• jens
  • #! Junkie
  • Offline
  • From: N51:42 E10:00
  • Registered: 2012-01-11
  • Posts: 323

Topic: Sinclair ZX81

just curious...who else started his passion for computers with the legendary Sinclair ZX81 ?
it had an amazing 1 KB RAM... *snicker* i got the kit from my dad as a present.
built it in one day and it worked immediately. i was age 11 back then. how proud i was ! cool
some of my friends had a Commodore C64.
i learned programming in BASIC and Z80 assembler mostly by trying to rebuild some C64 games for the little ZX81.
time really flies...

i3 wm
  • Bane
  • #! CrunchBanger
  • Offline
  • From: Carlisle, UK
  • Registered: 2008-12-28
  • Posts: 135

Re: Sinclair ZX81

Hi jens

I started on the Sinclair ZX80, then 81, then Spectrum, then 128k - or at least I think that was the order. I too learned BASIC & with the help of my grandfather(!?) created the snake program popularised by Nokia phones - wish we'd patented it!!!! tongue

Hail #!
  • Bane
  • #! CrunchBanger
  • Offline
  • From: Carlisle, UK
  • Registered: 2008-12-28
  • Posts: 135

Re: Sinclair ZX81

@jens

U remember loading programs from a tape?  Trying to get the volume EXACTLY right?

Hail #!
  • Registered: 2011-01-10
  • Posts: 49

Re: Sinclair ZX81

When my compact cassette recorder packed up I moved all Spectrum ZX games on to reel-to-reel tapes.
Later i got 5' floppy drive and earned my first money by converting disk loaders, written in Basic, to tape loaders. Newest games used come out on floppy format. I'd convert those to tapes and sell in school. I don't think i knew the concept of piracy back then smile

U remember loading programs from a tape?  Trying to get the volume EXACTLY right?

Magnetic reader head position in tape recorders had to be adjusted with a tiny screwdriver if the original program was recorded on a different machine.

  • hinto
  • #! Die-hard
  • Offline
  • From: Cary, NC
  • Registered: 2010-12-08
  • Posts: 567

Re: Sinclair ZX81

I started solving systems of equations (matrix algebra) in High School on a Timex Sinclair http://www.answers.com/topic/timex-sinclair-1000.  Does that count?
-H

Last edited by hinto (2012-01-17 15:39:05)

"When any government, or church for that matter, undertakes to say to it's subjects, this you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motive."
-Robert A. Heinlein
  • pvsage
  • Internal Affairs
  • Offline
  • From: Section Six
  • Registered: 2009-10-18
  • Posts: 6,006

Re: Sinclair ZX81

^ That's definitely close enough!  My first computer was also a ZX-81.  My second one was a Trash-80 Color Computer.

I'd say that the first *real* computer I owned - the first one that could possibly be considered a "business machine" - was my Mac SE.  The other two above were mere toys by comparison.

while ( ! ( succeed = try() ) );
  • hinto
  • #! Die-hard
  • Offline
  • From: Cary, NC
  • Registered: 2010-12-08
  • Posts: 567

Re: Sinclair ZX81

By the time I was a junior (the sinclair was when I was a freshman), I had a Sharp EL-5500 http://www.rskey.org/CMS/index.php/exhi … el=EL-5500 by the time I was a junior.
-H

Last edited by hinto (2012-01-17 17:34:23)

"When any government, or church for that matter, undertakes to say to it's subjects, this you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motive."
-Robert A. Heinlein
  • From: London, UK
  • Registered: 2011-10-15
  • Posts: 200

Re: Sinclair ZX81

ZX81, then Dragon 32, then Amstrad CPC, then an early Mac

EnochRoot's Website

  • From: In Front of The Black Gates
  • Registered: 2011-04-26
  • Posts: 5,151

Re: Sinclair ZX81

Mine was an IBM 8088 with a coupler modem!..  Would love to have that system again as a relic...

We hammered through the earliest configs and issues known to the pc world on this thing...

The earliest project I can remember was trying to get the printer to print and the modem to dial at the same time

Help Fund CrunchBang | #! Quick Reference | Conky/Lua, 18 Music Apps and Cover Art
GMusicBrowser | smxi | Conky PitStop | #! Iceweasel Themes

VastOne's Website

  • hinto
  • #! Die-hard
  • Offline
  • From: Cary, NC
  • Registered: 2010-12-08
  • Posts: 567

Re: Sinclair ZX81

^ I still have the Sinclair. (I don't know why)
-H

"When any government, or church for that matter, undertakes to say to it's subjects, this you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motive."
-Robert A. Heinlein
  • Registered: 2009-10-10
  • Posts: 284

Re: Sinclair ZX81

i started with the zx spectrum - so i'm off topic here, right?

Pancakes
1 cup all-purpose flour, 2 eggs, 1 cup of  milk, 3 tbs water, 1-2 tsp of vanilla extract, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 apple, few grains of salt
Preheat your pan or griddle to about medium heat. Slowly combine the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, work in sliced apple. Each pancake should take about a minute or so on each side. Serve with plum jam, maple syrup, or powdered sugar
  • jens
  • #! Junkie
  • Offline
  • From: N51:42 E10:00
  • Registered: 2012-01-11
  • Posts: 323

Re: Sinclair ZX81

wow, so many replies on a subject which i did not expect to stir so much feedback...quite impressive ! smile
yes Bane, i still perfectly remember having to adjust volume levels and sometimes also the reader head position to enable proper loading from tapes.
pvsage, funny to see we also share a common past... and BTW, my ZX got a 32 KB RAM extension a short time later on !
EnochRoot, you hit me bullseye - after a few years on the ZX81, my second computer was an Amstrad (Schneider) CPC 6128 with a green monitor ! big_smile
hinto, my ZX still resides here, too - and it is STILL working after all those years !
beadmaze, don't you worry being off-topic - i like(d) the ZX Spectrum a lot for its sound - and its colours, of course ! (not to forget the keyboard...)
so it's not only me (*sigh of relief*), there obviously are a few more "space age dinosaurs" around here, too...! wink

Last edited by jens (2012-01-18 20:57:59)

i3 wm