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Grundy NewBrain
The Grundy NewBrain was a line of microcomputers launched in 1982 by Grundy Business Systems Ltd of Teddington and Cambridge, England. A contemporary of the ZX80 and BBC Micro, the NewBrain was mostly used in business settings. It is notable for its chicklet keyboard and models that featured a one-line display, allowing them to be used as a portable computer, in addition to television output. Another unique feature of the system was NewBrain BASIC, a BASIC programming language that featured an on-the-fly compiler.
Originally designed at Sinclair Radionics, government ownership of that company led to Clive Sinclair leaving the company and starting a new low-cost design, the ZX80. It was considered for the BBC Micro project, but development was not complete and that was won by Acorn Computers instead. The design was then sold off by the government to recently formed Grundy. Grundy produced the system between 1982 and 1983, with approximately 50,000 units sold during this period. The design was then sold to Dutch firm Tradecom to fill a contract for computers in training centres. These units came from existing stocks, and plans to open a factory in India never materialized.
Through the mid-1970s, Clive Sinclair's firm Sinclair Radionics entered a period of financial difficulties. This led to investment from the National Enterprise Board (NEB) in 1976 to ensure the company did not foreclose. The NEB had formed the previous year to nationalize technology companies considered critical to the UK.
Seeing his management of the company would suffer, Sinclair dusted off a company he had purchased and left unused, a shelf company, and formed Sinclair Instrument. He asked Radionics employee Christopher Curry to start it up, and in July 1977, Sinclair Instrument was renamed Science of Cambridge Ltd. Around the same time, Curry was introduced to a new small computer designed by Ian Williamson that combined a National Semiconductor SC/MP central processing unit (CPU) with parts from one of Sinclair's calculator designs. Curry put this on the market as the MK14 in June 1978, for the very low price of £40.
Curry wanted to start the development of a larger machine similar to the Apple II, but the company simply didn't have the funds to develop it. In 1978, the NEB agreed to fund the development of such a machine at Radionics. This prompted Curry to leave Science of Cambridge, and partner with Hermann Hauser to form Acorn Computers. At Radionics, development began with Mike Wakefield as the designer and Basil Smith as the software engineer.
In early 1979, the NEB sold off Radionics' calculator product lines. In July, Sinclair had enough of the NEB and quit, moving to Science of Cambridge. In return, the NEB renamed Radionics to Sinclair Electronics in September and the company was dedicated to bringing the new machine to market. Meanwhile, at Science of Cambridge, Sinclair began the development of a much simpler machine with the goal of hitting a sub-£100 price point. This would emerge in early 1980 as the ZX80. The company was renamed Sinclair Research in 1981 and the ZX81 launched.
In January 1980 the former Radionics once again renamed to become Thandar Electronics, but the 1979 Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher began selling off government-owned properties and did so in this case by selling Thandar to Thurlby Electronics, who had no interest in the computer project. The NEB then transferred the project to another NEB-owned company, Newbury Laboratories.
Newbury gave it the name NewBrain and announced the imminent release of three models, including a battery-powered portable computer. By this time the machine was no longer as innovative as it had been when first designed; in 1980 Personal Computer World said it was "significantly in advance of anything that had been seen in the field of handheld computing", but by the end of that year with the systems still not released, and it was not long before Your Computer noted "the endless delays in its development mean that it has now lagged behind a new generation of personal computers."
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Grundy NewBrain AI simulator
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Grundy NewBrain
The Grundy NewBrain was a line of microcomputers launched in 1982 by Grundy Business Systems Ltd of Teddington and Cambridge, England. A contemporary of the ZX80 and BBC Micro, the NewBrain was mostly used in business settings. It is notable for its chicklet keyboard and models that featured a one-line display, allowing them to be used as a portable computer, in addition to television output. Another unique feature of the system was NewBrain BASIC, a BASIC programming language that featured an on-the-fly compiler.
Originally designed at Sinclair Radionics, government ownership of that company led to Clive Sinclair leaving the company and starting a new low-cost design, the ZX80. It was considered for the BBC Micro project, but development was not complete and that was won by Acorn Computers instead. The design was then sold off by the government to recently formed Grundy. Grundy produced the system between 1982 and 1983, with approximately 50,000 units sold during this period. The design was then sold to Dutch firm Tradecom to fill a contract for computers in training centres. These units came from existing stocks, and plans to open a factory in India never materialized.
Through the mid-1970s, Clive Sinclair's firm Sinclair Radionics entered a period of financial difficulties. This led to investment from the National Enterprise Board (NEB) in 1976 to ensure the company did not foreclose. The NEB had formed the previous year to nationalize technology companies considered critical to the UK.
Seeing his management of the company would suffer, Sinclair dusted off a company he had purchased and left unused, a shelf company, and formed Sinclair Instrument. He asked Radionics employee Christopher Curry to start it up, and in July 1977, Sinclair Instrument was renamed Science of Cambridge Ltd. Around the same time, Curry was introduced to a new small computer designed by Ian Williamson that combined a National Semiconductor SC/MP central processing unit (CPU) with parts from one of Sinclair's calculator designs. Curry put this on the market as the MK14 in June 1978, for the very low price of £40.
Curry wanted to start the development of a larger machine similar to the Apple II, but the company simply didn't have the funds to develop it. In 1978, the NEB agreed to fund the development of such a machine at Radionics. This prompted Curry to leave Science of Cambridge, and partner with Hermann Hauser to form Acorn Computers. At Radionics, development began with Mike Wakefield as the designer and Basil Smith as the software engineer.
In early 1979, the NEB sold off Radionics' calculator product lines. In July, Sinclair had enough of the NEB and quit, moving to Science of Cambridge. In return, the NEB renamed Radionics to Sinclair Electronics in September and the company was dedicated to bringing the new machine to market. Meanwhile, at Science of Cambridge, Sinclair began the development of a much simpler machine with the goal of hitting a sub-£100 price point. This would emerge in early 1980 as the ZX80. The company was renamed Sinclair Research in 1981 and the ZX81 launched.
In January 1980 the former Radionics once again renamed to become Thandar Electronics, but the 1979 Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher began selling off government-owned properties and did so in this case by selling Thandar to Thurlby Electronics, who had no interest in the computer project. The NEB then transferred the project to another NEB-owned company, Newbury Laboratories.
Newbury gave it the name NewBrain and announced the imminent release of three models, including a battery-powered portable computer. By this time the machine was no longer as innovative as it had been when first designed; in 1980 Personal Computer World said it was "significantly in advance of anything that had been seen in the field of handheld computing", but by the end of that year with the systems still not released, and it was not long before Your Computer noted "the endless delays in its development mean that it has now lagged behind a new generation of personal computers."