Hello everyone,

my name is Thomas and, as the subject says , i'm from Germany.  I'm a collector of game consoles and home computers.

Well, my personal Enterprise-story begins in the 80s. I was a happy Atari 800XL-user, had friends with Commodores and Schneider CPC (the german versions of Amstrad CPC). At this time i read many magazines like the german Happy Computer, Computer Kontakt and HC-Mein Homecomputer. In one of this magazines i saw an article about a brand new computer that would be released later in the year: The Enterprise. I actually don't remember if thr name of the computer was still Elan Enterprise or only Enterprise. But i was fascinated. So much colors, up to 4MB RAM, an integrated joystick and a really cool design. From this moment on in wanted such a computer. But as time went on i didn't heard more about this computer for a long time. But sometimes a thought "Hmm, i'm curious what happened to this computer ... was it ever released ?"
Then the internet came and so the chances to research for all the interesting things ... like the Enterprise-Computer. And so i found some websites, photos and much other things. And again i thought "It would be great to own such a cool Computer".
About one year ago i searched eBay for classic computers. And what did i found ? An Enterprise 128-computer ! Boxed, in great condition, from Hungary. Well, after 1 minute of thinking i hit the "Buy it now"-button. And so it happened, i got my first Enterprise-Computer ! I was so excited ! As one of my hobbies i write for a german retro magazine. So after receiving the Enterprise i decided to write an article about the Enterprise. It was planned with 4 pages, but i found so much things about the Enterprise, the fascinating story, so now the article has 7 pages
And in december 2012 i got my "personal christmas present to myself": When i searched eBay i found an Enterprise-system, shipped from Germany ... with EXDOS, all manuals, "Chip-Sonderheft", a german special issue of the Chip magazine about the Enterprise and tons of other really interesting things like original price lists, a software Spectrum-emulator with manual. I bid, crossed my fingers ... and won the auction
So now i have 2 Enterprises, EXDOS, and as a floppy replacement i actually use a HxC floppy emulator with SD-Card.

At home i'll check the serial numbers of my components so you can use them in your database. This weekend we have a retro computer meeting with much C64s ... and i'll bring my Enterprise ^^

OK, that's my first post ... but definitely not my last post
I'm happy to be here and to meet more Enterprise-enthusiasts

Greetings from Germany
Thomas

Welcome Thomas,
It is always a pleasure to welcome new members on our forum!
It seems you felt in love with this little machine at first sight, just like most of us here
I still rememember how much I liked her colored buttons, her shape, even her red reset button! It was so cooll. Then it became even better after our friend turned it on. The mesmeric TESTING at the top followed by the big, colorful and blinking ENTERPRISE text. Then came the classic games like Batman, Sorcery, Wriggler and they burned into my brain forever. I did not know much about the machine first, I just knew whoaa. I was a kid, but the first experience was more than enough to want to learn more about computers and especially about the Enterprise. The truth is the more you learn about it, the better you will love it.

Could you post your article here on our forum? We now have a dedicated German section.

Here are my 2 beauties:
The CGI-model is a 3D-model of my first Enterprise. It was modeled by a friend and used in the RETURN-magazine.
The photo shows my second Enterprise with EXDOS and the manuals, magazines etc.

The CGI-model is a 3D-model of my first Enterprise. It was modeled by a friend and used in the RETURN-magazine.

Great work!!!

This weekend we have a retro computer meeting with much C64s ... and i'll bring my Enterprise ^^

Also bring some nice demos! The Interlace demo 2&3 highly recommended if you want to demonstrate full power of the Nick chip.

Yeah, i just downloaded all demos from the website and tried the Interlace demo 2 on an emulator. It looks awesome !
Oh, some of the Nick chips have bugs ? Especially with the use of the Interlace modes ?

Mainly with interlace, it has problems if I remember well when the chip usage is high, then more or less pixel get strange colors on the screen. Zozo can explain it in more detail.

Ah, ok, so i think i should bring both of my Enterprises to the meeting (it's already packed). Only to get sure

Mainly with attribute graphics. The older Nick have 08-04 part number, the fixed version is 08-47.
For example see the eszakif (northern lights) picture from the interlace pack. There is as separate executable file for quick testing.
This is the right picture.
And picture with errors... note this is a worst case photo! The error rate depends from the Nick temperature (if the glue aged and the heatsink dropped then worse), and also from Nick is from better or worse series.
The 08-47 works without error also when no heatsink.
If your motherboard have a bright green PCB then probably you have 08-47 Nick.
The dark green boards have mixed Nicks.

Ah ok, Thanks for the explanation
Well, the Enterprise that i want to show at the meeting is already well packed in a box. But i will also take my other Enterprise to the meeting, it's a good test which Nick is ok
I'll also check the motherboards then. Are the 08-47 Nicks used from a serial number or are they completely mixed ?