VOGONS


First post, by Kesuke

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Around April 1996 my parents bought my first PC as a present for my 9th Birthday... up until that point I had been using a handme-down Apple Macintosh IIvx from my dad. I understand they bought it from a newspaper advert and I believe it was made by a company called MJN... which were actually a brand (or at least would go onto become a brand) of the Granville Technology Group (which made computers under the Time, Tiny, Colossus and MJN brands).

It was a 166 Mhz Windows 95 machine. The case was a classic mid-90s grey powder-coated steel box (very square even by the standard of the day) with the letters MJN embossed onto the side (or ?maybe front) panel.

I would love to find out more information about it... pictures/specifications etc. The dream would be to find one of these machines and preserve it for the future, as a tribute to my early childhood... However I've really hit a dead end with my research... Being a small manufacturer in the days before the internet was common very little information about these systems seems to have survived.

Does anybody remember MJN? Do you guys have any suggestions where to look to find out more about these systems?

Reply 1 of 3, by Merovign

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Well, *where* it was purchased is of great import. There were thousands or tens of thousands of small computer builders who stuck labels on generic cases. Maybe hundreds of thousands.

That area is probably also your best bet for finding one. I have a couple of 90s cases from local builders here.

*Too* *many* *things*!

Reply 2 of 3, by Kesuke

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The closest I can find is an advert for a later model published in the Guardian in 1998 - https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/260394022/ it seems at that time the company was exclusively mail order through adverts placed in newspapers or catalogues.

I think the model I had was advertised in the British newspaper The Daily Mail, probably sometime in February or March of 1996. As mentioned the case was actually die-embossed with the letters MJN. I suspect they were manufacturing their own cases but from the looks of the advert above, they were using off the shelf parts internally. Although the company didn't stand the test of time, they were a medium sized UK company that did produce a fair number of OEM machines, under a variety of brands. Unfortunately very little seems to have survived about them though - since it doesnt look like any of their product catalogues have survived and made it onto the internet.

Reply 3 of 3, by Kesuke

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Little update; I have sucessfully managed to track down an advert for the PC... It was slightly later than I thought (December 1996 rather than March/April). I spoke to my parents who said the attraction of this particular PC was that it included everything (screen/PC/keyboard/mouse + ton of software) for a fairly low price and came set up out of the box with the OS/drivers all installed, which at the time was not necessarily always the case. In those days my father was very familiar with Apple computers but would not have used a Windows PC, so I imagine the idea of not having to set it up appealed to him!

From what I recall I had the P166+ model with the 15" SVGA screen, and I believe a 28K modem. We then added an Orchid Righteous 3D II, I think after about 6-12 months, sometime in 97/98.

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