Sinclair ZX Spectrum Story - Birth of a Classic | Nostalgia Nerd

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The ZX Spectrum is 35 years old on 23rd April 2017, and it also holds a very special place in my heart, so it's time to wish it a happy birthday... It's the machine I grew up with and which led me to creating this very channel. I've covered the Sinclair ZX Spectrum in the past, but frankly I didn't do it justice, so we're revisiting Sir Clive's iconic 8 bit home micro in detail, starting with The Sinclair Years in this two part documentary.
This first part explores Clive Sinclair's early years, from his childhood to the formation of Sinclair Radionics in 1961, through the mini amplifier period, pocket calculator, black watch and finally his range of computers, starting with the MK14 and culminating in the ZX Spectrum 128k. We'll look at the people involved behind the Spectrum such as Jim Westwood and Chris Curry and explore other avenues such as the famous punch up between Clive and Chris in a Cambridge pub. So hold on tight, and let's get cracking with Jet Set F**king Willy.
Many thanks to Ashens / ashens
and Slopes Game Room / djslopesroom for their voices.
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★Equipment★
Lumix G6 with Vario 14-42mm Lens
Nikon D3200 with 40mm Macro
Corel Video Studio Ultimate X9
Corel Paint Shop Pro X6
Blue Snowball Microphone
♜Resources♜
Music;
The Place Inside 00:10
Chess Pieces 00:40
Switch It Up 03:30
Take That Back 08:00
Which Way is Up? 10:30
Long Way Home 14:40
Come On In 17:50
Coast 22:30
Scarlet Fire 27:00
Omission 29:40
Hall of Mirrors 32:10
Hollywood High 34:10
Funk Down 37:30
Moth 41:30
Cybernoid (ZX Spectrum 128k) 42:50
Pacific Hike 45:20
I Love You 47:10
All music other than ZX Spectrum chiptunes are royalty free, sourced from RU-vid audio library.
Other than the resources listed throughout this video, the following references were used;
www.torrens.org...
Adverts - nosher.net/arc...
Timex Dundee - craigsretrocomp...
Rick Dickinson - www.polymathper...
Prototype ZX82 - Rick Dickinson
If you believe I have forgotten to attribute anything in this video, please let me know, so I can add the source in. It takes time to make these videos and therefore it can be easy to forget things or make a mistake.

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1 окт 2024

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Комментарии : 873

@CaptainPanick 2 года назад

Just returned to this video 5 years later to commemorate the 40'th birthday of the ZX Spectrum, can't believe another 5 years have passed.

@mamborambo 5 лет назад

The 80s were magical years for computer fans, and Sinclair was our wizard.

@Nikku4211 3 года назад

Too bad where I'm from, IBM and compatibles have dominated even back then.

@garethamphlett1008 3 года назад

RIP pioneer Sinclair.

@andresbravo2003 3 года назад

Sir Clive Sinclair sadly passed away today since he was 81 years old. What a shocker that we might love the Sinclair ZX Spectrum in Europe and the Timex Sinclair 2068 in America.

@dndboy13 7 лет назад

"Many of our customers are in the 14-15 age bracket. These are characters who can destroy granite with one blow of their fist" Is there something about British Isle kids I dont know

@ralgomes 3 года назад

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is just a documentary there.

@cyphi474 3 года назад

Offering unlimited returns was nice, but generally stupid idea.

@qwertyiuwg4uwtwthn 3 года назад

R.I.P Clive Sinclair. if it wasnt for you, computers would have never become so common in the household

@marksilgram80 2 года назад

not heard of Steve Jobs then?

@ramirogrant 2 года назад

@@marksilgram80 There products were not oriented for home users, their pricing shows it. Apple II computers retailed for more than 1200 bucks (almost 6k in today's money) at the end of the 70s. Steve jobs did not care to bring computers in the household.

@powervr 2 года назад

sinclair and then commodore... and even atari... obviously steve jobs work was more orientated to fat wallets... not best products but fat wallets... in 1985 when commodore amiga 1000 arise... it was much much better than anything apple... or IBM... funny... did not catch up only... only... when amiga 500 arised... and never to an level that could promote commodore to continue... the world is turning to an computers and mobile phones blocked not... serviceble... that is not good! ;) hope PCs will stay alive... forever... and apple disappears... it should had been apple to disappear not commodore!

