Comments on: With This Sinclair ZX81 I Will Conquer the Galaxy

By: Arya Tangguh

Arya Tangguh — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:59:17 +0000

Fortunately, this SINCLAIR Z81 at year 1982 was give me an guidance to the computer world, as now my work field and my major. Now I had several Professional servers project with worldwide network supporting to many businesses..

I was knowing, popeyed, inspired and learned when my brother introduced me, teach me when I was in 1st grade Junior Highschool.

Now, its looks a simple machine, unuseful but its meaningful in my live, and my family…

Thanks a lot, God!

By: pastile cresterea potentei

pastile cresterea potentei — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 19:34:50 +0000

pastile cresterea potentei…

[...]With This Sinclair ZX81 I Will Conquer the Galaxy « Lev Grossman[...]…

By: Web Design Company Philippines

Web Design Company Philippines — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 19:18:37 +0000

Web Design Company Philippines…

[...]With This Sinclair ZX81 I Will Conquer the Galaxy « Lev Grossman[...]…

By: fourcultures

fourcultures — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 04:55:54 +0000

Thank you – that photo of the ZX81 manual really brings back memories. To me it absolutely was the handbook for the bedroom revolution. I’m writing this on a toshiba netbook which has revisited some of the quality features of the ZX81 – toy keyboard, inadequate screen, lack of built in memory. But I love it. Reflecting on your comment about looking outward towards the web (now) vs. looking inward towards the processor (then), I quite agree. My first encounters with Linux reminded me of something and it was those first fumblings as a kid with that marvelous black box that actually responded to the instructions you gave it and didn’t hide its guts from you. The ‘great’ thing about the ZX81 was you more or less had to use machine code to get it to do anything worthwhile.
By the way, you didn’t miss much with the ROM expansion to 16k. Mine had a dodgy connection so at any moment the entire thing would wipe itself. The Sinclair insistance that all computers should be capricious by design, well at least that remains, though the ZX81 is all but forgotten.

By: Alison

Alison — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:14:53 +0000

Until the room is repainted pink, it is still an ambiguous space, and needs clarification. Has the artwork been changed to showcase a full spectrum of art, or is Haly looking at UFO’s? Has the light had a dimmer added to the switch? Are the window treatments puffy? You need to action at least of some of these, as well as add floor rugs and vintage photos of her mother as a child. Don’t worry, America has just got a new IKEA catalogue.

By: Jen

Jen — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 13:49:15 +0000

Love your blog!

By: Church

Church — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 19:00:38 +0000

Holy crap. I did computer camp back in the 80s and we got one of these (well, the Timex/Sinclair version (produced, purely coincidentally, mere miles from my house)) as a bonus.

Insanely frustrating to work with. Even with the memory expansion pack. I envied my friends with Commodores. Hell, the Trash-80s at school were a relief to work with.

And then I got the IBM Peanut. Oh yeaaaah. Look at the rims on *this* rig ladies…

By: Dags

Dags — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:29:22 +0000

I know a few, but they’re… well… in Serbian.

I’d indulge you, but somehow all my blog posts about any and all things Serbian turn into rampant snarkfests before you can say “Gremlin Graphics”.

My non-volatile memory is sadly defunct. *sighs in defeat*

By: dennitzio

dennitzio — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 05:35:11 +0000

We had Apple ][s but my friend had a ZX-80. There was something SO Erector Set about how when you hit Enter the screen would go blank because the computer couldn’t draw it at the same time. He actually got some cool programs running on it, before ordering a build-it-yourself Commodore clone. I, on the other hand, got tired of the whole program-in-your-program-and-save-to-tape paradigm damn fast and was really glad when we got VisiCalc and a floppy and whatever the heck game was available back then…

By: Leverus

Leverus — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 02:39:16 +0000

@Dags we totally need a blog about Serbian nerdiness

@M I guess. I fricking hate my wikipedia page but feel like wikigod will punish me if I edit it

in retrospect I don’t even know why we didn’t have an Apple II, they had them by then, except that it was cheaper ..