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- Опубліковано 14 сер 2024
- ZX81 overview and demo! The Sinclair ZX81 (known in the US as the Timex Sinclair 1000) was my first computer, and here I look back to its revolutionary hardware and programming. I also run some ZX81 games that I published in the magazine “Sinclair Programs” in 1982.
The ZX81 emulator shown in this video can be found on Simon Holdsworth’s fantastic website at: www.zx81stuff.o...
The listings for the two programs I demonstrate can be found on this page: explainingcompu...
If you like this video, you may also like my report on early PCs at the National Museum of Computing: • Early PCs at the Natio...
More videos on computing and related topics can be found at: / explainingcomputers
You may also like my ExplainingTheFuture channel at: / explainingthefuture
the ZX81 was also my first computer. My father would ask me "How are you failing MATH, but programming games?" Thanks for the trip down memory lane, and keep up the great work!
In our cabin in Northern Vermont in the early 1980s, after I and my cousin had spent a LOT of time programming something fun on my TS1000, my father turned off a light switch that controlled the AC outlet that the computer was plugged into.
Poof! Bye, bye, meager programming efforts!
I has a similar problem. It was back in the sixties. Only the question was how I was failing basic arithmetic. But had taught myself the slide rule. And a little algebra and trig. There was now program for gifted students. And I don't even know if ADHD was even known back then.
"Because the school maths isn't in base 2!"
The ZX81 was made in Dundee, Scotland, more usually assembling clocks and watches.
The staff were encouraged to buy one and could do so at a very good discount to the retail price (£99 I think). Staff take up was high as staff were selling them on to other locals, like myself, for less than £99 but often for a bit more than they paid.
It was my first adventure into computing and I enjoyed the hobby. I bought an external keyboard kit, having to solder every key separately. I also fitted a memory extension unit but these products were very unreliable. If the unit moved slightly the computer crashed. I fitted all the bits onto a piece of plywood, adding some extra support for the external memory unit.
I enjoyed many hours on my ZX81, but not to typing programs from magazines that always resulted in typos.
Very nostalgic to read about the ZX81, thank you.
It was my first one too. Brilliant! Although the biggest headache was not the lack of ram, colour or sound, but the need to continually answer the question from bemused family and friends, 'Ok, so it's a computer. But what is it for? '
Crikey, do I remember that question! I used to tell them that it couldn't do much (although there was the famous quote from someone that it was capable of running a nuclear power station - do you remember that?!) but that one day computers in the home would be commonplace, and that we would be able to do things that we couldn't imagine at the time. Now look where we are!
Yes... my Dad ridiculed for me for my refusal to "stop wasting my time" on those "worthless" computers! LOL!!! He lived long enough to own one himself, and of course, I helped him learn how to use it (and set it up for him). I experimented with digital circuitry when I was only 11 and had only J-K flip-flops and Nixie tubes to work with, and drew block diagrams of what computers became a few years later. All water under the bridge now! Yes, the "questions"... Maybe not as bad as what Leonardo Davinci had to put up with, but daunting, nonetheless. Steve
sending spam?
We had ZX81 in school for voluntary computer ‘class’. But my first self-bought computer was a Commodore VIC20 (VC20, the german edition) More RAM less Mhz😁
but ran better
by the ways, the way back machine has all the old magazines for the commodores
The Commodore Amiga 500 & 500+ were my introduction to more serious computing, after playing around on the old Commodore 64 first. Also got introduced to the BBC computer which was interesting, however preferred the Amiga 500 / 500+ as I could use Wordperfect 4.1 and print to my HP Deskjet 500. Great stuff for its time and great memories....
For me the VIC-20 was what the ZX-81 was for you. A fantastic machine that taught me programming and made me creative. Still love Basic today. Thank you for this beautiful retrospective!
We share an era I think! :) Great times those.
They were very popular in Eastern Europe. I did get my ZX81 in 1987 as present from my US friend, while studying cybernetics at University in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia. It liberated me from my dependence of signing up for time on PDP computer at the university and a typewriter to write my papers. Now I was able to work at home and print on a converted teletype as printer (the whole house was shaking). We also developed a battery backed CMOS RAM to instantly load all software after crash, to avoid loading everything from tape when crashed. It was like a miracle at the time.
My first computer too! I actually got it in kit form, and soldered all the components together. I still remember typing in programs from Byte magazine for hours, only to see them disappear late in the morning hours because I didn't have a cassette storage unit yet. This really brings back memories. Thanks for the video!
I had the privilege to use both the Sinclair ZX81 and the Timex 1000. My father and his brothers sold them in the early 80's in Peru,my home country. I was a very lucky 7 year old kid: I got the ZX81 for Christmas! It was a defining moment for me, I learned about computers and programming with these amazing machines!! 😀
I can't thank you enough for bringing these memories back! The ZX81 was my first computer as well, and I remember those books and magazines. Sadly mine had a problem saving programs on cassette, so I stuck to the shorter programs. I also remember the feeling entering a longer program, and then accidentally touching the very sensitive RAM pack. It always led to a hard reset. Finally the keyboard gave up so I sold the mainboard to a friend who needed it for repairs. To sum it up I had a couple of very joyful and educational years with my ZX81.
I recall one magazine listing in machine code that took about half an hour to enter. You ran it (obviously without saving it to tape first) and it displayed "APRIL FOOL!" and then restarted the machine! :-D
The cool thing about these early computers is that the limited resources forced you to be creative in order to get anything done on them. Today the closest comparison is writing software for mobile devices - but even our mobile devices have *tons* of resources compared to these old machines. Kids who learn to program today are missing out, frankly. I like looking back at these old computers and remembering all the fun I had back then. :-)
Not really, if your doing programming for 8bit or 16bit microcontrollers, atleast from my experience. These old computers do look tempting to program, however (atleast for me).