@alexanderbjork6451 2 года назад

@@marksilgram80 Steve jobs made expensive computers, he always aimed at the professional market and never cared about the home user. A better example would be Jack Tramiel of Commodore and later Atari, his slogan for the C64 was "Computer for the masses, not the classes". And here in Sweden, the Commodore 64 was the most popular Computer at the time. Jack Tramiel, Sir Clive Sinclair and Lord Alan Sugar are responsible for the achievement of getting computers into homes in many parts of at the time western Europe and I am grateful for that.🙂

@jamesonpatrolagain6975 2 года назад

Ah they would have eventually made their way into the home with or without sir clive

@zBijs 3 года назад

Thank you for all Sir Clive Sinclair! I will spend the next day playing Jet Set Willy to celebrate the Man.

@Phobero 6 лет назад

My first computer! It was very popular in Italy as well - we even had dedicated magazines with a split cassette tape (Spectrum games on one side, C64 games on the other: all pirated, because of course)

@sjale2007 3 года назад

same here, and even reading Alan Ford and Zagor lol (am from Montenegro, then Yugoslavia)

@dunjapaj8849 4 часа назад

Same here in Croatia, former Yugoslavia in those days. Alan Ford also. :)

@slopesgameroom 7 лет назад

What a perfect way to spend Sunday Afternoon. chillin' in the garden and geekin out bout sinclair stuff :D Sorry neighbours. Thanks for letting me be a part of the vid matey :D

@Seasider70 3 года назад

RIP. 1980s icon and British genius.

@arfanmedni7294 3 года назад

RIP Clive Sinclair, gone to silicon heaven.

@joyousmonkey6085 5 лет назад

I really miss these magical years. There was something exciting about home computing in Britain in the early 1980s... getting one's head inside programming for the very first time AND whilst one was a child. The games were all right too.

@joyousmonkey6085 5 лет назад

@@TheOneTrueSpLiT I bow most humbly to your expertise. My father has always been a technophobe, so I lacked such encouragement and learned what I could from books and experimentation. The only programming I've done in my work is extra-curricular, so to speak, using VBA (yuk!) to automate data analysis and presentation. I still enjoy messing around with Perl and Forth, though. But I love the thought that 8-bit BASIC led you on to such dizzying heights - well done!

@blackneos940 5 лет назад

Joyous Monkey It sucks how Encryption is banned now in the U.K.... I feel like setting up a Server to distribute Open Source Encryption Programs. Only to the U.K.. :)

@KegRaider 4 года назад

I think this is why I like the Raspberry Pi so much. I am forcing it onto my kids, but they don't seem to care too much about it, unfortunately. Pity, I even miss the smell of the old software stores! Very unique times. Contemplating buying a "Pi-Top" just so I can play on the thing anywhere! Does anyone else have one?

@stephaneschmitz2849 4 года назад

True. These years really were magical. it also shaped my future career... and as a 14 years old kid living in Belgium, I had to learn english to be able to read the Your Sinclair magazine, and swap cassettes with penpals from all over the world :) What a wonderful era ... lost forever in the mist of time.

@dangriggs3931 4 года назад

I agree and still remember my friends and their spectrums, 64s and others. Perhaps they remember our coco2!. I often wonder if my similar nostalgia to yours is a product not of the particulars of the physical (be it computers or first cars etc), but of our minds..... And will todays youth feel the same when their google brain port takes them back to todays products.... Your thoughts guys and girls.. Dan

@steveknapp244 5 лет назад

I still have my ZX-81. Mine came with a 16kb RAM added onto the back. Typing games in line by line, syntax errors etc. Loved it.

@cazsbricks2223 3 года назад

I still have my ZX Spectrum circuit board!!

@Mandrak789 3 года назад

@@cazsbricks2223 yeah I have two 48K's, sadly not working but well preserved; also keeping a CPC464 which I found (much later) collecting dust in some garage and picked it up

@simoncook1885 3 года назад

Don't wobble that expansion pack!

@edstar83 2 года назад

I still have my Amiga 500.

@endrightwinglunacy 7 лет назад

Always liked Sinclair's design aesthetic. And that 'Sinclair' logo is so clean and simple, yet so effective :)

@penfold7800 Год назад

I think it was possibly borne from manual circuit board tracing with a ruler and pencil. A nod to Clive's love for electronic circuits, and the minimalist ethos.

@ItsTheLondonFella 7 лет назад

My first computer. Still remember buying it from WH Smiths!

