Como el título de este artículo indica, el Sinclair ZX81 fue el verdadero culpable de que se desatara en Europa (y más concretamente en el Reino Unido) la fiebre por los microordenadores y la informática allá por 1981, año en que este pequeño ordenador fue lanzado por Sinclair Resarch, la legendaria compañía del mítico Clive Sinclair.

Esta pequeña pieza de hardware, diseñada por Rick Dickinson, no fue ni el mejor ordenador de su época ni el más versátil. Con un procesador NEC basado en el muy común z80, pudiendo mostrar únicamente caracteres en blanco y negro, siendo incapaz de emitir sonido alguno y con únicamente 1KB de memoria RAM su futuro no parecía demasiado halagador. Si a estas características le sumamos un teclado que fallaba con demasiada facilidad tenemos un ordenador que parecía más un juguete que una máquina capaz de realizar cálculos complejos.

Siendo un sistema con tantas limitaciones, ¿Como es posible que triunfara de forma tan rotunda? Muy sencillo: Fue lanzado en el momento justo, en el lugar adecuado y al precio exacto. El ZX81 ofreció a gente de clase media la oportunidad de trabajar con algo que parecía venido del futuro, les dio la oportunidad de tener un ordenador en casa a un precio relativamente bajo (sobre todo si lo comparamos con lo que costaba un IBM PC en la época), ofreciéndoles la oportunidad de disfrutar de una gran cantidad de aplicaciones y , lo que es más importante, de crear sus propias aplicaciones y/o juegos, gracias a un relativamente sencillo BASIC. Muchos fueros los programadores legendarios que se iniciaron en este sistema, como por ejemplo Costa Panayi o el mítico John Ritman.

A la hora de hablar del éxito de este sistema no podemos olvidarnos de la enorme importancia que las tiendas W.H Smith tuvieron en el mismo , poniendo a disposición del público los Sinclair ZX81 cuando no era muy común que las tiendas vendieran suministros informáticos (los ordenadores solían venderse en esa época a través del correo, siendo las revistas de electrónica el medio a través del cual se presentaban) ni que mostraran microordenadores de forma tan directa al público, permitiendo probar dichos aparatos en la propia tienda a todo aquel que tuviera el mínimo interés (algo parecido a lo que hizo “El corte inglés” en España con el Spectrum 16/48k).

Publicidad de la época e impreso para pedir un ZX81

Esta obra maestra de la ingeniería (y sobre todo del marketing) se vendía de dos formas muy diferentes : Completamente montado y funcional,o bien en forma de KIT de automontaje, es decir, el usuario recibía el ordenador desmontado y era él el que (gracias a sus conocimientos de electrónica) se encargaba de montarlo. Sumando las ventas de ambos “packs”, Sinclair Research llegó a vender un millón y medio de unidades en todo el mundo, una cifra impresionante para la época en la que fue lanzado.

Además, Sinclair explotó la gallina de los huevos de oro lanzando una enorme cantidad de periféricos que ampliaban el ordenador original, dotándole de mayor potencia o bien de características adicionales muy interesantes (impresora, lector de cintas, ampliación de memoria a 16k…), lo que a buen seguro les proporcionó una cantidad extra de beneficios.

....

Tal fue el éxito de este microordenador que fue incluso exportado a los E.E.U.U por la propia Sinclair Research (sobre todo a través de pedidos por correo), aunque en dicho territorio la compañía Timex se hizo rápidamente con los derechos del mismo para lanzar una serie de máquinas basadas en el ZX81 pero con diversas mejoras (mejor teclado, más memoria…):

• Timex Sinclair TS1000: Incluia el doble de memoria de serie (2KB)

• Timex Sinclair TS1500 (desarrollado por Timex Portugal): Mejor teclado y 16KB de RAM

Por supuesto, también se lanzaron una serie de clones basados en este legendario sistema:

• TK82 (Brasil): Clon del ZX81 con una carcasa similar al ZX81
• TK82C (Brasil): Igual que el anterior pero con una carcasa más pequeña

• TK83 (Brasil): Igual que el ZX81 pero con la carcasa dorada

• TK85 (Brasil): Clon del ZX81 con una carcasa similar al Spectrum 16/48k

• NEZ-8000 (Brasíl) : Mismas características que el ZX81 pero con la carcasa del ZX80

• CP 200 (Brasíl): Con 16KB de RAM y un teclado similar al del Spectrum 16/48k. Utiliza una carcasa que contiene el propio alimentador de corriente. Además, tiene un par de teclas rojas que al pulsarlas simultaneamente funcionarían como un reset.

