Hello from Ukraine

Introduce yourself to your fellow forum members - what was your journey into the Sinclair world?
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Neurogate
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Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2021 6:46 pm

Hello from Ukraine

Post by Neurogate »

Hi there,

I am from Ukraine and long time ago was born in USSR, behind the "Iron Curtain", if you remember what is it. At a young age, I did not have opportunity to use computers, because they were expensive for my family and even home computers, like Sinclair, Commodore, Atari & etc, were not sold in our country and only some officials could bring them to their families. Now I have a hobby - retro computers, mostly at 80's, to which I did not have access as a child. I am satisfied to work with this part of computer history, as computer technology and programming has become my hobby and profession.

Regarding Sinclair ZX81 - I bought on ebay this computer and 16K RAM pack a couple of weeks ago and both of them in working order. The only thing I did - it was composite mod and cutting the corrupted tails of keyboard membrane (and also I ordered a new membrane from RWAP Software, just for reserve). Now I plan to study assembler programming at this computer, hi-res graphics, maybe write some games. All of it just for fun.
Sinclair ZX81, Sinclair QL, Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2, Atari 130XE, Commodore 64C, Commodore C128, Yamaha YIS503IIIR MSX2 & etc
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mrtinb
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Re: Hello from Ukraine

Post by mrtinb »

If you are new to machine code, I recommend this book Machine Code for Beginners.

After that you can get the ZX81 specifics with Mastering Machine Code on your ZX81 or ZX80
Martin
https://zx.rtin.be
ZX81, Lambda 8300, Commodore 64, Mac G4 Cube
Neurogate
Posts: 24
Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2021 6:46 pm

Re: Hello from Ukraine

Post by Neurogate »

mrtinb wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 7:30 pm If you are new to machine code, I recommend this book Machine Code for Beginners.
I start working with machine code more than 30 years ago and my first assembler language was an assembler for PDP-11 compatible computers. By this I have some experience, I just forget some related programming techniques and should study Z80 assembler and ZX81 specifics. But anyway thank you for your links, first link like a comics and i'll read it for fun.
Sinclair ZX81, Sinclair QL, Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2, Atari 130XE, Commodore 64C, Commodore C128, Yamaha YIS503IIIR MSX2 & etc
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1024MAK
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Location: Looking forward to summer in Somerset, UK...

Re: Hello from Ukraine

Post by 1024MAK »

Hello and welcome to our forum Neurogate!

:D :D :D

I hope you enjoy this forum :D

I most certainly do remember the "Iron Curtain", and the ‘Cold War’. At school I wanted to do modern history so that I could learn more about the time period between the First World War and the 1980s. But this option was not available to me. Then later, I watched the fall of the Berlin Wall on the television news reports.

During the 1980s, the furthest east that I ever got, was on holiday to Yugoslavia, as my dad booked a family holiday there.

Mark
ZX81 Variations
ZX81 Chip Pin-outs
ZX81 Video Transistor Buffer Amp

:!: Standby alert :!:
There are four lights!
Step up to red alert. Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing the bulb :!:
Looking forward to summer later in the year.
Neurogate
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Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2021 6:46 pm

Re: Hello from Ukraine

Post by Neurogate »

Just to illustrate life behind the "Iron Curtain": my first program was saved on perforated paper tape at the school and this is at the same time as most of you have already used their own home computers ZX81 or ZX Spectrum some later.
Sinclair ZX81, Sinclair QL, Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2, Atari 130XE, Commodore 64C, Commodore C128, Yamaha YIS503IIIR MSX2 & etc
Neurogate
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Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2021 6:46 pm

Re: Hello from Ukraine

Post by Neurogate »

Hi Mark, I see you are from Somerset... I've never been in the UK, but look at the photo - this is my favorite cup that my daughter bought for me in your Somerset ;)
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Sinclair ZX81, Sinclair QL, Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2, Atari 130XE, Commodore 64C, Commodore C128, Yamaha YIS503IIIR MSX2 & etc
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1024MAK
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Location: Looking forward to summer in Somerset, UK...

Re: Hello from Ukraine

Post by 1024MAK »

Neurogate wrote: Fri Oct 01, 2021 9:26 pm Hi Mark, I see you are from Somerset... I've never been in the UK, but look at the photo - this is my favorite cup that my daughter bought for me in your Somerset ;)
Nice 👍

I trust she had a good time.

Although a bit funny (as in hilarious), because Somerset in the U.K. is better known for cider production rather than tea or coffee which is what most people would expect to find in a cup or mug :lol:

That said, I do drink tea rather than cider when at work, obviously…

Thatchers cider is appropriately only 7 miles from me! There are obviously other cider producers elsewhere in both Somerset and in other parts of the U.K..

Tourism and farming are important in Somerset. There is not much heavy industry, but quite a lot of light industry and lots of large distribution centres in and around the population areas. Read more on Wikipedia,

I’ve never played with punched paper tape. Although I have seen it in a computer museum. I did however get to see my own computer program on a punched card. At school, before we were allowed to use any of the three computers (yes a total of three and it was/is a large school) that the school had, we had to write a simple BASIC program on a special form. This was then sent off to a university somewhere. An operator then entered this information, and this resulted in the punched card. The program was added to a batch process and the results from the line printer were sent back to us at school along with the punched card.

And no, my program did not work :(. A simple syntax error :oops: :lol:

The world was definitely a whole lot different compared to present day…

Mark
ZX81 Variations
ZX81 Chip Pin-outs
ZX81 Video Transistor Buffer Amp

:!: Standby alert :!:
There are four lights!
Step up to red alert. Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing the bulb :!:
Looking forward to summer later in the year.
Neurogate
Posts: 24
Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2021 6:46 pm

Re: Hello from Ukraine

Post by Neurogate »

Thank you Mark for your nice story, it was very interesting and informative - I see we both have something to remember from the old computer times. And regarding a cup - I also use it more often for tea, mostly Darjeeling Tea, but I know about Somerset & cider - their advertising is everywhere and in Ukraine too.
Sinclair ZX81, Sinclair QL, Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2, Atari 130XE, Commodore 64C, Commodore C128, Yamaha YIS503IIIR MSX2 & etc
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