The Home Computer Hybrids
by cfmcdonald on 1/25/2026, 4:06:20 PM
https://technicshistory.com/2026/01/25/the-home-computer-hybrids/
Comments
by: LeoPanthera
The UK did not have emissions regulations at the time, and the most popular computer of the early 80s in the UK, the Acorn BBC Micro, had no shielding whatsoever.<p>Acorn wanted to break into the US market, and so they had to redesign the computer with a massive metal box inside the outer plastic case.<p>Their attempt to launch in the US was a huge failure, and most of those computers were shipped back to the UK and "unconverted" to be resold in their home market.<p>But they didn't remove the metal box. So Brits could always tell when they had an ex-US BBC Micro because it weighed twice as much and had a huge metal box inside it.
1/30/2026, 8:07:00 PM
by: NetMageSCW
I had an Atari 400 as the first computer I bought myself, which I upgraded to a “real” (if small) keyboard that replaced the membrane keyboard. I took it to college and used it with a printer and the Action! cartridge editor to write papers. (My printer was a carbon electrode arc printer that burned marks into regular paper, producing a soft brownish print.)
1/30/2026, 8:39:29 PM
by: buescher
The fact that the Apple II met the new FCC requirements was a major competitive advantage for Apple, and there have been rumors over the years about how that happened. The higher emissions allowance was why you saw the big shift from monsters like the Atari 800 (heavy cast metal frame, aluminum or pot metal) and Commodore PET to lighter chassis like the Atari XL series and the Commodore VIC-20 and C64.
1/30/2026, 7:00:35 PM
by: octorian
And I'm reading this article while sitting at an EMC/EMI test facility monitoring the test for one of my products. Certainly an interesting, and somewhat on-topic, read.
1/30/2026, 7:48:27 PM
by: goopypoop
usb mouse discovered
1/30/2026, 7:18:26 PM