Introduction

The first contact I can remember with a computer was with a Monroe 1880 - basically a large programmable calculator, programmed in an octal machine code. Of course I had no clue about it - I just knew dad got annoyed when I randomly mashed keys - probably undoing hours of his work programming survey calculations!

Real contact came with an Apple II Europlus at some kind of science roadshow at the Southland Museum (my first contact with BASIC) and looking at the Poly computers at Southland Girls' High School where my mother taught maths.

I've used many other computers through the years, and in the mid 2000's decided that it would be a nice idea to pick up some of the systems I've used over the years. SORD, a large Japanese brand in its day, featured highly because and M23 was our first computer at home. Not really a home computer - the focus was squarely on business - but a machine that I used whenever I was allowed on it!

My intention with this site is twofold. Firstly, I want to share the information that I have on SORD, especially the brand's history in southern New Zealand where it had a surprisingly diverse user base, and also to document the rest of my collection, which includes machines that have some meaning in my personal history and other interesting ones that I have picked up over the years.

The idea of this site has been in my head since 2008, but the reality is that if I wait until I have it just the way that I intended it will never go live so, as much as I hate "under development" notices, please excuse the fact that some of the items to the left aren't hyperlinks yet, more place holders until I get my act together.

With that said, enjoy the site and please contact me if you'd like to feed back on anything here, would like more detail or would like to submit extra information - I'm always keen on additional SORD information, software and hardware.

Update - November 2018

It's been three years sicne the last update, which is just too long! I'm also conscious that the layout of this site is very "early 2000's web." I'm anticipating a re-do of this site in the new few months - probably switching from using Expression to a full CMS - that will make it easier for me to update, and also mean I can make it mobile-friendly. Watch this space!