• CP 200S (Brasíl) : Versión económica del anterior. Mismas características y un teclado horrible

• Basic 2000 (orígen desconocido): Igual que el ZX81 pero con 2KB de RAM y una nueva carcasa

• Lambda 8300 (orígen desconocido): Igual que el ZX81 pero con 2KB de RAM y un teclado superior

• Power 3000 (Alemán): Nueva carcasa y 2KB de RAM. El teclado es similar al del Spectrum 16/48k

En resumen, estamos ante una de las máquinas más importantes de la historia.El Sinclair ZX81 puede ser considerado como el verdadero “creador” del mercado microinformático de masas en Europa, el sistema pionero, el que generó el interés por la informática.Si alguno de vosotros queréis ridiculizarle por sus pobres características pensadlo dos veces antes de mofaros de él. Probablemente la informática no sería ni una décima parte de lo que es en la actualidad si no hubiera aparecido esta pequeña joya…

CARACTERISTICAS TÉCNICAS

• Memoria ROM: 1K
• Resolución en pantalla: 24×32 (solo texto y monócromo). Se conectaba a la TV por la entrada de antena
• Sonido: Sin sonido
• Sistema de almacenamiento de información : Cassette
• Sistema de introducción de datos: Teclado de membrana (40 teclas)

El kit "Do it yourself" ¿Os atreveríais...?

]]> http://programbytes48k.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/un-zx-80-unico-en-su-especie/ Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:46:15 +0000 Neil Parsons http://programbytes48k.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/un-zx-80-unico-en-su-especie/ http://retroinformatica.wordpress.com/2009/11/15/dustin-dinamic-software/ Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:37:19 +0000 GAMEOVER http://retroinformatica.wordpress.com/2009/11/15/dustin-dinamic-software/ http://accurateshooter.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/remote-windage-adjustment-system-for-f-class-rests/ Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:00:12 +0000 Editor http://accurateshooter.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/remote-windage-adjustment-system-for-f-class-rests/

We saw an interesting gizmo on Peter White’s front rest at the recent California Long-Range Championship. Peter, who won the F-Class division, has fitted a remote drive system that allows him to adjust his Sinclair windage top without moving from his shooting position.

The windage control cable (actually a McMaster-Carr flexible drive shaft) attaches to the right side of the windage top in place of the regular adjustment knob. It then circles back to the shooter, and is clamped at the end of the pedestal leg (near the vertical adjustment speed screw). A large, knurled knob is attached to the end of the flexible drive.

With this set-up, Peter can adjust windage easily with his left hand, while keeping his right (trigger) hand in place on the rifle. In addition, he can fine-tune his vertical using the rotary knob (speed screw) on the threaded shaft for the rear-most rest “foot”. The flex-drive adjustment system places his windage control right next to his elevation fine-tune control, so both windage and elevation controls can be manipulated with the “free hand” from the shooting position.

Peter fabricated this system himself from less than $60 worth of parts. All you need is a McMaster Carr flexible drive shaft ($50-$60), an adjustment knob at the shooter’s end, and a small bracket to hold the adjustment knob securely.

Many F-Class shooters have fabricated a similar remote windage control system. If you have basic mechanical skills, you can build your own system in a couple hours (with the correct parts). Or, Leroy Johnson of Johnson’s Precision Gunsmithing, jpgrifles [at] yahoo.com, can build you a working system, if you send in your windage top. Leroy explains that “the various windage tops all have slightly different configurations, so the price depends on how much special work is required.”

Peter’s Parts List and Tips
Peter White offers some advice on building a remote windage control: “The parts were obtained from McMaster-Carr, www.mcmaster.com. The flexible drive shafts come in various lengths and diameters. When using the smallest diameters in this application the bend radius is critical as the cable wants to kink in one direction of operation. The tape you see on my rig covers a couple of stiffener rods. I have seen others using a longer cable with a larger bend radius with no need of a stiffener. Others have employed jacketed cables that have a much higher torque rating (but also much higher cost).”