I totally agree. You had to get real creative to get something to work within the memory space confines of these early machines.
I was amazed at the kind of sound and graphics programmers squeezed out of the Commodore 64. Shifting and banking memory around. Even making use of memory in the floppy disk drive which had it's own memory and processor.
The same here, I have never really gotten use to partially unlimited resources. It was quite the challenge fitting something useful in 256 bytes.
@@Loundre3 Yes, for me 8/16 bit microcontrollers bring back that feel. I enjoy assembler on PICs more than I rationally should!
Totally agree. I can't help but think that today's programmers are a bit lazy with seemingly unlimited resources 👍
Timex Sinclair ZX 81 was my first. Drove 100 miles in the summer of 1982 to get it. Read the mags and taught myself BASIC- By fall, got a job as a programmer of IBM system 23s and 5120s.- Bigger, but not really better.
Fond memories- Thank You !
Now I feel old! My first computer was the Sinclair ZX80, and I followed that up with the ZX81 and then Spectrum (and even the Sinclair QL eventually). This video makes me quite nostalgic for those old days.
I still have a ZX80. Maybe I will fire it up to see that it still works
Thanks for this excellent video. I'm a little older than you (born 1962) and had read about computers first in science fiction, and then in early computer magazines in the 1970s. So buying my first computer, a Timex-Sinclair ZX81, was a big deal. Many thanks to Uncle Clive for his genius, and for bringing me a computer for $99.
The ZX81 immediately engrossed me and I regret circumstances separated me from it after some weeks or months. In later years, I owned a Commodore Vic-20 and I think a Commodore C-64. Then a Victor 9000, a beautifully designed and equipped MSDOS PC.
When IBM released their IBM PC and its open architecture, I of course became a PC Guy. Well, at work we got IBM PCs. My first IBM clone was an AT&T PC-6300 made by Olivetti, another fine machine. To my recollection, I have not purchased a prebuilt PC since the AT&T, but have built my own from found or purchased parts.
Thanks for an awesome video. My first computer was also a ZX81 which cost $99 (1983 dollars) and 16 KB RAM was $49.00. I purchased the computer sight unseen from an add in science magazine (I think was Discovery magazine published by Time-Life) from I saved from washing dishes at a summer camp between my third and fourth year of high school.
Like you, the ZX81 was the computer which launched my passion for computer and using computers for instructional purposes. I was a finalist in a 1984 science fair (and recipient of an award from the local chapter of ACM) for creating simulations of Boyle's Gas Law and bacteriophage reproduction. What caught judges' eyes was the fact that the programs were written in machine code (no assembler). While developing the program, POKEd about 100 bytes instructions and data into individual memory locations by hand. Later I figured out to type use put characters represent the hexadecimal values into a string and load the machine code that way.
Thanks for nostalgic trip back to a less complicated time in my life.
Thanks for this. I too coded programs on the ZX81 (and then ZX Spectrum) in raw machine code, and also got to a point where I entered characters via strings (although as I recall some hex values would not display or enter this way). This was real computing! :)
I wanted Spectrum, but the computer was never available in US. Eventually, I moved up the Timex-Sinclair 2068. I was also interest the Sinclair QL but couldn't afford the $500 price.
Thanks again for the wonderful video. Keep up the good work!
Tom M At a time when it was possible to memorise the memory locations too...
My first computer - the Timex Sinclair 1000. I remember seeing it in an ad in Popular Electronics back in the early 80's for $99 and drooling over it. Purchased one and was off to writing my first programs! I remember getting the 16K Ram Pack for the back and thought I"d died and gone to heaven with that much computing power! It was definitely money well-spent and thanks for this video - definitely feeling a pang of nostalgia here! Keep up the great videos!
I owned a ZX-80 (Sinclair 1000) - wish I still had it today! I also bought an IBM PC at the beginning of production (had to wait 6 weeks for delivery). I modified it after a few years to run a Z80 processor at 20 Mhz. I still have that MB, but it does not work any more either. Thank you, for a great look into the beginnings of Micro-Computing. My bench is now covered with PI's, Teensy's, and other Arduino compatibles. I also have a UDOO NEO and their newest X86 Ultra (just fabricating it). We have come SO FAR! Thanks again! Steve Michels, Kansas, USA
Thanks for this video, C.J. Barnatt of Worcester!
That's an Issue 1 motherboard you have there too, with beautiful hand-drawn curved PCB traces. The 80's were a wonderful time to grow up in the UK if you were into computers.
Indeed !
I second that! :)
In 1982 I went to Stonehenge Free Festival - I suspect that experience expanded my mind more than technology at the time.
You brought back memories. I had a Timex Sinclair computer way back when. I learned how to program in BASIC with it and I wrote programs for my own use and I bought some programs on tape cassettes to play. I had a good time playing Backgammon. Great fun those old timey computers!
What a trip down nostalgia lane.
I bought a Timex sinclair 1000 in the mid 1980's at a flee market in downtown Johannesburg in South Africa.
I was so shocked to see it standing there with perhaps two more, and fearing that they will disappear quickly, I ran
to the nearest ATM and bought one.
The T1000 was not my first foray into the world of computing/IT. I first encountered them in the form of a
programmable calculator in the early eighties.
My eldest brother was studying civil engineering and had to use one of those and it had a red LED screen and all of
50 lines you could program. Using his BASIC manual and trying out the HP calculator's own instructions (not BASIC) I wrote
simple programs. By the time I encountered the T1000, I had an idea of the implication of these things.
I later got a 48 ZX Spectrum and write a word processor for it in BASIC. One of the very useful features of the BASIC on the ZX Spectrum was
the ability to assign a number t o a variable, and use that variable like a lable in a program. SO instead of writing
20 GOTO 200, you could write GOTO/GOSUB printdata where printdata was given the appropriate line number. That was incredibly powerful.
