a business machine that can perform the most common tasks needed at an affordable cost. Sir Alan realised that most computers in business were being used to write documents or letters and store those files on a disk for quick reproduction. So the PCW (Personal Computer Word-Processor) was born to fulfil that task. Adhering to Amstrad's "One Box With Everything" approach it came with a monitor, keyboard, disk drive, printer and software included. During the development process the project the create the first PCW machine was codenamed "Joyce" after Sit Alan's secretary at the time.
The 9xxx series was the direct replacement for the 8xxx series with improved screen and keyboard design. The dot-matrix printer was replaced with a daisy wheel printer for improved letter quality prints - although the daisy wheel printer could not handle graphics printing.

(back to Top)

 

History:

In a time when the IBM PC cost more than £2000, to have a computer which could take care of all your business requirements for only £499 was just too tempting to resist. The PCW had no real competition and was the cheapest computer in it's class. The machine was hurt a little by Amstrad's insistence on using the Hitachi 3" disk drives as they had with the CPC6128. This made it difficult to interchange documents with other computers which were using the then standard 3.5" Sony disk drives. However later models of the PCW 9xxx series came with 3.5 inch disk drives as standard and third party external drives could always be added via the expansion port.
Although the 9xxx series replaced the 8xxx series - and boasted a better screen, 3.5 inch disk drives and a standard Centronics printer port. The 9xxx PCW's were 100% compatible with their 8xxx cousins and helped the PCW series find it's way into more and more small businesses and schools as they could now use any Centronics compatible printer. The 9xxx series was in production for 7 years (1987 to 1994) and is still being used by some people today.

(back to Top)

 

Games:

Although not a gaming machine, due to the numbers of PCW's sold it was only a matter of time before someone thought "I wish this computer did fun things too!". There were around 100 game titles released for the PCW range of computers, but most were simple games. The monochrome display and limited graphical capabilities meant that the PCW could not compete with other computers of the day when it came to gaming.
The majority of software written for the PCW range was aimed at the business user. Word Processors, Spreadsheets, Databases and even simple Desktop Publishing applications were released which would run under the CP/M environment.

(back to Top)

 

Internals:

The internals of the PCW were kept as simple as possible to reduce the manufacturing costs. The PCW 9xxx series had no internal ROM storage for the operating system - in fact it did not have an onboard operating system at all. The ASIC chip contained just enough software to access the first sector of a floppy disk - and this disk would have to be "bootable" and contain the operating system for the computer. Most applications on the PCW required you to "boot" into CP/M first - and then load the application you wished to use. The Machine came with either 256 or 512 Kilobytes of RAM most of which was not used by the software but as a "RAM DISK" for the temporary storage of files. The PCW 9xxx series was powered by the ever popular Zilog Z80A processor running at 4Mhz - although this speed was reduced by the onboard timing circuit of the PCW to 3.5Mhz. The monitor was black and white and the internal graphics hardware was only capable of on monochrome graphics. There was no real sound hardware in the PCW - instead there is a standard beep and click sound which seems to be generated by the onboard ASIC (system on a chip) microchip custom designed by Amstrad.
Sir Alan also had a shed load of 3" disk drives to get rid of so decided to use those on the PCW 9xxx series too (one of the machines major drawbacks was that the disks were not compatible with other business machines of the time,) although later 9xxx models did use the Sony 3.5" disk drives. All of the computing hardware and disk drives was housed inside the monitor casing - meaning only 1 power outlet was required to run the whole setup. The included Amstrad Daisy Wheel printer gave a very good quality print - but only in one font and at one size.

(back to Top)

 

Additional Information:

The Amstrad PCW is capable of running the SymbOS operating system just like the CPC6128.
Many add-ons were produced by third party manufacturers for the PCW 8xxx series, such as Centronics printer interfaces, light pens and networking peripherals.

(back to Top)

 

Photos

Gallery (click on a thumbnail to enlarge)


















(back to Top)

 

References:

 

 

 

All Site Contents are Copyright (c)2008-2010 Retro-Zone.Org unless stated otherwise.

The copyright contents of this site MAY NOT be copied by anyone without the express written permission of the copyright holder.

Certain aspects of this site are used with the copyright holders permission.  These sections may not be copied without the content owners express permission (not retro-zone.org.) Look for information in the section.

Other Sections of this site may be "Public Domain" and may be copied by anyone and hosted on their own sites,

these sections will be clearly marked with the text 'NOTE: This Document is "Public Domain"' in GREEN.

Retro-Zone.Org or the Author cannot accept responsibility for items uploaded with the permission of others in error. If you find anything on this site which contravenes copyright please inform me at

ask@retro-zone.org and the offending content will be removed as soon as possible.