@amojak 6 лет назад

far more fun visiting john menzies and programming in a basic random number loop with sound and video :D , of course first adding a long for loop so you could retire and watch while the staff panic trying to shut up all the display speccies :p

@blackneos940 4 года назад

@@amojak Oh God. XD

@tw9294 3 года назад

DankPods song! It's strange hearing Scarlet Fire and not seeing a pair of earbuds get wrecked. @27:01

@slightlytwistedagain 7 лет назад

How many of you remember going into a corner shop to buy your £5 cassette game? Man those were the days before everything was turned into a Tesco Express.

@theincrediblegeneral5135 2 года назад

Not me sadly, I'm 13 and was born in the us. I will always have a memory of getting steam money though!

@arachn01d Год назад

Mastertronic games were 1.99

@FamilienSoelberg 7 лет назад

What a fantastic and well produced show!. I wonder why it hasn't been shown on BBC or Discovery. Thank you.

@RobinStrower 5 лет назад

The first real affordable PC. I loved mine. Sir Clive Sinclair is a genius. All the best, Robin

@Chief81 7 лет назад

My first computer at the age of 6. Never will I forget classic games like all the Dizzys, Skool Daze & Back to Skool, Contact Sam Cruise, The Great Escape & many more. Load a game, eat your dinner, come back & it's crashed. Lol.

@brandonwenzel2844 2 года назад

Being an American I didn't find out about Sinclair and the home micro market until I was in my late 20s. It blew my mind how different the gaming market was over in Europe during that time. Watching videos like this has broadened my knowledge and given me a lot of appreciation for what was going on at the time. And I've gotta say, the company that's always grabbed my attention the most, has been Sinclair. The spectrum is just such a snazzy looking piece of hardware. It'd probably be a huge pain to get into, but if I was going to expand my hardware collection to cover the micro computers, the Spectrum is where I'd start.

@arostwocents 5 месяцев назад

Start with emulation. Play a few classics and then try Gandalf, Manic Pietro and any Zosya Entertainment games (Rubinho Curacho is my face) and be amazed just how much better modern games are than anything released at the time. Is that the case for any other system? A top 50 all time would literally be 45+ modern homebrew and that's crazy

@arostwocents 5 месяцев назад

Gandalf and Manic Pietro use magic to break the systems colour rules. (Learn the colour rules or it won't be as impressive) As someone who had a Spectrum to play with from age 4 the colour magic was jaw dropping for me!

@JohnTandy74 4 месяца назад

1983 it’s were I was lucky enough to start. Appreciate your appreciation🇬🇧🇺🇸

@JohnTandy74 4 месяца назад

Play jet set Willy & Bruce Lee

@arostwocents 4 месяца назад

@@JohnTandy74 Bruce Lee is fantastic. Jet Set Willy is marmite, depends if you like exploration platformers. If you like console style then check out the homebrew Gandalf, I think that's the best console style platformer on Spectrum. Manic Pietro is the best Manic style platformer. Get Out of Mars is a great Metroidvania. Rubinho Curacho is my favourite racer.

@VampireJack10 4 года назад

For me, the rubber keyed 48k speccy is the greatest home computer of all time. Yeah, by todays standards it's a calculator, but for the joy it gave me during the 1980s it's number 1. The amiga is number 2.

@psycronizer 4 года назад

I have to agree....I was about 15 or 16 when i finally had begged and pleaded to mt mom to buy me one..and it was basically the center of my life....the games, the basic programming, then the deep dive into assembly language, learning only from the bloody thicker tech manual before i finally got a book on the subject ! All my school mates had one, and we'd go to each others places after school or on the weekends and and swap games, all pirated on cassette, we had literally hundreds of games from all over the world coming in...it was a high point in my younger days for sure...

@97channel 3 года назад

Rest in peace, the great Sir Clive Sinclair. One of the most prominent visionaries of our time.

@EddieDunckley 6 лет назад

The ZX Spectrum changed my life: It shaped my whole future career. Thank you SIR Clive!!!

@peterd440 5 лет назад

According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies I earn more than 95% of the population and it all started with the ZX Spectrum.

