The Lynx 48 was a competitor of the Sinclair Spectrum and the Oric 1. It was a good machine but its main problem was a lack of software. Several models were available with 48 KB, 96 KB or 128 KB RAM, and it was possible to reach 192 KB with on-board RAM expansions! There is even a monitor in the Lynx's ROM which allowed the user to write and edit programs written in machine code.
The 96 KB and 128 KB versions featured 4 KB of additional ROM memory (mirrored twice for obscure reasons) with lots of extra commands for sound effects, such as laser and klaxon, and for using 24 KB of dedicated RAM as data space.
The Lynx Basic has really cool features, unseen on other systems of its category, like REPEAT-UNTIL and WHILE-WEND statements, and automatic indenting of procedures! The graphic possibilities were excellent, especially with the 128 KB model, and CP/M could be used with the optional 5.25" disk-drive and 96 KB or better models.
However, the Lynx had no great success outside Great Britain.
The designer of the Lynx is John Shireff, an ex-drummer.
Some hardware devices on the bus had potentially contentious outputs. This meant that you had to be quite brave if you wanted to program in assembly language - if you made a mistake, you could damage the hardware itself. This was highlighted in the user manual!
Camputers ceased trading in 1984. Several companies expressed an interest in buying the business, and in November, 1984, a firm called Anston Technology took over. A re-launch was planned but never happened, and in June, 1986 Anston sold everything - hardware, design rights and thousands of cassettes - to the National Lynx User Group. The group planned to produce a Super-Lynx but was too busy supplying spares and technical information to owners of existing models, and the project never came into being.
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Contributors: John J. Diamond (editor), Richard Hince
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Wow, I''m speechless. I owned a Lynx, my first computer. In fact I loved it so much I went on to do a degree in IT and have a 30 year (and hopefully more) career in IT. I used to live in Bradford and I wanted a TR-80 or a Spectrum but I bought a Lynx and I was delighted. It''s like reading about your first girlfriend, except she didn''t go on to marry your best mate, she died and went to computer haven.
Wednesday 20th April 2011
Colin Baxter (New Zealand)
I was one of the founders of the Norwegian Lynx User Group. We had a few members around the country and released a handfull of user magazines before Camputers went down. I still have some copies of the magazines. We also modified the ROM with some special functions which were added to the interpreter and also we put in Norwegian national letters on spare space in the character table in ROM. I also had to build my own floppy controller from scratch as it was impossible to get a controller at the last days of the Camputers. I hardcopied a friends controllerboard by beeping track by track. I managed to get the new board work in my first attempt and were pretty proud of myself on that time. I got a Lynx 96 and Lynx 128 w/ CPM/M today.
Friday 12th September 2008
Petter Lenge (Norway)
Oh happy days. We (myself and a friend) had a shed load of these at one time I think they all ended up in a skip! :-( we wrote a word processor that sat in the third eprom slot, an assembler and a dissasembler. We also finished off the CPM and had it running a treat We used to sell the Computers, hardware and our software through Pheonix software in Manchester. Although the basic graphic system was slow by using assembly routines it could be sped up significantly. also using the alternate graphics page ment you could prepare the display in the back ground and then simply switch banks for an even faster appearance. I still have much software on disk and many LUG magazines, and I would love to be able to get hold of a Lynx now for nostalgia.
Wednesday 22nd October 2003
Graeme Mawson (Cambridge (UK))
NAME
LYNX
MANUFACTURER
Camputers
TYPE
Home Computer
ORIGIN
United Kingdom
YEAR
March 1982
END OF PRODUCTION
June 1984
BUILT IN LANGUAGE
Lynx Basic, machine code monitor
KEYBOARD
Full-stroke keyboard, 57 keys
CPU
Zilog Z80A
SPEED
4 MHz
CO-PROCESSOR
Motorola 6845 (CRT controller)
RAM
48 kb, 96 kb or 128 kb depending on models (max. 192 kb)
ROM
16 kb (48K version), 24 KB (96K and 128K versions)
TEXT MODES
40 x 24, 80 x 24
GRAPHIC MODES
256 x 248, 512 x 480
COLORS
8
SOUND
one voice beeper
SIZE / WEIGHT
32 x 20 x 7 cm / 2 kg
I/O PORTS
Serial port, Tape (600 to 2100 baud), RGB video output, TV output (RF modulator), Composite video output & lightpen Optional extension box with Parallel and joystick ports
