6 ms·

ZX81: Small black box of computing desire

84 points by Peroni 16y ago

kingofspain 16y ago
1K of RAM if you were a sucker :) My dad brought his home with the massive 16k expansion brick. Playing with this (my first computer) and waiting for a game called Rings Around Saturn to load was literally the most futuristic-feeling experience of my life. I remember nothing about the game itself, other than the kind of wistful enchantment that so few things in life can inspire. Where did it all go wrong?!
- Peroni 16y ago
  16k expansion brick I think brick is definitely the best description! For those of you too young to remember: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3074/2671527140_fd269593b5.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3074/2671527140_fd269593b5.jp...
  - metageek 16y ago
    Nah, bricks stay put.
- Isofarro 16y ago
  "Rings Around Saturn" Interesting, haven't heard of it. http://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/generated/tapeinfo/s/SuperPrograms2.html http://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/generated/tapeinfo/s/SuperP... -- Listing and play it online.
  - kingofspain 16y ago
    Didn't even occur to me to look for it. Thanks for that! Looks even simpler than I expected. I was looking for an idea for a simple iOS game to get started. This may be it :)
- 6ren 16y ago
  I also got a futuristic feeling from the science-fiction covers of the manuals. http://james.istop.com/zx81/cover.html http://james.istop.com/zx81/cover.html
- husted 16y ago
  Ahh yes, the 16k expansion brick. If you sneezed too hard or a fly landed on the table it would reset. Didn't it also turn really hot after a few hours?
mrspeaker 16y ago
"Micro Men" is a new (I think) comedy from the BBC about Clive Sinclair http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00n5b92 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00n5b92 The clips (needs proxy) look hilarious - in a very weird, slow, dark, english-humour kind of way!
- kingofspain 16y ago
  I think it showed originally last summer but on BBC 4 (which has relatively few viewers). Caught a couple and it was kind of fun. Makes Sinclair look like a bit of tyrant!
- rwmj 16y ago
  It's more dramatic comedy than factual. On the other hand it is very entertaining and well worth watching if you can get your hands on a copy. (Also has Martin Freeman of The Office fame, and Alexander Armstrong who is a well-known British comedian).
  - sambeau 16y ago
    While they compressed some events and characters nothing was made up. The 'Battle of the Baron of the Beef' (Where Clive Sinclair started a brawl with Chris Curry) is a real event (and one well known to people in the Cambridge IT industry). Look out for a guest appearance by Sophie Wilson (previously Roger Wilson) as the barmaid.
- follower 16y ago
  I think the whole series is here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=2y8IkcUGV9w http://youtube.com/watch?v=2y8IkcUGV9w
  - ZeroGravitas 16y ago
    It was just a one-off program not a series, but it's been broken up into sub-10 minute chunks for Youtube. Well worth watching. It's probably got relevance for startups as well as historical interest for geeks generally and it touches on the beginnings of ARM which of course is a big deal these days.
ianpurton 16y ago
This was back in the day when programmers were real men and pixels were as big as your fist.
- rayboyd 16y ago
  Don't know about real men, I was just hitting 8 when I finally got my hands on a hand-me-down zx81.
  - Uchikoma 16y ago
    Me neither, real man, I was around 9 when I got hands on a VC20.
athom 16y ago
Terry Pratchett told us a tale of making a crude vision system out of one of these. If I recall correctly, he figured out the memory modules were light sensitive, and if exposed to a focused image, the image could be 'read' straight from memory. I THINK he mentioned part of this in his speech at Penguicon 2.0 (Novi, MI -- 2003)... Actually, he DID!!! I just found a recording of his speech: http://www.archive.org/details/Penguicon_2.0_Terry_Pratchett_Guest_of_Honor_Speech_2003 http://www.archive.org/details/Penguicon_2.0_Terry_Pratchett... He starts talking about playing with the ZX-81 about two and a half minutes in, and at a little after five minutes, starts talking about making one "that can see things." This so impressed fellow guest Eric S. Raymond, that he came charging out of the banquet hall after the speeches to demand to hear more! I had something of a front row seat to this conversation, as I'd already approached Mr. Pratchett to ask about how he'd wound up too radioactive to enter a nuclear facility (also mentioned in the speech, but kind of glossed over). So there I am on the inside of a crowd of onlookers as Terry's elaborating on the radiation story, with a flabbergasted ESR staring in disbelief, and each of us standing not much more than a meter from each other. It was... an interesting experience. I do wholeheartedly recommend that speech. Terry Pratchett is every bit as funny at the podium as he is on paper. He had us rolling!