@005AGIMA 5 лет назад

Same. Although I didn't jump on until the +3 so I guess I have to thank Alan as well ;) .....oh wait...I started Programming on my Electron.....so actually for me...."Thanks Chris" ;) :D

@Ambrosius50 4 года назад

Very much the same. I developed and run my first simulations on a Spectrum

@pametnaradionica 4 года назад

Forever thanks to Sir Clive! My first was ZX80, also the Cambridge calculator (still works). And then Spectrum. Love of my life. And I was eleven. Immediatelly, I`ve pressed my parents into a colour TV, then Interface I and a microdrive, also got a ZX printer "The burner" without even asking for it. And at the end I`ve fornicated with ample keys of SAGA I Emperor keyboard. Then, I saw what a crap Spectrum was, so I`ve: -added reset button, (then added anti bounce circuit, first heard of it then :D ) -added composite monitor output, (figured that myself) -made Interface II dimensioned to fit into a cassette casing, (not my design, and because of it worked beautifully) -stole some of my dad`s microswitches and made a joystick that still lives btw. (ugly but MINE) -had enormous fights with C64 owners, :D (spoiled wimps) -coded just about everything, -also made a different power supply and power jack to reduce internal voltage regulator heating , which was tremendous. I`ve had the time of my life. And then, went for an ATARI ST. P.S. To say the truth, I`ve done all that because the computer itself was really crap. But it was contagious. As an early teen, and without bothering adults you could figure out and fix most of those things. The biggest problems was not electronics, but lack of information. That piece of crap actually taught me how not to design things, although when I look at it it was brilliant in many regards. Right there, we, friends have split. The ones, smart enough to buy a (now I can say) better C64 now do whatever else. We that were stupid enough to buy a rainbow, we`re all in electronics now. :D We went the way of ATARI, and PC. They went for Amiga and Mac. We`re mostly engineers honestly earning our buck, they went to law, economics, or just plain went crooked. Some of them drive pretty expensive cars now. I drive a Škoda, not that I`m dissatisfied. Ahem. :D

@Twirlyhead 4 года назад

Let me guess: you were a binman.

@AllenJeremy 3 года назад

R.I.P Clive Sinclair

@adroharv9213 6 лет назад

back when different machines had their own flavour of feel from their games. Glorious times and a great proof that less is more. I had a C64 but my memories of the Spectrum are just as great. Phenomenal time and I feel very privileged to have been from this era

@EgoChip 7 лет назад

Clive really had the right mindset - fucked the establishment and went his own way. He really has to be admired for what he achieved, even if you think his hardware is nothing more than a glorified paperweight. He might have had some notorious flops, but he gave it his best, and ultimately he's a massive success as his legacy lives on.

@nickguy6820 7 лет назад

Agreed. Real progress is always the result of some charismatic visionary figure. It takes a certain type of person to put their livelihood on the line - to shift away from "what works?" to "what COULD work?", while having an instinct for what people want, and being clever enough to pull it off. Respect.

@garyproffitt669 7 лет назад

Clive knew the masses wanted affordable small devices, simplistic but effective and this is what all electronics have become

@natgrant1364 7 лет назад

gary proffitt Yeah, he really did pave the way for so much of the technology we have now.

@005AGIMA 5 лет назад

@The Gmork The world would have been much simpler without the PAL vs NTSC issues. That and 240v vs 110v but the power went through an adapter anyway. For years my gaming was in black and white only, because we had a Philips G7000 (aka VideoPac) but it was purchased in Kuwait, and hence NTSC not Pal, and we could NOT tune our UK colour TV into it, but we COULD tune the black and white ones. :/

@005AGIMA 5 лет назад

@The Gmork I agree re hidden gem. The controllers being hard wired was an issue as you couldn't replace them. Our fire buttons eventually died. But a console with keyboard was rare back then. I used to program mazes in munchkins (pacman clone) that gave me the player the edge. I could play with out dying until the level speed was so high the ghosts were just confused in 1 corner going side to side superfast. I was about 9 years old haha. Good times.

@happysunshinydays6349 5 лет назад

These Videos of yours are wonderful. I don't simply mean in production values/quality, nor simply the informative breadth and depth historical content/analysis, no, they offer more. As a kid of the 80s, with an Amstrad, these videos demonstrate one thing. Whatever you of think Clive Sinclair, Alan Sugar, Jack Tramiel (and for me the guys at Acorn too) these fellas and their creations had a marvellous impact upon the lives of millions of young kids across the world. In short, all of those guys made a lot of us happy. I'd like to say thankyou, cheers. Also, to Tim Berners Lee, thanks for making it possible for me to play original, emulated versions of all the classics, plus multi-player Jet Set Willy, Elite etc, many many thanks. To Google, EA and the rest of the contemporary crowd... you're doing it wrong.

@penfold7800 Год назад

I agree. The likes of Google, EA and Microsoft are choking the life out of intelligent computing, killing human inovation.

@luisluiscunha 5 лет назад

This is the best tribute and contribution to ZX Spectrum history I have ever seen. Very, very well done: congratulations! Maybe the design role of Rick Dickinson could have been more emphazised, since he did the ZX81, Spectrum and QL designs. But at least you mentioned him once. I was getting worried you wouldn't. Again: very well done. Thank you so much.

