Britain’s 8-Bit Icon: The ZX Spectrum Story

Comments · 84

• ST

  @stephenrobertson6025 · 1 year ago · pinned

  I owe my current career to the early 8-bit computers, especially the ZX81, Spectrum, BBC Micro and Commodore 64.<br>In particular the ZX81 was my first computer. I desperately wanted a Spectrum but was too poor as a school kid to afford one, but I had great fun going to my friends houses and playing on theirs, even programming on their machines.<br>A few years ago I bought a refurbished ZX81 and rubber key Spectrum 48k, and I&apos;ve been having great fun revisiting them going through the classic manuals again, typing in examples and playing the classic games. It&apos;s taken me back through the decades and revived some fond memories of that exciting time, when computers were new and new machines, games and peripherals were invented continuously. Such a creative time.<br>Thanks for everything Sir Clive!

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• DA

  @DavidAllen682 · 11 months ago

  My first job when I left school in 1983 was repairing and upgrading ZX Spectrums

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• HE

  @HeatFilter · 5 months ago

  THIS was the golden era in computing.

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• IN

  @Innesb · 10 months ago

  The TV advert (shown at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJMnumi4EpQ&amp;t=400">6:40</a>), featuring Clive Sinclair, was for the Sinclair QL (seen in the last seconds of the advert), not the ZX Spectrum. The QL was a commercial disaster, coming just too late, when IBM PCs were storming the business computer market. The Sinclair Microdrive storage system was a major contributor to the failure, being incredibly unreliable and slow compared to the floppy discs in the more expensive machines.

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• CR

  @crissyretro · 2 months ago

  I loved my Speccy. &nbsp;I had the Spectrum + which was a larger model with plastic keys. &nbsp;I got it for my 5th birthday!

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• PA

  @parkla4098 · 2 months ago

  The ZX Spectrum 128k with floppy disk drive was my first computer. It changed my life.

• JA

  @jaylewinton7939 · 10 months ago

  Ahh the nostalgia for what seems like a better time to have been alive

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• EN

  @EnjoySynthSounds · 9 days ago

  And this year Retro Games UK, will be producing a Spectrum handheld.

• FR

  @FrancisMaxino · 2 months ago

  The Hobbit was actually what we call now &apos;AI&apos; (chatbots). It&apos;s language recognition software was essentially like a chatbot.

• EL

  @Elvisdukebox · 11 months ago

  I&apos;ve still got a Spectrum +2 007 edition in a box in the attic with about 300 games must get it out and give it a go. Brings back so many memories of buying mags with free games in them, and typing the programs into late in the early hours and then finding you had missed a full stop somewhere and the game not working 😲. But it&apos;s what got me interested in computers, and help me get my first job working for AVO&apos;s in Dover Kent and fault finding on electronic circuit boards and then onto building computers when it was fun to build you own computer. Now retired at 67, I&apos;m all Apple out with iMac, MacBook Pro M4, iPad Pro and all the iwatches. All going back to my first computer the 1k ZX80. It was magic what you could get into 1K of memory. Thank you for this video it brought back so many fun memories I&apos;ve still got most of the games you mentioned &amp; more. 🙂💻💻💻💻

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• ZX

  @ZxSpectrumplus · 3 months ago

  And now, i am coding on the Zx Spectrum NEXT.

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• DA

  @danielbspinola · 8 months ago

  I had a tk90x when I was 12 years old. With 6 tapes full of games. Endless hours playing Saboteur, 1942, Load Runner (+ endless hours designing levels), Rygar (best game imho), and others