I have the main unit and amstrad printer.
type computer
country England
year 1985
os CP/M plus (3.0)
cpu Z80A
speed 4 MHz
ram 256 KB
rom ? KB
graphic text
colors green
sound peep
ports printer, bus, keyboard
The Amstrad PCW8256 — The Machine That Got Technophobes Into Computing
Launched in September 1985 at £399 including VAT, the Amstrad PCW8256 was one of the most commercially successful and socially significant computers ever produced in Britain. Known internally as ”Joyce” and sold under that name in Germany by Schneider, the PCW series sold over 8 million units across its production life from 1985 to 1998 — one of the longest-lived and best-selling computer platforms in European history. Its success rested on a simple proposition: a complete word processing system that anyone could use, at a price anyone could afford.
Alan Sugar’s Tokyo Inspiration
The PCW’s origin story is surprisingly personal. In February 1985, Alan Sugar was walking through Tokyo’s Akihabara electronics district when he spotted a bizarre electronic typewriter with a screen mounted above a printer mechanism. Flying from Tokyo to Hong Kong, Sugar sketched out what would become the PCW: a complete word processing system — computer, monitor, keyboard, printer, and software — as a single integrated product, priced to undercut dedicated word processors and typewriters alike.
Hardware and Software
The PCW8256 used a Zilog Z80A processor at 4 MHz with 256 KB of RAM and a single 3-inch floppy drive. The 12-inch green phosphor CRT offered a high-resolution 90-column display comfortable for extended text work. A 9-pin dot matrix printer was included in the purchase price. LocoScript — developed by Locomotive Software and codenamed ”Zircon” — was a WYSIWYG word processor praised for ease of use and performance. CP/M Plus (version 3.0) was also included, providing access to third-party business software. At £399, it cost roughly a quarter of an IBM PC with similar capabilities.
Cultural Impact
The PCW is credited with ”getting the technophobes into computers” — introducing word processing to secretaries, small business owners, and writers who had no interest in computing per se but needed an affordable alternative to the typewriter. The machine remained in production until 1998, a remarkable 13-year lifespan in an industry where products typically lasted two or three years.