Sinclair ZX80 / ZX81 / Z88 Forums

Hello Everyone, I am very excited to join the forum/community of Zeddy Hardcores!

The ZX81 was my first computer, I was 13 years old and learning BASIC initially on my best friends ATARI 400, and also a TRS-80 at the local Radio Shack.

I purchased an original, new in box ZX81 kit back in April 2020...I am currently struggling internally with the decision of "should I build it, or should I keep it as is?"

In order to have something for both my brother and me to tinker with, I purchased an assortment of goodies in June 2021 on ebay. I shipped the ZX81 to my brother (since I have the original unbuilt kit), and I kept the TS-1000. We are planning to perform several mods on both units and I just started a series on my blog to document the projects. Anyone interested is welcome to check out my blog, and I would be honored to have more people subscribe. I am always trying to learn new things, and consider myself always an apprentice and not a master, I figure one is bound to learn more with the former mindset than the later.

I welcome advice, suggestions, constructive criticism, and links to other sources of information relating to the Zeddy, Z80 microprocessor, or digital electronics. I have not yet implemented the functionality for readers to comment directly on the post pages, but hope to have that soon. In the meantime, message me here or email me any critiques or suggestions. Thank you very sincerely in advance. The blog's URL is:

https://blog.codesurfer.dev

Lastly, Happy New Year to everyone!

Hello and welcome to our forum code-surfer!



I hope you enjoy this forum

code-surfer-dev wrote: ↑Sun Jan 02, 2022 7:02 pm Hello Everyone, I am very excited to join the forum/community of Zeddy Hardcores!

Oh dear, I’ve always thought of myself as a hardware tinkerer. Hardcores sounds rude But I like it

Mark

Many thanks 1024MAK!

code-surfer-dev wrote: ↑Sun Jan 02, 2022 7:02 pm
I purchased a original, new in box ZX81 kit back in April 2020...I am currently struggling internally with the decision of "should I build it, or should I keep it as is?"

Lastly, Happy New Year to everyone!

Happy New Year and welcome on board.

I also wrestled with the shall I / shan’t I decision of whether I should make the unbuilt kit I happened across (viewtopic.php?p=30920#p30920).

In the end I could not decide so I sold it to another forum member and let them decide!

As far as I am aware they didn’t build it.

I decided to take the alternative route and desolder an existing but dead zeddy down to the bedrock and rebuild it from scratch. A long but very worthwhile journey.

Many thanks Lardo Boffin!

I am sure it was very gratifying to build one up from nothing, and since it was previously dead and not a factory straight kit, the learning experience must have been irreplaceable. Did you document your build with photos, video, or a blog?

Welcome!

I took a peek at your blog: the person you bought your kit from used to do Zebra Computers (which is how he got those kits).

I’m also in upstate: Buffalo, NY!

Hello jdfan1000!

Thank you for checking out the blog, I'm just starting blogging and it means a lot.

That is absolutely correct "zebranyc" is the ebay store/user that I purchased the kit from. Just checked back on his store and it looks like he sold the last one and now only has books, cassettes, and printer paper. Do you know him?

I'm in Niskayuna, near Albany. Take care!

code-surfer-dev wrote: ↑Mon Jan 03, 2022 1:46 am Many thanks Lardo Boffin!

I am sure it was very gratifying to build one up from nothing, and since it was previously dead and not a factory straight kit, the learning experience must have been irreplaceable. Did you document your build with photos, video, or a blog?

Its all in here viewtopic.php?p=27533#p27533

Cheers Lardo!

Great thread, a lot of very helpful information there, and especially the photos of the stripped down pcb...something very nostalgic about those hand drawn paths!

I haven't read the whole thread yet, two pages in, have to get back to work. Thank you for sharing.

code-surfer-dev wrote: ↑Mon Jan 03, 2022 2:24 pm Cheers Lardo!

Great thread, a lot of very helpful information there, and especially the photos of the stripped down pcb...something very nostalgic about those hand drawn paths!

I haven't read the whole thread yet, two pages in, have to get back to work. Thank you for sharing.

If your unbuilt kit has the build instructions for the American version it would be great to add the parts required for the US version - the BOM on my thread is UK only.