@DjVortex-w 7 лет назад

I grew up with a ZX Spectrum 128+A. It's an important part of my youth. It was my first video game system. It was the first system for which I wrote my own programs, first using Basic, and eventually using asm. (Incidentally Zilog asm is quite similar to that of Intel, which helped me quite a lot later.) I'm a professional programmer today, and I started with the ZX Spectrum. In retrospect, it's a huge pity that they didn't make some simple additions to the ZX Spectrum, which would have made it a ten times better gaming system than it was, without compromising efficiency in any way. These simple changes would have been: 1) Use 16 colors for the foreground and 16 for the background of each 8x8 tile, rather than 8+8+brightness+blinking. This would have allowed for more colors to be used at the same time. 2) Make the colors paletted, rather than fixed. The colors in the palette itself could have been, for instance, 3/3/2-bit RGB (ie. one byte per palette entry). Also, make the foreground colors independent from the background colors (meaning that there would be one 16-byte palette for the foreground colors and another 16-byte palette for the background colors.) This would have allowed up to 32 different simultaneous colors from 256 possible colors. 3) Allow the color layer to be shifted by up to 7 pixels horizontally and vertically (this could have been achieved by, for instance, outputting a byte containing a pair of 3-bit offsets to an out port). The last one of course would have raised the question of what should happen with the edge colors, but even a completely lazy kludge (eg. they just wrap around) would have allowed for much better games than the fixed system that the Spectrum had. None of these additions would have compromised the efficiency of the system in any way, but would have allowed making games that look 10 times better.

@stamasd8500 6 лет назад

Ahh the ZX Spectrum... How many days I lost to that machine, I'll never know. It wasn't a "real" Spectrum but a clone - in the mid-80s the ULA had been reverse-engineered in the Eastern bloc (where I was born) and many local clones emerged. Often sporting improved hardware features. The one I had ( a Romanian clone called HC-91) had an optional Interface1 clone that allowed use of a 3.5" floppy drive, had 64K of RAM (including shadow RAM overlapping the ROM area) and because of these features it was able to run CP/M also. I didn't have an actual Sinclair machine until about 6 years ago when I acquired a +2A which I still use... And more recently I got 2 hardware emulators, both FPGA-based meaning that they actually reproduce the hardware at logic gate level; as well as various modern peripherals including an "interface 1bis" that allows for SD card storage, networking, serial and parallel ports, PS/2 mice and keyboards and even wifi. As you can tell, I never really got over the Spectrum. :)

@saberwarthog 5 лет назад

your story reminded me of this article from Ars Technica about the Romanian underground industry of ZX clones, I found it fascinating : arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/11/the-underground-story-of-cobra-the-1980s-illicit-handmade-computer/ They are really impressive machines, for the ingenuity needed to made them and the sheer work to put them together in a country where computer parts where very hard to come by at the time.

@valley_robot 5 лет назад

Awesome story brother, I love that your country embraced this little machine and made it your own , very punk and very cool

@Aaron628318 4 года назад

Weird to think that at that time your country was part of the 'evil' empire and I was terrified that we were going to blow each other to smithereens, when all we wanted was to play with same cool stuff. Sad really.

@ChrisCarpenter71 4 года назад

This is a fantastic reminder that cool cyber punk interest was universal. Thanks for sharing.

@proka1 3 года назад

Ai naibii bogați! Eu aveam clonă de la Electromagnetica - și mai nașpa ca HC-ul. HC era de top, cep vorbești.

@gavmes 7 лет назад

I bet this video took some time to produce. Well done.

@Nostalgianerd 7 лет назад

It did!

@Zooumberg 7 лет назад

My computer timeline, (I know the first two aren't strictly computer but they got me interested in the technology?, Binatone Pong, Atari console, not the 2600, prior to that, Vic20 CBM 64, Amiga, then to IBM architecture. I never had a Spectrum, but it was important in bringing the technology to the masses.

@DSonBlue 7 лет назад

yogibear2k10 Well, I tried to help you understand the intricacies - and crucially, the cost implications - of computer design. You read the beginning and the end. I was obviously fighting a losing battle.

@DSonBlue 7 лет назад

yogibear2k10 The colour clash seems to have you worked up to the point that you remind me of playground arguments. I guess that's where this is all from. The computer itself was half the price, and was directly responsible for the boom in both home computers and in designers and inventors. But yeah - colour clash.

