ZX Spectrum

[Chippy_Tea]

Went on sale 38 years ago today.

Did you have one did it get you into gaming and PC's?

Jet set willy (in video below) what a game.

 

[Graz]

Sure did, first actual computer I had at home bought for me and my brother by our parents. Wasn't first gaming system, had an Atari VCS as well but you couldn't write code on that.

It was supposed to be for educational reasons primarily but we played a lot of games on it, more so after we moved house and the lad next door but one had loads of copied games we could borrow. Did start to learn BASIC though as well as typing in the listings out of magazines which never worked either as you'd made a mistake or they had.

Kids don't know how easy they have it now not having to wait several minutes for a game to load off tape and half the time it didn't work. You got to learn how the modem noises on the tape related to the loading bars on the screen and whether your game was going to load or to start again. Let alone the game graphics, sound and so on compared to the blocky sprites and bleeps we had back then.

Eventually migrated to a C64 and then an Amiga before PCs became something you used at home. Obviously various consoles along the way too.

 

[Linalmeemow]

My first computer, got it for my 8th birthday in November 1983. Probably the most excited I've ever been about getting anything. 16k, later upgraded to 48k via a RAM pack that would crash the machine if you so much as breathed on it. I wasted thousands of hours gaming on it, happy days indeed!

 

[kelper]

I had a Dragon32 in the early eighties.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Poll Added.

The top selling games consoles as listed by IGN. (maximum allowed by forum listed)

 

[terrym]

I bought what was probably one of the first Spectrums. A 16k version for £125 mail order (whats that worth now ? ), the 32k version was £175, and I think there was a waiting list at the time. Rubber keys, odd commands, difficult to enter stuff. Ages to load via the cassette, assuming it would at all. I did upgrade the memory by a massive 32k using a box which I plugged in at the back. And I seem to remember modifying it with a piece of copper as a heat sink because they ran so hot. I did learn to use Basic on it but it took ages to do and achieved very little. Hungry Horace etc but my favourite was Space Invaders. I found a site a few years back where you could download some of teh old games to run on a PC simulator app. The later version Mk2? had a key board that was better but I had moved on by then.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I bought a ZX Spectrum for the kids in the 80's. Paid £120 which was a lot of money then. I was also paid about £30 for a cassette player which was a con. Still got the ZX in the attic somewhere. The games were also expensive I learnt Bascule and wrote quite a few for the kids.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I have probably owned every mainstream console since after getting the bug back in the Sinclair spectrum days, my favourite was the Dreamcast as it was the first console with a built in modem that allowed online gaming and browsing the internet.





Anyone remember Crazy Taxi

 

[gb0wers]

I had a zx81 bought used to learn to program on. didn't get in to gaming until a few years later when I was given a 286 that had s hoookey copy of quake on it.

 

[simon12]

I had a ZX spectrum + 48K then atari ST then got into gaming PCs.

 

[Linalmeemow]

I bought what was probably one of the first Spectrums. A 16k version for £125 mail order (whats that worth now ? )

I was chatting to the blokes who run the Retro Computer Museum here in Leicester (RCM Home) a couple of years ago, and they reckon a revision one 16k Spectrum fetches over £300 just for the mainboard these days. A pristine boxed version would be a good bit more than that.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I had a ZX spectrum + 48K then atari ST then got into gaming PCs.

I used to build my own Gaming PC's back in the day but the price of components (especially graphics cards) got out of hand so i reluctantly moved over to consoles, i still thing keyboard and mouse is the only way to play FPS's but i have got used to second best over time.

 

[prog99]

I have probably owned every mainstream console since after getting the bug back in the Sinclair spectrum days, my favourite was the Dreamcast as it was the first console with a built in modem that allowed online gaming and browsing the internet.





Anyone remember Crazy Taxi

i stupidly sold my Dreamcast.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

i stupidly sold my Dreamcast.

I think mine is still at my parents house.

 

[terrym]

I had a zx81 bought used to learn to program on. didn't get in to gaming until a few years later when I was given a 286 that had s hoookey copy of quake on it.

Wasn't there a ZX80 even before the ZX81?

I was chatting to the blokes who run the Retro Computer Museum here in Leicester (RCM Home) a couple of years ago, and they reckon a revision one 16k Spectrum fetches over £300 just for the mainboard these days. A pristine boxed version would be a good bit more than that.

The stuff we chuck away

 

[gb0wers]

Wasn't there a ZX80 even before the ZX81?

Yes. ZX80 was white as I recall. ZX81, which I still have (plus a RAM pack) was black. The 80 and 81 refer to the release year, I think.

 

[Clint]

I never was interested in such stuff...I had a Jack Russel and a fishing rod!
My lads have got all the latest things...at least it's keeping them occupied at the moment.
A chap in work collects consoles..he has around 300...

 

[chthon]

I bought a ZX Spectrum in September 1984, the 48k model. The RMT was still operating and my dad was chief ship's engineer there, so we could cross the Channel for free, and could take the train from Dover to Canterbury for a smaller fee.

However, I was already busy with microprocessors since 1980. I could not afford a computer then, only drool at the windows of electronics shops (like Tandy).

I still have it, although it's not functional any more. I think the ULA was damaged, because one of the features at the end was that system had display troubles and started resetting continually.

I had four years of fun with it. I designed a 16-bit CPU in assembler, played (and copied!) a whole lot of games. I also built an extension card for digital electronics and to bring out the video signal without RF. I definitely learnt a whole lot from this thing.

I also still have two 16k versions which I found at my second job and brought home with me.

 

[Bevvied]

Regarding gaming, I'm the middle aged male version of a female oap with no manual dexterity.
I somewhat stupidly purchased a PS4 along with a dozen games thinking it would give me something to do when the wife watches wifey stuff on the telly. Singularly the biggest waste of money in my entire life lol.

 

[terrym]

All we need now is for recumbent owner @MyQul to tell us he has a Sinclair C5 tucked away somewhere!