dogbert Posted April 23, 2007 Report Share Posted April 23, 2007 25 years ago today, Sir Clive Sinclair revealed the successor to the ZX-81, the ZX Sinclair Spectrum. And a revolution was kickstarted. What was revolutionary about the Spectrum was the balance of price/power/accessability for the UK market. There were cheaper computers available, there were more powerful computers available. The Spectrum struck a balance while offering significantly more power than its predecessor, the ZX-81. It used a standard tapedeck for storage & looked good on a basic TV which reduced the bar for entry. One ancedote about the 'Speccy' that I love is how Sinclair Research got around the cost of memory chips - Sinclair bought thrown away memory chips from other manufacturers as they realised that many of these chips had only one or two errors on them. So the 48Kb Spectrum was set up to only use "half" of a memory chip, which meant it needed double the number of memory chips but could use these rejected chips which were far far cheaper. Hey Hey, 16K - quite possibly the best 'tribute' to the ZX Spectrum & this era ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starhawk Posted April 23, 2007 Report Share Posted April 23, 2007 That was a great video, Brian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbert Posted April 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2007 BBC News article on 'how the Spectrum began a revolution'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry the Clown Posted April 23, 2007 Report Share Posted April 23, 2007 Where's the Blu Ray drive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camp Posted April 23, 2007 Report Share Posted April 23, 2007 Did the US version have a different keyboard? I remember it looking slightly different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainl Posted April 23, 2007 Report Share Posted April 23, 2007 I heart my Speccy in a way that I'm not entirely sure is healthy. It's certainly responsible for me working in tech, that's for sure. Dear God, I feel old that it's 25, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbert Posted July 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2007 Absolutely fantastic images of various Sinclair Research prototypes & design sketches. These were previously unseen, and absolutely *rock*. Include sketches of the mythical Loki "game console" that Sinclair Research were working on in the Spectrum+ era. And here's a variety of sketches & photos of the original ZX Spectrum, taken from the archive of its industrial designer. Fantastic! Love this QL image: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry the Clown Posted July 16, 2007 Report Share Posted July 16, 2007 Crikey. That design was ahead of its time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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