Sinclair ZX80 / ZX81 / Z88 Forums

Quirky nerdy hardware quiz time

1. How many transistors are on the issue one ZX Spectrum PCB?
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2. Which droids or androids from science fiction claim to be fully functional in fully emulating a human male body?
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3. On a ZX Spectrum 16k/48k/+ computer, how many rows and columns make up the keyboard matrix?
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4. Which 1980s computer had some versions manufactured and shipped with some of the transistors fitted the wrong way round?
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5. In energy production, what does CCGT stand for?
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6. What was the name of the fictional spaceship that failed to keep up with the ship it was chasing because an engineer handed over some of its control ‘chips’ to McCoy? Bonus points if you can name the film and the engine technology that was being used.
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7. What’s special about the ZX81 issue two board?
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8. Can you name the computer and the name of the manufacturer, that had two of it’s chips named "Nick" and "Dave"?
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9. We all love Red Dwarf, but can you name the smaller “shuttle” size/type ship that was also used in the show?
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10. What’s the rated power output of a Sinclair UK1400 PSU?
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11. What does the acronym LED stand for? Bonus points if you can tell me the normal forward voltage of a blue one.
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12. How many robot appear in the movie ‘The Black Hole’? Bonus points if you can name them all...
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13. What was the name of the manufacturer of the transistors used by Sinclair in the early issue 16k/48k rubber key ZX Spectrum computers?
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14. In the 1956 sci-if film that features humans travelling to another planet, what’s the name of the robot? Bonus points if you can name the film.
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15. What’s the normal power factor of an old style tungsten filament light bulb when running on 110V/120V or 230V/240V AC electricity?
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16. Before LEDs were used in large LCD televisions, what lighting technology was used?
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17. Which U.K. computer manufacturer produced a model of computer that has a non-functional RAM chip soldered on to a PCB? Also name the computer model. Bonus points if you know the reason why this was done.
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18. What is the name of the fictional spaceship that used a 1980s computer as part of the set. Bonus points if you can name the computer manufacturer and the computers name.
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19. If you’re a nerd, you almost certainly know of Big Clive, but another electronic YouTube channel has been compared to his, as it sometimes has similar electronic content, and the channel name includes the name of an electronic component. But can you name this channel? Bonus points if you can name the channel owners first name.
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20. What is the minimum amount of unique (unduplicated) RAM (as seen by the Z80A) that the ZX Spectrum +2A/+2B/+3/+3B computers can be configured to by software?

Answers on a postcard to “Sinclair Research Ltd”

Mark

3: 5x8

11: light emitting diode

16 cathodbeam

7 It's got the dead bug ROM?
11 Light Emitting Diode
14 HAL 2001 Space Oddecy
16 TFT
17 Amstrad. Can't remember version, but there was special tax to import in Spain for computers with less that 64k RAM, so they just added an extra RAM chip to the board, that was not connected anywhere.

7 It's got the dead bug ROM?

No, a dead PCB !
The "issue Two" steel a big project… Killed by the TS1000 Issue.

1. 5 but if ULA is 5C112 or later type + 1.
3. 8x5
4. ZX Spectrum 128K +2 (with Issue 3 motherboard)
5. Combined Cycle Gas Turbine
7. ZX81 Issue 2 does not exist in the wild
8. ACIS chips in Enterprise 128K
10. 1.4A @ 9Vdc = 12.6W
11. Light-Emitting Diode ; blue LED Vf is in range between 2.5V to 3.7V
13. Zetex/Ferranti
15. close to unity
16. CCFL = Cold Cathode Fluorescent Tubes
17. Amstrad due to Spanish legislation in late 80-ties
18. HAL 9000
20. 8K (not sure)

Question 9, used means being shown being used by the crew on the show. Crew means any of the regular characters or guest stars.

Question 20, the answer should be an amount in k bytes.

