
Floppy Days 136 - Grundy New Brain Peripherals to Web Sites with Chris Espoinidis
02/28/24 • 74 min
1 Listener
Grundy NewBrain Peripherals thru Web Sites with Chris Despoinidis
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays
Sponsors:
0 Floppy Days Tune 1 min 13 sec Vintage Computer Ads 1 min 42 sec Intro 5 min 17 sec bumper - Chris Espoinidis 5 min 28 sec New Acquisitions 6 min 33 sec bumper - Gerald McMullon 7 min 16 sec Upcoming Computer Shows 12 min 01 sec bumper - Steve O’Hara-Smith 12 min 27 sec Peripherals 22 min 37 sec Using the Machine 33 min 14 sec User Groups/Newsletters 38 min 36 sec Books & Manuals 41 min 47 sec Software 44 min 11 sec Ads 46 min 45 sec Modern Upgrades 51 min 43 sec Emulation 59 min 07 sec Buying One Today 1 hr 02 min 52 sec Community 1 hr 04 min 50 sec Current Web Sites and Videos 1 hr 12 min 45 sec Closing
Hello, and welcome to episode 136 of the Floppy Days Podcast. I’m Randy Kindig, the host of this show, and I’ll be your guide to a journey back to the year 1982, when a very interesting, low-cost machine entered the market in Great Britain. This is the final episode on the Grundy New Brain, not a well-known machine, most particularly here in the United States where very few have even heard of it; let alone ever owned one.
If you want to know more, I’ve recently published interviews with John Grant, Steve O’Hara-Smith, and Gerald McMullon concerning their involvement with the New Brain back in the day. I also, in the most recent episode, discussed tech specs around the machine with my co-host.
Regarding that, in that last episode, to help me talk about the machine, I enlisted Chris Espoinidis to co-host this episode. Chris manages the New Brain Emulator site from his home in Greece. Even though Chris created one of the premier New Brain emulators in existence, and that was the primary focus of his Web site initially, his site has become one of the best places (along with Gerald McMullon’s Website) to get any and all New Brain information (which quite honestly is quite sparse).
The focus of this last episode detailing the machine, Chris and I will cover things like peripherals, Web sites, books & magazines, software, using the machine, emulators and all of the topics that have become the standard for machine coverage on Floppy Days. This episode will complete all the details we know on the New Brain, with the intent to impart every bit of information to you that I could find about this little-known machine.
Before we do that, I will talk about upcoming shows.
Upcoming Shows
- Interim Computer Festival SPRING - March 23rd and 24th, 2024 - Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://sdf.org/icf/
- Midwest Gaming Classic - April 5-7 - Wisconsin Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/
- VCF East - April 12-14, 2024 - Wall, NJ - http://www.vcfed.org
- Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - April 13-14 - Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/
- The Commodore Los Angeles Super Show - April 13-14 - Burbank VFW Hall, Burbank, CA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=class:start
- VCF Europa - April 27-28, 2024 - Munich, Germany - https://vcfe.org/E/
- The 32nd Annual “Last” Chicago CoCoFEST! - May 4-5, 2024 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/
- VCF Southwest - June 14-16, 2024 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at UT Dallas - https://www.vcfsw.org/
- Boatfest Retro Computer Expo - June 14-16 - Hurricane, WV - http://boatfest.info
- Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 22-23 - Old Rainier Brewery Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start
- Kickstart Amiga UK Expo - June 29-30 - Nottingham, UK - https://www.amigashow.com/
- Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 19-21, 2024 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/
- VCF Midwest - September 7-8 - NEW VENUE TBD - http://vcfmw.org/
- Portland Retro Gaming Expo - September 27-29, 2024 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR -
Grundy NewBrain Peripherals thru Web Sites with Chris Despoinidis
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays
Sponsors:
0 Floppy Days Tune 1 min 13 sec Vintage Computer Ads 1 min 42 sec Intro 5 min 17 sec bumper - Chris Espoinidis 5 min 28 sec New Acquisitions 6 min 33 sec bumper - Gerald McMullon 7 min 16 sec Upcoming Computer Shows 12 min 01 sec bumper - Steve O’Hara-Smith 12 min 27 sec Peripherals 22 min 37 sec Using the Machine 33 min 14 sec User Groups/Newsletters 38 min 36 sec Books & Manuals 41 min 47 sec Software 44 min 11 sec Ads 46 min 45 sec Modern Upgrades 51 min 43 sec Emulation 59 min 07 sec Buying One Today 1 hr 02 min 52 sec Community 1 hr 04 min 50 sec Current Web Sites and Videos 1 hr 12 min 45 sec Closing
Hello, and welcome to episode 136 of the Floppy Days Podcast. I’m Randy Kindig, the host of this show, and I’ll be your guide to a journey back to the year 1982, when a very interesting, low-cost machine entered the market in Great Britain. This is the final episode on the Grundy New Brain, not a well-known machine, most particularly here in the United States where very few have even heard of it; let alone ever owned one.
If you want to know more, I’ve recently published interviews with John Grant, Steve O’Hara-Smith, and Gerald McMullon concerning their involvement with the New Brain back in the day. I also, in the most recent episode, discussed tech specs around the machine with my co-host.
Regarding that, in that last episode, to help me talk about the machine, I enlisted Chris Espoinidis to co-host this episode. Chris manages the New Brain Emulator site from his home in Greece. Even though Chris created one of the premier New Brain emulators in existence, and that was the primary focus of his Web site initially, his site has become one of the best places (along with Gerald McMullon’s Website) to get any and all New Brain information (which quite honestly is quite sparse).
