Alps Appreciation

Polecat · 23 Feb 2021, 05:39

doomsday_device wrote: ↑
22 Feb 2021, 21:24
black fk3002 (also calculator is working but not pictured)

Wow, very nice! Is Escom a European brand name? Love the badge, sure would like to have one for my black FK-2001, but I've never seen an Escom-branded Focus in person, only in photos.

Jan Pospisil · 23 Feb 2021, 09:12

I think Escom was German. We still get a lot of their branded boards here too.

Muirium · 23 Feb 2021, 09:18

Aye, they were German, and expanded much too quickly in the mid 1990s, flew too close to the sun and you know how it goes…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escom_(computer_company)

They had a very posh store here in Edinburgh for a brief while, right at the peak of their powers. Think it was by Charlotte Square, mingling with high end restaurants. I went in as a kid, and was wowed by their mouse collection. Nerrrrrd! But they were gone so soon I never did have a chance to set aside the pennies and return for something. Bet they had some good boards in there back then… grr!

NeK · 23 Feb 2021, 11:56

I just got this pretty baby

: NTC 5163EA White APS; NTC-6153EA-White-ALPS.jpg (964.29 KiB) Viewed 262 times

What a marvelous board! Very heavy, big, sturdy and just beautiful. It is feels like REAL keyboard!

I think that I have fallen in love guys...

ddrfraser1 · 23 Feb 2021, 15:16

NeK wrote: ↑
23 Feb 2021, 11:56

I think that I have fallen in love guys...

It's a good feeling.

Polecat · 23 Feb 2021, 17:47

Muirium wrote: ↑
23 Feb 2021, 09:18
Aye, they were German, and expanded much too quickly in the mid 1990s, flew too close to the sun and you know how it goes…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escom_(computer_company)

They had a very posh store here in Edinburgh for a brief while, right at the peak of their powers. Think it was by Charlotte Square, mingling with high end restaurants. I went in as a kid, and was wowed by their mouse collection. Nerrrrrd! But they were gone so soon I never did have a chance to set aside the pennies and return for something. Bet they had some good boards in there back then… grr!

Thanks, guys, for the info on Escom. Muirium, glad to see you posting again, hope all's well. I actually tried looking in the wiki, but I missed that article somehow. That was a volatile time in the world of computers, I remember it well. I bought my black FK-2002 at a computer show here in the bay area. Hundreds of vendors at every show, and a new one happening almost every weekend. People were building their own computers, and you could find just aboit any kind of program as shareware, downloaded from a bulletin board for nothing, or bought on floppy disc for a dollar or two. Or just plain stolen from someone else. Prior to that very few of us could afford a computer, or the software to run one. I guess I can live with my custom badge for now.

TNT · 23 Feb 2021, 17:59

That is a very sexy badge

Chyros · 23 Feb 2021, 19:00

That's... awesome. Ideas flying through my head now xD .

Polecat · 24 Feb 2021, 05:48

Chyros wrote: ↑
23 Feb 2021, 19:00
That's... awesome. Ideas flying through my head now xD .

Thank you, it was almost an afterthought at the very end of my black Focus project. The "Enhanced Keyboard" badge that came there was just too generic, and I didn't have a black 2001 emblem, or any other black one for that matter. I dug out a scrap of rosewood from my guitar building days, bought some shiny stick-on JBL letters (my initials, conveniently) from an ebay seller in eastern Europe, cut the wood to fit, stuck on the letters, gave it a quick coat of clear urethane paint, and that was that. I'd happily trade it for a black Escom badge, but I realize that's not likely to happen.