SINCLAIR SPECTRUM PERSONNAL COMPUTER, 1982

The original ZX Spectrum with rubber keyboard, being small in size and with a rainbow motif. Originally released in 1982 with 16 KB of RAM for £125 Sterling or with 48 KB for £175; these prices were later reduced to £99 and £129 respectively. Owners of the 16 KB model could purchase an internal 32 KB RAM upgrade. Shown with printer, Micro drive, tape-loop cartridge storage device, and an Interface, with RS232 port, the owner provided a colour TV and Cassette recorder, for program storage.

Donated by L.G.Bray

Your comments:

• In 1982 I had a great job at STC plc, running training courses for young people on the YTS scheme. One of the things we did was writing programs in BASIC to do things like simple quizzes, calculations etc. Mostly we used Apple2 machines but we also had some Spectrums. They used a special version of BASIC, and also you had to put the commands in using 2 or 3 keys at a time, rather than just typing "Print" or whatever. Definitely an enthusiasts machine! But they were cheap and amazingly versatile, some people even made robots with Spectrums mounted on board. Magazines had lots of games programs that you had to type in by hand. Like most home computers the only affordable storage for programs was an audio cassette recorder. A program could take 10 minutes to load. The monitor was usually the domestic TV. I also remember my wife's aunt in Dundee talking about them - they were made in the Timex factory there and their huge popularity created a mini-boom in the city for a while.
  .......... Colin Carroll, Langford, Beds, 13th of November 2012
  
  

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