I ended writing a decent 3-line wordprocessor that could print, save to tape load from tape and do all the needed edits.
Pretty neat.
Wow what a time that was. From there I ended studying Computer Science and Maths through UNISA (University of South Africa) and in 1995
I was amongst the first of about 250 people who finished the Microsoft MCSD qualification and becoming the first in
Africa to Present MCSD courses as a qualified MCSD trainer. That is so long ago now.
Thanks for reminding me of a pioneering era in my life.
Love your channel Chris.
Thanks for this, great post. :)
Back to 1984, in my 14th anniversary, my dad gave me a TK-83, a brazilian version of ZX81, with 2K of memory and a 16K expansion. In that very day, prior to finish reading the whole BASIC manual, I wrote my very first computer program. Using this awesome computer I also learned Assembly Z80 and Forth languages. These were the first steps to a 30 years successful carrer in computer science. Thanks a lot for the video to revive those memories.
That brought back memories. In 1982 I was writing my Ph.D. thesis and used a Timex Sinclair 1,000 to analyze infrared spectra using a fast fourier transform using gaussian curves. It was a real challenge to program that with the available memory and VERY tedious to enter the IR spectra to be analyzed. However, it was a huge step up from my TI59 calculator.
Also my first computer. Pure nostalgia. By '86 I had graduated to a ZX Spectrum with a bog roll printer, tape deck and connected to BT Prestel - an early forerunner of the internet, using a clumsy phone cradle modem.
Ah yes, 300/50 modems. 300bits per second download and 50bits per second upload. And bulletin boards. Fond memories.
Pete Thomas There still are still some bulletin boards out there usually remote locations with no cell service.,
Ow, I was so jealous of people who had the printer. It looked like such a neat device. :) I had the interface 2 (with Jetpack, the only cartridge ever made I guess) and a DK Tronics speech interface. Had to load tape for half an hour, but then I could have my speccie singing and talking.
What, a printer that prints on toilet paper???
The ZX81 did it for me too, but I had to walk to school for several months, and for go lunch, to save the bus and lunch money to get mine, actually I was saving up for a ZX80, I was about 70% there, when the ZX81 was released (ready made as well) and it was 30% cheaper, so I ordered it that first week - It's now in my display cabinet! Thanks for the great videos.
The ZX80 was my first computer, built from a kit. I've kept all my other machines since then -- took the Commodore route -- and seriously regret selling the '80. It got me into programming at a very young age and once I'd made the leap to the C64, I was ready to dive right into machine language. Fun times, but man, I wish I could teleport some money back to my young self! To think of all the fun gadgets I could have played with rather than drooling onto magazine pages over.
A few of my friends got (Timex)Sinclairs... and I went the VIC-20 route :/ Oh well, I had color where they did not... and thanks to a neighbor up the street, I got a `blocked` 32kB expansion cartridge, and the `rabbit` system for compressing data, so that instead of taking 10-15 minutes of tape drive, it compressed it into about a 30-second wait :) Had tons of rabbit-ized games being shared around, too. Being that I was an audiophile and owned a few tapedecks, I could make quick copies from my tape to other blank tapes, even though the so-called experts said it wouldn`t work. Soon the kids who didn`t yet have a computer were going the VIC-20 route, too. Little did we know...
One of the first computers I used extensively was the TRS-80 Model I, but the first computer I owned was the Sinclair ZX81. I spent hours, days and weeks during college making it do things the bigger computers could do. My favorite was solving equations using matrices. I could solve a 5 x 5 matrix and display the result in 1K RAM by minimizing the display output. I eventually got the 16KB RAM pack and bought the flight simulator program for it. I was impressed that with such low resolution, it provided a very realistic and accurate experience for landing on a runway at night. I still have it stored somewhere and it worked last time I used it, but I need to find a power supply and an analog TV to use it again. Thanks for the link to the simulator.
Being an American growing up in the 70's & 80's I never heard if this machine. my first computer was an Atari 65XE. I learned some very basic programing, very basic. I am not that good at it at all. but still, computers were a type of canvas for young kids of the day. kids could build and create something entirely with thier own creativity and hands. back in the day there seemed no limit. as an adult I have grown an appreciation of these early computers. I do still have my Atari line of computers of course, but I have expanded beyond to see what others had to offer at the time. I have watched and read articles on Sinclair and thier early efforts. I found the history fascinating. we didn't have much of a micro market here but they are still interesting. Clive Sinclair put computing and endless futures into the hands of 2 million Brits. I recently picked up a timex 1000 and look forward to seriously giving it a try.
I'm in the USA but I managed to get directly from Sinclair a proper ZX81 kit delivered to my home via the Scientific American magazine ad. This was pre Sinclair selling to Timex. We didnt have access to a great many Sinclair resources in the USA so we had to build homemade keyboard and memory expansion boxes. It was good time though and the Sincair ZX 81 forced me to learn Z80 assembler, which turned into a wise career move back in those days.
In 1981 I was a field service engineer fixing DECsystem 20’s. My big influence was Star Trek, first run back in the mid ‘60’s. You’re a great explainer. Thanks
The ZX81 was my first computer as well and was upgraded to 16k using a Memotech ram pack. It also got a full sized keyboard, hi-res graphics & sound curtesy of Maplin kits. Best of all I still have it and it still all works.
Fantastic to hear that it still works! :) I have not heard the word "Memotech" for such a long time . . .
