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Pulp Librarian Profile picture
@PulpLibrarian
May 18, 2021 • 8 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X
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Today in pulp I look back at New Zealand's home-grow microcomputer, the 1981 Poly-1!

Press any key to continue...
The Poly-1 was developed in 1980 by two electronics engineering teachers at Wellington Polytechnic, Neil Scott and Paul Bryant, who wanted to create a computer for use in New Zealand schools. Education Minister Merv Wellington liked the idea and gave it the green light.
Backed by government finances, and in partnership with Progeni Computers, Polycorp was formed in 1980 to began work on the prototype for the official Kiwi school computer.

It was an interesting approach...
Having an educational computer designed by an educational establishment was a novel idea: up to 50 engineers and students at Wellington Polytechnic took part in the Poly-1 development programme. The results were impressive.
The Poly-1 was high spec for 1981, with colour graphics and 64k of RAM neatly packaged in an all-in-one fiberglass case with carrying handles and integrated CRT monitor. It even came in different colours. It was the iMac of its day.
However the Government rowed back on its pledge to buy 1,000 units for NZ schools. Lobbying by business interests who wanted a free market in school computers also hamstrung the project. But at least the Australian Defence Force invested in it.
A Poly 2 and a Poly C (for the Chinese market) were later developed, but by then the IBM-PC had become dominant and the Poly was sadly discontinued in 1989.
The Poly Preservation Project proudly keeps the memory of the Poly-1 alive, as well as curating its history. Do take a look: cs.otago.ac.nz/homepages/andr…

So farewell Poly-1: you were indeed the future once...

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More from @PulpLibrarian

Pulp Librarian Profile picture
Jan 23
In the shadowy corners of the shortwave spectrum lurk the Numbers Stations: strange radio broadcasts of mysterious blocks of numbers in creepy monotone voices!

It's actually an old form of spycraft which is still in use today. Let's take a listen...
A Numbers Station is a type of one-way voice link for sending information to spies in foreign countries. Operating on Short Wave radio bands they transmit a secret code of spoken numbers.

Use of Numbers Stations peaked during the Cold War, but some are still operating today. Image
Numbers Stations are operated by various national intelligence agencies. At set times on a pre-arranged frequency a musical tone is played, followed by a speech synthesised voice reading out blocks of numbers. To most listeners it sounds both creepy and meaningless. Image
Read 12 tweets
Pulp Librarian Profile picture
Jan 17
Today in pulp I revisit a mystery of the recent past: did ‘John Titor’ really travel back in time from 2038 to the year 2000 to warn us about an apocalyptic future? And why was he so keen on getting his hands on a 1975 IBM 5100 computer?

Let’s find out...
In 1998, US radio talk-show host Art Bell read out a fax from a man claiming to be from the future. Two years later the same man, calling himself Time_Traveler_0, left similar messages on the Time Travel Instutute’s internet forum.

They told a strange tale… Image
“Greetings. I am a time traveler from the year 2036. I am on my way home after getting an IBM 5100 computer system from the year 1975.”

For the next two years Time_Traveler_0, now calling himself John Titor, would leave many similar messages on internet forums. Image
Read 13 tweets
Pulp Librarian Profile picture
Jan 14
You know what we haven't done for a while? Bad book covers! Let's fix that...

('bad' has many different meanings by the way!) Image
The Best of Walter M. Miller, Jr. Pocket Books, 1980. Cover by Mara McAfee.

"Best," mind you! Image
Those are some epic "who farted?" faces.

A Vision Of Beasts: The Second Kingdom, by Jack Lovejoy. Tor Books, 1984. Cover by Victoria Poyser. Image
Read 18 tweets
Pulp Librarian Profile picture
Jan 7
The Bawdyguard, by John Dexter. Nightstand Books, 1971. Image
'John Dexter' didn't actually exist. It was a house alias - along with J X Williams - for a range of writers knocking out cheesy sex pulp for Greenleaf publishing. At least 20% of each novel had to be sex scenes with the other 80% titillation, voyeurism or padding. Not much space for character arcs or a hero's journey...Image
Greenleaf initially specialized in sci-fi magazines, until they discovered sex was selling better. A number of writers were quietly supplying novels for both scenes. Robert Silverberg, Harlan Ellison and Donald E Westlake all provides pseudonymous sex novels for the publisher. Image
Read 7 tweets
Pulp Librarian Profile picture
Jan 6
Today is the birthday of legendary illustrator Gustave Doré. Let's take a look back at his work... Image
Gustave Doré was born in Strasbourg on 6 January 1832. Aged 15 he became an illustrator for the satirical paper Le Journal Pour Rire. Image
Doré worked on a number of early text comics in the 1850s, including Trois Artistes Incompris et Mécontents and L'Histoire de la Sainte Russie. Image
Image
Read 15 tweets
Pulp Librarian Profile picture
Jan 5
Was Nancy Drew an '80s fashion icon?

Let's look in the files and find out... Image
Case 32: High Marks For Malice (1989). Nordic knits always work and they're great for detectives. Pastels are very flattering but you'll need a good lint roller if it's a long case you're investigating. This is a clear fashion win. Image
Case 51: A Model Crime (1990). Gold is a hard colour to pull off, but the details are on point here: single button and shoulder pads make it a power look and Nancy has sensibly avoided the '90s waitcoat trend. Another win. Image
Read 12 tweets

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