Roy Templeman

 @loudscotsbloke.bsky.social

If you know Roy from the social’s (or from Templeman’s Treasures in Pixel Addict Magazine), you will know that he has a fondness for the weird and wacky oddball computers from the 80s. Those machines that were berated, laughed at, ignored and often forgotten. But never fear! Roy will be exhibiting a collection of long forgotten oddballs. Showing what these poorly spec’ed underdogs can do, and explaining why he is on a mission to collect, restore and code for these forgotten many.

Known as the self-confessed ‘Defender of the Mattel Aquarius’ he will also be showing off the ‘wee blue key’ in all its glory (Roy writes new games for the Aquarius!) as well as some extremely rare gems. Everything from the Radionics R1001 to the Hanimex Pencil II and the COMX-35. Hopefully most of you have just thought.. “A what?”.

Jonathan ‘theJPster’ Pallant

 @thejpster.org.uk

Jonathan is an embedded systems engineer by day, and an accidental collector of retro machines by night. Here Jonathan presents “RISCy Business”: a selection of rare (but hopefully still working!) high-end RISC business workstations from the 1990s.

The Carter Brothers

 @c-carter-cmas.bsky.social

Dave built his first Newbear in 1978 when moving from TV repair work as an exercise in electronics before moving on from TVs to work in that area.

Chris started with Fortran on IBM mainframe in 1969 and has collected mostly stuff related to machines worked on, such as PDP-11 and BBC micro.

For Retrofest, a BBC Micro and a Newbear 77/68 should be taking turns controlling a small model railway, with some other stuff kicking about cluttering the place up.

John Newcombe

 @glasstty.com

John will be celebrating and demonstrating PRESTEL, the dial-up information service that was being used a decade before the World Wide Web had been invented.

There will be specialised Viewdata and Minitel terminals on display along with a homage to MICRONET.

Come and see how a Prism can enhance a Spectrum and how an Apple can blossom with Pace as John demonstrates how these and other home computers became information portals. And if that wasn't enough, check out John's recreation of a very early Acorn Prestel system.

Richard Harding

 DragonData.co.uk

Richard will be representing the world of Dragons with a Dragon 32, a Dragon 64 and a rare Dragon Professional prototype.

The Big Red Arrow Club

 @BigRedArrowClub

The Big Red Arrow Club is a group of like-minded YouTubers (that is to say they’re all a bit weird) who enjoy tinkering and expressing their love of vintage hardware and software. They’ll be bringing along interesting examples from their own personal collections, as well as handing out stickers and QR codes to anyone that ventures too close to their table.

Spencer Owen

 RC2014.co.uk

A selection of RC2014 retro computer kits based on the Z80, which will be demonstrating some of the things you can do with CP/M, BASIC and Z80 assembly code, along with a few kits for sale so you can build your own Z80 computer from scratch!

Quang DX

 @asobitech.com

From one of the largest video game console collections, QuangDX brings an array of consoles with keyboards, that tried to be more than just games machines.

Will Sheldrake

 RageAgainstTheRetro.com

One half of streaming duo Rage Against The Retro, we might have rage in the name but we love old computers! Will is going back to the golden era and charting the course of the arcades into the home.

Derek Knaggs

 FlameLily.co.uk

Flamelily Retro Store

New stuff for your old tech. If you love modern hardware for old systems you will know about the Raspberry Pi Pico. We are the UK reseller for a few Pico devices, the BlueSCSI, the PicoGUS and the PicoMEM. We have wallet friendly kits and fully assembled units for purchase. Come and see all these in action at our table. We also now sell the Denise which is a Mini-ITX Amiga recreation motherboard and great for restoring a damaged Amiga A500+.

We will have a prototype, of the brand new not yet released, PicoCPC to show and demo so if Amstrad CPC's are your thing came and see it in action.

Ben Coffer

 @sharpworks.bsky.social

Sharpworks is primarily a publisher of new games and software for the Sharp MZ computers but also works as an archivist for those machines' past software releases and accompanying documentation. Ben will be bringing his Sharp MZ-80K and MZ-80A machines to demonstrate along with floppy-related peripherals and some original tapes and documentation. Come and see the many games containing the little man graphic character and snakes & UFOs.

RM Users Group

 www.rmusergroup.net

Originally formed in 1979 to allow schools with Research Machines computers to collaborate and pool ideas, the RM User Group now holds the largest collection of fully working RM Schools Networks and associated equipment from the mid 70s to the present day. It also hold the only full archive of historic RM Software.