Products Needed (Total = $49.31)

Psychic Sterling Cloud Formations, November 7, 2009,

“Did Sterling Shoot the Same Cloud Figure as the One Shot the Other Day?

The sky looked strangely familiar today.

There is something up.

We shall find out soon enough.

I think I might of shot the same dragon like figure in the sky as the one a Reader of Prophet Wisdom shot back on November 2, 2009, posted yesterday.

Take look.

This could be an odd day.  I’d say enjoy, but…  How about this…Do your best to have a great day.

How today works out could be a crap shoot.  Cross your fingers.

Take a look.

How to watch you back today…

Energetically visualize a big zipper going up your back (from anus to occiput).

Grab the zipper tab and pull it all the way up and imaging sealing the end, not with velcor but with a durable but light cement which only you have the pick to break.

Do it now.

Blessings,

Sterling

Together, we march of the horizon.

Ive finally built a proper solid 8bit interface for the Sinclair Spectrum.

This adapter allows me to use a IDE hard disk or Compact Flash card on my Sinclair +3. Ive had to install 2 new EPROMS in the machine for it to support IDE devices. Im using the +3e ROMS.

CF card is oly 128Mb, but as the interface in only 8 bit, only half of the cards capacity is available. Still, 64Mb is a lot of storage for a spectrum!

Have you ever been the last person to use something before it got an “Out of Order” sign put on it? Just yesterday, I had that blessed opportunity. My tire was at less than ten pounds of pressure, so I went to the gas station I always go to for filling up on air. (I also happened to be on my way to work.) When I put my two quarters into the machine, it turned on, but the air came out as a trickle. Long story short: I went to another station nearby and gave their machine my last two quarters, but their machine didn’t even turn on. Another long story short: the station gave me two quarters from their register and it magically worked the second time. I was late for work, but I had a healthy tire.

The above picture is from the first gas station. I went back there today and took a picture of it, hoping to see the yellow note the station attendant placed there after my having used the machine, but the note was gone. Either they fixed it or they want to get more money. Or both. (I’m gonna guess they fixed it.)

Karen and I have been so blessed these six months we’ve been married. We have had fortune after fortune, blessing after blessing, a sure witness that the Lord “will . . . open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” as tithes are paid (Malachi 3:10). We have received these blessings and are sure we will receive many more blessings. But last night, at the end of the day, I reflected on my air machine experience and was reminded of how blessed we are.

Have you ever caused the “Out of Order” sign?

(Beware, sudden rush of (rather big) pics in this post ! )

Well, just wanted to post some pics of that wonderful photoshoot of Kim for Joseph Sinclair. I just love these photos to death and Kim looks so gorgeous (as always ;P) in them. The outfits are just real good also and i love this type of ‘dark’ photos and all… I’ll stop writing right now and post the pics or else i’ll keep rambling pointlessly about Kim and the admiration i have for this woman XD

So here come the photos !

Here ends this 100% Kim post~

Clarance Abraham, Gilbert Gordon, Arthur Sydney, Lexington Allan, Leo Edgar, Sinclair Henry, Gideon James, Henry Ewan, Valentine Christopher,

Eva Marion, Alice May,  Gladys Gwendoline,  Rata Alix Marion, Elizabeth Catherine, Ivy Muriel, Hazel Margeurite, Ellen Georgina, Beatrice Amy, Maude May,  Lucy Gertrude, Rosina June, Olive Hope, Elsie Winifred, Daisy Gladys, Lyalla Bernadine, Jane Alice, Maude Emily, Coral Rae, Septima Miller,

Have you seen Micro Men yet?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00n5b92

If, like me, you learned to program by typing out lines of BASIC on a Sinclair ZXx, an Acorn Micro or Commodore machine, then you’ll love this story of the rivalry between Clive Sinclair and Chris Curry as they battle for supremacy in the early ’80’s micro market.  If you are too young to remember those days (for example you may be one of my Computing class who is reading this rather than getting on with your homework, you know who you are, and it’s due in by Thursday) then watch it anyway and marvel at how primitive those early machines were.

