Computing History - Sinclair ZX81 Computer Launched

Re:Computing History - Sinclair ZX81 Computer Launched by _b8r0 on Saturday March 05, 2011 @09:59AM (#2291552)

I'm amazed this got to the front page. It's a terrible article about a computer that was the precursor to the computer that completely revolutionised the UK's computing industry, was father (or grandfather) to millions of British geeks and nerds, and taught a generation how to program.

Some better links for those wondering what the hell this is all about:

http://oldcomputers.net/zx81.html - Includes the pictures of the ZX81's other key use as a door stop

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX81 - A highly informative Wikipedia article not just about the zx81 but covering some of the business end of things as well.

http://www.1up.com/features/spectraspective-history-sinclair... - A great article covering the history of the successor (the ZX Spectrum) including the ZX81.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEV1gefvy_k - 3d Monster Maze, the great-great-great grandaddy of Doom and Wolfenstein 3d. Skip to about a minute in if you're not bothered about the loading noise.

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Re:Computing History - Sinclair ZX81 Computer Launched by leoc on Saturday March 05, 2011 @11:31AM (#2291710)

The Register's article http://www.reghardware.com/2011/03/04/sinclair_zx81_annivers... is not bad.

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Re:Computing History - Sinclair ZX81 Computer Launched by rbanffy on Saturday March 05, 2011 @11:06AM (#2291667)

> was the precursor to the computer that completely revolutionised the UK's computing industry

I may be wrong, but I always had the impression that honor belonged to the Beeb, not the Spectrum.

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Re:Computing History - Sinclair ZX81 Computer Launched by _b8r0 on Sunday March 06, 2011 @02:49PM (#2294853)

The Spectrum came out before the BBC Micro and was a success because it was cheap, colour and could make beepy noises. The BBC Micro was much more an educational tool. The British Government put out a list of computers that were appropriate for schools and Sinclair was furious his computers weren't on the list, so he offered schools a ridiculous deal that some took, but the majority of schools used BBC Micros because of the BBC programmes. Really it was a very bad move and many schools continued by using Acorn Archimedes computers instead of PCs even as the Internet was taking off and it was quite clear that we were facing a Windows world.

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Re:Computing History - Sinclair ZX81 Computer Launched by leoc on Saturday March 05, 2011 @11:29AM (#2291706)

My recollection is that schools adopted the BBC, but consumers bought the Spectrum. Later on (as I recall) the C64 took an increasingly large share of the market.

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Re:Computing History - Sinclair ZX81 Computer Launched by rbanffy on Saturday March 05, 2011 @06:28PM (#2292814)

Interesting. The BBC was, in many respects, very sophisticated for the time. It makes sense the simpler, cheaper, Spectrum made a larger splash in the home market.

In Brazil, the home market belonged to Apple II clones at first. Small offices split evenly between TRS-80s and IIs, with a small participation of CP/M machines. Later the home split between IIs and MSXs, losing space progressively to IBM clones. And then it all became this dull x86 world we now know.

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