Sinclair ZX80 / ZX81 / Z88 Forums

Hi,

my name's Alex and I'm located in the Munich area. My first machine ever was a ZX81, which I got when I was 13. I learned programming on this one, so it helped start my career as a software developer. Several years back, my old machine got thrown out by mistake , which prompted me to start a small collection, mostly Sinclair stuff, including a ZX81 of course, but also other machines that I wished I had back in the day. I recently got my old TV set back, the one I used with the ZX81. It's still working and the picture is much better than what I had remembered. So I'm ready for a few retro nights. Just need to fix the keyboard connectors first...

Kind regards,
Alex

Hi Alex, welcome to our forums.
Please enjoy reading here and ask questions.
We are a helpful lot.
There is also the German ZX-Team with a German Forum.

Hi Alex.

Welcome to our forum and like Paul says please feel free to ask questions should you have them and please take an active part in any topics you feel like doing so.

The journey begins!

Welcome! Your story is very much like many of us. I am in Texas/US, but have family there too.

Replacement keyboard membranes are readily available.

Have fun!

Speaking about replacement membrane Keyboards, there is also Pokémon's replacement keyboard ZX8-KDLX which is sold from Munich from ginger-electronic.
Pokémon is a member here and his keyboard replacement is excellent. Please consider his keyboard instead of shortening the membrane. The experience of your zeddy is far better with it.

I saw the ZX8-KDLX and I was tempted to buy one. It looks really good and like something I'd like to try. But in the end I decided to first try to repair the keyboard connectors. I shortened them a few years back, but they're broken again now. This time I'll try this method, and report here.

I want to keep the original keyboard so that I can demonstrate how (bad) the keyboard actually was, and to get back that original "typing experience" I endured for so long... For me this hobby is mostly about repairing & restoring the machines, and building extensions, so I only occasionally work with one of them. Should I have the need for more extensive typing, I'll use my ZX80 clone, which also works as a ZX81. I can use it either with a USB keyboard, or directly send keyboard input from my PC.

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome!

Finally repaired the keyboards, both in my ZX81 and TS1000, which had the same problem. Now the strips are no longer bent and cannot move. Hope this will last for a while...

Hello and welcome to our forum Alex!



I like your keyboard membrane modifications

An extra large heatsink for the Zeddy as well. What’s the reason for the extra electrolytic capacitor near the 7805 on the TS1000?

I hope you enjoy this forum

Mark

1024MAK wrote: ↑Wed Jul 27, 2022 4:38 pm An extra large heatsink for the Zeddy as well.

The top one was most likely a kit, judging from the solder side. I bought it a few years ago, and it already came with the large heat sink. I guess that's not original.

1024MAK wrote: ↑Wed Jul 27, 2022 4:38 pm What’s the reason for the extra electrolytic capacitor near the 7805 on the TS1000?

I have no idea. The TS1000 was actually the first machine in my collection, when I started it about 15 years ago. It came complete with PSU, 16k RAM expansion and original packaging, and still only set me back 30 Euros, not easy to find these days... It didn't look like it had ever been opened, but who knows.

Alex

xelalex wrote: ↑Wed Jul 27, 2022 5:09 pm

1024MAK wrote: ↑Wed Jul 27, 2022 4:38 pm An extra large heatsink for the Zeddy as well.

The top one was most likely a kit, judging from the solder side. I bought it a few years ago, and it already came with the large heat sink. I guess that's not original.

No, not original. There may be minor differences in heatsink size, but most Zeddies and TS1000 all came with the same size heatsink as on your TS1000.

Well. I assume the extra capacitor on your TS1000 is on the +9V rail (input power). Maybe the idea was for it to help with the power to the RAM pack. Some third party RAM packs use the nominal +9V rail as the +12V supply to 4116 DRAM chips. The PSU is unregulated, and as the ZX81 only uses about half of the power from a UK700 or similar PSU, the PSU output voltage is often between 10.5V and 12V…

Mark