This was also my first computer and also bought by my parents as a Christmas present. I still have it in the original box with the manual. (Timex Sinclair). I've also got a number of Commodore 64's, although I ended up working with mainframes for many years. Now I'm back in school learning new technologies and I've recently acquired a Raspberry Pi which brought me to your videos in the first place. Thank you for the videos and happy surprise of finding someone else who remembers the initial excitement of having the doors of possibilities flung wide open.
Great post -- thanks for sharing this.
My first computer was a indeed ZX81 which I bought second-hand at the age of 16. I had previous experience of computers at school with the BBC Micro (in fact I was told that our school had the very first BBC Micro at the time). These machines sowed the seeds of interest that led me to buy a Sinclair Spectrum and start a life long interest in Computers and later to become Desk Side Technical Support at Reuters.
Chris, thank you for this contribution!
And yes: the ZX81 was my first, too! Fond memories, me sitting in front of that machine, figuring out programming hickups! :-)
Warm regards, Joseph
Hi, my name is lwaves and I'm a ZX81 survivor.
ZX81 was my first computer too but I may have had a very different experience than most of you. Let's call this my therapy session. It may be wordy for some.
In Oct of '82 a mate got a ZX Spectrum 48K. It was great and by then the ZX81 was something of a joke (basically a door wedge), it was already infamous compared to others at the time. So, I constantly mentioned it to my parents in the hope of getting one for Xmas. First Xmas came and went but the following ('83) I started unwrapping and when I saw Sinclair my heart skipped with excitement. Then I saw ZX81 and my world fell apart.
I don't know if I hid my disappointment well or not but they said that it cost them a lot so we (it was a share with my younger brother) had to be careful with it. Inside I already hated it and the fact that they'd bought me what was effectively crap compared to the Speccy. Part of me also realised that they knew nothing about computers and had probably been ripped off by the seller as I don't think it was brand new. Eventually Boxing Day came around and I knew that I had to set it up and use it, partly because my brother was asking and he was none the wiser about computers too. So I did, programmed a few games in over the afternoon and 'played' them as much as you could within the limitations. But I knew the worst was still to come.
A couple more days go by and I meet up with my mates where I have to tell them what I got. I can still hear the laughter now. I had the piss taken out of me for so, so long after that. Worst. Xmas. Ever. I hated that I felt forced into using it for quite some time after that. My parents were (are) good and I didn't want them to feel bad for buying crap.
Thankfully, by the next Xmas I managed to still mention that I wanted a Speccy and espoused the virtues of the better machine, so that when the Speccy+ arrived in '84 we recieved one for the following Xmas and all was right again with the world. Some people mocked the plastic keys (isn't that strange?) but even then I much preferred it to the rubber keys. I finally had a Speccy and this led to Amiga's and eventually PC.
This is my story. The end.
Many thanks Chris. This took me back 40 years to when my son was born. My 'programming' was done in the middle of the night while he slept!
:)
ZX81 was also my first Personal Computer. With it I learned basic, assembler, binary and hexadecimal arithmetic, and pascal. After filling up the original 1K of RAM with basic code, I had to buy the 16KB expansion. The knowledge of how a simple computer works, gave me an extra sense that helped me in the use and especially to troubleshoot more complex software and advanced computers. In the 1980s, working with computers was so hard and time consuming that few people could imagine such gadgets could change the way we live nowadays. Thanks for this posting.
ZX81 was my first computer too. Nice video
Seeing this makes me "melancholic nostalgic"... ZX81 was also my first "encounter" with something related to computers. I even made my thesis based on a Z80 microprocessor. The Z80 was not a microcontroller, oh no... You had to connect PIO's (for parallel I/O) and SIO's (for serial I/O) to it to get something from or to the outside world.
Later on, I bought the ZX Spectrum and waaw.... That was colour!!! Unbelievable at that time. That one had a slightly bettery keyboard (rubber buttons they were) but still, I had to make a keyboard myself since also the "slightly better" keyboard (compared to the membrame one of the ZX81) went to walhalla after a while...
Still remember vividly the hours I spent playing with those toys. Also still remember my parents didn't understand anything of it while I was programming the thing... "What on earth are you doing with that black box" was a question they constantly asked... Never gave a reasonable answer, I must admit...
I had the TS1000 as my first computer. I spent hours messing around with programming games into it from whatever magazines I could find. From there, I upgraded to a Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer and then to the computer that truly changed my life...the Amiga 500.
My ZX81 would crash constantly thanks to the dodgy memory pack. Copious amounts of sellotape were needed to make it function. Despite moving on to a CPC, I always was fond of the ZX81.
It's so awesome to hear of someone who has submitted type ins. I was always in awe of the people who sent in that voodoo code for us to chug away with. The most hated message I can always remember was "Data Error", usually caused by "User Error".
Thanks for the video.
Such a legendary piece of equipment
Indeed it was. I still have mine! After seeing this video I feel like digging it out, putting some voltage into it and seeing if it still boots up.
We had a c64 growing up. My mother and I scrounged together parts from the trash and we figured out how to program it together.
Steve Martino Tell us more! Sounds like a great story! (C64 was my 2nd - still can name my fav games 😅😂)
My 3rd computer was a C64 after the Sinclair ZX81 and Sinclair ZX Spectrum computers I had.
My 1st was also a C64 in fact I went out n got another 15 years ago to tinker with in spare time, have more for it now than I did when it was new. btw to the person who had the Ohio Scientific I have heard of those, people were into those a fair bit where I lived.
Steve Martino, So you're not making this up? Your Mum went through skips (dumpsters if you're american) and knew exactly which chips to choose in order to put a computer together? and then 'figured out how to program it together' BULLSHIT.
I suspect they probably scrounged working modules like a power supply, printer, or other peripherals. I don't think Steve implied they did a board level build. But who knows? Maybe his Mum worked at IBM or NASA and was an EE. You never know...
