<s>
The	O
Grundy	B-Device
NewBrain	I-Device
was	O
a	O
microcomputer	O
sold	O
in	O
the	O
early	O
1980s	O
by	O
Grundy	B-Device
Business	I-Device
Systems	I-Device
Ltd	I-Device
of	O
Teddington	O
and	O
Cambridge	O
,	O
England	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
NewBrain	B-Device
project	O
was	O
started	O
in	O
1978	O
when	O
Sinclair	O
Radionics	O
began	O
design	O
work	O
with	O
Mike	O
Wakefield	O
as	O
the	O
designer	O
and	O
Basil	O
Smith	O
as	O
the	O
software	O
engineer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
it	O
became	O
obvious	O
to	O
Sinclair	O
that	O
the	O
NewBrain	B-Device
could	O
not	O
be	O
made	O
for	O
the	O
sub-	O
£100	O
price	O
he	O
envisaged	O
,	O
his	O
thoughts	O
turned	O
to	O
the	O
ZX80	B-Operating_System
that	O
was	O
to	O
be	O
developed	O
by	O
his	O
other	O
company	O
,	O
Science	O
of	O
Cambridge	O
Ltd	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
NewBrain	B-Device
project	O
was	O
moved	O
to	O
Newbury	O
Laboratories	O
by	O
the	O
National	O
Enterprise	O
Board	O
(	O
NEB	O
)	O
,	O
the	O
owner	O
of	O
both	O
Sinclair	O
Radionics	O
and	O
Newbury	O
Labs	O
,	O
following	O
the	O
closure	O
of	O
Sinclair	O
Radionics	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1980	O
,	O
Newbury	O
announced	O
the	O
imminent	O
release	O
of	O
three	O
NewBrain	B-Device
models	O
,	O
including	O
a	O
battery-powered	O
portable	O
computer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Eventually	O
,	O
under	O
some	O
pressure	O
from	O
the	O
DoI	O
to	O
choose	O
a	O
British	O
system	O
,	O
the	O
BBC	O
'	O
chose	O
 '	O
the	O
NewBrain	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
BBC	O
specification	O
was	O
closely	O
written	O
around	O
the	O
NewBrain	B-Device
specification	O
,	O
with	O
(	O
presumably	O
)	O
the	O
expectation	O
that	O
Newbury	O
Laboratories	O
would	O
tender	O
and	O
win	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
the	O
NewBrain	B-Device
was	O
under	O
heavy	O
development	O
by	O
Newbury	O
,	O
it	O
soon	O
became	O
clear	O
that	O
Newbury	O
was	O
not	O
going	O
to	O
be	O
able	O
to	O
produce	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Grundy	O
had	O
been	O
looking	O
for	O
an	O
entrant	O
into	O
the	O
personal	O
computer	O
business	O
,	O
as	O
they	O
were	O
already	O
producing	O
a	O
CP/M	B-Application
2.2-based	O
machine	O
,	O
built	O
into	O
a	O
'	O
dumb	O
terminal	O
 '	O
as	O
a	O
virtual	O
clone	O
of	O
the	O
Intertec	B-Operating_System
Superbrain	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
model	O
'	O
AD	O
 '	O
also	O
included	O
a	O
one-line	O
,	O
16-character	O
,	O
vacuum	B-General_Concept
fluorescent	I-General_Concept
(	O
VF	O
)	O
display	O
on	O
the	O
unit	O
which	O
permitted	O
operation	O
with	O
or	O
without	O
a	O
TV	O
screen	O
or	O
monitor	O
the	O
VF	B-General_Concept
display	I-General_Concept
responded	O
to	O
the	O
cursor	O
keys	O
and	O
scrolled	O
around	O
the	O
screen	O
display	O
area	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
additional	O
model	O
was	O
released	O
,	O
but	O
this	O
was	O
a	O
custom	O
version	O
for	O
a	O
pharmaceutical	O
chain	O
,	O
with	O
no	O
screen	O
display	O
only	O
the	O
VF	B-General_Concept
display	I-General_Concept
and	O
was	O
not	O
widely	O
known	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
the	O
Z80	B-General_Concept
has	O
a	O
16-bit	B-Device
address	B-Architecture
bus	I-Architecture
,	O
it	O
can	O
only	O
address	O
64	O
kB	O