patrickod 16y ago
It's articles like these that make me wish I was old enough to have experienced computers before they became "fast". It was these machines that formed the thinking of many of our greatest coders today and I can't relate to that as I'm too young. Oh well
- kingofspain 16y ago
  It still applies. The things that are hard to do today - and those that require ingenious hacks - are the ones that future computers will find trivial.
- szany 16y ago
  I'm guessing the experience is similar to hacking graphing calculators, if you've ever played around with those in school. That's where I got started, on a TI-84+ :) And no, it hasn't damaged my brain, I think.
- jasongullickson 16y ago
  Start spending time programming microcontrollers and relive the 80's at 1/10th of the price.
  - joe42 16y ago
    Do you know of any microcontrollers that you can program ON? (Without needing to flash with a computer?) I've played around with machine code monitors on C64 emulators, and I'd love to have something like this on a microcontroller today. (Perhaps a machine code monitor on a calculator?) I don't know of anything like this.
    - Zaak 16y ago
      Probably the best way to get something like that would be to build it yourself. It may not be the kind of project you're looking for though.
    - DerekL 16y ago
      There's a company called Briel Computers that sells replicas of the Apple I, Altair 8800 and more. The Maker Shed sells a 4-bit microcomputer trainer from Japan. It has a hexadecimal keypad, 1 7-segment LED display, some other lights and a speaker. You could also go to eBay or a swap meet and buy an old microcomputer. http://www.brielcomputers.com/ http://www.brielcomputers.com/ http://www.makershed.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MKGK21 http://www.makershed.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MKGK...
6ren 16y ago
Boast: after writing a character scroll (trivial, just a block memory move - one Z80 instruction, LDIR), I worked out how to do one using the quarter-character "pixels", the heart of which was three bitwise boolean instructions. I was delighted to later see in the source code for the ZX81 basic (by Steve Vickers), that the line drawing routines using those pixels used identical instructions. Boast: at 15, I wrote a game for the ZX81 (in machine code), that had many simultaneous sprites, all animated at once; a tiled scrolled background; a massive ship explosion; and even different keyboard control selections. I showed it to a game retailer, and they agreed to stock it! All I needed to do was supply them with cassettes + covers... Shame: I didn't do this. A good effect was then when I next was running a business, I resolved to not cop out on the difficult things (read: boring). It's important to recognize mistakes as choices (and not things beyond your control, such as intrinsic inability, "I can't"), because then you have the power to choose otherwise.
bootload 16y ago
"... The Sinclair ZX81 was small, black with only 1K of memory ..." It was also small, white with 1k of memory if you bought the 8K ROM upgrade chip (which I still have somewhere) for the zx80 ~ http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/sets/72157607718005837/with/268165912/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/sets/72157607718005837...
lkozma 16y ago
In most Eastern European countries (and in parts of South America, I heard) whole industries grew out of building clones of these machines, usually with a bit more memory but otherwise similar specs. I started programming on one of these when I was 9: http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=632&st=1 http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=632&s...
Keyframe 16y ago
Interestingly enough, I did this a few days ago for a project. http://www.vga.hr/pr/intro.mov http://www.vga.hr/pr/intro.mov (22MBs - and this was an early WIP tests, fonts aren't properly aligned, missing scanlines and stuff)

84 points by Peroni 16y ago

1K of RAM if you were a sucker :) My dad brought his home with the massive 16k expansion brick. Playing with this (my first computer) and waiting for a game called Rings Around Saturn to load was literally the most futuristic-feeling experience of my life. I remember nothing about the game itself, other than the kind of wistful enchantment that so few things in life can inspire. Where did it all go wrong?!

