Research Machines

Premier supplier of IT kit and services to schools in the UK. These days they are called RM and knock out various kinds of PC, but once upon a time they built the 380Z, which was many UK school students' (of a certain age) first taste of a "real" computer.

The 380Z lived in a 19" case with handles, a key switch and illuminated reset button on the front panel. It had a separate (and very high quality) keyboard, and booted CP/M off 8", later 5.25", floppies and it turned on with a key! At a time when a lot of kids had one box starts-up-in-the-basic-interpreter home computers with an audio cassette recorder for storage if they were lucky, this was a revelation.

• The 380Z: http://www.zoo.co.uk/~z0001275/rm380z.htm

The later Nimbus 186 was a popular model for schools:

• http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/mickfrench/rmnimbus.htm