ZX81 Untested - The little UK computer that was a BIG success.

Comments · 28

• ME

  @meh3247 · 1 month ago

  Thanks for the upload chap. My Grandad handed me his old ZX81 when he upgraded to a BBC (B), which I also inherited when he again upgraded to an Apricot.<br>Can&apos;t say I have fond memories of the &apos;81, but it was nice to see one still flickering away in 2026...

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• TH

  @thedysk1 · 1 month ago

  The ZX81 was also my first computer in 1981 when I was 13 years old. It was bought for me by my dad for christmas. It&apos;s also how I began to learn how computers work and how to program in Basic. It effectively launched me into a career in IT where I still work today. Even today I still develoip for my ZX81. I am working on a top down RPG/Mazogs style game using Procedurally Generated maps.

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• VA

  @valley_robot · 1 month ago

  I still own a ZX81, its in my house with its own little B/w TV and casette deck to load the software, its there because it was my first computer and I loved it, Its still works and still loads software from tape , it was incredible for a council estate kid like me to own a real computer in 1981, I wrote games for it , I had a database of all my school friends with all their interests and preferences for music and food , I wrote a diary program for it so I could save my thoughts onto it. It was just magical to own a real computer for me.

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• J0

  @j0hnf_uk · 4 weeks ago (edited)

  I spent the entirety of my summer holidays in 1981 learning BASIC on the ZX81. &nbsp;I couldn&apos;t leave it alone for more than a few hours during the day-time. &nbsp;Luckily for me, we had a spare black and white portable 12&quot; TV I could use, so spent many hours writing programs. &nbsp;At the time, it was wonderful to be able to write your own games that largely came from your imagination. &nbsp;Saving them onto cassette tape and being able to reload them again was always a bit hit and miss, though. &nbsp;A 16k RAM pack was essential, but was troublesome, as described. &nbsp;I later bought a version that clipped onto the back of the machine that avoided the, &apos;wobble&apos;, which meant I was less fearful of losing programs. &nbsp;I had planned to get a better keyboard, but then the Spectrum came along, and the rest was history.<br><br>Nowadays, the first thing I&apos;d want to do is install the 16K inside the machine, which is perfectly possible, negating the need for a RAM pack. &nbsp;A better tactile keyboard would also be useful.

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• AN

  @andybridger6057 · 1 month ago

  Thanks for &nbsp;the memories. &nbsp;Learnt to program using that manual! &nbsp; Not sure where mine is but I do remember some keys on the keyboard started giving up the ghost and haven’t tried to start it or my spectrum for many decades.

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• PO

  @POR-fv7lw · 1 month ago

  Great Video Andy - I really enjoyed it! Like you this was my first &nbsp;computer. I asked for it for Christmas in 1982/3 when I was about 13 (I didn&apos;t ask for the more Zx Spectrum as I didn&apos;t want my parents to have to go to that expense just for me). I thought it was amazing that I could control what appeared on my tv screen. I learnt programming too from the manual and once again I think because you were more directly linked to the heart of the computer with Sinclair Basic (compared to the many layers now between a user and a pc or console) everything you did was like an adventure or discovering hidden secrets in the bits and bytes. &nbsp;No apps so if you wanted it to do anything you had to understand the system, think logically (in Basic) and write a little program... or buy a game :-)

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• PO

  @POR-fv7lw · 1 month ago

  One of the amazing things for me was the few games, at the time, that could do the impossible and seemingly break-through the hardware limitations of the ZX81! As we know ZX81 games were displayed low-res in ASCII characters and blocks. &nbsp;Imagine how excited I was when reading a magazine I saw full page ads advertising HI-Res games on the ZX81! How is that possible? I sent off my money in the post 2 times and to my delight received two excellent playable games that were in fact in Hi-Res graphics! I&apos;ll never forget the software company - Software Farm - nor the games - A Miner Forty Niner type games with wriggling rats and snakes and A Jet Man type games with fuel cells and rockets. Do check them out if you haven&apos;t yet :-)

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• DA

  @daveangel2991 · 1 month ago

  Thanks for that Andy. I recently got a ZX81 as part of my small but growing collection of retro machines. It&apos;s one of only two machines I&apos;ve added which I never actually used back in the day (the other being an Archimedes - I was always an Acorn kid, but moved from the BBC/Electron to Amiga when 16-bit was kicking off). Mine was also sold as untested, and I haven&apos;t yet been able to coax it back to life. <br><br>I tried finding a modern power supply, but it has a very weird power jack, and I couldn&apos;t find one on &quot;that popular auction site&quot; that fit. One seller listed such a unit, but thankfully they were happy to refund me when it turned out that they&apos;d been misinformed about what that unit was suitable for. Any help in the comments would be gratefully received!<br><br>Loved the dedication at the end. RIP DadFandango.

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• TH

  @thavith · 1 month ago

  A friend of mine back 1981 got one here in Australia. &nbsp;I had seen an Apple 2+ already, so knew what a computer could be. <br>I remember we typed in a version of space invaders from a magazine. &nbsp;We had an 8K Ram pack at the time. &nbsp;It took us all Saturday Morning to type in, but before we could save it to tape and run it, we bumped the Ram pack so never got to see the game.<br>That was the one and only time I ever used a ZX81. &nbsp;Thankfully the VIC-20 was around, so I got to use them with all of 3K of available memory (I think), followed by the school getting 8K Ram packs for them.<br>I do remember looking at that manual though. &nbsp;The front cover gave you hope that the ZX81 computer could do so much more.

• AN

  @AndyHewco · 1 month ago

  I had a moment of fear when you persisted with that 16k ram pack. Last year one of those fried my ULA. Sourced a replacement and a zx expand to save on tapes.<br><br><br> I love the zx81 for what it is. Your video is a superb introductory showcase for the computer.

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• RA

  @random123-c9z · 1 month ago

  Fun little computer. In a sense it gave most of what likes of Commodore PET gave you and for a fraction of the price. Sure some of the lZX8x imitations are quite severe and you would need to add memory to match PET but otherwise not too dissimilar.<br><br>There isn&apos;t much software for ZX8x comptuer but it makes sense given that even Sinclair released much much improved ZX Spectrum shortly after and prices of other computers fell also. ZX8x remained as this early toy computer that most enthusiasts just kept somewhere or sold or threw away after keyboard failed.

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• LA

  @lactobacillusprime · 1 month ago

  This, the P2000 and the TRS 80s in school were my first encounters with computers and I loved it.

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