The focus of this last episode detailing the machine, Chris and I will cover things like peripherals, Web sites, books & magazines, software, using the machine, emulators and all of the topics that have become the standard for machine coverage on Floppy Days. This episode will complete all the details we know on the New Brain, with the intent to impart every bit of information to you that I could find about this little-known machine.
Before we do that, I will talk about upcoming shows.
Upcoming Shows
- Interim Computer Festival SPRING - March 23rd and 24th, 2024 - Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://sdf.org/icf/
- Midwest Gaming Classic - April 5-7 - Wisconsin Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/
- VCF East - April 12-14, 2024 - Wall, NJ - http://www.vcfed.org
- Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - April 13-14 - Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/
- The Commodore Los Angeles Super Show - April 13-14 - Burbank VFW Hall, Burbank, CA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=class:start
- VCF Europa - April 27-28, 2024 - Munich, Germany - https://vcfe.org/E/
- The 32nd Annual “Last” Chicago CoCoFEST! - May 4-5, 2024 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/
- VCF Southwest - June 14-16, 2024 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at UT Dallas - https://www.vcfsw.org/
- Boatfest Retro Computer Expo - June 14-16 - Hurricane, WV - http://boatfest.info
- Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 22-23 - Old Rainier Brewery Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start
- Kickstart Amiga UK Expo - June 29-30 - Nottingham, UK - https://www.amigashow.com/
- Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 19-21, 2024 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/
- VCF Midwest - September 7-8 - NEW VENUE TBD - http://vcfmw.org/
- Portland Retro Gaming Expo - September 27-29, 2024 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR -
Previous Episode

Floppy Days 135 - Grundy New Brain Tech Specs with Chris Despoinidis
Grundy NewBrain Tech Specs with Chris Despoinidis
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays
Sponsors:
0 Floppy Days Tune 1 min 14 sec Vintage Computer Ads 1 min 43 sec Intro 5 min 38 sec bumper - Chris Espoinidis 5 min 51 sec New Acquisitions 16 min 32 sec bumper - Gerald McMullon 17 min 15 sec Upcoming Computer Shows 21 min 26 sec bumper - Steve O’Hara-Smith 21 min 45 sec Interview with Chris Espoinidis 36 min 23 sec Tech Specs 1 hr 12 min 07 sec Closing
Hello, and welcome to episode 135 of the Floppy Days Podcast. I’m Randy Kindig, the host of this show, and I’ll be your guide to a journey back to the year 1982, when a very interesting, low-cost machine entered the market in Great Britain. This machine, if you've been following the show, was the Grundy New Brain. This is not a well-known machine, most particularly here in the United States where very few have even heard of it; let alone ever owned one.
As you know, I’ve been hot on the trail of pioneers who were involved with development of this machine. I’ve recently published interviews with John Grant, Steve O’Hara-Smith, and Gerald McMullon concerning their involvement with the New Brain back in the day.
In this episode I move more into discussing details of the machine and its impact on the home and small business market in the 1980’s. To help me talk about the machine, I was able to track down Chris Espoinidis and convince him to co-host this episode. Chris manages the New Brain Emulator site from his home in Greece. Even though Chris created one of the premier New Brain emulators in existence, and that was the primary focus of his Web site initially, his site has become one of the best places (along with Gerald McMullon’s Website) to get any and all New Brain information (which quite honestly is quite sparse).
The focus of this episode, and the next, is to cover things like tech specs, Web sites, emulators and all of the topics that have become the standard for machine coverage on Floppy Days. This particular episode contains an interview with Chris, and then goes into great detail concerning the technical specifications of the New Brain. The next episode will cover all the other details, with the intent to impart every bit of information to you that I could find about this little-known machine.
Before we do that, I will talk about new acquisitions and upcoming shows.
Next Episode

Floppy Days 137 - Post-VCF SoCal 2024 with Paul Nurminen
Post-VCF SoCal 2024 with Paul Nurminen
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays
Sponsors:
0 Floppy Days Tune 1 min 13 sec Vintage Computer Ads 1 min 43 sec Intro 2 min 53 sec bumper - Paul Nurminen 3 min 00 sec Discussion with Paul Nurminen 1 hr 20 min 00 sec Closing
Hello, and welcome to episode 137 of the Floppy Days Podcast. I’m Randy Kindig, the host of this show. This episode is an adjunct to and follow up to the last episode (#136) of Floppy Days. In that episode, which covered the Grundy New Brain, I alluded to the fact that in the “What I’ve Been Up To” section of the podcast, I was going to publish a separate episode just for that. I did that because I don’t like to have episodes over about 90 minutes, and having this segment in that show would have pushed it well beyond that.
So, for this episode I enlisted the aid of Paul Nurminen (aka Nurmix), who was also an attendee and exhibitor/vendor at the recent Vintage Computer Festival Southern California, to help me do a follow up discussion of that show. We discuss our exhibits, other exhibits of note, our general thoughts about the show, and a whole lot more.
I hope you enjoy this.
Links
- VCF SoCal - https://www.vcfsocal.com/
- Intellivisionaries Podcast - http://intellivisionaries.com/
- White Flag Computing - https://www.whiteflagcomputing.com
- Episode 83 of Floppy Days about the Intellivision Keyboard Component with Paul Nurminen - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-83-the-intellivision-keyboard-component
- 1090XL expansion unit and 320K RAM board - reifsnyderb
- Discussion - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/333084-swutils-simcheck-simtest-osdump/
- Purchase - https://www.tindie.com/products/5cfab/1090xl-modernized-reproduction-main-board/
- The VintNerd - https://thevintnerd.com/index.html
- Mega65 - https://mega65.org/
- 10-Minute Amiga Retro Cast - https://www.youtube.com/c/10MinuteAmigaRetroCast
- Aquarius+ computer - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/352635-introducing-the-aquarius/
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