What struck me whilst watching was how much of a dead end the first home computers were.  Although many machines were sold, nearly all of them were used for playing games.  Only a few people put the micros to their intended use and learned to program on them (Incidentally, I remember paying £10 for a book on Assembly Language, and another £30 for an Assembler on a ROM cartridge.  Nowadays, if you want to learn to program you can download a fully functioning IDE and access hundreds of excellent tutorials for free).

One question we never really asked back then was why did people need to learn to program anyway? The subject is no longer taught in schools, except as a specialism.  Ten years ago most people wanted a computer so they could learn how to use the internet or to word process.  Today even that isn’t really the case, and pupils are now  taught Flash animation or how to set up websites instead.

A few of us may owe a debt to those early machines, but what the world was really waiting for was the PC equivalent.  The trouble was that such a thing was too expensive, or at least more than people were willing to pay in those days.  It was down to Alan Sugar to produce the AMSTRAD word processor, the first reasonably priced machine that bore some resemblance to today’s computers.

Anyway, watch the program.  It’s funny and poignant, full of the sense of missed opportunities.  I can’t help thinking the world would be a much geekier place if Sinclair and Curry had worked together instead of fighting (and geekness, of course, is a good thing).

Ive uploaded 2 new photos of my ZX Spectrum with its Interface 1 and 2 microdrives. This machine was recently featured in a TV program called Micro Men on BBC Four.

Micro Men was an entertaining drama broadcast on BBC4 last week, based around the real story of the rivalry between the eccentric British inventor Sir Clive Sinclair, and Chris Curry, who once worked for him and went on to found Acorn Computers.  It’s set in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when home computers were in their infancy and many people (including, to judge from the programme) Clive Sinclair himself, doubted whether they would ever achieve widespread use.

The portrayal of Sinclair is unflattering: he is shown as short-tempered even to the extent of getting into a brawl in the pub with Curry: presumably to establish the period when it’s set, the music playing in the background is Say, Say, Say, recorded by Paul McCartney and an ambitious young Michael Jackson in 1983.  Oh – and I wonder whether Sinclair really smoked constantly, as he does in the programme.

You can still watch the programme on i-player for a few days,

You may remember Clive Sinclair as the inventor of the pocket calculator, but you may not realize that his company still exists. In fact, Sinclair released a super-compact, folding “A-Bike” only a few years ago. It still lives!

Little Biography: –

Sir Clive Marles Sinclair (born 30 July 1940) is a British entrepreneur and inventor of the slim-line electronic pocket calculator in 1972 (Sinclair Executive) and the ZX80, ZX81 and ZX Spectrum computers in the late 1970s and early 1980s, among many other things. The ZX80 was the UK’s first mass-market home computer for less than £100. Sinclair has been fascinated by electronics and miniaturization since his teenage years. In 1961 he founded Sinclair Radionics after spending several years as assistant editor of Practical Wireless and Instrument Practice to raise funds.

What exactly Pocket Calculator is ?:-

Adler 81S pocket calculator with vacuum fluorescent display from the mid 1970s.
The CASIO CM-602 Mini Electronic Calculator provided basic functions in the 1970sBy 1970, a calculator could be made using just a few chips of low power consumption, allowing portable models powered from rechargeable batteries. The first portable calculators appeared in Japan in 1970, and were soon marketed around the world.

 Truth be told, seeing an image of the Sinclair Sovereign on Boing Boing Gadgets this morning sparked a wave of nostalgia among those of us here who are old enough to remember the nutty little company. For those of you who are unfamiliar, allow me get you up to speed.

Clive Sinclair is one of those obsessive tinkerers that has his hand in various and seemingly unrelated kinds of gadgetry. Kind of like a predecessor of the James Dyson types we hear a lot about today. As mentioned earlier, Sinclair developed the first pocket calculators starting with the Executive model in 1972, but he also single-handedly launched the personal computer industry in England with his ZX Spectrum ten years later. The Spectrum ran on a 3.5 MHz Zilog Z80A CPU, with 16K-49KB of RAM and eye popping 256×192 resolution. Not powerful by any stretch of the imagination, but it was affordable and easy to operate which made it attractive to a mass audience. Eventually, it earned Sinclair a fortune and a knighthood from the Queen for his service to British industry.

