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| | Previous Messages | Posted By
SVS
on 2021-09-19
09:08:07
 |  Re: Sir Clive Sinclair has died, father of the ZX Spectrum!
What was your first memory and introduction to the ZX Spectrum?
In the days one of my friend had borrowed a ZX81. I remember we passed a whole day to learn how to program it. Then we start "to program a game"  . Just the "explosion routine" was written in Basic (ASCII graphic) when it was evening! What old good days! 
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Posted By
Mad
on 2021-09-18
15:03:39
| Re: Sir Clive Sinclair has died, father of the ZX Spectrum!
My first contact with "western hardware" was a ZX81. I remember modifying a basic program of the older brother of a class mate to output stupid nonsense instead of the original texts. Not too proud of that, but the computer itself was really impressive for me.
In the GDR we didn't knew such kind of technology, like almost all "western technology" it had a look and feel like a toy but was capable of doing more than most of our own "eastern" computers. At least it seemed to me superior. Never had contact to a real ZX Spectrum but I can say, that most of the games are really impressive, mainly by the sheer CPU power. Uh these guys scroll the screen by moving/shifting bitmap memory and all that only by CPU? Lately I read that the "FLI" Modes of the Spectrum are done via memory copying.. :/ Pretty tough stuff, seems to be one of the most capable computers back then.. Seems like the Spectrum catapulted the home computers into a new era. And as far as I know the plus/4 originally should've been a competitor for its sheer market power at that time. R.I.P.
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Posted By
George
on 2021-09-17
17:53:02
 | Re: Sir Clive Sinclair has died, father of the ZX Spectrum!
My friend from Greece had a ZX Spectrum. The machine was more popular there then here in Germany, because we were more into Commodore. I was the plus/4 guy, because the 64 was much more expensive.
I remember still arguing with him, which plattform had the better games. And he was right i think, because the scene was bigger than ours.
My friend and i brought a ZX Spectrum back to live lately. Was a great experience and fun.
The 80's had a great variaty and rivalary of homecomputes back then. It was the golden age of homecomputing for me.
So thank you Clive Sinclair for the great times and discussions because of your machines. I know, you did not like homecomputers, but that does not matter. Its the effect that counts at the end.
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Posted By
Atisoft
on 2021-09-17
08:07:16
| Re: Sir Clive Sinclair has died, father of the ZX Spectrum!
I am very sad. R.I.P. My favorit ZX Spectrum game is CHAOS. Someone could really port it to plus/4.
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Posted By
JimmyCoupe
on 2021-09-17
06:17:51
 | Re: Sir Clive Sinclair has died, father of the ZX Spectrum!
When people think of Sinclair they think of Sir Clive, the man is a true legend and will never be forgotten. People may have poked and laughed but I always respected. RIP my friend and thank you for every invention you gave us. See you in heaven.
Edit: What was your first memory and introduction to the ZX Spectrum? mine was popping around my friends on a Saturday morning to play Inca Curse on my friends ZX81 to find that his dad had just bought this new computer called a ZX Spectrum, moments later we were playing Fairlight :-), what a game to welcome me to the new era of 8bit gaming. A very fond memory of mine.
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Posted By
MIK
on 2021-09-17
05:16:10
 | Re: Sir Clive Sinclair has died, father of the ZX Spectrum!
Who would of thought a machine with no on/off switch, no joyports, a 1 channel beeper for sound and an operating system that required keyboard shorthand to use would do so well.
Not only helped by it's low price point but released at a perfect time when no body cared how it worked, just as long as it did and more importantly they had a computer!
A class mate had one and I recall playing War of the World's with him listening to the Album of the same name! Try we did but could never get far in the game.
Once my Amiga 1200 had some proper speed I enjoyed emulating the Spectrum. Around 1998 HMV released a CD with over 3000 games on it with hundreds of commercial titles, amazing how they got away with it but it saved me hunting and downloading them during the early days of the web.
I didn't get a real ZX Spectrum until the early 2000's, I could never get a stable picture trying to tune it in so had to do the composite video hack on the RF unit. I have a couple of tapes for it such as Rick Dangerous, Ikari Warriors, Ghost 'n Goblins, WEC Le Man's and one I've always been fond of called Switchblade.
