Today we take it for granted that our personal computers have fast access to the internet and sport high speed processors. But it has not always been like that. In the early days a computer might have only 1k of memory. The average PC today is 256,000 more powerful. BARRIE HUDSON takes a trip down memory lane when he visits an exhibition of more than 40 historic machines.

THE dawn of home computing is celebrated in an exhibition opening in Swindon tomorrow.

Machines such as Sir Clive Sinclair's ZX80, ZX81 and Spectrum, along with others including the Commodore VIC20 and 64 and the BBC B will all be on display at the Museum of Computing in the University of Bath in Swindon's Oakfield Campus.

The town leads the whole of Britain with the first museum of its kind in the country, which opened at the end of March.

More than 40 machines will be displayed, all from private collections and mostly from that of Simon Webb, a 42-year-old IT consultant from Grange Park.

He said: "I have been collecting for about 10 years.

"I started with an Acorn Electron from about 1983, which I bought for a pound at a car boot sale.

"And then, once I had started I couldn't stop."

Mr Webb refuses to collect anything that could be described as a business machine or a PC the more powerful, hard drive-based machines which superseded home computers.

Instead, he confines himself to the sort of chip-based machines that opened up the world of computing for millions of people in the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s.

He said: "As a young man, the first computer I had was a Sinclair ZX81, which I bought as a kit for about £49.99 and assembled one afternoon."

That machine had precisely 1K of memory a standard PC bought today has a memory 256,000 times more powerful and processes data 3,000 times faster.

A few advanced computer buffs in those days bought modems to access a primitive version of the internet, largely consisting of the databases of research organisations and computer suppliers, but today's modems are about 1,000 times more efficient.

Nevertheless, Mr Webb looks back fondly on his early days in computing, which were also his first taste of programming.

His ZX81 was followed by a Spectrum and a Dragon 32, and his final home computer before he switched to a PC was an Atari 520.

He said: "The ZX81 is my favourite. I used to spend hours and hours on it.

"I was up to the wee small hours of the morning using it and you could spill coffee on the keyboard without damaging it!

"We take for granted the things we have got today, such as the internet and high speed processors, but we forget where it all came from.

"The technology in this exhibition was cutting edge at the time.

"There are so many people in IT like myself who cut their teeth on these machines."

Financial backing to the tune of £500 has come from another man who cut his programming teeth on home computers in the 1980s.

These days, 37-year-old Stuart Penny is the proprietor of Software Solutions for Business, a company based at the Dorcan Business Village.

But in 1980 he was the proud schoolboy recipient of a Sinclair ZX80, the predecessor of the ZX81.

He said: "I went straight into programming. I wasn't really much into playing games. I was interested in writing software.

"I'm not a collector, although I still have my ZX80 and it still works.

"At Software Solutions for Business, we spend our time looking at technologies of tomorrow, but it is nice to look back and see where it has come from."

Mr Penny became involved with the exhibition because he knew Mr Webb and Jeremy Holt, the third person with a major involvement in the project.

Mr Holt, 46, a solicitor specialising in IT law, was one of the Swindon team who helped smooth the way for the University to come to the town.

He also spent more than a dozen years lobbying for Swindon to be home to a computing museum, seeing it as appropriate for a town with so many hi-tech industries.

He said: "I think that to understand now you need to understand then.

"You have to understand the milestones of the past, and this exhibition is a succession of milestones."

Mr Holt's first taste of home computing came about 20 years ago, when he bought a Sinclair Spectrum from a former schoolmate.

He said: "I remember the moment of excitement for me and my wife when we got it to work."

Beginning from May 29 and running until mid-September, the exhibition will be open from 8.30am until 6pm on all weekdays except Fridays, when it will close at 5pm. It will also be open on Saturdays between 9am and 1pm. There will be no admission charge.