Was bought a ZX81 for my 7th birthday by my parents, way back in 1984, remember them giving it to me with a black and white TV and a cassette recorder. My favorite games at the time were 3D Maze and Space Invaders. Many an hour were spent reading those very magazines and trying out the different programs.
My first computer was a ZX Spectrum 16K, later upgraded to 48K. I spent a lot of my teenage time with that machine. I started out learning Basic, and succeded in selling a simple game written in Basic to the bookstore in my local town, which was running as a demo in the store window :-) Later I got into Z80 assembler coding, and bought The Complete Spectrum ROM Disassembly, learning all about the "OS". One of my friends was good with hardware, and one of our most advanced projects was getting the Spectrum to work as a MIDI drum machine. He designed a MIDI interface and DA converter, which was plugged into the expansion port, and I wrote a program that could play 2 drum sounds simultatiously. I had to use only the upper 32K for program and sounds, since the lower 32K was apparently shared with some hardware reading the display buffer, which made it implossible to maintain a specific pitch when playing back sounds through the DA converter. Thanks for the blast from the past, I really like your channel. Kind regards, Ole, Denmark
My Specrum also underwent a transplant to a full keyboard, since the rubber keys tended to wear down the keyboard membrane. I still have the computer, and have put it back in the original case, but alas, it does not seem to work any longer.
I had one. Cassette storage was super hi-tech, providing hours of fun waiting for the programs to load. Nice memory flog.
Thanks for sharing...
The Sinclair ZX Spectrum was my actual first machine, but I consider my second machine, an Atari STE to be my first ‘real’ machine. It was the first machine I programmed in the C language on.
I used Hisoft Pascal for the spectrum quite a lot, much faster than BASIC for drawing Mandelbrot graphics. I tried Hisoft C but I wasn't able to "decode" the language from the manuals. "The C programming language" book was quite a few years in my future.
I wish I picked up C when I had my ST/STE/TT's . Would have helped my C# issues I have nowadays. I used GFA Basic a lot, which was the first programming language I learned that didn't have line numbers :)
Ah, an Atari User! I remember some interesting debates between Atarians and Commodorians. I was among the later.
My first computer too. Bought it on my 21st birthday in 1981 and fitted it into a Memotech after market keyboard case. I found the old original case recently and, with the addition of a clock mechanism it now makes a stylish wall clock!
Here in 2023. As a teen, I remember playing around with these (in the US), as they were floor demos at department stores, for a little bit in the early 1980's. As much as I was tempted to get one, because of the price, I eventually just did a bit more research & eventually got the C-64 for $299usd (bought by my parents), which in those early days was unbeknownst to all of us that the C-64 would eventually hold the Guinness record title of being the world's first favorite multi-million sold personal computer. I did see all those Memotech expansion paks for the Timex Sinclair in some computer magazines of the day & those too kind of made me drool of the potential of expanding a TS1000, but in the end, I just focused more on the C-64 & then to the Intel PC. I still have 3 C-64's in my possession, with one of them being my first C-64 & first computer ever. Glad that I did not throw it away. But I still respect the TS1000 for being an early consumer mass market computer. But sometimes, trying to be cheaper in price but also cheaper in features doesn't always add up to what buyers would want in a computer, thus why the Intel/IBM PC eventually won the war. Hopefully the ZX81 in the video has since been repaired.
Brings back memories of my first computer the Timex Sinclair 1000.
My first home computer was a Lambda 8300, which was a ZX81 clone, so I could actually use ZX81 programs. Those were the days!!
ZX81 was also the first computer I encountered. That moment influenced my whole life. Currently I am a Java programmer but in my kid ages I wrote games and demos in Assembly on ZX Spectrum and later Enterprise 128k and finally on Amiga 500. 😀 Nice memories!
My first computer was a ZX Spectrum with a whopping 48 kB.
It started my career as a software developer and project manager.
I still have to publish my Latin verb grammer trainer to the unsuspecting public.
I acquired a German ZX81 package some 2 years ago.
It's a fascinating machine, too.
An exercise in minimalism and a triumph in engineering.
RIP Sir Clive!
My first computer, which I still have, was the Rolls Royce of the genre in the early 1980s - the BBC Model B. It wasn't until 1990, though, that I got a program published (a lunar eclipse predictor) which earned me £98 - a considerable sum in those days.
www.acornelectron.co.uk/mags/mu/ills/090/sc-p043.jpg
I have a ZX81 languishing in a cupboard upstairs. I bought it to automate our central heating system. The wall-mounted boiler was in the kitchen so that's where the ZX81 had to go. Regrettably, the spark ignition on the nearby cooker hob caused enough electronic mayhem for it to crash every time, so that was the end of that particular project.
I too had a ZX81 as my first computer. I purchased it in kit form for £49.99 from WH Smiths, built it and it worked first time. I too ended up fitting a "real" keyboard, and placed the PSU and 16K ram pack (3rd party not the awful OEM one) into a case purchased from Maplins. I ended up buying a few more kits, and then flogging them to friends for £5 less than the £69.99 retail price in Smiths... which made enough cash to buy a few games. The game I played the most was Startrek, which had the full 8x8 galaxy, Klingons, Bases, and even black holes... all in 1K !!
And here, I thought we were of similar vintage, for some reason.
My school district had a PDP-8 that mostly did admin and payroll functions, but they timeshared it 3 hours per week for 'computer classes', where we would happily draw out our programs on graph paper, carefully sit at the key punch and build our 'decks' (I think the largest I ever produced in class was 35 cards, next to nothing) and then wait until the next week to get our results.
Then I joined the Navy and they trained me in Mainframes, maintenance/repair, not programming.
My first 'personal computer' was an Altair 8800 that a buddy and I bought to play with on offcrew cycles, with the advantage that the ($400!) tape reader it had read in the same format as the MARDAN inertial nav computer, so we could build our programs using the ship's tape punch system when it wasn't being used for mission related things.