@moth.monster 7 лет назад

Dude, calm down. It's just obsolete technology.

@Psycandy 6 лет назад

astonishing in detail, an incredible insight into the birth of the microcomputer. amazing, very well done.

@Daud76 5 лет назад

When I was a kid playing games on a ZX Spectrum, I always got a feeling of the whole game arena being open world. Meaning games (even side scrolling platformers) had the availability to explore everywhere. Funny thing is that I still get that same feeling when playing using an emulator. Anyone else experienced this?

@ProctorSilex 2 года назад

I had a similar feeling about specific games for other systems. F-Zero, Fester's Quest, and the LoZ series come to mind.

@SorinNicu 4 года назад

My first computer (clone). Built from scratch (solder the chips and assembly the keyboard's springs and contacts).

@waltersobchak7275 4 года назад

Wish I had just a tad of that intelligence. Sucks being stupid.

@Laszlo75 7 лет назад

Bruce Lee, that was the first Sinclair game I even finished. Oh the memories.

@jaspermills4506 5 лет назад

The first game I ever completed was Dizzy

@jaspermills4506 5 лет назад

@ The very first one it was just called Dizzy. I'm not sure how old I was when I first started playing it, but I was 18 when I finally finished it 1991. You couldn't save the game you had to play through the whole game from start to finish.

@chrisspere4836 4 года назад

Ahh, I loved playing Bruce Lee, still got the tape and my zxspectrum+ in the attic.

@jeeperscreepers8902 3 года назад

I finished that game, except on the c64

@SVSunnyJim 3 года назад

Mine was twin kingdom valley on the bbc b

@Spudcore 7 лет назад

"...FUCKING WILLY!" Some mileage on that Micro Men film. It's a good one. Great performances from Armstrong and Freeman. Hahaha! "Take this thing away. My son is obsessed with it." That's hilarious! Nice voiceover there from Ashens.

@Eshaktaar 7 лет назад

Thank you for finishing the sentence. The first few seconds of the video felt to me like an open parenthesis that never gets closed.

@KarlUKmidlands 7 лет назад

There was a lot of stories like this in the 80's and the 90's about computer and video game addiction. I remember a friend of mine would fall asleep on top of his bbc model B back in the day spending hours programming :), luckily it never overheated and caught fire!

@RyanDanielG 7 лет назад

EXCELLENT VIDEO. Great work man. This is the definitive recount of the evolution of Sinclair. Thanks and cheers!

@Psyklax 7 лет назад

Wonderful as always, and I don't want to nitpick, but at 5:19... "Six dee each"? I believe that's sixpence in the old money. I'd have thought someone so awash in nostalgia would be aware of that (though I acknowledge decimalisation day occurred before you were born). Keep up the otherwise good work!

@fr_schmidlin 7 лет назад

My first computer was a ZX-81 clone, called TK-85, and it had 16KB of RAM. This was 1983. In 1985, the MSX arrived in Brazil and wiped out everything else in a year or so. The clones of Apple IIs, TRS-80 color and Spectrums just couldn't compete.

@luisluiscunha 5 лет назад

Well, the MSX's were great machines, nevertheless... :)

@Backroad_Junkie 7 лет назад

Great vid. I birthed on a ZX81, but it and I got along so well that an Apple ][ came next, so never really looked at the ZX or later models. The ZX81 did get me on the road to computing, though. I still have fond memories of that machine. Still hate cassette storage to this day, though... :)

@bobtheshorkie1987 5 лет назад

Loving all these vids. Every single one is coherant, thorough, interesting and professionally produced. A small nod of approval also to the "Sims" punch-up reconstruction: genius - the mark of a true geek.

@peter_piper 6 лет назад

Super video! I wrote 2 business programmes on the Spectrum in the 80's, one to generate job cards and the other to record and report scientific data, that my work colleagues said were far more usable than the ICL mainframe programmes they were supposed to use! Great days !

@itsaPIXELthing 7 лет назад

Awesome vid about the machine that transformed my life back in 83, when I tried it for the very first time! Thanks for your hard work ;) Cheers!

@squidwerth77 7 лет назад

Brilliant work mate, amazing memories from my rubber key days that started my obsession with gaming and collecting!

@monochromaticlightsource9153 5 лет назад

I've still got my Sinclair Cambridge calculator, and a ZX81 with the 16K expansion card.