of	O
memory	O
at	O
a	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
paged	O
memory	O
system	O
in	O
the	O
expansion	O
chassis	O
used	O
bank	B-General_Concept
switching	I-General_Concept
to	O
allow	O
the	O
NewBrain	B-Device
to	O
take	O
advantage	O
of	O
several	O
64	O
kB	O
modules	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
expansion	O
module	O
included	O
a	O
parallel	O
printer	O
port	O
and	O
two	O
hardware	O
based	O
serial	B-Protocol
ports	I-Protocol
and	O
an	O
expansion	B-Device
bus	I-Device
to	O
connect	O
further	O
modules	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
8	O
and	O
16	O
way	O
serial	O
modules	O
under	O
development	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
CP/M	B-Application
2.2	O
was	O
also	O
available	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Under	O
CP/M	B-Application
2.2	O
the	O
internal	O
BASIC	O
ROM	O
was	O
paged	O
out	O
for	O
the	O
CP/M	B-Application
ROM	O
but	O
this	O
gave	O
only	O
32	O
kB	O
memory	O
to	O
CP/M	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
the	O
expansion	O
module	O
fitted	O
the	O
three	O
8	O
kB	O
ROMs	O
of	O
the	O
processor	O
module	O
were	O
paged	O
out	O
to	O
give	O
the	O
NewBrain	B-Device
one	O
of	O
the	O
highest	O
available	O
TPA	O
(	O
Transient	O
Program	O
Area	O
memory	O
left	O
after	O
the	O
OS	O
demands	O
are	O
satisfied	O
)	O
to	O
CP/M	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Grundy	B-Device
Business	I-Device
Systems	I-Device
released	O
two	O
5.25	O
"	O
drive	O
formats	O
,	O
40	O
track	O
200	O
kB	O
single	O
sided	O
and	O
80	O
track	O
800	O
kB	O
double	O
sided	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1983	O
the	O
Sony	O
3.5	O
"	O
became	O
available	O
and	O
single	O
and	O
paired	O
units	O
were	O
supplied	O
to	O
dealers	O
in	O
the	O
NewBrain	B-Device
cream	O
cases	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Over	O
50,000	O
NewBrain	B-Device
units	O
were	O
sold	O
to	O
educational	O
,	O
scientific	O
,	O
industry	O
,	O
small	O
business	O
and	O
banking	O
sectors	O
;	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
to	O
home	O
users	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Scientific	O
use	O
was	O
strong	O
because	O
of	O
the	O
unusually	O
high	O
precision	O
of	O
the	O
NewBrain	B-Device
's	O
floating	O
point	O
computations	O
and	O
its	O
very	O
high-resolution	O
graphics	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Business	O
use	O
was	O
also	O
proportionally	O
high	O
due	O
to	O
the	O
availability	O
of	O
CP/M	B-Application
based	O
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
unexpanded	O
NewBrain	B-Device
contains	O
software	O
provided	O
in	O
ROM	O
,	O
primarily	O
BASIC	O
,	O
a	O
full	O
screen	O
editor	O
and	O
device	O
drivers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Benchmarks	O
show	O
that	O
even	O
though	O
the	O
NewBrain	B-Device
performed	O
double	O
accuracy	O
calculations	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
fastest	O
8-bit	O
computers	O
available	O
for	O
several	O
years	O
,	O
completing	O
PCW	O
Benchmark	O
8	O
in	O
7.0	O
seconds	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
16-bit	B-Device
IBM	O
PC	O
took	O
3.5	O
seconds	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
last	O
two	O
generations	O
of	O
NewBrain	B-Device
ROMs	O
included	O
additional	O
graphics	O
commands	O
ROM	O
1.9	O
had	O
two	O
more	O
commands	O
,	O
and	O
ROM	O
2.0	O
