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+--- Thread: Hello from a new Microbee owner (/thread-1045.html)
Hello from a new Microbee owner - headwerkn - 30-06-2026
G'day there!
My name's Ben. A couple of years ago a former work colleague, knowing my interest in old computing history, kindly donated his Microbees and associated paraphernalia to me, in the hope I'd be able to resurrect and preserve them (and also get them out of his garage, hehe).
(I'll post a separate thread for restoration shortly.)
As a child of the 80s and 90s I'm of the right vintage to have been a Microbee user first time around. However as a student of the Tasmanian state education system my computer upbringing was primarily around the Acorn BBC Model B (still using for programming BASIC in 1994) and later Archimedes A3000 and A410 (I was doing CAD on until 1995). There were of course various !286 and !386 machines running DOS and later Windows 3.1 that came into the fray around high school, primarily for typing practice, learning to use spreadsheets and later on, programming. Many hours were spent on an Atari ST doing MIDI sequencing in music, as (insert Grampa Simpson voice) was the style at the time...
We did not have a computer growing up (a source of much frustration for myself, given I was set on an computer engineering/3D modelling career path since before my teens) but my father being a teacher was able to get a school-issue Acorn Model B for term holidays to keep me occupied. Other friends had the usual Commodore 64s, Amigas and the occasional PC, for those whose parents were in the industry.
I ended up in multimedia, graphic design and web development for the first decade and a bit of my career and thus become a fairly dyed-in-the-wool Mac fan from the late 90s onwards. For time I had a substantial (20+) vintage Mac collection, back when late 80s and 90s Macs were cheap and unwanted. That collection got downsized over the 2000s with the last few items old after Steve Jobs' passing, when the combination of decaying electronics and skyrocketing prices made more sense for them to be someone else's problem.
I can't quite remember when I first learned about the existence of the Microbee; somewhere between the late 90s and early 2000s when I came across the "computer in a box" format of later 3.5" drive-based systems and wondered what on earth I was looking at! Discovering Australia's own contribution to 8 bit computing came as a bit of a surprise. When said former workmate mentioned he'd used one in the late 80s and early 90s as part of his electrical engineering studies, I was naturally very keen to take a look...
Looking forward to lots of discussions, troubleshooting and the smell of flux ;-)
Cheers, Ben.
RE: Hello from a new Microbee owner - MbeeTech - 30-06-2026
Welcome Ben, and thanks for the great intro.
Feel free to reach out in regards to help with the restoration activities.
Might even be able to find that missing key cap for you.
RE: Hello from a new Microbee owner - headwerkn - 30-06-2026
(30-06-2026, 03:57 PM)MbeeTech Wrote: Welcome Ben, and thanks for the great intro.
Feel free to reach out in regards to help with the restoration activities.
Might even be able to find that missing key cap for you.
Thanks Ewan. I must say I admire your commitment to the Microbee... I've been following the modern incarnation of Microbee Technology for maybe 15 years at this point, from afar admittedly. Not too many computer manufacturers from the original 70s/80s boom period that are still going in any capacity today ;-)
Alas, I think that system will need more than a replacement key cap or two to resurrect it! You'll soon understand why. I am kinda hoping you're able to help out with a fresh, reliable power supply though - the website shows these as out of stock?
Cheers, Ben.
RE: Hello from a new Microbee owner - MbeeTech - 30-06-2026
Hi Ben.
Yes, the plug packs are out of stock at the moment. I'm waiting on the DIN leads coming in, which should be next week.
At that point I'll run off another batch of Plug packs (which include the DIN lead connections) and the separate Power / Video / Cassette interface leads (that are used with disk systems that
have the power supply built in.
Just an FYI, if you get stuck with the repairs, you can send the machines in for repair.
RE: Hello from a new Microbee owner - shane.crozier - 05-07-2026
Welcome Ben - I'm much in the same boat as yourself, used Microbee's extensively in High School - but haven't touched the hardware again until recently - I'm having great fun restoring equipment (and also knowing my limits - sending back to the mothership for repair under Ewan's expert supervision).
I'm located in W.A. and if thats your hood - happy to help with disk images etc whenever you need.