@HomelessTechnology 3 года назад

RIP Clive Sinclair :(

@mattx5499 2 года назад

I never had 8-bit computer. My childhood were Amigas and I had my own A1200 in the late 90's. Now I'm playing with various emulators of 8-bit machines including Speccy, Commodores, Ataris, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Sam Coupe... And Speccy is my favourite. I totally understand all the love for this computer. The color palette alone is freaking vibrant and distinctive, the t-t-t-t-t sounds when you press the keys are so cool. The program loading sound is so creepy it's special. 😊

@Foebane72 5 лет назад

Have you seen the ZX Spectrum Demoscene and artwork galleries? They're positively AMAZING!

@mikeselectricstuff 7 лет назад

That schematic at 12:40 is the BBC Micro!

@Nostalgianerd 7 лет назад

mikeselectricstuff hot damn. You're on the ball.

@BluediceMedia 7 лет назад

Very interesting and superbly produced documentary.

@NeoVoodooTech 7 лет назад

One single spec of dust fell on that exact contact point? yeah right I smell time travel and event correction. Someone made that happen! That is a plot right out of doctor who or something.

@Nostalgianerd 7 лет назад

I know right? There's some freaky shit going on there.

@Whipster-Old 7 лет назад

Probably more down to poor clean room discipline when they did the chip lithography?

@revmpandora 7 лет назад

NeoVoodooTech tempting to think so, tho simple error far far far more likely.

@edbadyt 6 лет назад

I think it's a classic case of making up a story to make an idea sound more interesting. Like with Issac Newton and the apple falling on his head.

@peterhelpme 5 лет назад

@@edbadyt a good story nonetheless

@PaulDowling 5 лет назад

used to love my 48k speccy.....

@BongWeasle 3 года назад

Sir Clive died today. Thank you sir for your legacy. A true Brit. It’s a sad day.

@MacShrike 5 лет назад

Very thorough. Thank you! really took me back! And beyond!

@mickles1975 7 лет назад

My spectrum 48k only died when the 9v power socket became wobbly. I used that thing for years.

@richardmattocks 7 лет назад

Wonderful, well researched documentary worthy of the mighty Spectrum. I had a first generation 48K speccy and loved it. Never gave me any trouble and awakened a love of computing which lead to a 26 year long career in IT.

@Madpegasusmax 6 лет назад

I started with a ZX 81 with one external extra memory module and later to the ZX Spectrum 128K +2 , both still work perfect :D

@DickyChap 4 года назад

I bought my first 48K from an uncle for £1 way after it was unfashionable, but the joy I got from it shaped my life. I was with Spectrum all the way until the bitter end!

@maccagrabme Год назад

Tigh azz could have just given it to you.

@SteveFusionX 7 лет назад

wonderful documentary! Great work

@philgrossman660 5 лет назад

Excellent video mate. Yeah, I first got a "Speccy" for Christmas 1983, 16K - eventually upgraded to 48K, tried out a speech synthesizer (anyone remember the name of that?) and the cartridge port, I think I had Lunar Jetman, loaded in 2 seconds flat! 1984 / 5 you could buy computer games EVERYWHERE, the paper shop, the garage, the sweet shop, Woolies, WHSmiths, John Menzies, I mean everywhere. Those were the days! I wrote my first programs on the Spectrum, had one published in a magazine! After many years I worked in the IT business as a programmer and still dabble today. Brings it all back, thanks for this.

@martincosh5891 4 года назад

The Currah Microspeech.

@giovannip.1433 5 лет назад

The QL was an OK product- but in no way could it compete with the Commodore Amiga 500.

@profesorjorgehernandez2757 3 года назад

Me gustó mucho el video, en esa época fueron mis inicios en la computación y tuve la oportunidad de programar en una ZX80 y una TI99A aparte de la Commodore 64

@scottlowell493 7 лет назад

Well done, as usual. Your videos concerning vintage computers helps fill in gaps in my understanding of that era in a fun way. I remember when the Sinclair, Amiga, C64 etc were introduced, but now the internet allows me a view behind the scenes....finally.

@Nostalgianerd 7 лет назад

Scott Lowell many thanks! The Internet is a beautiful thing

@luisluiscunha 5 лет назад

Exactly. Thank you also for my part. For as much as I search for information about this era, your videos always contain stuff I never saw before. Good job!

@mbralliable 7 лет назад

Well. I guess I'm not going to bed now ;)

@dolst 6 лет назад

Over here in the US, we got a modified version with a cartridge loader known as the Timex Sinclair 2068. I owe most of my early computer education to that glorious machine. I always wondered about that two-color-per-cell limitation! Thanks for making this video. Glad to learn all this tech history! Surf Wisely.

