Bob Carson, a businessman in Dundee, 1960s rock drummer, and computer expert, has died from Covid aged 72.
For the last 30 years he operated as The Computer Doctor in Dundee, having learnt his skills at NCR.
Bob played drums in various Dundee bands in the 1960s and 1970s and was a member of Jynx when they played an open-air gig at Camperdown Park in 1971.
He was born in Lochee in 1949 and educated at Ancrum Road Primary and Rockwell High School.
Apprenticeship
Bob went on to serve his apprenticeship at NCR at the time it was gearing up for the computer era, and worked on the Century Line making the first integrated circuit computers.
Outside work Bob had a love of rock music and was taught to play the drums by his great uncle Johnny Pearson, drummer at the Hubara (Craigtay Hotel).
Dance band drumming was not what Bob aspired to and he became drummer with rock band, Jynx.
Professional musician
They turned professional and played all over the UK in the 1960s with their versions of Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones and Hendrix classics.
One of Jynx’s last gigs was at Camperdown Park on July 18, 1971, when members travelled from Birmingham to play one of the first open-air concerts in their home town.
As the band was breaking up, Bob was recruited by a small East London company who came to Dundee to find an NCR-trained person for the job of maintaining and servicing NCR accounting machines.
London calling
He spent the next 20 years in London working for various computer companies, including Rediffusion (in the House of Lords), Telex and Memorex, as specialist support for the huge main-frame computers of the era.
Bob then went into business on his own account, building and servicing personal computers.
In the early 1980s he was particularly excited by the launch of the first popular personal computer, Acorn’s BBC B that was introduced into many schools across the country.
Bob designed and engineered one of the first external disk operating systems for this computer and within months of setting up his first business enterprise to market it, was competing with the likes of Alan Sugar who was marketing his Amstrad, and Clive Sinclair with his ZX Spectrum.
Home to Dundee
By the early 1990s, and once back home in Dundee, he turned his expertise and knowledge to building bespoke machines for businesses and individuals and offering PC repair, refurbishment and maintenance, making many friends in the process.
Bob is survived by his wife Pat, his son Iain and daughter Sam, grandchildren Mathew, Kathryn, Natasha, Bethany and Tiffany, his mother Margaret, sisters Maria and Margot and brother Paul.