Sinclair ZX80 / ZX81 / Z88 Forums

Aloha! Greetings from Hawaii. I'm back after a few years away, 2020 has given me time to try programming again

My first computer was a ZX81 in 1982 -- as soon as the price came down to $99 US dollars I ordered one and put it together on the kitchen counter. It was the first project I ever soldered and it was a big relief when it worked right off the bat. The only problem it ever had was the first line on the TV display was somewhat distorted, but even so it worked OK. When it came time for more memory I skipped the Sinclair expansion packs and purchased a Memotech 32K unit. It never suffered from wobble, and I never ran out of memory back in the day

I've used a lot of computers since then, mostly PCs but in the 1980s had an Atari 800 & 400, in the 90s an Atari ST with hard drive and Roland drum machine & Yamaha DX100. But the most intriguing one to me is still the ZX81

Hello and welcome back to our forum David!



Hang on a minute, is it the Terminator? He's back...! Quick, run for your lives little Zeddies....

Mark

Aloha from me too David.


I notice from your list the ST. Glad to say still using my BIG! 4meg ste in my MIDI studio alongside Cubase and Band in a Box as I've yet to find a PC with the same accurate MIDI timing.

You are among friends here and welcome to the club.


Moggy.

Funny, except for the Roland, exactly the same for me though I got a TS2068 new and still have it. Me and a buddy still program (asm) a bit for the TS1000, and have both started collecting some of the models.. Since we never had the speccy here, I just got my first one 40 years later lol. We both have TS1000, TS1500, TS2068, Speccy and QL I had a 520St, 1040ST and TT030 with both monitors back in the day - great machines. The nostalgia is worth the trip!

Worth the trip?
Indeed it is.
Well said that man.

Thanks for the kind words. Here is a piccy of my ZX81 along with the papers that came with it:
* ZX81 Assembly Instructions
* ZX81 Basic Programming manual
* SYNC magazine special issue
* Syntax ZX80 newsletter April 1982 Vol 3 No 4. I think this may have been sent to me later on but it was because I bought the kit
* The yellow programmer reference leaflet was my most useful treasure. If I recall correctly it was from a coupon that came in the kit. Mail the coupon, they mail back the leaflet
The center ZX81 is my original, with the Memopak 32 attached and a keyboard that I fitted. I forget where I obtained the keyboard, maybe it was at a swap meet (some kind of non-computer place)