Then my buddy went Apple fan boy when the Apple II came out and I went TRS-80 with a series of machines until I got a modern PC in 92 or so.
God, I'm old.
Wow, nice to see this little computer again! This was also my first computer and I still remember how fascinated I was with it. Later I bought a memory expansion and the printer. Thank you for creating and uploading this video. This video is again a real highlight, like all your videos by the way. I love your channel!👍
:)
My first computer too!! BTW, what a wonderful channel. Greetings from Spain Chris.
BBC Micro Model B. I was 13, and my Dad worked on big Ferranti Mainframes for the MOD -Winchester Disks and Banks of Processing in rows filling up huge rooms to drive the Ship Simulators for the Royal Navy. My Mum and Dad wanted my Sister and I to learn programming (BASIC and Assembly Language), but I just learned enough code to hack Machine Code 'protected' games; anyone remember *OPT 1,2 *OPT LOAD "(Program Name)"?, it was a way around that 'SAVE=BAD PROGRAM' issue. Then 'Elite' came out, and I was emerged in that until I left school, at which point I spiked my hair up and got a guitar and was away from computers until about six years ago. Now I record music on my self build PC, and play Elite Dangerous -kind of a full circle really.
I started on the ZX81 too. My father purchased it (1983) in a bookstore and not long after we bought a 16Kb expansion. I bought a lot of magazines and typed into the ZX81. At the end of its run, the keyboard was tired down and one wrong touch could reset the computer. Not fun when you had typed a lot of code. :-) I moved on to the C64 in 1984/85. The biggest game I typed in was "Phoenix Tower", from a magazine. Maybe somebody remembers that one ;-)
In 1981 as a 13 year old my parents bought me a ZX81. 35 years later with my whole career in software development I am eternally grateful to my parents and this little black box. I remember typing in those programs from the magazines, half the time they didn't work and i had to spend ages checking the code, it's too easy for kids nowadays!
A friend of mine had one- back then it was eye opening stuff- especially because you could get it to 'do stuff'..
Ahhh, I had that exact same keyboard for my ZX81 - I initially only bought it because I first installed an add-on that made the inverse text characters user-definable (like they are on the Speccy), but this add on board just sort of sat off to one side of the ZX81 with a ribbon cable entering the side of the machine (so the Fuller keyboard had space for everything inside)
I miss that computer.
Hi Chris, Just a quick message to say a huge thanks for the all the content you post. My introduction to computing was the ZX81 and I have fond memories of copying out Basic computer code from magazines such as Sinclair programs. Now rapidly approaching my half century I have used the enforced lock down of the past year to rekindle the enjoyment of making/coding stuff for myself through the raspberry pi. I am currently taking inspiration from your weather station project. So again big thanks for all your content. J
Great to hear this. Good luck with your Pi projects.
It was a Commodore Vic-20 for me. A little shy of 4K of RAM, but had built-in basic, colors and sound. Perfect hook for a 9 year old who didn't yet know this would kick off a career for the rest of his life. :-) Thanks Chris, brought back some great memories. If you can believe it I still have the thing 35 years later...and it does still work!
woohoo ye olde ZX81 .:) Was my first computer as well. Got my dad's old ZX81 in 1984 for my 6th birthday when my dad moved on to ATARI 600XL. Mine was in a "lovely" vomit-green plywood case my dad built with 16k or 64k ram. Fun times... one day i'll find the transport-simulator type game i played the most on that one.
Yes, my first computer too. And lets face it, the price was a huge influence.
I learned basic on a commodore pet at school and wanted something I could use at home.
I eventually went on to a spectrum and even the ill fated QL.
This all lead to a 25 year career as a programmer.
Great to hear. I too went ZX81, Spectrum and QL. The latter was a great machine. A pity the BBC skewed the market.
@@ExplainingComputers I never did get hold of a QL though I was desperate for one at the time, instead I ended up with an Atari ST as the next computer after my spectrum which I don’t really regret.
My first computer was also a ZX81 with RAM extension. A lot of memories ... second computer was an Apple IIe ... Unfortunately they didn’t survive. Thank you for bringing us back in time :)
Been a subscriber of yours for several years. Don't know how I missed this goodie. ZX81 was also my first computer. Had the expansion memory block plugged into the back. Wrote a bunch of stuff and stored it to cassette tape. My best was a Destroyer dropping depth charges on a sub. Even displayed "Boom" when you hit it. I don't remember what I did with my Sinclair. Now you have me on a hunt. Great stuff and professionally done. 👍👍
I hope you find it -- and that, unlike mine, it still works. Thanks for being a long-term subscriber.
Wow, this brings back (1k) memories.
We had to remember things more efficiently back then! :)
Who would ever need more than 16kb of RAM? That would be insane ;)
I see what you did there
Why not; first I had 16K, started to write Z80 Assembler in Basic, 16K was not enough so I got 64K Memopack :) by design 0-8K was occupied by ROM, 8-16K unused, user area was 16K up. Wrote small usr's which moved to 8-16K area at first boot and used 16-64K area as 3 16K partitions to load 3 different programs, swap partitions and run. It was fantastic at 1982-83.
Quite interesting projects you were doing mserogul! Yes... I thought I would NEVER run out of RAM when I expanded my 4K IBM PC with a 12K expansion board to raise the bar to 16! Now I,m distressed if I do not have 8 or more Gigs! Amazing! Oh, and don't even mention the 8 TERRA-BYTE RAID system I now have for 1 of my systems. I thought that 500 Meg was HUGE, once upon a time! LOL!!!
Yeah. I started with a ZX81 with a 16K RAM pack and now my current PC has 1 million times more RAM (16GB).
