The first computer I ever owned was a Timex Sinclair 1000 which was a North American rebadge of the ZX-81. It certainly didn’t match up to something like an Apple ][ which is what I really wanted, but this was a computer I could actually afford. As I recall, it was about $100 CAD and am pretty sure I picked it at the now departed Sears Canada.
It was a marvel of engineering running on something like 4 chips (CPU, RAM, ROM, I/O controller?). I progressed from copying programs to teaching myself Zilog Z80 assembler. This computer launched my into me into my IT career.
Yeah, his name is instantly known to computer enthusiasts over a certain age. ;) I never had any Sinclair computer, but the ZX Spectrum was very popular and very well known. Rest in peace.
My grandad wasn’t a computer person but somehow he ended up with a ZX Spectrum with Bomb Jack, Spy Hunter, Kane and… Commando. That system, those games (and more), Load “” (or ‘load dit dit’ as we said) and those loading screens were my introduction and gateway into gaming. As a kid the cassettes and their artwork were like windows into these other worlds (and the loading experience a 2001-esque journey into them), full of possibility and so incredibly exciting, even if they rarely lived up to what was on the box art!
The first computer I touched was a ZX80. The first computer I owned was a ZX81, a present from my parents. I then owned a ZX Spectrum and lusted after the Z88.
I spent a large part of my teenage years typing listings and reading up on Z80 assembler.
I did my professional computer gig when i was 15 and have been talking bollocks about computers & getting paid for it since then.
My career is thanks in no small part to Clive Sinclair. I’ve always been very grateful to the way he democratised computer ownership. My parents would not have been able to afford other computers.
I guess the ZX 81 was flatter so it was more conventional? Mine wasn’t too flat as the upgrade bug for computers bit me early. I sprung for the 4K RAM pack that jammed into the back port and looked like a small monolith attached to my computer. I also found it ran little hot so I drilled holes in the case. However, I did not drill holes into the black and white TV that I used as a monitor.
More so in the choice of a black case with grey keycaps and more understated labeling, but yes also getting rid of the silly aesthetic flourishes like the fake air vent hump.
By comparison with the ZX81, the ZX80 looks like something out of a Chris Foss painting.
