What processor is used in the zx spectrum. History of the ZX Spectrum computer. A brief history of the official Spectrum

ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal computer that was developed by specialists from the British company Sinclair Research Ltd. back in 1982. In the 80s of the last century, it was one of the most popular computers in Europe, and by the 90s, numerous clones of the ZX Spectrum reached our country.

Many of our readers probably remember various modifications of this computer, as well as the fact that games had to be loaded into its memory from audio cassettes using a cassette recorder, watching on the monitor (or TV) a series of flashes and multi-colored stripes that appeared during the loading process.

This keyboard will seamlessly connect to your tablet, smartphone, or even Apple TV if you want to comfortably play on your TV screen. Agree – you can arrange a very pleasant trip into the distant past during one of your free evenings.

Do you know what the first mass-produced personal computer was? How did the era of personal computers begin? Some may even remember their very first computer, which was a ZX Spectrum. It is he who is the progenitor of all modern computers. ZX Spectrum lasted on the market for more than 10 years, which is considered a great achievement in the computer world. Spectrum's life was eventful, with many interesting facts, myths and misconceptions.

To begin with, let's meet the man who is considered the creator of the ZX Spectrum. His name is Clive Marles Sinclair.

Clive Marles Sinclair was born in Surrey, near Richmond, on July 30, 1940. His father and grandfather were engineers. Clive himself followed in the same footsteps. Already in 1962, Sinclair created Sinclair Radionics, producing kits of parts for assembling radios and sound amplifiers. The company's reputation as a pioneer in consumer electronics is rapidly growing.

Since 1972, the company has been producing electronic watches, portable televisions and tools. In July 1979, Clive Sinclair resigns from Sinclair Radionics and establishes a new company, Sinclair Research Ltd. This is where the story of our ZX Spectrum begins.

The first Sinclair ZX80 product was produced in February 1980, it was the world's first computer priced under £100. Its dimensions were 218 × 170 × 50mm and it weighed 340 grams. The ZX 80 could not be called very successful, however, it began to sell quite well.

In 1981, the logical release of a new version followed - Sinclair ZX81. It was much cheaper than its predecessor and cost £69. Within two years, over a million ZX81s were produced and Sinclair earned over £400 million. After selling 10% of the company and giving 5% to his employees, he retained 85% of the shares, giving him the ability to make ambitious and unprofessional decisions.

ZX Spectrum 48

Riding the wave of success, Sinclair Research releases its most popular computer. This happens in 1982. "ZX Spectrum 48" had 16 KB of ROM, into which a dialect of the BASIC language, the so-called Sinclair BASIC, was flashed. This same ROM program provided basic I/O and user interface.

There were huge problems with the release of the ZX Spectrum. Sinclair's company received a huge number of orders, up to 40 thousand. The real possibility was to produce only 5000 ZX Spectrum per month. Sinclair constantly lied in interviews, announced the release of MicroDrive, which was supposed to add additional kilobytes to the Spectrum model with 16 kilobytes of RAM. The factories could not cope with the huge number of orders, huge queues appeared: 40,000 people waited from 4 to 5 months for their ZX Spectrum, and Sinclair periodically spoke publicly, assuring that the situation had been corrected and the problems were behind them.

Soon the truth emerged. Sinclair's reputation was badly damaged. Contrary to popular belief, Sinclair himself understood practically nothing about computer architecture, but he took part in the development of the keyboard for the ZX Spectrum. The result was a terrible and uncomfortable rubber keyboard, which everyone soon abandoned. An additional keyboard could be purchased for £40.

Despite the failures with the ZX Spectrum, Clive Sinclair remains an extremely popular figure in the UK. Mainly due to the prevalence of the ZX81, sales of which account for 40% of all computers sold in England. The company was forced to release a new version of Spectrum in order not to lose user confidence in this platform. Since June 1984, developers have been preparing the ZX Spectrum+, which was released in October of the same year.

It was a Spectrum with 48 KB of memory, an updated case and keyboard; a reset button appeared on the case. Quite quickly, the new model began to sell twice as much as the previous one; however, some sellers talked about a high percentage of breakdowns. On top of that, the ZX Spectrum+ came with the same terrible keyboard.

Investronica helped adapt the ZX Spectrum+ to the Spanish market after the Spanish government imposed a special tax on all computers with 64 KB or lower memory that did not support the Spanish language.

The new model contained 128 KB of RAM, three-channel audio via the AY-3-8912, MIDI compatibility, an RS-232 port, RGB monitor output, and 32 KB of ROM with an improved BASIC editor.

The car was first introduced and put on sale in September 1985 in Spain. In the UK, due to large numbers of unsold Spectrum+, sales were delayed until February 1986; the starting price was set at £179.95.

The Z80 processor has a 16-bit address bus, which means it can only directly address 64 KB of memory. To access the additional 80 KB of RAM, a memory bank switching technique was used, so the RAM was available in the form of eight pages plugged into the top of the address space. Switching between the new 16 KB ROM and the original 16 KB ROM at the bottom of the address space was performed in a similar manner.

To use the new sound capabilities in “Sinclair BASIC”, the PLAY instruction appeared, to switch to the “Spectrum 48K” mode - SPECTRUM. The new instructions took the place of two existing "user-defined symbols", which caused compatibility problems with some older BASIC programs.

