The Recreated Sinclair ZX Spectrum Page 2

Quote: Stylee TingTing @ 7th September 2015, 8:10 PM BST

Aaah yes - Cosmic Raider; Death Race 2000; Ant Attack.

Happy days.

Anyone remember the 'street rumours' about what you'd win if you cracked 'Ant Attack'? Tales of great wealth? Of a special pass code that you could redeem for much moolah from Sinclair?

Well.. all my mates gave up on it as just too hard to complete, but I carried on through many burning-of-the-midnight-oils. There just seemed to be no way to get at damsels 7/8/9/10.. but then one night, I accidentally jumped on the back of an attacking ant, jumped again and managed to get on top of the previously-unscaleable two-brick-high wall. I was home free from then on.

My hand was trembling as I rescued damsel 10, the last of the bunch.

The screen colour changed into rainbow hues - it started to go 'wavey'.. and then was slowly revealed..

..the word:

CONGRATULATIONS

I never did catch up with Clive Sinclair about that one.

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Did you or indeed everyone complete [i]Everyone's A Wally?[i]

Did anyone buy those computer magazines that had codes for games

So there would be pages and pages and pages of coding that you would type into the machine

Then, about 2 days later you would hit "run" and......

The twatting thing wouldn't work

So you'd spend another 2 days going through double checking for the most minute spelling errors

One single digit out and it wouldn't work

Ahh them were the good old days

Actually no they weren't - they were the shit old days

Give me my Ps4 any day

http://torinak.com/qaop/games

I once bought a paperback of those. I blame that for my descent into madness.

Quote: lofthouse @ 7th September 2015, 10:31 PM BST

Did anyone buy those computer magazines that had codes for games

So there would be pages and pages and pages of coding that you would type into the machine

Then, about 2 days later you would hit "run" and......

The twatting thing wouldn't work

So you'd spend another 2 days going through double checking for the most minute spelling errors

One single digit out and it wouldn't work

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They eventually added checksums at the end of each line so that you'd know if you made a mistake.

My brother was a fast typist, so I'd read them to him and he'd type them out. We could knock out the longest game in an hour or two. But I was still relieved when I bought my first 300-baud modem and discovered the world of bulletin boards.

I've never understood programming. I remember the 'cheats' in Crash magazine though.

So you were PEEKing and POKEing even in those days eh

The old computer magazines were great!

Crash, C+VG, Zapp 64, Sinclair User etc etc

And they put free cassettes on the front with free games and demos on

Quote: Stephen Goodlad @ 8th September 2015, 8:57 AM BST

So you were PEEKing and POKEing even in those days eh

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Oh definitely - me and the Alley Gang were going GoTo crazy in the 80s. All I did know was this: the poor kids got a Spectrum 48K, the slightly richer ones were gifted a Commodore 64 and the really posh educated children had a BBC Computer replete with 'Granny's Garden' loaded onto it.

Quote: lofthouse @ 8th September 2015, 12:07 PM BST

The old computer magazines were great!

Crash, C+VG, Zapp 64, Sinclair User etc etc

And they put free cassettes on the front with free games and demos on

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Absolutely. It reminds me of the computer shop element of Look Around You, but I can't find it. That said .....

This sounds a great invention: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dEmWvVfEts

I still have no idea what any of you are taking about. How did I miss all this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts96J7HhO28

Sir Clive Sinclair died a week or so ago - it was missed by the RIP thread.

The father of the home computer.

Sir/lord Alan Sugar admits that the Spectrum was his inspiration to build a better home computer.
It was so successful that eventually he bought out Sinclair Research

RIP Clive - you gave me untold hours of fun in the 80's

Quote: Stephen Goodlad @ 29th September 2021, 10:59 AM

Sir Clive Sinclair died a week or so ago - it was missed by the RIP thread.

The father of the home computer.

Sir/lord Alan Sugar admits that the Spectrum was his inspiration to build a better home computer.
It was so successful that eventually he bought out Sinclair Research

RIP Clive - you gave me untold hours of fun in the 80's

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Ahem, it wasn't quite like that.
After his success with personal computers, Sir Clive decided to invent and invest in an electric vehicle, which the Press fondly imagined would be as good as what we now have as electric cars. That really wasn't possible in the 1980s (the available batteries were not good enough). In fact it (the C5) was nearer to an electric bike or scooter & much was 'made' of the fact that with just 3 wheels it fell into a low road-tax bracket.

When the C5 was eventually launched it was, of course, must less than the Press had been making of it, so they scorned it and belittled it, slagged it off, so very few sold. Sinclair Research effectively went bust and Sir Clive had to sell what was left to Alan Sugar. Sinclair's designs became part of Amstrad computers, but Sugar then ditched the most innovative Sinclair computers.

He also ditched his wife for a lapdancer. Not a judgement, just adding to his biography.

I've never played a computer game.

Well, only the table tennis one with the blob that goes interminably from one side of a tv screen to another while two players hit it to and fro via two small lines masquerading as bats. If that counts.

Quote: billwill @ 1st October 2021, 1:24 AM

Ahem, it wasn't quite like that.
After his success with personal computers, Sir Clive decided to invent and invest in an electric vehicle, which the Press fondly imagined would be as good as what we now have as electric cars. That really wasn't possible in the 1980s (the available batteries were not good enough). In fact it (the C5) was nearer to an electric bike or scooter & much was 'made' of the fact that with just 3 wheels it fell into a low road-tax bracket.

When the C5 was eventually launched it was, of course, must less than the Press had been making of it, so they scorned it and belittled it, slagged it off, so very few sold. Sinclair Research effectively went bust and Sir Clive had to sell what was left to Alan Sugar. Sinclair's designs became part of Amstrad computers, but Sugar then ditched the most innovative Sinclair computers.

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Ooh thanks you for sharing. RIP Sir Clive. I still recall those TV reports about C5s disappearing under articulated lorries - eek!

Quote: chipolata @ 1st October 2021, 6:33 AM

He also ditched his wife for a lapdancer. Not a judgement, just adding to his biography.

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Most rich men seem to be led by their trousers.