Clive Sinclair Has Died

[Cheerful Charlie]

https://boingboing.net/2021/09/16/sir-clive-sinclair-1940-2021.html

Clive Sinclair, inventor of the Sinclair ZX-80 and ZX-81 and more has died. The firs computers that were designed to sell under $100. Many people had these as their first computers. I had a Sinclair ZX-81 I had to solder together mys self. An Apple II was over $2000 dollars. RIP Sir Clive Sinclair.

 

[thebeave]

I bought this Sinclair programmable calculator back when I was in high school in the mid/late '70's. Totally geeked out on it and spent many hours entering programs that came with it, as well as some of my own. Unfortunately, it developed a BAD keypad bounce problem that made it completely unusable in a matter of months. I should look around my old childhood home and see if its still around somewhere.

 

[Tigers!]

My first computer was a ZX-81 in 1982.
1k RAM, Z80 CPU running at 2MHz, plugged into a black-white Tv.
I thought it was superb.

 

[excreationist]

I watched the Micro Men movie about Sinclair vs Acorn. It's interesting how the Spectrum is kind of monochrome so that the graphics wouldn't need much memory.

 

[The Colourful Jester]

My first computer was a ZX-81 in 1982.
1k RAM, Z80 CPU running at 2MHz, plugged into a black-white Tv.
I thought it was superb.

I just cannot imagine the 1K RAM working.

 

[Jayjay]

My first computer was a ZX-81 in 1982.
1k RAM, Z80 CPU running at 2MHz, plugged into a black-white Tv.
I thought it was superb.

I just cannot imagine the 1K RAM working.

For comparison, the gif is 1.23 kilobytes.

 

[ZiprHead]

My first computer was an 8088, I think 8k of ram, no hdd. one 5 1/4 floppy. I used to know DOS inside and out. Now I barely remember any of it.

 

[Tigers!]

My first computer was a ZX-81 in 1982.
1k RAM, Z80 CPU running at 2MHz, plugged into a black-white Tv.
I thought it was superb.

I just cannot imagine the 1K RAM working.

ZX81 Specifications
Depth – 167 mm (6.32 in)
Height – 40 mm (1.57 in)
Weight – 350 grams (12.15 oz)
CPU – Z80z at 3.25 MHz.
Display – 24 lines x 32 characters (text), 64 x 44 pixels graphics mode.
ROM – 8K with BASIC interpreter.
RAM – 1K internal, externally expandable to 16K.
Power – 420ma at 7-11V DC.

I only had the 1K RAM external. It was hard to programme. Cut my teeth on the Z80 opcodes with the ZX81.

 

[Jayjay]

I just happened to listen to a radio program (for you kids out there, it's what "podcasts" used to be called before computers were invented) about ZX Spectrum. Apparently it gained quite a lot of traction behind the iron curtain in the eighties, because it was cheap to buy when visiting the west, conveniently sized for smuggling (it would fit in your pocket, or you could stuff ten of them in your luggage), and made of simple parts that were available even in Eastern European countries.

 

[barbos]

Yes, it was popular. Though I have never seen it myself, too far from big cities and too little money.
The first computer I saw was this thing https://ru.pc-history.com/yamaha-ys503iii-kuvt2.html
It had 3.5" diskette drive too.