Sinclair’s obsession with making gadgets smaller extended to several other product categories including mini TVs like the MTV-1, radios and, most recently, electric vehicles like the underwater SeaScooter for divers and the ill-fated cross between a Segway and a scooter that was the C5.

Perhaps the only thing more interesting than his inventions is Clive Sinclair the man. Not surprisingly, he is a brilliant mathematician who has spent part of his later years using this skill to become a champion poker player. Sinclair is also a member of the British chapter of Mensa, serving as chairman of directors for the organization from 1980 to 1997. His Wikipedia article even claims that he doesn’t use the internet despite being a major figure in the history of computing. I suppose that means he probably wont read this, but I still want to acknowledge him and his [ongoing] work.

Just finished watching Micro Men on iplayer, and I was enthralled from start to finish.  Armstrong’s portrayal of a schoolboy trapped inside the supremely imperious body of Clive Sinclair was brilliant, and Freeman cut a tragi-comic Mr. Acorn running his startup from a knife-edge of flaky Cambridge supernerds and creative bank background references, driven by his malignant, mutually destructive rivalry with Sinclair, making all the running and reaching an improbable supremacy, before discovering that his claimed high ground wasn’t even on the battlefield during the overextension and unravelling of his business.  The dramatisation had the guts to stick with it’s themes and not throttle-back on the absurdity of the two protagonists’ bitter feud or the pitifully spiky immaturities and rages of Sinclair.  Awesome stuff delivered with rich period blinky-blonkiness and  real-life television footage.

I know exactly why it had me gripped – aside from it’s dynamic energy and well-constructed narrative, it also captured the spirit of the age for my generation.  I was watching it being constructed.  While the Amiga range was where I cut my teeth, the Speccy and the Beebs that were unreplaced in my school until the early-to-mid ninetees – by Acorn Arcs and only much later with PC – were like keystone lumps of my heritage I guess.  I was reading Your Sinclair magazine way beyond my use of the machine – where loading from tape was as tricky as Ray Mears would find nursing a campfire into maturity at the bottom of a lake.  The Sinclair was already becomming an anachronism even as I really got into it, and Your Sinclair really encapsulated the whole Speccy worldview.  In the later stages of it’s run the magazine had less and less Spectrum content and more freestyle articles, growing fully into an eccentric hodge-podge motivated by the collective gallows humour of a obsolescent community.  The indigenous British hardware industry was going to seed just as much in the mid-eighties and this was a central theme of Micro Men as the real new talents swung almost instinctivly from nuts and bolts hardware into cottage-industry software development as the destined global industrial superpowers emerged and dwarfed the tiny empires of the Micro Men.

The authenticity of this film is typified by the gilt-edged science-fiction flights of fancy of the day that manifest themselves as today’s indisputable reality, the plausible, pragmatic enterprises of the industry at the time swamped and rendered obsolete over the space of single weeks and months by the freewheeling headlong rush of the age.  This historical context lent Micro Men a weighty heft.

Clever, well-made, well-written and well-acted.  Great stuff!

Sinclair C5, o którym wspominałem w jednym z wcześniejszych wpisów, był kompletną porażką finansową, która zmusiła twórcę słynnego ZX 81 do sprzedania swojej firmy Amstradowi. C5 nie był jednak pierwszą klapą brytyjskiego wynalazcy.

C5 w barwach policji w Durham

Dokładnie 10 lat wcześniej, Sinclair wprowadził na rynek zegarek. Czarny Zegarek.

Czarny Zegarek Sinclaira można było kupić za 24,95 funta gotowy lub w częściach do składania za 17,95. Zegarek miał niecodzienny wyświetlacz, który włączał się po naciśnięciu przycisków pod spodem (można było zobaczyć godziny i minuty albo minuty i sekundy), by po kilku sekundach znów się wyłączyć.