some	O
more	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
version	O
of	O
BASIC	O
was	O
an	O
extended	O
version	O
of	O
ANSI	O
BASIC	O
,	O
the	O
facilities	O
of	O
which	O
were	O
similar	O
to	O
those	O
in	O
Microsoft	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
left	O
to	O
the	O
NewBrain	B-Device
user	O
groups	O
to	O
publish	O
the	O
details	O
of	O
how	O
to	O
access	O
these	O
routines	O
through	O
the	O
indirect	O
call	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
HiSoft	O
produced	O
NewBrain	B-Device
versions	O
of	O
their	O
Pascal	O
compiler	O
and	O
editor	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
number	O
of	O
CP/M	B-Application
applications	O
were	O
converted	O
to	O
using	O
the	O
NewBrain	B-Device
's	O
CP/M	B-Application
terminal	O
and	O
made	O
available	O
on	O
NewBrain	B-Device
5.25	O
"	O
and	O
3.5	O
"	O
formatted	O
diskettes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
included	O
Z80	B-General_Concept
Assemblers	O
and	O
debuggers	O
,	O
Pro	O
Pascal	O
and	O
Pro	O
Fortran	B-Application
,	O
TCL	B-Operating_System
Pascal	O
,	O
dBase	B-Application
II	I-Application
,	O
Wordstar	B-Application
3.3	O
,	O
Peachtree	O
Accounting	O
applications	O
,	O
the	O
Superfile	O
database	O
and	O
CP/M	B-Application
versions	O
of	O
Hisoft	O
Pascal	O
,	O
Modula-2	B-Language
,	O
Z80	B-General_Concept
Assembler	O
and	O
text	O
editor	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IEL	O
,	O
MicroMart	O
,	O
Black	O
Knight	O
Computers	O
)	O
provided	O
independent	O
software	O
for	O
the	O
NewBrain	B-Device
,	O
which	O
was	O
supplied	O
to	O
users	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
British	O
Ministry	O
of	O
Defence	O
,	O
and	O
Cambridge	O
University	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Tradecom	O
purchased	O
Grundy	B-Device
Business	I-Device
Systems	I-Device
in	O
1983	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
fulfill	O
a	O
contract	O
to	O
supply	O
microcomputers	O
to	O
schools	O
and	O
training	O
centres	O
in	O
the	O
Netherlands	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
created	O
a	O
server	O
to	O
which	O
several	O
NewBrains	B-Device
could	O
use	O
its	O
floppy	O
discs	O
to	O
load	O
programs	O
down	O
the	O
serial	O
cable	O
and	O
simple	O
switching	O
enabled	O
the	O
teacher	O
to	O
view	O
the	O
screen	O
of	O
the	O
students	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
were	O
given	O
television	O
coverage	O
,	O
but	O
the	O
NewBrain	B-Device
's	O
part	O
in	O
this	O
was	O
not	O
mentioned	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Tradecom	O
's	O
NewBrains	B-Device
were	O
supplied	O
entirely	O
by	O
existing	O
stock	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
press	O
release	O
was	O
made	O
of	O
a	O
new	O
factory	O
in	O
India	O
to	O
provide	O
NewBrains	B-Device
for	O
the	O
Indian	O
market	O
and	O
to	O
supply	O
Europe	O
,	O
but	O
nothing	O
materialised	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Dutch	O
NewBrain	B-Device
user	O
group	O
has	O
PDF	O
downloads	O
of	O
various	O
publications	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
link	O
to	O
a	O
Greek	O
website	O
that	O
contains	O
a	O
PC-based	O
emulator	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Dutch	O
website	O
has	O
many	O
of	O
the	O
programs	O
that	O
were	O
available	O
for	O
the	O
NewBrain	B-Device
,	O
and	O
these	O
can	O
be	O
run	O
on	O
the	O
emulator	O
.	O
</s>