Peroni 16y ago
16k expansion brick I think brick is definitely the best description! For those of you too young to remember: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3074/2671527140_fd269593b5.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3074/2671527140_fd269593b5.jp...
- metageek 16y ago
  Nah, bricks stay put.
Isofarro 16y ago
"Rings Around Saturn" Interesting, haven't heard of it. http://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/generated/tapeinfo/s/SuperPrograms2.html http://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/generated/tapeinfo/s/SuperP... -- Listing and play it online.
- kingofspain 16y ago
  Didn't even occur to me to look for it. Thanks for that! Looks even simpler than I expected. I was looking for an idea for a simple iOS game to get started. This may be it :)
6ren 16y ago
I also got a futuristic feeling from the science-fiction covers of the manuals. http://james.istop.com/zx81/cover.html http://james.istop.com/zx81/cover.html
husted 16y ago
Ahh yes, the 16k expansion brick. If you sneezed too hard or a fly landed on the table it would reset. Didn't it also turn really hot after a few hours?

mrspeaker 16y ago

"Micro Men" is a new (I think) comedy from the BBC about Clive Sinclair http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00n5b92 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00n5b92 The clips (needs proxy) look hilarious - in a very weird, slow, dark, english-humour kind of way!

kingofspain 16y ago
I think it showed originally last summer but on BBC 4 (which has relatively few viewers). Caught a couple and it was kind of fun. Makes Sinclair look like a bit of tyrant!
rwmj 16y ago
It's more dramatic comedy than factual. On the other hand it is very entertaining and well worth watching if you can get your hands on a copy. (Also has Martin Freeman of The Office fame, and Alexander Armstrong who is a well-known British comedian).
- sambeau 16y ago
  While they compressed some events and characters nothing was made up. The 'Battle of the Baron of the Beef' (Where Clive Sinclair started a brawl with Chris Curry) is a real event (and one well known to people in the Cambridge IT industry). Look out for a guest appearance by Sophie Wilson (previously Roger Wilson) as the barmaid.
follower 16y ago
I think the whole series is here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=2y8IkcUGV9w http://youtube.com/watch?v=2y8IkcUGV9w
- ZeroGravitas 16y ago
  It was just a one-off program not a series, but it's been broken up into sub-10 minute chunks for Youtube. Well worth watching. It's probably got relevance for startups as well as historical interest for geeks generally and it touches on the beginnings of ARM which of course is a big deal these days.

ianpurton 16y ago

This was back in the day when programmers were real men and pixels were as big as your fist.

rayboyd 16y ago
Don't know about real men, I was just hitting 8 when I finally got my hands on a hand-me-down zx81.
- Uchikoma 16y ago
  Me neither, real man, I was around 9 when I got hands on a VC20.

athom 16y ago

Terry Pratchett told us a tale of making a crude vision system out of one of these. If I recall correctly, he figured out the memory modules were light sensitive, and if exposed to a focused image, the image could be 'read' straight from memory. I THINK he mentioned part of this in his speech at Penguicon 2.0 (Novi, MI -- 2003)... Actually, he DID!!! I just found a recording of his speech: http://www.archive.org/details/Penguicon_2.0_Terry_Pratchett_Guest_of_Honor_Speech_2003 http://www.archive.org/details/Penguicon_2.0_Terry_Pratchett... He starts talking about playing with the ZX-81 about two and a half minutes in, and at a little after five minutes, starts talking about making one "that can see things." This so impressed fellow guest Eric S. Raymond, that he came charging out of the banquet hall after the speeches to demand to hear more! I had something of a front row seat to this conversation, as I'd already approached Mr. Pratchett to ask about how he'd wound up too radioactive to enter a nuclear facility (also mentioned in the speech, but kind of glossed over). So there I am on the inside of a crowd of onlookers as Terry's elaborating on the radiation story, with a flabbergasted ESR staring in disbelief, and each of us standing not much more than a meter from each other. It was... an interesting experience. I do wholeheartedly recommend that speech. Terry Pratchett is every bit as funny at the podium as he is on paper. He had us rolling!

