My latest Advance Computer

               Over the past year and a half I have owned an  Advance  86b
    Computer  and  have been involved with most of the early problems that
    the 86b experienced.  It was with a great  deal  of  interest  that  I
    embarked  on  the job of comparing my new Advance Computer with my old
    well modified 86b.

               No,  I  have  not  purchased  one  of  the  much publicised
    Ferranti models,  the machine I have just acquired is the Advance 88d,
    a new model  that  has  been  designed  and  manufactured  by  Advance
    Technology independently.

               The 88d is a completely redesigned IBM compatible computer,
    a  little slower than the 86b as it uses the 8088 Microprocessor.  The
    case,  however, is now of more reasonable proportions (the same as the
    IBM in fact), is made of steel and plastic, is attractively styled and
    comes  in a light grey colour and is now quite capable of supporting a
    monitor without any ill effects.

               The Advance 88d uses half  height  Mitsubishi  floppy  disk
    drives which are almost completely silent in operation and you have to
    check  the  indicator lamps to be certain that they are running!  Hard
    disk  versions  are  also  available  and these models use half height
    winchester system by Shugart with either 10 MB or 20 MB capacity.  The
    power unit has a capacity sufficient to drive a hard disk as well as a
    pair of floppies so you could up-date a twin floppies system by adding
    a hard disk at a later stage.

               The system board has 6 expansion slots of which  2  are  in
    use  on the twin floppies version for the colour graphics card and the
    floppy disk controller card, whilst on the hard disk version a further
    slot is used for the fixed disk control card.   The connections on the
    rear panel are:-  RGB monitor, TV or Composite video, parallel printer
    port, RS232 serial port.   The mains ON/OFF switch is located  on  the
    rear  panel,  there is,  however,  an "ON" indicator lamp on the front
    panel.

               There is no co-processor or games control adaptor  included
    but provision has been made in the design for a 8087 math co-processor
    to be added.

    The Advance 88d is available in many configurations such as:-

    1.  Twin floppies version with either 360K or 720K drives and 256K  or
    640K memory.

    2.  Single  floppy  drive  plus a single hard disk with either 360K or
    720K floppy drive,  either 10MB or 20MB hard disk,  and either 256K or
    640K memory.

               The memory is located on the system board as 4 banks of 64K
    chips in the 256K case and as 2 banks of 64K chips  plus  2  banks  of
    256K  chips  in  the  640K  case,  this  allows  memory upgrades to be
    achieved, at a later stage,  from 256K to 640K by swopping two rows of
    chips for the 256K type.

               The keyboard plugs into  the  front  panel  and  is  a  big
    improvement, it is a Keytronic KB 5150 which comes complete with LED's
    on Num Lock and Caps Lock and has an extra "ENTER" key for the numeric
    keypad,  the  SHIFT  and  RETURN  keys  have  been located in the same
    position as the Selectric typewriter,  so it is ideal for the non two-
    fingered  operators,  it  also  has  a very pleasant soft but positive
    feel.

               The Advance 88d seems to be very "Compatible", even more so
    than the old 86b,  so far I have tried out some 60 programs  and  they
    have all functioned without a hitch!

    The programs that I have tried include the following :-
                     Version 1A*       Lotus 1-2-3
                     Version 1.00      Lotus Symphony
                     Version 1.00      Multiplan
                     Version 1.00      Microsoft Chart
                     Version 1.10      Microsoft Word
                     Version 2.00      Microsoft Word
                     Version 1.10      dBASE III
                     Version 3.11      Multimate
                     Version TK-1(1E)  TK! Solver
                     Version 2.00      Supercalc III
                     Version 1.47a     Calstar
                     Version 3.30      Wordstar
                     Version 1.11C     Sidekick
                     Version 2.01      Sideways
                     Version 1984      Sargon III
                     Version 2.10      Microsoft Flight Simulator
                     Version 1982      Microsoft Decathlon

               Now for the nitty  gritty,  how  much  does  all  this  IBM
    compatibility cost?     This is where the Advance 88d scores some good
    points in my book!  The cost of a machine with twin floppy disk drives
    of either 360K or 720K capacity,  with 256K RAM is £999 + VAT and with
    640K RAM is £1,199 + VAT.    The cost of the hard disk version is also
    very  good,  with  a 360K or 720K capacity floppy disk and a 10MB hard
    disk model with 256K RAM priced at £1,799 + VAT or with  640K  RAM  at
    £1,999 + VAT.

               The  Advance  88d is not yet available "in the shops" as no
    official agents have yet been appointed,  anyone wanting to purchase a
    machine  or  get  more  information  should contact Advance Technology
    direct at 8a, Hornsey Street, London, N7 8HR.  Telephone 01-609-0061.

               My personal opinion is,  if you are looking  for  an  "IBM"
    computer,  but you haven't the IBM cash, you won't go far wrong if you
    choose the Advance 88d, and it is British Made into the bargain!   You
    even get a years free on site service, should anything go wrong!

    POSTSCRIPT.

               I have just heard of a snag!      I  have  been  using  the
    programs  in  medium colour graphics mode as I have an RGB monitor and
    have had no trouble,  but if I had been using high resolution graphics
    mode I would have found the snag which I have  just  heard  about  and
    checked out.   The problem is that the existing ROM does not allow for
    the extended IBM character codes (above ASCII 128) to be accessed.

               On  checking with Advance,  I was informed that the problem
    was known and the cure, a revised ROM, is just about to be issued,  so
    providing  you  have  the  revised ROM,  I believe my last remark will
    still stand.