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ZX Spectrum
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    image

    The Sinclair ZX Spectrum was launched 30 years ago.
    No one will remember Black Magic Camera in five years, but big amount of guys will remember this small creation in 50.
    While it was not first computer I worked with, but it was first personal one I used and knew in detail.
    Including undocumented things, assembler and stuff. Had custom floppy disc controller and still have many big diskettes. I still have it in the box, didn't turned on in last 3 years, but hope it'll work fine.

    Good article about anniversary:
    http://www.reghardware.com/2012/04/23/retro_week_sinclair_zx_spectrum_at_30/

  • 28 Replies sorted by
  • fehafeha

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev

    Thank you VK, this was my first computer, 1982, 48K. Favorite game : "Ants attack", paint app "Leonardo" :-)

  • Mr_MooreMr_Moore

    “Can you help Robin in his quest for the Silver Arrow?”

  • Mr_MooreMr_Moore

    http://www.worldofspectrum.org/games/index.html
    http://www.tzxvault.org

  • StrayStray

    POKE 23609, 255 .The ZX speccy was my second computer after the Acorn System one. I never moved on from tape storage till I got into Amigas (even the QL used tape). I look at my own kids now and think about what I knew at their age about assembler and 3GL languages and its weird. I know some say that the current generation of programmers aren't the same (as in as good, or as many), and thats what the Raspberry Pi thing is supposed to be about. But, languages have moved on (and we have IDEs and oversized APIs etc) and so have applications, so their skills reflect that. The Sinclair machines, and all the others like the BBC, Jupiter Ace, TI 99/4a etc, Vic 20 of that period did create a lot of good coders and did start a revolution. But I think a lot of us old nostalgic heads forget that we were as much a minority as the kids who really get into learning how to code today, as most of our peers with ZX Spectrums were just playing games on them back then. Thats not changed. The current generation I think have it harder too, as learning how to use current development tools is a much steeper learning curve than we had to go through.

    Talking of games, I was talking about DRM with my kids a few months ago and told them about the utter PITA that the lenslock crap was on the Spectrums version of Elite. Frankly, to me nothing can compare to the annoyance of squinting through that plastic lens to try and read a code on the screen.

  • Mr_MooreMr_Moore
    LD A,10
    LD B,0

    LOOP:

    INC B
    DEC A
    JR NZ,LOOP

    @Stray

    lenslock crap

    Man . . . that thing was horrendously wicked!

  • badhussarbadhussar

    combat!

  • soundgh2soundgh2

    10 PRINT "Happy Birthday"

    20 GOTO 10

  • Mark_the_HarpMark_the_Harp

    I remember typing some stuff on a BBC micro, saving it to tape and then playing the tape down a phone to my colleague at home, and he got the text on his screen. Magical!

  • telesterictelesteric

    i still have the game "green beret" on tape,and many others. It was my first computer at home, and i think it was one of the most important achievements in computer history; "48k" now ridiculous, were amazingly great at that moment

  • Mr_MooreMr_Moore

    I use Fuse: http://fuse-emulator.sourceforge.net and the games from the two sites I gave links for above. They have .TZX (perfect tape copies) of many ZX Spectrum games.

  • kavadnikavadni

    hah, I had zx80 and zx81

  • ZedZed

    I'm a Speccy user since 1995. Z80 asm is still my a favorite language. Understanding how things actually works. Pure magic.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Sinclair ZX Microdrive story

    “Our Microdrive, when it comes out, will revolutionise mass storage thinking,” said Sinclair engineer Martin Brennan in the 18 November 1982 issue of Popular Computing Weekly after being asked about the new Sony drive. His take: yes, 3.5-inch unit was faster, but it’s the price that really matters. Of course, what Brennan couldn’t then answer was the question posed by his own comment: when would the Microdrive actually come out for people to buy?

    Read at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/03/13/feature_the_sinclair_zx_microdrive_story/

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    I think it's so sad these days many kids don't know how to code.

    It is not only sad, it is made deliberately :-)

  • 010101010101

    At my home my brother and I had to take turns for using the " ZX ". He wrote his first code for calculating the advance arithmetics after only six months learning the basic language - it took a full cassette tape ! LOL. Later he moved on to Cobol and " C ". He is one of the original coders for CNC machines and 3D printers. Go figure. I wanted to make the graphics move on the TV screen more freely and appear more photographic. Failed, frustrated and disappointed - moved to hand animation and later on a Bolex 8 and Bolex REX arrived.

    I am siting here with tears running down my face reading members posts. I thought I was the only " ZX " user. I am going to call my brother today perhaps ask him to give me the " ZX " once and for all.

    @Vitaliy, a very special thanks to you for posting this.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Btw check ZX emulators, plenty of good ones exist. And you could download all games ever greated if search good :-)

  • fehafeha

    What is the best emulator for ZX-Spectrum ?

  • Mr_MooreMr_Moore

    Fuse is pretty good: http://fuse-emulator.sourceforge.net

  • sakattaq76sakattaq76

    Wow my first contact with technology in 1984! Fantastic elastic feeling with the keyboard. Still remembering the cassete player' s sound when loading a software. My first experience in programming with GW Basic. Unforgettable period of my timeline! Thanks Vitaliy, for bringing back memories!

  • MarcioKMarcioK

    I'm even older - my first home computer was a ZX81 clone made here in Brazil, with the case / keyboard of the Spectrum (yes, bizarre).

    https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_ELb_L_rdmpM/TWRldHPoI_I/AAAAAAAACBA/NrOTSNUV7XI/tk85_2010.jpg

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

  • flabloflablo

    Wow. This is so cool, but I think I prefer the original one with the beepz and creekz. GH2 : Canon = ZX :C64

  • johnnymossvillejohnnymossville

    Our first was a C64, we'd code for days, debug, play for days,... (With 5 Brothers we worked in Shifts!) then when we turned it off our work was gone since we had no way or storing our work. Start all over again with something new!

  • izashizash

    The ZX Spectrum was my first Midi computer.
    I had a Micon software/hardware sequencer with 8 monophonic (!) midi tracks.
    http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=1000463
    I managed to produce 4 albums using it.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    I managed to produce 4 albums using it.

    Any samples?

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