Mark

9 - Starbug

Answers to the quirky nerdy hardware quiz

1. How many transistors are on the issue one ZX Spectrum PCB? The answer is Five. McKlaud on Sinclair ZX World was first. Well done
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2. Which droids or androids from science fiction claim to be fully functional in fully emulating a human male body? The answer is Data, from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Mousey on Spectrum Computing forums was first. Well done
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3. On a ZX Spectrum 16k/48k/+ computer, how many rows and columns make up the keyboard matrix? The answer is 8 x 5 (or 5 x 8). dr beep on Sinclair ZX World was first. Well done
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4. Which 1980s computer had some versions manufactured and shipped with some of the transistors fitted the wrong way round? The answer is The Amstrad made ZX Spectrum +2 (grey) machines that were fitted with the Z70500 issue three boards. Your Spec-chum on World of Spectrum forums was first. Well done Bonus points to McKlaud for saying issue three boards
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5. In energy production, what does CCGT stand for? The answer is Combined Cycle Gas Turbine. Nitrowing on Spectrum Computing forums was first. Well done
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6. What was the name of the fictional spaceship that failed to keep up with the ship it was chasing because an engineer handed over some of its control ‘chips’ to McCoy? Bonus points if you can name the film and the engine technology that was being used. The answer is Excelsior in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Van_Dammesque on Spectrum Computing forums was first. He also gets a bonus point for naming the movie and for transwarp drive being the engine technology. Very well done
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7. What’s special about the ZX81 issue two board? The answer is that none are known to exist! XavSnap and McKlaud on Sinclair ZX World get the points. Well done
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8. Can you name the computer and the name of the manufacturer, that had two of it’s chips named "Nick" and "Dave"? The answer is the Enterprise 64 and the Enterprise 128 computers from Enterprise Computers Ltd. PeterJ on Spectrum Computing forums was first. Well done
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9. We all love Red Dwarf, but can you name the smaller “shuttle” size/type ship that was also used in the show? The answer is Blue Midget. The Mighty Dopethrone on World of Spectrum forums (via PM) was first. Well done Half a point if you said Starbug.
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10. What’s the rated power output of a Sinclair UK1400 PSU? The answer is 1.4A @ 9Vdc = 12.6W. McKlaud on Sinclair ZX World was first. Well done
    .
11. What does the acronym LED stand for? Bonus points if you can tell me the normal forward voltage of a blue one. The answer is Light Emitting Diode. dr beep on Sinclair ZX World was first. Well done Bonus points to Van_Dammesque and Your Spec-chum for giving the voltage as approximately 3.2V and also bonus points to McKlaud for "between 2.5V and 3.7V".
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12. How many robot appear in the movie ‘The Black Hole’? Bonus points if you can name them all... The answer is three. Van_Dammesque on Spectrum Computing forums was first. Well done No one got their names: V.I.N.CENT., BO.B. and Maximilian.
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13. What was the name of the manufacturer of the transistors used by Sinclair in the early issue 16k/48k rubber key ZX Spectrum computers? The answer is Ferranti. Van_Dammesque on Spectrum Computing forums was first. Well done
    .
14. In the 1956 sci-if film that features humans travelling to another planet, what’s the name of the robot? Bonus points if you can name the film. The answer is Robby the Robot. The Film was Forbidden Planet. akeley on Spectrum Computing forums was the only one to get this correct. Well done
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15. What’s the normal power factor of an old style tungsten filament light bulb when running on 110V/120V or 230V/240V AC electricity? The answer is one or 'unity power factor'. The Mighty Dopethrone on World of Spectrum forums (via PM) was first. Well done, Obviously been watching far too many BigClive.com YouTube videos! Half a point if you said 'close to unity'.
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16. Before LEDs were used in large LCD televisions, what lighting technology was used? The answer is CCFT, Cold Cathode Fluorescent Tube. I'll give points to anyone who said Fluorescent Tube or Fluorescent Lamp.
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17. Which U.K. computer manufacturer produced a model of computer that has a non-functional RAM chip soldered on to a PCB? Also name the computer model. Bonus points if you know the reason why this was done. The answer is Amstrad. mrtinb on Sinclair ZX World was first with the manufacturer, but did not name the model name/number. Well done The Mighty Dopethrone on World of Spectrum forums (via PM) and AndyC on Spectrum Computing forums both get bonus points for the model: CPC472. Well done The reason was to get around Spanish law that applied higher taxes on computers with 64k bytes or less of RAM. So bonus points to mrtinb, The Mighty Dopethrone, AndyC and McKlaud for knowing why, well done to you all
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18. What is the name of the fictional spaceship that used a 1980s computer as part of the set. Bonus points if you can name the computer manufacturer and the computers name. Okay, slight confession here, I messed up, I should have given the year as 1979. Sorry. The answer I was looking for was Scorpio. The BBC TV series Blake's 7, series four shown around 1981 featured an Acorn System 1 computer as part of the set that formed the ships computer, which was called 'Slave'. See this web page.
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19. If you’re a nerd, you almost certainly know of Big Clive, but another electronic YouTube channel has been compared to his, as it sometimes has similar electronic content, and the channel name includes the name of an electronic component. But can you name this channel? Bonus points if you can name the channel owners first name. The answer is DiodeGoneWild. His name is Dan.
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20. What is the minimum amount of unique (unduplicated) RAM (as seen by the Z80A) that the ZX Spectrum +2A/+2B/+3/+3B computers can be configured to by software? The answer I was looking for is 32k. So the points go to lister_of_smeg on Spectrum Computing forums. Well done

Mark