Talk:Nascom

"The Lucas Nascom 1 and 2". Lucas were nothing to do with the Nascom 1, not much to do with the 2, and to blame for the Nascom 3. Lawrence the Long-Haired Wierdo.

Wrong Picture

The nascom 2 picture in the article is a Nascom 3 (the same board and the like but all prepackaged in a nice lucas case). The article should mention the nascom 3 and also the picture label should be fixed. A Nascom 2 was large PCB and a keyboard, no case or PSU 82.70.14.226 (talk) 23:58, 15 August 2021 (UTC)

Agreed. I've changed the caption for this photo to "Nascom 3" and added a couple of lines to describe it as a cased Nascom 2. I've also added a photo of an assembled Nascom 1 board (and I'll try to remember to take a comparable photo of my Nascom 2 next time I pull it from its case) Eightbitter (talk) 12:04, 1 May 2022 (UTC)

Cobol

The Nascom 1, at least had a version of Cobol available for it. I remember because I wrote my first ever computer program on a Nascom 1 in Cobol. I thought it came as standard, but I could be wrong.

Cobol did not come as standard for the Nascom 1 (which had less than 1Kbyte of RAM space available for applications in its unexpanded form). I imagine it would have been available as a CP/M application on an expanded system Eightbitter (talk) 21:03, 22 May 2022 (UTC)

There was also a version of colossal cave adventure for the Nascom 1. I'm not sure what it was written in. Salsa Man (not logged in) 27 Sep 2006.

NASSCOM

There is already an article on the NASSCOM. Any information about NASSCOM belongs there, not here. -- Derek Ross | Talk 05:12, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

Useful web sites

I wanted to add a link to Nascom Info but wikipedia complained. Boo, hiss. Eightbitter (talk) 19:35, 22 May 2022 (UTC)

Missing info

Who actually *made* the Nascom, and in which country? I assume the UK, but the info is missing. 86.158.191.234 (talk) 15:24, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

The owner made it. The NAS Co electronic parts supply company of the UK originally provided a kit of parts and a circuit board for the NAS COMputer to the purchaser and he (it was almost invariably a he) soldered it together. When sales took off NASCo reformed as NASCOM Microcomputers UK Limited and when that company later ran into problems owing to component shortages from its suppliers, it was sold off to the UK car parts company, Lucas Industries, who actually supplied a ready-assembled NASCOM 2 in a case. This they named the NASCOM 3. They no longer manufacture NASCOMs for sale to the general public. However as far as I know they retain the name and manufacturing rights. -- Derek Ross | Talk 20:58, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

IMO, OP is right to ask this question. I have started to expand the article to cover this material. I searched contemporary magazines to get the time-line, supplemented by a retrospective article written by John Marshall for the final edition of Scorpio News, a magazine for Nascom and 80-bus computer users. Eightbitter (talk) 12:08, 1 May 2022 (UTC)

Since the time-line is based on magazine articles and adverts, it's worth remembering that the magazines often appeared 1-2 weeks before their cover date (eg, July edition appeared mid-way through June) and any editorial and advertising material would have been finalised earlier than that.Eightbitter (talk) 19:35, 22 May 2022 (UTC)

When did production cease

At the end of the history section, I reference a letter in PCW January 1985 in which Lucas state that the Nascom 1 had been discontinued but that "substantial quantities" of Nascom 2 and Nascom 3 were still being made. However, it doesn't seem that Lucas were advertising any more in the hobbyist computing magazines. I'd be interested to know of any advertising material from this date or later, and also interested to know if anyone knows more about how Lucas developed the business, and when Nascom finally ceased to exist. I kind-of assumed that Lucas would want to take Nascom in an "industrial control" direction but I've never seen any indication that they did so. Lots of Nascoms were sold, what were they all used for? Eightbitter (talk) 22:43, 22 May 2022 (UTC)

Very little information seems to exist online about Lucas Logic. According to [1], Lucas Logic was "The computer applications subsidiary for the Lucas Group". It was formed in 1977 and bought Nascom Microcomputers in 1981. Eightbitter (talk) 22:52, 22 May 2022 (UTC)

Life and times of John A. Marshall

Between September 1974 and October 1974, the monthly adverts in Practical Electronics changed from "A. Marshall & Son (London) Ltd" to "A. Marshall (London) Ltd". It seems that John Marshall separated from his father's business. In December 1981, an editorial in Practical Electronics (p19) noted that A. Marshall (London) Ltd. had changed hands and would be trading as Cricklewood Electronics. That business is still trading today (2022) from the same site on 40/42 Cricklewood Broadway. I spoke to the owner who intimated that Alex (father) and John (son) had fallen out so I conclude that it was Alex who sold the business, and that John's involvement had ceased back in 1974.

A comment posted to an article in The Register stated that "John Marshall sadly died suddenly of a heart attack on Hove / Brighton front 3 - 4 years ago [2009/2010]. I had maintained periodic contact with him since I had left Gemini in 1986..".

Guessing that John's middle name came from his father, I searched for John Alexander Marshall and found Companies House directorships registered in the name of one John Alexander Marshall: Sentinel Security Ltd, with a registered address in Hove, and which was dissolved on 9th February 2010.

I'd welcome any verifiable data to supplement these snippets. Thank you, John Marshall. I never met you, but what I learned from building and using my Nascom computer was the foundation of my whole career. Eightbitter (talk) 21:18, 24 May 2022 (UTC)

References