Sinclair ZX Spectrum turns 40

Gandalf_The_Grey

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Apr 24, 2016
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Today is a memorable day for some (older) computer enthusiasts. Because the 8-bit computer Sinclair ZX Spectrum was released exactly 40 years ago, and made some fellow citizens become "computer freaks". The following is a brief outline of the year 1982 and the years that followed.

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It was April 23, 1982, when the Sinclair ZX Spectrum 16/48k was introduced as a home computer. At that time I was professionally programming microprocessor systems with the Intel 8085 processor for the chemical industry, for measurement, control and regulation. It was a hot time, where I programmed in Assembler, Fortan and PL/M very close to the hardware and learned a lot. But at that time I got a rough idea of the developments in the field of home computers from home computer magazines. For more my time was not enough at that time.

The device

The Sinclair ZX Spectrum came probably in Great Britain at a price of 125 £ or 175 £ on the market and was the successor of the Sinclair ZX81. The processor was a Zilog Z80 (Z80A with 3.5 MHz). The calculator had 16 or 48 KB of RAM and 16 KB of read-only memory (ROM). The 16 KB versions could later be expanded to 48 KB by adding RAM. The device had a graphics output of 256 × 192 pixels in 15 colors. A commercially available cassette recorder is connected for storing data. Hardware expansions can be connected via a slot.
 

LittleDude

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Jun 17, 2014
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I had a ZX81 and then the Spectrum. We used to spend ages typing out programs from magazines just to get the most crude and basic games. If people thought floppy disks were old school, I don't know what they would have made of us backing up our games on cassettes. Soon lost interest and didn't get back into computers for perhaps another 10 years.
 

mlnevese

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May 3, 2015
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I really liked the diversity of hardware and OS we had back then. TRS 80 and Color, ZX, Apple II, IBM PC, and later Commodore 64, MSX, Atari, Amiga and Mac and Windows. I'm not sure the nearly universal adoption of Windows we have these days is actually a good thing.
 

JasonUK

Level 5
Apr 14, 2020
232
The ZX Spectrum is a cultural icon in the UK.
Clive Sinclair was a real genius- he could have easily been the British Steve Jobs.
What's not to like about spongy rubber keyboards, colour clash and temperamental (& really long) program/game load times? :)

The ZX Spectrum was very much part of growing up (at least in the UK & some other European countries). Much better machines obviously followed but a surprising number of future programmers/game developers cut their teeth with assembly/machine code on the Spectrum... Some of the old Spectrum games are still a lot of fun 40years on, simple but frustratingly addictive.
 

jetman

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Jun 6, 2017
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What still amazes me is how much content games programmers were able to squeeze into 48k (or even 16k). Not a single byte was wasted. They also found ways to really push the hardware- using some very clever audio and visual tricks. And some of these games are very playable even now. I can spend hours with a Spectrum emulator playing some classics.

The late, great Sir Clive..

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