Happy Birthday ZX Spectrum

[Halo Jones]

playing Gauntlet.

All I remember of that game is "Blue Elf shot the food"

[norrahe]

All I remember of that game is "Blue Elf shot the food"

There's also "red elf needs food badly".

[Halo Jones]

There's also "red elf needs food badly".

Oh gods I had forgotten that one, not sure if I should thank or curse you well I know what ear worm I will be suffering today.

[amcdonald]

My father told me that the spectrum was born when Sir Clive got his mitts on a batch of damaged Z80 chips originally intended for washing machine programmes. Half the chip was blown, but half usable. The ZX Spectrum was designed around the working half.

Urban myth?

The one I heard is one lot were from batchs of chips that failed testing for McDonnel Douglas

[nomadd]

BASIC stuff. Some of us grew tired of that and went on to Z80A assembler.

I even had a PASCAL compiler. <SHUDDERS>

I had wanted to be a coder before that but for some reason went right off the idea after those experiences.

When I decided I wanted to "work in computers" all those years ago, the first thing I did was book an evening course at the local college: Z80 Assembly Programming.

After that, I did "An Introduction to PASCAL" at the same college. Followed by "Advanced PASCAL". It was on that course that I met a lecturer who was working at Manchester University, who gave me a good recommendation that got me on a Computer Science degree course. ...And the rest is history, as they say.

Now it's 30 years later. Where did those days/years go?

God I feel old.

[SimonMac]

10 PRINT "Happy Birthday ZX Spectrum!" 
20 GOTO 10

[Paddy]

My father told me that the spectrum was born when Sir Clive got his mitts on a batch of damaged Z80 chips originally intended for washing machine programmes. Half the chip was blown, but half usable. The ZX Spectrum was designed around the working half.

Urban myth?

It’s partly rue and not just with the ZX’s. Sinclair bought loads of reject transistors and other componants and sold them as part of his computer and radio kits. As a kid I could not understand why mine did not work until I tested the transistors and got replacement ones. Sinclair is a bit of a chunt.

[alluvial]

Oh gods I had forgotten that one, not sure if I should thank or curse you well I know what ear worm I will be suffering today.

How about "Valkyrie ... is about to die!"

[MarillionFan]

No Spectrum thread is worth it's weight until it has this gem.

[norrahe]

Oh gods I had forgotten that one, not sure if I should thank or curse you well I know what ear worm I will be suffering today.

"Elrond gives you some lunch"