A few year back I bought a ZX Spectrum Vega, might not be the best way to play the odd game but does me and has an SDcard slot for messing about with.
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Posted By
SVS
on 2021-09-17
03:35:00
| Re: Sir Clive Sinclair has died, father of the ZX Spectrum!
A great one, surely.
One of his creatures, the ZX81 (I own one ) has just 8K ROM and 1K RAM but is even able to perform trigonometric calculus'
Long live to lord Sinclair!
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Posted By
MMS
on 2021-09-17
02:07:59
 | Re: Sir Clive Sinclair has died, father of the ZX Spectrum!
R.I.P. Sir Clive Sinclair!
He was a pure genius, though some of his creations had issues, those were brilliant, unfortunately most of them were rushed into production at a prototype stage.
Sinclair QL for Sinclair was what the 264 for Commodore. While 264's destiny was the software and connector incompatibility, the internally 32 bit QL had initial design issues (bugs) and the microdrives that made it an almost useless computer for a year. Later on numerouos companies used this very potential computer, and the first version of Linux also developed to this computer. Built in Superbasic was also a great thing, after bugs were removed. With a little more RAM (or easier expandability) and better peripheries the Plus/4 could have been what the QL planned to be
Microdrives could be the next great fast and cheap backup devices, if the capacity would be bigger (eg 350-400KB) and the tape media could be tougher and more reliable (certainly the media should have been bigger too then). It had the loading speed of 15KB/s! Just iumagine, this speed is comparable to an 1551 floppy drive used with a turbo loader.
C5 was a colossal failure, but was clearly ahead of it's time as an EV. Too bad Sir Sinclair did not think about a car style like the Smart ForTwo or Toyota i-Road, the more protective (safer) and water/rain-free C5 could have been a much bigger success.
I own a ZX Spectrum 48k, and it is a cute little machine in it's simplicity and easy expandability. Like VIC-20 and C64 it was a starting point for several (now legendary) programmers. I was crazym how complex programs were written for it, and how complex hardwares designed for it.
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Posted By
retroscener
on 2021-09-16
23:18:39
 | Re: Sir Clive Sinclair has died, father of the ZX Spectrum!
Clive was a genius yet he never really used his creations. He made home computers far more cheaper and accessible to the general public which soon lead to the Commodore VIC 20, 64 then the 264 series. I never owned a Sinclair Spectrum but about to rectify it as I preoordered the Spectrum Next V2 which should be near to production soon. R.I.P Sir Clive Sinclair.
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Posted By
Csabo
on 2021-09-16
19:34:21
| Re: Sir Clive Sinclair has died, father of the ZX Spectrum!
Very sad to hear it. R.I.P.
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Posted By
Luca
on 2021-09-16
19:12:35
 | Re: Sir Clive Sinclair has died, father of the ZX Spectrum!
Truly, end of an era. We can consider him the real inventor of the "home computer" paradigm. Thank you Sir Sinclair, rest in peace, 'coz your creation survived after you.
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Posted By
Doug
on 2021-09-16
18:19:03
| Re: Sir Clive Sinclair has died, father of the ZX Spectrum!
It's hard to overstate Sir Clive's contribution. He was responsible for introducing a whole generation of kids to computers. The Spectrum literally exploded onto the scene in the early 80s. You could walk into a shop like WH Smiths (a news agents!) and just buy one for a fraction of the cost of its competitors. And that's all that mattered. Rich kids had BBC micros, discerning individuals (like me) went for Commodores but everyone else had Speccies. And they hugely outnumbered us. Personally I never cared for the machine, but a hell of a lot of people did. I've lost count of how many coders I've worked with over the years who say it was the Spectrum that got them coding.
Thank you Sir Clive.
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Posted By
MIK
on 2021-09-17
03:58:15
| Sir Clive Sinclair has died, father of the ZX Spectrum!
He died at home at the age of 81 having suffered from a long illness. R.I.P
Commomdore made our beloved TED series because of his classic ZX Spectrum computer so we give thanks to him for that.
ZX Spectrum is a great little machine though with many a great game to be enjoyed so if you have not had the pleasure do so.
Thanks to the Spectrum, Plus/4 got Saboteur,Dizzy, Manic Miner, Sabre Wulf, Elite and many more...
Cheers Sir Clive! 
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