Your childhood is now 40 years old (ZX81)

[levi]

A nice look back at one of the machines that we played with in our childhoods. As it says, the ZX81 was hard to get hold of and had a disappointing keyboard (although no more disappointing that that of the ZX80 according to my recollection), but it did pave the way to the ZX spectrum which even as a user of competing systems during my youth, I have to admit it helped kick start the idea of many homes having a computer.

The 40-Year-Old Version: ZX81's sleek plastic case shows no sign of middle-aged spread

'You'll be surprised at how much you can do with a personal computer'

www.theregister.com

 

[Bosbeetle]

Just as old as me ...

 

[TrashyMG]

I restored/upgraded my childhood ZX81 (TS1000 in NA) not too long ago, posted about it a few times in another thread.

Share your projects

Long story short I found my first computer in my Parent's attic when helping clean a little while ago, or should I say most of it... It's a Timex Sinclair TS1000 or a ZX81 known everywhere outside North America. I found it in a bunch of parts, sans case and keyboard, wasn't even sure what it...

pyra-handheld.com

Share your projects

Long story short I found my first computer in my Parent's attic when helping clean a little while ago, or should I say most of it... It's a Timex Sinclair TS1000 or a ZX81 known everywhere outside North America. I found it in a bunch of parts, sans case and keyboard, wasn't even sure what it...

pyra-handheld.com

Share your projects

Long story short I found my first computer in my Parent's attic when helping clean a little while ago, or should I say most of it... It's a Timex Sinclair TS1000 or a ZX81 known everywhere outside North America. I found it in a bunch of parts, sans case and keyboard, wasn't even sure what it...

pyra-handheld.com

 

[TeDaDeS]

I actually never played with a ZX81/ZX80, are there any childhood memory of games you played on it?

I did play with systems that had a Z80 CPU, like Sega Master System / Mega Drive; and my trusted calculator Ti-83 which I liked programming for (which looks somewhat similar to the quality of games on the ZX81).

 

[levi]

Apparently the only games genuinely still kind of worth playing on the old '81 is 3D Monster Maze and 49er. There's been more that's come to the surface since (a Brazilian kind of Pitfall game) and some releases this century for the old machine, but back in the day, most of us sufficed with 3D Monster Maze and it's T-Rex.

 

[TrashyMG]

I remember watching my older sisters play hangman on it, but at the age I was, just having characters pop up on the screen as i randomly hit keys seemed amazing.

 

[fritata]

I don't recall a world before Microsoft . . . but I wish I did.

 

[levi]

Microsoft release date back to 1975 with Altair BASIC. I wasn't born then either. But yeah, I didn't personally see any microsoft software running until about 1989 when I saw my first IBM compatible PC. I got my most experience with it working in IT support in a factory that was running a mix of DOS2, DOS6, Windows 3.1 and Win NT 3.51 in the early 90s. But I've never bought a machine with microsoft software on it, and the only machines I've inherited second hand containing it I've blatted with linux before even booting it up.