They will be displaying RM NET 3.1, RM NET LM, and RM Connect 2.4 Networks, along with a few other items historical school educational IT equipment.

Andrew Menadue

 @menadue

I take broken hardware and try to fix it, tending towards replacing broken hardware with modern replacement PCBs. Mostly calculators, but some computers. I also de-cap IC and try to extract information about the internal circuitry. I've done a lot of work with the Psion Organiser 2, including a re-creation using the RPi Pico that fits in the original case and can run an emulated original Organiser ROM. Several peripherals as well, such as a USB adapter and larger flash and RAM datapacks have been made, together with a number of adapters, interposers and prototyping boards. I'm also working on a re-write of the OPL compiler and runtime in C, which can run on Linux. It's intended to port that to the Pico and run it on the re-created Organiser.

Peter and Matthew Howkins

 www.marutan.net/rpcemu/

Enjoyers of all things Acorn Computers and old UNIX, and sometimes both at the same time.

We intend to bring a small selection of Acorn's 32-bit machines, including an setup of RISC iX, Acorn's UNIX.

We also intend to show RPCEmu, a free emulator of Acorn's Risc PC which we both work on.

Dolo Miah

 @6502nerd

6502Nerd will be showing off his 'amazing it even works' breadboard homebrew computer and his beloved Oric computers. From his first computer to his current homebrew project, it's 6502 nerdiness all the way down!

Dean Kennedy

 ConsoleRevive.com

Welcome to Console Revive, your go-to destination for breathing new life into your beloved gaming consoles! As passionate gamers and tech enthusiasts, we understand the joy and nostalgia that come with playing on your favourite systems. Our mission is to provide top-quality components and accessories at unbeatable prices, helping you upgrade and enhance your gaming experience without breaking the bank. We believe every gamer deserves the best, which is why we source high-quality products for a wide range of consoles.

DosFox

 @DosFox

DosFox will be bringing two handmade Macintosh clones - the first is a fully functional hardware reproduction of the Macintosh Plus, using absolutely no parts from Apple. The second is a reproduction of a machine that was never released - the Unitron 1024- which was a successor to the very first Macintosh clone to ever be created.

Phil Green

 PhilG.uk

Phil will be bringing a variety of SC/MP computers and Karen Orton SC/MP emulations and a MGH8060GAL which is a full-house SC/MP computer. He'll also demo a few Grant Searle Z80 computers and a Southern Cross Z80 scrolling its own description.

Chris Oddy

 Acorn System Computers Website

Chris's main interest is with the early 8-bit 6502 Acorn machines and so will be showing his original and replica Acorn System 1,2,3,4 and 5 machines together with Atoms interconnected with Econet and a FileStore.

Sean Billings

 @seanybillings.bsky.social

Sean started his journey in 1981 with a Sinclair ZX-81 which he used to near death, learning to push BASIC and then onto Z80 assembler.

Eventually moving onto QBasic on the PC, he moved from writing hobby games to writing commercial business software.

He is still developing business software on a variety of platforms, and he still has a passion for restoring and learning what the machines of his youth are capable of.

Sean will (hopefully) be showing how he loves to do software development on the actual target hardware.

Museum of Computing

 museumofcomputing.org.uk

The Museum of Computing is devoted to the history of computing and digital development. It was the first physical museum of its kind in the UK and is based in the centre of Swindon at Theatre Square. You will find many hands-on exhibits, allowing you to experience computers and related items as they were in the past.

Eduard Garanskij

Journey Through Time: Exploring the Legacy of 80s Programmable Calculators and Soviet-Era Computers. Explore how Soviet computers were built on original CPUs and designed with compatibility to the PDP architecture.

Richard Broadhurst

 @trickysoft

Richard will be bringing BBC Micros running a selection of his Trickysoft games, plus a variety of joysticks, mega drive pads and other controllers including paddles and trackballs.

Mark Nias

 @dexterstechlab.bsky.social

Mark of DextersTechLab will be featuring a retro gaming PC running the games Doom, Doom 2, Duke Nukem, Quake, Quake II, Quake III Arena, Unreal and Unreal Tournament. Using a Pentium III running Windows 98, featuring Dual 3Dfx Voodoo2 and nVidia GeForce 6800GT video cards all displayed on a Ikegami broadcast video monitor with music provided by a Roland SC-55 SoundCanvas

Hans Franke (Computeum)

 @computeum.bsky.social

Computeum is a tiny museum in Vilshofen/Danube, Bavaria. While the collection contain 10,000+ items, our limited show room size restricts exhibitions to a single theme at a time - right now we're setting a "Long Road to the PC", from Datapoint 2200 to the IBM PC-AT.

