Modern 8bit computers - new incarnations

[intangybles]

Even though my all-time Favourite computer was my Amiga A1000! As someone who started well and truly in the "8bit" computer world (z80 & 6809 in the main), my heart has never strayed far! Starting with my Super-80 kit and in my “Tandy” days, the first Business Computer I sold to a customer was a TRS-80 Model 4P (soon to return here too).

Diving in with the NABU has been an exciting and enlightening adventure (links to the past you forgot you had)! Obviously I’m not alone in this! Thus far the new “modern” 8bit computers have been well out of my reach (nothing negative against them, just well outside of my retro budget). The new Mage65 and Spectrum next etc…

What are peoples thoughts on the “Commander X16”, Agon (Console "8"), etc? It would be nice to have “non-aging” or “less aging” hardware.

Links:
https://www.commanderx16.com/
https://heber.co.uk/agon-console8/

Good functional comparison:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxLk_X8VIK8

[intangybles]

I had been thinking about the above for some time, hesitating to post about it actually!

Then I cam across this in the NABU discord from Les Bird:

"All, I have RomWBW Option Cards on eBay for the NABU for those that want one. Fully assembled units with an F18A on a Tang Nano 9K and a compact flash card with a variety of CP/M based operating systems (CP/M 2.2, 3 and ZSDOS to name a few). Just plug and play. No modifications to the motherboard or custom ROMs needed. One jumper on the card switches back to NABU mode with the ROM still on the motherboard. Link here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/276472634917 and details here: https://github.com/sebhc/sebhc/wiki/NABU#nabu-romwbw-option-card .. it is by far the best way to use your NABU PC. Boot to the CP/M prompt in less than 5 seconds from the included compact flash. Gerbers and schematics on the Github for those that want to build their own."

Cool! Just what the doctor ordered - for me - I ordered one of Les's pre-built units. Manual build is a bit beyond my inclination presently! Think its going to be a great solution.

I was looking at the x16 or Agon for a "current" hardware - modern 8bit - option! But given the NABU is "literally" still a new machine this is a great option I think? My current option for disk based CP/M is a TRS-80 4P but it too - like me - "is getting old".