Talk:Hobbit (computer)

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[edit] Hi, Thanks!

Thanks for entering this info on the Hobbit computer. I didn't even know the machine existed! I have included it in the Sinclair computer listbox. As of this writing, your Hobbit webpage server seems to be down, but I'll return later. Thanks again. :-) --Wernher 05:46, 2 Aug 2004 (UTC)

You're welcome! my webpage seems to have been up all the way, according to the logs (and was being hit before and after your post); must have been a netsplit or something in between. Especially for you, given your military+old computers interests combination, here is an advance piece of info that will yet have to make its way to the article page: Dmitry Mikhilov, the inventor, had a very interesting customer coming to our workplace — a Russian nuclear submarine captain that had a Hobbit installed in his cabin! I don't know how true is the claim by the Sinclair User that it was used for help in underwater navigation, but the captain was really an advanced guy, buying the most recent Forth ROM beta burns every time he came in (for games playing he could have just used Hobbit in its Spectrum-compatibility mode...) About the same time as getting acquainted with this guy, or maybe by sheer coincidence, D.M. became a huge fan of the "Silent Service" by Sid Meyer, playing it a lot on his Amiga with great success. BACbKA 23:24, 3 Aug 2004 (UTC)
This is great! You see, among my primary military interests along with missiles and WWI/II history, are submarines :) So thanks 1E6 (rubles?) for the anecdote of the nukesub captain. To think of him and his crew perhaps gliding about outside 'my' coast in the 80s, more or less navigating his sub assisted by a Russian Speccy clone running FORTH(!) is nothing less than fascinating :)) I guess the small size of the computer was significant for the captain, given the size of subcabins (or were they roomy in Soviet nukesubs?). --Wernher 16:48, 5 Aug 2004 (UTC)
Actually, not 80s but early 90s. As for the cabins size, I haven't been to the sub myself, so I can't tell you how roomy they were :) When I am thinking about him and the crew I have a different image in my mind every time — folks arguing who'll take the next turn in a Spectrum game :-))) But if one day his FORTH navigational code will surface somewhere, that might be priceless! Dunno if the cap'n is alive today — Russian nuclear sub sailors were typically fully bald from radiation by the age of 50... BACbKA 22:36, 5 Aug 2004 (UTC)
Heh -- wordplay of the year: "if [the ...] code will surface somewhere"(!) :-))) And, by now the article is really informative -- I must admit that the Hobbit seems to have been a really potent Speccy clone++. --Wernher 21:40, 22 Aug 2004 (UTC)