Gemmel Posted 11 March, 2011 Share Posted 11 March, 2011 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12703674 Having asked Father Christmas for a Vic 20, he became my best friend when he bought me a Commadore 64 instead. The ZX81 was still around, but i never had one and was replaced by the ZX spectrum, which plenty of my mates had. The article suggests that the ZX81 spurred a generation of computer programmers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barfy Posted 11 March, 2011 Share Posted 11 March, 2011 I had a zx81 and went along to some evening class for kids who wanted to learn how to programme. Unfortunately back then the geekiness of the other kids was too much so I gave up after a few weeks... I am now an administrator instead of a cool 30 something games designer with a goatee beard... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Special K Posted 11 March, 2011 Share Posted 11 March, 2011 I have one along with the 16K ram pack that plugs into the back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimond Geezer Posted 11 March, 2011 Share Posted 11 March, 2011 I had one! I badgered my parents for it for christmas, but I'm sure in was about £50 rather than nearly £70 as quoted in the link. I had to buy the monitor (telly ) myself & got a second-hand b&w for £25 from Huskys on The Triangle. I had tipex marks on the cassette player volume control, one on the casing & one on the knob which had to be lined up correctly to download games. Then I got the 16k RAM pack, wow.... there was no stopping me then. I loved the look of the thing, it was so cool, but the flat keyboard was a problem when "gaming" as you couldn't feel the key positions, I got around this problem by building up small piles of those self adhesive reinforcing rings (the sticky rings you put on holes in paper so they don't tear when you put it in ring binders) on the relevant keys, so you could feel them without looking away from the screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 11 March, 2011 Share Posted 11 March, 2011 Yep, had one. Slightly annoyed that I didn't keep hold of it for posterity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecuk268 Posted 11 March, 2011 Share Posted 11 March, 2011 Still got one up in the loft somewhere. Might get it down and plug it in to my LED flatscreen TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctoroncall Posted 11 March, 2011 Share Posted 11 March, 2011 Parents got a Dragon 32. I remember loading games from the tape recorder and taking ages to load as it never did it first time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thedelldays Posted 11 March, 2011 Share Posted 11 March, 2011 C64 was the first machine I had...loved it...then the zenith of computer gaming machines....a C Amiga 500+..wow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 11 March, 2011 Share Posted 11 March, 2011 The keyboards were made on the IOW if I remember correctly. We had one to take apart and play with. I still have an Intel Intellec 4/40 complete with punched tape assembler. It is regarded as the first desktop computer and really ought to be in a museum. A bit like me, I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint_Jonny Posted 11 March, 2011 Share Posted 11 March, 2011 Ive never even seen one but I do find the whole subject fascinating because of the field I want to get into upon graduation. Can't imagine working with just 1kb (or 17 total if I was a lucky boy and had a packet of blu-tak!). Heady times! Clive Sinclair is correct when he says we don't think about the amount of computer memory we use these days, it barely crosses my mind unless i'm designing for iPhone or Android. You can even afford to be pretty careless with memory usage with the Xbox 360 given how clever the engine environments are etc. Im babbling on now so i'll shut up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suewhistle Posted 11 March, 2011 Share Posted 11 March, 2011 I've got a ZX80 somewhere which I got from a relly who worked at the assembly plant. Found I couldn't do much with it so gave up. Not just memory Jonny, I started with a 2.8k modem then jumped to 14.4k... so I still have a bit of respect for bandwidth... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Chalet Posted 11 March, 2011 Share Posted 11 March, 2011 I had one! I badgered my parents for it for christmas, but I'm sure in was about £50 rather than nearly £70 as quoted in the link. I had to buy the monitor (telly ) myself & got a second-hand b&w for £25 from Huskys on The Triangle. I had tipex marks on the cassette player volume control, one on the casing & one on the knob which had to be lined up correctly to download games. Then I got the 16k RAM pack, wow.... there was no stopping me then. I loved the look of the thing, it was so cool, but the flat keyboard was a problem when "gaming" as you couldn't feel the key positions, I got around this problem by building up small piles of those self adhesive reinforcing rings (the sticky rings you put on holes in paper so they don't tear when you put it in ring binders) on the relevant keys, so you could feel them without looking away from the screen. My god, I forgot all about that LOL. My computer history was Spectrum 48k, Spectrum +3 (yes the disk drive model with 128k), Commodore Amiga, 286, 386, 486 etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonnyboy Posted 12 March, 2011 Share Posted 12 March, 2011 i had the poor Commodore plus 4, and then the excellent Amiga beater - the Atari ST Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petersfield Saint Posted 12 March, 2011 Share Posted 12 March, 2011 Spectrum 48k, BBC Model B then Amiga 500. The family also had an Atari VCS, then CBS Colecovision games consoles - happy days! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saint_jas Posted 12 March, 2011 Share Posted 12 March, 2011 Had a commodore plus 4, then a spectrum 128k, then Atari ST. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonnyboy Posted 12 March, 2011 Share Posted 12 March, 2011 Had a commodore plus 4, then a spectrum 128k, then Atari ST. nice one, i also had and still have an atari jaguar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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