Produkt nie był wolny od wad. Planet Sinclair wymienia niektóre z nich:

• Procesor mógł zostać zniszczony przez napięcie statyczne pochodzące od koszulki, dywanu lub klimatyzacji w pomieszczeniu. Problem ujawniał się niekiedy już na etapie produkcji, co sprawiło, że wiele zegarków psuło się zanim w ogóle opuściły fabrykę. Defekt objawiał się zawieszeniem się zegarka na jednej cyfrze, co z kolei przeciążało baterię, która w ostateczności mogła eksplodować.
• Na dokładność kryształku kwarcu silnie wpływała temperatura otoczenia: zegarek chodził inaczej w zimie, a inaczej w lecie.
• Baterie miały żywotność dziesięciu dni, co oznaczało, że klienci często otrzymywali zegarek ze zużytą baterią w środku. A wymiana baterii była niezwykle skomplikowana.
• Wyświetlacz często się zawieszał i pozostawał przez dłuższy czas włączony, co znów prowadziło do eksplozji baterii.
• Model do składania był bardzo niewdzięczny i sprawiał kłopoty nawet zapalonym hobbystom (prawdę powiedziawszy, sami pracownicy Sinclaira mieli kłopoty ze składaniem podzespołów).
• Części obudowy nie trzymały się razem. Nie dało się ich kleić, a zaprojektowane zatrzaski nie spełniały swojej funkcji. Wiele lat później Sinclair otrzymał przesyłkę, na której było napisane “Rozwiązaliśmy problem Czarnego Zegarka!”. W środku był Czarny Zegarek przewiercony na wylot i skręcony półcalową śrubą.

Problemy z Czarnym Zegarkiem zrodziły legendę, że firma dostała więcej zwrotów, niż wyprodukowała urządzeń. Dziesiątki tysięcy wadliwych egzemplarzy były wymieniane na nowe bez dodatkowych opłat. Sprawę pogarszał do tego fatalny dział serwisowy: tylko 20 osób miało odpowiednie kwalifikacje, by naprawiać i odsyłać zegarki.

Fiasko Czarnego Zegarka miało zabójczy wpływ na stan finansów Sinclaira: firma zanotowała stratę w wysokości 355 tyś funtów za lata 1975-6. Przedsiębiorstwo najpewniej by zbankrutowało, gdyby nie wsparcie rządu, który poprzez National Economic Board (Narodową Radę Ekonomiczną) dofinansował Sinclaira. Ten ostatni nie był raczej dumny z takiego obrotu sprawy. W latach 1980 rząd Margaret Thatcher, którego Sinclair był zagorzałym zwolennikiem i od którego otrzymał tytuł szlachecki, zlikwidował National Economic Board. Dlatego, gdy w 1985 roku, firma po raz wtóry wpadła w tarapaty po wypuszczeniu na rynek chybionego technologicznie i ekonomicznie wynalazku, jakim był C5, nie było już dla niej drogi ratunku innej, niż przejęcie przez Amstrada.

]]> http://retrocomputers.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/bbc4s-micro-men-an-interview-and-review/ Fri, 09 Oct 2009 09:09:59 +0000 andyt31 http://retrocomputers.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/bbc4s-micro-men-an-interview-and-review/

As I dont currenly have time to write my own review of Micro Men, he is abstract and link to the drobe.co.uk article.

Ahead of tonight’s Micro Men programme, which charts the rivalry between Sir Clive Sinclair and Acorn Computers in the early 1980s, drobe.co.uk spoke to the film’s producer, Andrea Cornwell, to find out more about the show – and now you can read our review of the film

You can read the rest of the article here.

I’m pretty nerdy, that much is agreed but I sometimes do it in a cool way (oh, did you miss they times…shame *cough*) but I’ve been lucky enough that for about as long as I can remember (some days that ain’t too long), I’ve had access to computers. This has been a factor in my above average wpm and also no doubt a factor in my ability to sit on my bahookie for hours on end doing virtually nothing. All great skills in modern life.

BBC4 has been running an old-skool electronic series recently and there was a show tonight about the conflict between the ZX Spectrum and the BBC Micro (from Acorn) in an early computer battle. As far as the media remembers, and maybe because they were British based firms but the history tends to be focused on the battle between Spectrum and Amstrad. In my opinion, they were both a bit shit, especially in comparison to the Commodore 64. That was the real home of games with colours, tunes and graphics that the other two also rans couldn’t compete with…and I don’t care what the British based history books tell you.