Or one could NEVER fill up the C64's 64KB memory, it was expansive!! lol
I'm 51 now. I learned how to program in assembly in the very old RCA COSMAC VIP: oldcomputers.net/rca-cosmac-vip.html (with just an hexadecimal keyboard, who needs more?) when I was 15.
A friend of mine had a ZX81 and I remember being very impressed when I saw it.
Later I had a Radio Shack's COlor COmputer. In 1985 I bought my first PC clone (12MHz NEC V20, no hard disk, 512MB ram, 2 floppys, Hercules graphics card) ... so many good memories!
Love your "classic" videos.
The Timex Sinclair 1000 was my first PC. Even though it had no audio output. It could play music. You would run the music programs with the TV volume turned all the way up and hear the sound of the computer working. I forget the name of the person who wrote these. But they and their programs were brilliant.
For me it was the Memotech 512 that I got when I was 10 years old. Remember that I wrote a program to help me memorise English words that we learnt in school. Learnt coding in BASIC and later in better languages :-)
I started out on a TI-99 4A, then TRS80. After that, a long series of Commodores; C-64, C-128, Amiga 2000, 3000, 4000.
Wow, that is a long series of Commodore machines. They were nice computers.
no sx-64?
or VIC-20
my buddy had that with the cassette drive
The TI was my first machine, too. Quirky thing ;D
The Timex Sinclair 1000 was my brother's first computer. His dad ordered it for him out of the back of a magazine to see if he was really going to stick with learning computers and that pretty much set his future career path in motion, he's worked for several software companies including IBM. He still has that TS1000 and keeps out as decoration on his desk.
I bought a TS1000 from a flee market in Johannesburg, South Africa in the mid '80s with a 16k ram expansion module. A year or two later I bought a brand new Spectrum 48k. I had the UHF modulator disabled and bypassed and the pure composite video output could be used via an AV connector to a PAL (625 line) monitor I also bought later. Still later I bought a printer and a parallel port connector cable, but had to buy a Centronics interface connector to be able to connect the printer to it. I had to write my own 3-line word processor editor in basic. I called it my periscope editor. A full screen editor was to slow because you had to watch it build up the screen line by line so slow it was.
I could insert lines words, make them bold and delete letters, words, lines. In addition, I could save and reload my files to and from tape and print them. It was unbelievable. It launched me into my former career in IT and as first qualified MCSD trainer in Africa. I feel such nostalgia today. Thanks for bringing back those memories.
Great post, thanks for sharing.
That aftermarket case would be fun to put a Raspberry Pi into.
I wonder if the keyboard could be hooked up to the GPIO header to support using it for the ZX Spectrum emulator in RetroPi?
For sure.
+Animal Facts,
Funny you mentioned that.
I was passing a seconded hand electronics store about a week ago and actually saw a ZX81 case with a Raspberry installed within it. The store was asking around £45 (GBP) / $60 (USD - approximately) for this device.
@TheNZJester Don't see why not with a little programming. You'd just be simply scanning a matrix.
I've been itching to get my fingers on a broken VIC20 or C16 for that.
I had a ZX81 for a short time. I remember taking it apart and burning my finger on that innocent looking heat sink.
The ZX81 was the first computer I actually owned. In fact I still have a couple of these along with the power supplies, manuals, memory etc. I also have the TV I bought to use with it, a 12" BW portable. I was going to put them on EBAY a couple of years ago but they fetch so little I did't bother. I had an assembler and designed and built an EPROM programmer to plug into the expansion port.
After that I went on to the VAX/VMS and also UNIX at Brighton Polytechnic and then the PC route.
Now I am retired I have bought a Raspberry PI Zero W and feel I am going full circle and enjoying it just as much as the old ZX81. Thank you for putting this video on. Bob
I have to say C64, not so much programming, but som gaming. I still have a robotarm you could connect to C64 joystick or to an interface to be run by the C64 and programmed by the user.
ZX81 first but i much preferred the Spectrum 48K.
Oh hell YES!!!!!!! Those games 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍
The first computer my grandpa brought home was a Commodore vic 20 back in 1988 I still have it, after that he brought a Commodore 64.
We learned Basic together, also from magazines, I was 8 years old and Guatemalan, l was so lucky to have access to that technology.
I started with a Vic 20 at the economically low price of $99 in 1982. By the following year, I had already outgrown the machine and was ready to upgrade to the Commodore 64, which my parents surprised me with one day and it wasn't even my birthday. I can still remember the joy and excitement, not to mention the unusual smell of a brand new 64. I continued to use the machine until graduating from high school in 1989. I too will always be grateful for my parents gift, as it forever changed my life, and took me into directions I would never have imagined. Now, if only the new C64 would become available here in the United Sates. Thank you for sharing your experience!
Thanks for sharing your experience also. I too am grateful to my parents for changing my life with a computer. I think it happened to a lot of us in the 1980s. Amazing days.
80s Raspberry Pi? Nice!
this one was non-edible
that was a pretty rare thing. the cleaning lady almost fainted when she saw that connected to the tv in our hotel room during a vacation. she thought my dad was a spy or something
The 80s were indeed a magical time for growing up in terms of computing. Cambridge where I happened to live was the epicentre of the 'home computer' revolution in the UK.
Even in the early 80s, my big comprehensive school had a computer club with FIVE computers. (3xTRS80, 2xVideoGenie). As a member of the club we were allowed to use these school computers at lunchtimes. There was a rule that no games were allowed to be played ... unless we'd coded them ourselves. Suffice to say we were all learning BASIC and trying to create our own games.
Then we got a BBC Model B at home. After a while it began crashing due to over-heating. I remember we just took the machine down the road to the Acorn Computers HQ in Cherry Hinton and they fixed it for us the same afternoon!