@Lensman864 4 года назад

Me: ZX80, 81, Spectrum. Now I'm a pro developer for the world's biggest fintech company. Thanks Clive!

@NTNLabs 3 года назад

R.I.P. Sir Sinclair

@kratonmikey2691 6 лет назад

The best Sinclair documentary ever. 😀

@arfanmedni7294 3 года назад

Right up there with the BBC micro men

@Regalya 5 лет назад

Ahh ZX Spectrum 48k my first computer it still work at 2019 after amost 40 years altho i only have Asteroids casette left.

@Catholic_convert81 5 лет назад

I can remember it very clearly even though its a very early memory , it was Christmas morning , i was 6 years old , i came downstairs with my dad and under the tree was my first computer , a ZX spectrum 128k +2 , i jumped around with joy !! me and my dad played Gauntlet in 2 player mode all afternoon.

@judgewest2000 7 лет назад

I like that pretty much most of the vids in this are from Micro Men, again ;)

@IanJTaylor 7 лет назад

Alan Sugar is no ones friend.

@カシューナッツちゃん 6 лет назад

Ian Taylor ほほほほほぼぽと

@jimthompson939 6 лет назад

The Del Boy of silicon.

@MrDirkles 5 лет назад

My old dad used used to say everything made by amstrad was shit. He was right too.

@starlight7499 3 года назад

Wonderful and very useful program. Thank you nostalgia nerd . RIP Clive Sinclair .

@ColiDog 3 года назад

RiP Sir Clive Sinclair. 😞

@Teppic11 7 лет назад

I haven't watched this yet but I know I'm going to love it.

@RasVoja Год назад

Reggae dub between 20 and 27h minute of Sinclairs saga? :D

@MatSpeedle 7 лет назад

can still remember buying speccy games in WHsmith! Good times :)

@krashd 7 лет назад

Think my last purchase was Jack the Nipper 2 for £1.99 :D

@blackcountryme 6 лет назад

I brought mine from boots chemist. My fave game was a mastertronic title called Rescue.

@lionnotube 6 лет назад

Bravo!!! an impressive work of incredible documentation! Congratulations for this fabulous job !!! Sorry for my bad English... Signed: a little French boy lost in the south of France!

@deagt3388 Год назад

Reminiscence of my childhood.. ;-)

@DannyTheGFP 7 лет назад

my parents bought me a BBC B then a Commodore 16, they hated me

@amojak 6 лет назад

heh rich kid :)

@xXTheoLinuxXx 6 лет назад

The C16 had less memory, was slower, only 2 music channels but more colours. That wasn't exactly an upgrade, I would sue them :P

@blackcountryme 6 лет назад

Danny or they had more money than Pablo Escobar!

@stephanesonneville 5 лет назад

No they loved you - Sinclair ZX was shit compare to a BBC or a Commodore as they had real keyboard !

@snouty2005 5 лет назад

Just watched this again. As someone who "was there" I really enjoyed it.

@bojankotur4613 5 лет назад

Me too. I have a shrinking stack of ZX spectrums awaiting repairs. I'm just gonna keep two for myself but the Spectrum will be forever in my heart.

@mikemorgan3119 4 года назад

You couldn't beat the feeling of getting a tape from a mate & not knowing exactly what games he'd recorded for you! Some wouldn't load & some would,got specky 128k with tape loader for xmas 86/87 was brilliant times fools n horses & spectrum for me was the 80's.does anyone remember the game plunder?

@Robert08010 4 года назад

Excellent depth of info and understanding! I thoroughly enjoyed this. Being American, I had no idea of how big an impact the UK market had on computing. I had a friend who had a zx81 but I had no idea it was a UK product. And I must stop saying "had" so much!

@ondrejsedlak4935 3 года назад

In a way, Sir Clive was indirectly responsible for the formation of ARM, which would ultimately bring us the smartphone revolution. The full credit of course goes to Chris Curry but if Sir Clive didn't piss him off so much, smartphones may have seen a completely different form.

@ZEUSDAZ 7 лет назад

Very interesting vid of my second compter which I still have,...128k+1. Enjoyed it :-)

@ZIEBANE 7 лет назад

You are getting even better with each episode. Thank you for top programme. :)

@firsteerr 4 года назад

i remember getting this for £149 and i went home and hooked up my portable tape player and run daly Thompson decathlon !! i would by a computing magazine once a month and input the games they published and made a couple of my own ..very basic BUT that start meant i was prepared for my professions move into computer controls and building management systems