The dream and ambition of the people involved in the development of these projects is the true success of these stories and should probably be viewed as one of the greatest influences of the 1980s. Clive Sinclair was the man behind Spectrum and sadly, his dream of the C5 electronic car proved to be his downfall but then again, whatever happened to the guy behind Amstrad??? Hes probably been fired from a number of positions since then! However, as I said, the British stuff was alright but the Commodore 64 was the best of the lot. – Here’s Impossible Mission, best remembered for the chilling “DESTROY HIM MY ROBOTS” and “STAY A WHILE….STAY FOREVER”

From there, I gravitated towards the consoles with the Sega Master System being my first console but after that, I’ve been a Nintendo fan, with their games suiting the more child like and simple brain that Nintendo cater for. The Playstations and Xbox’s have been aimed at the more mature market, with a harder edge and more gore in their games but Nintendo has always relied on a more simplistic nature to their games.

Even with the Wii and the cutting edge technology used in its sensors, the actual games themselves retain much of the charm. Even my dad has warmed to the world of computing games, his input to the Commodore 64 may have been a lot more financial but he did spend a fair bit of time on Hungry Horace. The Gameboy with Tetris or the DS have found him playing games on a much more regular basis though, proving that games consoles are open to everyone. So….the first ‘tales in the key of c’ poll.

Leon Haywood – I’m Out To Catch

Jag är otroligt fascinerad över hur många låtar det är man glömt bort genom åren. Verkar vara de låtarna som man aldrig skaffade på vinyl och som inte fanns på de mest spelade kassetterna. Samtidigt är det lite märkligt att jag låtit såna kanonlåtar som den här falla i glömska. Men jag är otroligt glad att jag kunnat återupptäcka alla gamla favoriter som man glömt. Om någon på 80-talet hade sagt att år 2009 skulle jag sitta framför en dator och hitta gamla favoritlåtar på nåt som kallas YouTube hade jag nog blivit väldigt konfunderad.

Den världsbild inom datorsfären man hade då var närmast den 48k Sinclair Spectrum som utgjorde min första dator och därifrån till att föreställa sig musik via nätverk var nog ett lite för stort steg att få grepp om på den tiden. Minns att jag var så otroligt stolt när jag kunde spela upp samplade trummor på min Spectrum, iofs bara ett trumljud åt gången, men det var ju makalöst high tech.

Sen kom Amigan som jag snabbt tog till mitt hjärta, köpte en Amiga 1000 med originalmonitor till och även om det var mest spel och lek på den så lärde man sig ändå ett slags sätt att förhålla sig till datorn som lever kvar än idag. Min chef på mitt första IT-jobb kunde inte begripa vad det var för bra med mus och grafiskt gränssnitt när jag visade upp min Amiga för honom. Det skulle inte ta många år så fick han kasta om strategin för bolagets programutveckling helt och hållet för att inte missa Windowståget.

Men han var ofta väldigt skeptisk till den snabba utvecklingen. Minns när jag ville ha en 120 MB hårddisk till min PC nån gång i början på 90-talet när standard för det mesta var 40 MB. Då sade han att 120 MB kommer jag inte att kunna fylla under de närmaste 25 åren. Tja, vad ska man säga, enbart antalet filer på min PC idag som är över 120 MB stora är ganska många så utvecklingen har i det fallet helt klart sprungit ifrån hans uttalande. Han har för övrigt inte velat kännas vid det uttalandet när jag tagit upp det med honom när vi setts på senare år.

Ja, man får tycka vad man vill om den snabba utvecklingen, men själv så gläds jag åt att kunna ta del av all den underbara gamla musik som alla möjliga människor laddar upp på YouTube och jag hoppas att den får stanna kvar där utan restriktioner för det vore så otroligt tråkigt om den försvann att jag inte ens vill tänka tanken.

Tjillevippen

notbugs

Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian broadcaster released this in 1974.  He loved this country of ours more than most Americans today….