I used to subscribe to 'Computer & Video Games' and spent a lot of time trying to type in the listings. Needless to say the games never really lived-up to the exciting blurb and fancy artwork on the pages.
Another time (I must have been about 14) I was taken one evening to a talk at the trendy new Sinclair building. I got to ask Sir Clive a question at the end. Another time later I saw him out jogging towards Madingley.
In the mid-80s bought a couple of ZX81s (after their time had passed and they were dirt cheap) and also tried putting a 'proper' keyboard on one of them.
There was a brilliant TV film on BBC4 a few years back called 'Micromen' all about the Sinclair/Acorn battle in 1980's Cambridge. It's on UA-cam if you search for it and for those interrested in all this, it's both hilarious and very nostalgic - absolutely spot on.
Anyway, this channel is great THANKS. I originally came here for the PI tutorials and have just ordered one ... better get on.
Thanks for sharing this. Enjoy your Pi! :)
Oh what memories you have brought back. My ZX81 was the computer to learn BASIC. I already knew 8080 assembly and the Z80 cpu was an 8080 on steroids. Later I bought 64kb to add on the expansion only to find out Basic could only address 32kb so the rest had to be addressed by peeks and pokes. Oh what a fun machine this was!!!
Oh yes, I remember poking Z80 machine code into a ZX81, then a ZX Spectrum. Happy days. :)
Well sadly my first computer wasn't that cool.
When I was in second grade (age 8) I asked my parents for my birthday a new Lego set as I really loved Lego, but my parents decided it will be better for me to get a computer and got me a Pentium 1 which had back then Norton Commander installed, a friend of the family that new how to use computers installed some games for me and few weeks later I had Windows 95, then 98 and then I collected enough knowledge to install OS's myself, and got my hands somewhat dirty with hardware as well.
Sadly I didn't have such good educative opportunity as the ZX81
Yes. The Pentium of 1993 was a super computer compared to the Z80 or 6502 (Sinclair or Commodore). I mean it literally, it was thousands of times as fast.
@@herrfriberger5 Funny thing though, through the 80s into the early 90's, even with PCs starting to take root with consumers, the Commodore 64 was still the most popular consumer computer on the planet!
How different would your life have been if you had been given a guitar or an air rifle instead?
Now that is a really interesting thought. :) We will never know.
So much nostalgia. I was about 10 years old, when my sister sent a purchase order for the ZX-81 to Gladstone Electronics in Ontario, Canada (I am in Quebec). Each day, for almost 2 months, I have been walking the about 1.5 km walk to check the mail if it had arrived. This needed to be assemblied yourself, but my older brother would do it fine. Except we had to use our own transformer, and our was a very big grey transformer. The 16 kb she had was a nightmare (you move a bit the computer, and the computer would reset). But I did love it. I learn to program basic, and of course learn to write: "let x=x-sign Pi" rather than "let x=x-1" because sign and pi was stored in one byte each, and 1 needed 5 bytes (floating point number). When you have 1k, this kind of things matter! I also learn Z-80 assembler, and began writing my own assembler too. One year later, I bought the Timex-1000 for 30$ in Zeller, this was incredible because it came pre-assemblied, and came with a normal (was relatively big, but almost normal) transformer. And this was double the ram of ZX-81 (2k). This was incredible! I had read about the 8k ROM code, that was making the screen (the timing of the Z-80 had to be precise to match with the time to render a line on the screen, do some work while the cannon was off moving to the next line [I wonder if it was not refreshing ram during that time], and do the main stuff during the time the cannon was off at the end of a frame, to move the TV Cannon upper-left again)... later a older brother bought the Spectrun 48k, and this was great too!
Bought one of these back in around 1982 in the US. It was for sale in Popular Electronics magazine as a kit for $99.99. Learned how to program in basic and a fair amount about assembly although I couldn't figure out why I couldn't write to some memory addresses, (it was the ROM memory) LOL. We didn't have those magazines you showed here in the states but we did have one magazine that I bought every copy of (can't remember the name). I learned a lot from the ZX81. Thanks Clive.
10:56 Damn slow down, last bit blew my mind ^^
we had a zx80 none of that new fangled memory mapped screen
As I commented on one of your previous videos, I got a ZX81 for Christmas 1982, but it wasn't this particular computer which did it for me as such, it wasn't until I got using a BBC Micro at primary school in 1984/5 that my interest really took off. I liked the ZX81, but I didn't really get into writing my own programs for it.
Great presentation, Chris, I like your humour. Thanks for this one.
Your ending, "I hope to talk to you again....very soon." is now as familiar as Techmoan's, "Anyway, that's it for the moment. As always, thanks for watching."
Thanks for a great trip down memory lane. I was weened on my brother's PET with the quirky keyboard. When I could afford one the 'proper' keyboard on the PET/CBM machines had become available. I would often write programs on scraps of paper at work and couldn't wait to go home to try them out. Many hours of enjoyment were spent delving into the workings of these beauties armed with a memory map. Happy days.
I stiĺl need to get a ZX81
I still have one I built in 1983.
I was an atari xl boy
When I got my ZX81 my entire life changed, I absolutely loved it . I only sold it because I got a commodore c16 for Christmas
When I was 12 years old my first computer was a Timex Sinclair 1000. I could never find a ZX81. Now I am 48 and I look back at the introduction to computers, still work with computers every day. Thank you for this video.
who knew they had portable computers back in '81. lol.
you also had to carry 50KGs of TV with you :D
and a REALLY long extension cord to power it!
pretty much everybody had a television back then. all you need is this computer and a converter and you can plug in anybody's house or hotel.
Sadly enough I remember taking my ZX81 into school (proper teacher's pet) and later my Spectrum on holiday 8-)
welcome to the group ;-)