At Retrofest we'll display a partially restored Four Phase Systems 70 front panel with lots of switches and lights. Tiny enough to transport it across the Channel and proud to be blinking again :))

Chris Poacher

 @cpmagneticmedia

I have 'possibly' the most complete collection of 8-bit Microdeal releases for Dragon, Tandy TRS80, Oric, Atari 400/800/XL, Commodore 16, Commodore 64, VIC-20, BBC Micro, Acorn Electron. As far as I am aware there are only 3 missing titles (possibly MIA) for the Tandy TRS80 Color Computer and 1 single for the Aquarius. I'll have them on display plus a couple of real retro machines (Dragon and Commodore 64) to show them off and for you to play on. I also run the facebook group 'Microdeal - The 8 Bit Years' which is regularly updated with nostalgia, photos, games information and also finding of new unreleased titles that have surfaced years later.

John Brown

 @RetroBytes

Over time the definition of things can change, and sometimes they can change a lot. The world of computers is no exception, especially when it comes to the definition of portable. Did it really once just mean it has a handle on it ? Well John's bringing a range of retro portable machines with him form the 80s & 90s, in all sorts of shapes sizes, and unfortunately for his back weights.

Nikita Schmidt

 Cetus.sh

Nikita will be bringing a DEC 3000 AXP workstation, part of the first generation of computer systems based on Digital's 64-bit Alpha architecture.

Dean Belfield

 @breakintoprogram.co.uk

I'll be bringing the development system I used at Software Creations back in the late 80s to develop games on the Amstrad CPC and Spectrum. It's a Tatung Einstein wth custom hardware to connect it to the target machine. I'll also be bringing some original source files from Tim, Geoff and Mike Follin, and will be available to wax lyrical about how games were developed back then.

Neal Crook

 @nealcrook7883

Neal Crook will be showing some NASCOM computers from the 1970s, including a NASCOM 1, and the expanded NASCOM 2 that he built as a teenager. Along with this there will be some Gemini stuff, some old NASCOM expansion boards, and maybe a NASCOM IMP printer. Speeding forwards to the 21st century, Neal will also show his FPGA-based "NASCOM 4" and some modern expansion cards for saving and loading programs from SDcard instead of cassette.

Owen Randle

Owen will exhibit an original National Semiconductor SC/MP Introkit (that the SoC MK14 was based on), plus a Novus (Nat Semi) Calculator (that they used the same-style case as User Interface). And a Wireless World NanoComp 6802 Trainer - All to be shown running. Also a Newbear 77-68 recently-restored original 6800 CPU/RAM board and original Acorn PET + FIT diagnostic boards, Plus various other rare boards and recent SC/MP single-board systems re-creations.

Michael Shilabeer

 GeekyArt.co.uk

Electronic components preserved in a unique way - in their natural habitat of a Printed Circuit Board.

Roland Perry

Roland Perry, project manager 1983-89, will be exhibiting some Amstrad 8-bit memorabilia (Sunday only). He will also sign any small items, such as games, software and manuals.

Dave Williams

 @devilishdesign.bsky.social

Dave will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the MITS Altair 8800 by bringing not one, not two but three Altairs! An early 8800 and Teletype running Microsoft's first product, BASIC to demonstrate the earliest days of home-computing. An 8800b with VT100, running CP/M covers the later, higher spec machines and an 680b covers the 'What were they thinking!' part of MITS' history.

Andy Toone

 FearsumBeasts.com

Andy of Feersum Technology (@lockFarm) will be demonstrating the MicroBeast Z80 kit computer as well as the VideoBeast chip, a powerful graphics upgrade for 8-Bit computers including the ZX Spectrum.

Tim Gilberts

 @timbucus.bsky.social

A chance to see some of the wonderful homebrew computers by the late great Karen Orton of the vintage radio forum. Many will have heard of the PIC14 a cycle accurate version of the SC/MP used to emulate an SOC MK14 (of which there will be several) but did you know she played with real CPU’s like the Z80 creating a ZX89 and a 3 chip front panel programmed machine!

Adrian Graham

 @binarydinosaurs.co.uk

Showcasing The Weird, The Wonderful, The Weighty and The WHAT is THAT?!

Stephen Usher

 @srusher.bsky.social

If you have been creating a model railway in the last decade or so you'll know about digital train control using the DCC system. But did you know that it goes all the way back to 1979?

Stephen will be demonstrating the Hornby Zero 1 system and you will be able to try it hands-on in person on a small, purpose built layout.