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Sir Clive Sinclair has died

theguardian.com

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Re: Sir Clive Sinclair has died

#291

Post by nemo44x »

midnightclubbed wrote: post #200

Very sad. For American readers it may be difficult to explain quite how much Sir Clive and his products shaped tech and a large number of British engineers. So many of us found a love of programming from Sir Clive's computers. The beautiful thing about Sir Clive's products (particularly the ZX Spectrum) was that they were cheap. Basically a Zilog Z80, a ROM, RAM, membrane keyboard, and a single asic. No sound chip, n…

As an American with British ties I will say a legend has passed away. My British side has a better recollection of computers than my American side from that era in large part due to his innovation.

Re: Sir Clive Sinclair has died

#292

Post by Razengan »

Razengan wrote: post #71

… I dreaded this day. He was the first “computer celebrity” I knew of and looked up to. Always expected him to make some kind of comeback in a world that sorely needs something like what the ZX Spectrum (& C64) was in its time.

Oh hello angry person who went into my history and downvoted benign comments.

Re: Sir Clive Sinclair has died

#293

Post by Chris_Newton »

jarvist wrote: post #213
Chris_Newton wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the availability of tech like the Pi now, I wonder what it would take to build a modern, child-friendly device in the same spirit around it: something that offered a fun and instructive introduction to programming, in a box that was self-contained, safe and practically indestructible. Design a case with a sealed keyboard? Expose standard power and display connectors with robust ports? Write some child-friendly…

The Raspberry Pi 400 is basically this. https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-400/

The 400 isn’t quite what I had in mind. I was thinking more of a device usable even by the under-10 group, with a simpler and more robust physical design and, crucially, the kind of instant-on, guided programming environment the early home “PCs” had.

With early Sinclair systems, each key on the keyboard would act like modern auto-complete: you would start typing and keywords would appear almost magically. On the BBC Micro, you powered on and heard the trademark beeeeep-beep and were instantly presented with a prompt where you could start typing a program or other commands. Everything in those systems was geared towards immediate responses and inviting you to start programming them straight away.

Re: Sir Clive Sinclair has died

#294

Post by stevekemp »

ghoul2 wrote: post #101

RIP Sir. I was gifted the 48K when I was 6 yrs old - it changed my life. I am here because Sir Sinclair built a machine whose setup instructions said: Now that you have set up the computer, you will want to use it. The rest of this booklet tells you how to do that; but in your impatience you will probably already have started pressing the keys on the keyboard, and discovered that this removes the copyright message. T…

A lot of people started programming thanks to the ZX Spectrum, and I'm one of them too:

https://blog.steve.fi/how_i_started_programming.html

It was easily the most popular home computer in the UK at that time, though I imagine a large number of people started with the BBC - via the school integration.

I still have my manuals, and recently paid for a print of the keyboard to hang on my wall. (I almost bought a dead 48K model, and framed it, but getting a poster/print was slightly cheaper.)

Re: Sir Clive Sinclair has died

#295

Post by quickthrower2 »

GekkePrutser wrote: post #231
hughrr wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shredding him. His business acumen was nil and his cost cutting nailed shut the coffin of every venture he started. I don’t get the hero worship.

Maybe he didn't make a lot of money but he sure managed to inspire people. I know which I'd want to be my legacy.

Also he did a bunch of ventures and one succeeded, and some bombed. Isn't that a celebrated rite of passage in SV?

Re: Sir Clive Sinclair has died

#296

Post by djmips »

midnightclubbed wrote: post #200

Very sad. For American readers it may be difficult to explain quite how much Sir Clive and his products shaped tech and a large number of British engineers. So many of us found a love of programming from Sir Clive's computers. The beautiful thing about Sir Clive's products (particularly the ZX Spectrum) was that they were cheap. Basically a Zilog Z80, a ROM, RAM, membrane keyboard, and a single asic. No sound chip, n…

When I went to college in Canada, my hosts where I rented a room had a ZX81 that they weren't using and I was allowed to put it in my room. What a fun world to come home to explore the inner workings. It had a printer and I figured out how to print graphics. I was overjoyed with my success. What a fun machine to hack around on! RIP

Re: Sir Clive Sinclair has died

#297

Post by rodgerd »

midnightclubbed wrote: post #202
RantyDave wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm another who had exactly the same experience. That one sentence did the entire country a massive favour (and is, sadly, no longer true) The quality of the documentation with these early computers was also truly exceptional. I learned basic in a weekend.

To elaborate your point every ZX Spectrum came with a detailed manual from which you could learn Basic. And in the back it had a ascii table with all the Z80 instruction codes - so once you had basic down you could try assembly!

More than just that; the block diagram and a lucid explantion of floating point mathematics that has lasted me for 40 years.

Re: Sir Clive Sinclair has died

#299

Post by aix1 »

belter wrote: post #146
pistoriusp wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely feel the same. What a legend.

Same. This is my desk decoration: "The Complete Spectrum ROM Disassembly" http://www.primrosebank.net/computers/zxspectrum/docs/Comple...

Thought I'd also mention "The ZX Spectrum ULA".

https://www.amazon.com/ZX-Spectrum-Ula-Microcomputer-Compute...

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