This might not be for everyone, but it is worthy of a mention. Jupiter Cantab was formed by two ex-Sinclair designers, who worked on the ZX Spectrum, in the early Eighties. They made and released the Jupiter Ace. Now, the assets, including the name and master tapes, are being sold off: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-entir...ject-including-the-brand-itself-/321400883511 As I'm sure most people here don't have £10,000 to spare, I thought I'd bring attention to a worthy project. The Centre for Computing History is an educational charity in Cambridge. They have secured premises there for their museum, featuring their extensive collection of computing history. They also hire out their inventory to film and television productions, and supplied much of the set for the IT Crowd. They are having a fundraiser to buy the Jupiter collection, so it will be preserved in the museum. https://www.justgiving.com/Jupiter-Ace Whilst this is NOT the kind of fundraiser some people may be used to around here - you're not going to receive a copy of anything - it is worthwhile mentioning. They are a good cause, as they provide services to schools, as well as preserving the machines we all love as well as related equipment and documentation. So, if you have a few quid burning a hole in your pocket, why not contribute? Details of what's included, including betas, unreleased software and documentation, can be found at: http://www.theJupiterAce.co.uk You can find more information on The Centre for Computing History here: http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/
Thanks for the heads up, Retro. Being from NA, Ive never heard of the Jupiter Ace. but I have much respect for early microcomputing. Ive given a small stipend towards this cause.
Interesting read, thanks for the heads up. I'm actually in Cambridge in a month or so, and had plans to visit the Centre. I'm surprised the lot didn't sell in Phase One. I actually got to play on one a few years back, Ace Invaders or Acevaders, I forget which sadly. Bit clunky if I'm honest. Great bit of history though, hope they get the funds they need.
It wasn't the best system, but it wasn't terrible. At the time, it was the cheapest on the market - so you can't expect greatness, I guess. Definitely worth checking the museum out!
Its amazing that in the UK the zx spectrum was amazing kids and adults with great games but in North America we never heard of it at all. It wasn't until Retro Gamer magazine did tons of articles on it that I found out myself what a big games computer it was. I highly recommend watching the BBC movie Micro Men to get the full history on it though games are only slightly mentioned.
The price is a bit steep! A lot of money for what looks to be a Jupiter Ace that's identical to retail and a box of tapes that might have been stored next to a magnet.... (For the record, I actually had a Sam Coupe back in the day, if only I knew where it went!) EDIT: A list of what you actually get for your 10k http://tasklinedatalog.co.uk/thejupiterace/more.htm EDIT2: Also this gets on my tits: Nintendo sold a hell of a lot more consoles than Jupiter and NWC was an iconic championships, so you can't really compare the two. Also if I curled out a poo, put it on ebay with a price tag of £899, that doesn't mean everything that comes out of my anus is worth millions..... EDIT3: Riiiight...... So, you can't actually prove legally that the Jupiter name is yours to sell? And you don't even get free delivery on a £10K item!
Well, the Jupiter Ace IS a rare system, and sells for around £200-400. Yes, the two included are just retail models. It's not really about them, it's the master tapes and the prototype stuff, plus the IP. A seller doesn't HAVE to give free shipping, or indeed ship at all, regardless of what price they want for the item. It's good practice to have an irreplaceable item listed as collection only when it could be damaged in transit. And it's irrelevant for the museum - they're in Cambridge! The IP is probably traceable if you really wanted to... try the liquidator, if they are still around. The fact that Boldfield continued selling the Jupiter Ace after Jupiter Cantab wound up without anyone trying to stop them is a pretty good indication that they legitimately had the IP. Still, if anyone doubted the claim and thought about buying the lot to exploit the IP, they shouldn't buy it - simple! You'd need legal documents to transfer the IP, anyway... so you'd be covered to sue the seller if something happened in the future. I would hope that the item won't sell and they'd be able to strike up a deal privately. The Spectrum WAS sold in the US... well, sort of, by Timex. They had a few models, which were official variants of original Spectrum technology. It was around before most games consoles, and before they became affordable devices (you could buy a Spectrum for £100 and play games, word process etc. whereas a NES was probably more than that and just a games console. Games were WAY more affordable, too). In the Eighties, it was pretty much the Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC dominating the home micro and games market. We did have others, such as MSX, Commodore 16, Acorn Electron, BBC Micro and Atari 800, but those were the main three. Even when Atari ST and Commodore Amiga came out, the 8-bit market remained strong. I always wanted a Sam Coupé! Nice machines.
If I'm honest, I'd never heard of this in my life, and have only briefly played the Horace games and Jet Set Willy for ZX Spectrum, I think it's important this is preserved though, and I really like oddities, so im going to see what I can do!
Yeah I wasn't in the best of moods when I wrote my post :blush: Best of luck to them, hopefully they'll find someone who wants to help them out with preservation.
Haha, no problem! You always have to consider all possibilities with something so expensive... there will always be people sceptical about such things... and that's not always a bad thing. It's a lot of money, but you could probably justify it just in physical items. 2x Jupiter Ace computers - say £600 for the pair 200x Triple Pack cassettes, boxed with sleeves and unused (one sold UNBOXED tape only for £20 recently) - maybe up to £4,000 80ish other cassettes - possibly around the £2,000 mark 54 master cassettes - you'd expect £1,000 at least 90ish cassettes in the archive, including submissions - perhaps £1,000 - £2,000 Then there's all the paperwork, the printer, the dev boards etc. Even if you wanted to say that £20 a cassette is too much, especially when there are now 200 copies of the one tape, I'd say you could probably justify the price in physical items alone, ignoring the IP. As for that, it's unlikely you're going to make a fortune from it, but there is potential.