patrickod 16y ago

It's articles like these that make me wish I was old enough to have experienced computers before they became "fast". It was these machines that formed the thinking of many of our greatest coders today and I can't relate to that as I'm too young. Oh well

kingofspain 16y ago
It still applies. The things that are hard to do today - and those that require ingenious hacks - are the ones that future computers will find trivial.
szany 16y ago
I'm guessing the experience is similar to hacking graphing calculators, if you've ever played around with those in school. That's where I got started, on a TI-84+ :) And no, it hasn't damaged my brain, I think.
jasongullickson 16y ago
Start spending time programming microcontrollers and relive the 80's at 1/10th of the price.
- joe42 16y ago
  Do you know of any microcontrollers that you can program ON? (Without needing to flash with a computer?) I've played around with machine code monitors on C64 emulators, and I'd love to have something like this on a microcontroller today. (Perhaps a machine code monitor on a calculator?) I don't know of anything like this.
  - Zaak 16y ago
    Probably the best way to get something like that would be to build it yourself. It may not be the kind of project you're looking for though.
  - DerekL 16y ago
    There's a company called Briel Computers that sells replicas of the Apple I, Altair 8800 and more. The Maker Shed sells a 4-bit microcomputer trainer from Japan. It has a hexadecimal keypad, 1 7-segment LED display, some other lights and a speaker. You could also go to eBay or a swap meet and buy an old microcomputer. http://www.brielcomputers.com/ http://www.brielcomputers.com/ http://www.makershed.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MKGK21 http://www.makershed.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MKGK...

6ren 16y ago

Boast: after writing a character scroll (trivial, just a block memory move - one Z80 instruction, LDIR), I worked out how to do one using the quarter-character "pixels", the heart of which was three bitwise boolean instructions. I was delighted to later see in the source code for the ZX81 basic (by Steve Vickers), that the line drawing routines using those pixels used identical instructions. Boast: at 15, I wrote a game for the ZX81 (in machine code), that had many simultaneous sprites, all animated at once; a tiled scrolled background; a massive ship explosion; and even different keyboard control selections. I showed it to a game retailer, and they agreed to stock it! All I needed to do was supply them with cassettes + covers... Shame: I didn't do this. A good effect was then when I next was running a business, I resolved to not cop out on the difficult things (read: boring). It's important to recognize mistakes as choices (and not things beyond your control, such as intrinsic inability, "I can't"), because then you have the power to choose otherwise.

bootload 16y ago

"... The Sinclair ZX81 was small, black with only 1K of memory ..." It was also small, white with 1k of memory if you bought the 8K ROM upgrade chip (which I still have somewhere) for the zx80 ~ http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/sets/72157607718005837/with/268165912/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/sets/72157607718005837...

lkozma 16y ago

In most Eastern European countries (and in parts of South America, I heard) whole industries grew out of building clones of these machines, usually with a bit more memory but otherwise similar specs. I started programming on one of these when I was 9: http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=632&st=1 http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=632&s...

Keyframe 16y ago

Interestingly enough, I did this a few days ago for a project. http://www.vga.hr/pr/intro.mov http://www.vga.hr/pr/intro.mov (22MBs - and this was an early WIP tests, fonts aren't properly aligned, missing scanlines and stuff)