The Sinclair ZX Spectrum
As some of you might have noticed I am doing a comic here on Steemit called Phill from GCHQ. In the latest page, published yesterday, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer is mentioned and it will definitely play a role in the comic. Right now I am doing a drawing of it that will fill most of the upper half of the page.
The reason the Spectrum is included in the comic is because it is so very British - like Elton John, James Bond and curry - and as the comic is a piece of carefully made Britannicana it fitted right in.
I had a Commodore 64 myself (together with my brother), but I read about the Spectrum in the computer magazines and somehow I was always curious about this ugly little piece of machinery with the strange rubber keyboard. The games sure looked great!
So I have been looking around the internet doing the research-thing, and I found this splendid video, by a guy called Kim Justice, that explains the very Britishness of the Spectrum put into some historical context. It is truly enjoyable and I am sure all technology nostalgic will approve.
If you want to read the comic you can go to the website here: phillfromgchq.co.uk/
LX or ZX?
I believe the title of the post should be "The Sinclair ZX Spectrum".
It is not possible to change the URL of the post, but it is possible to update the title.
It is ZX - Not sure how that became the LX - but as this comment it will now forever be written in the Steem blockchain. Not in the headline any more though.
Excuse me but ain't Alan Sugar's AMSTRAD the most British computer-box ever? I am saying this as the proud owner of a CPC 6128, with a monochrome green display; yes, green. I had endless debates against the C64, the most hated adversary. I was neutral to Spectrums: they used cassettes and had to wait a lot to load a game to memory, so I felt sorry for them.
So, Mr Kim may say what he likes, but in my heart there is only one place for British Computers and it belongs to my CPC! Also, Sinclair jogging with those really short shorts (at 3:39) is spooky; I should not have seen that.
Yes, the Armstrad and the Memorex is also very British and could have been contenders for the title. But they were prettier and more expensive and didn't have this impossible rubber keys - which somehow rubs me bad taste the right way. So I choose the Spectrum. The cassette is actually meant to play a part later and I am also working on getting Sir Clive Sinclair into the comic somehow. His looks rubs... well...
But your complaint has been noted and I am sorry for the the jogging clip. People nowadays are very fragile. If you had been a US university student, I would have you brought to the Steemit Safe Space™ (SSS™) for mindfulness group therapy... but as you are a simple European this service is sadly not available for you :(
Thanks, but SSS would be totally ineffective anyway, when you see this... this... jogger once, it stays with you forever, can't be un-seen. Another great moment in the video is the Queen fumbling with the SPECTRUM, eyeing it like it is coming from an alternate dimension, just lol!
I like all of these old, small computers, but mine was an Acorn Atom. Also very British.
Yes, there is something magic about them. Looking at it today it was incredible that we could find so much fascination in these primitive machines, but somehow they were pure magic.
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