The release of the ZX Spectrum128 marks the end of the Sinclair Research story. It ends quite unexpectedly. In '82 and '83, Clive Sinclair's company made profits of £13.5 million, although he owned 85% of the company's shares. However, in the years 83-85, the ambitious Sir, confident in his genius, sponsored various projects such as an electric car, a flat-screen TV and a new computer model (Sinclair QL).

He entrusted the construction of the car to a company that specialized in assembling washing machines. Nobody bought cars. Nothing worked with the flat-screen TV either. The new computer lagged behind its competitors in quality, power and price. In 1985, to avoid bankruptcy, Clive managed to persuade the Dixons brand to enter into a deal with him for £10 million.

Around the same time, his wife left him. Reason: a banal betrayal that had been going on for several months. Apparently, it was here that Sinclair felt that it was time to leave the computer business. There is an opinion that Sinclair went bankrupt, but in fact this is not the case. Sinclair managed to leave quite gracefully and profitably. In 1986, the situation is improving and it seems that the company is about to get back on its feet. However, on April 7th, Sir Clive Sinclair unexpectedly left the computer industry. When the company is sold, Clive receives £5 million in cash.

All rights to Spectrum computers have been transferred to Amstrad, which successfully continues to develop the Spectrum line. Finally, a new comfortable keyboard was created, which replaced the mutant from Sinclair. Amstrad has released the ZX Spectrum +2. The machine had a gray body with a spring-loaded keyboard, two joystick ports, and a built-in cassette recorder called a "Datacorder" (as in the Amstrad CPC 464), but otherwise the machine was completely identical to the ZX Spectrum 128.

The production price was reduced, bringing retail prices down to £139-£149. The new keyboard did not have BASIC keyword labels, with the exception of LOAD, CODE and RUN, which were needed to run programs, but this was not a big problem since the +2 had a menu system similar to the menu in the ZX Spectrum 128 , where you could switch between the old BASIC 48K and BASIC 128K with a set of keywords letter by letter.

ZX Spectrum +3

The ZX Spectrum +3 looked similar to the +2 model, but contained a 3-inch floppy disk drive instead of a tape recorder. The body was black. The model was released in 1987 with an initial price of £249, which later dropped to £199.

It was the first Spectrum capable of running the CP/M operating system without additional hardware. In “+3” 2 more 16 KB ROMs appeared, in the form of one 32 KB chip. Half of this volume was occupied by the second part of the reorganized 128 ROM, the second half by the disk operating system +3DOS, which was essentially a modified version of AMSDOS.

To make it possible to use other operating systems, the memory bank switching mechanism was changed so that RAM could be mapped to the entire 64 KB of address space. These drastic changes resulted in a number of incompatibilities, with some 48K games and a few 128K games no longer working on the new machine.

The ZX Spectrum +3 was the last official Spectrum model to go into production; production of the model continued until December 1990. Although Spectrum sales accounted for a third of all home computer sales at the time, Amstrad discontinued production in an attempt to convert consumers to the CPC line.

In 1987, the ZX Spectrum +2A was released. It was made to make the line of cars more homogeneous. The body still had the inscription “ZX Spectrum +2”, but the body color returned to black, like the first models.

The +2A was based on the +3, with a 4.1 ROM model and a motherboard that had a significantly reduced number of chips - most of them were integrated into an ASIC chip.

The disc drive and equipment for it from the “+3” model were replaced with a cassette drive, as in the original “+2”. Amstrad originally planned to introduce a disk interface, but this never materialized. As with the ZX Spectrum +3, some 48K games and a few 128K games were not compatible with this model.

Devices for ZX Spectrum computers

The ZX Printer is a printing device developed by Sinclair Research Ltd for use with the Sinclair ZX81 and ZX Spectrum computers, and released in November 1981. In the USA, the device was produced by Timex Corporation under the name TS 2040 Personal Printer, in Portugal - under the name Timex Printer.

The ZX Microdrive is a high-speed storage device released in 1983 by Sinclair Research for the ZX Spectrum computer. Also used for Sinclair QL and One Per Desk computers.

The device is a replaceable cartridge with a looped, “endless” magnetic tape. When working with this device, you get the impression that you are working with a disk drive. Up to eight microdrives can be connected simultaneously. The capacity of one microdrive is approximately 100 Kilobytes.

Kempston Interface

Kempston Interface is an external device for the ZX Spectrum computer, developed by Kempston Micro Electronics and released in 1983 - an interface for connecting a joystick. The interface connected to the ZX Spectrum system connector and allowed the use of Atari-compatible joysticks with a DE-9 connector, which had become the de facto standard. The device retailed for £15.00.

The Times of Knightly Fun by Sir Sinclair

What did Clive Sinclair do after leaving business? 5 million was more than enough for him to lead a wild life. The end of the 90s for Sir Sinclair can be called the Time of Knightly Fun. He was repeatedly (about 10 times) found in the company of young actresses, models and strippers aged 20-22. However, all relationships ended very quickly, there was no talk of any love.

In 2004, Sinclair distinguished himself by inventing the bicycle. He shows the world his own folding bicycle, A-bike. The uniqueness of the bike is that it folds easily and fits into a backpack. It is worth noting that this invention did not bring any dividends.

This was the beginning and end of the invention stories of the legendary Clive Sinclair. Sinclair has been into poker lately. His games were shown on TV a couple of times and his winnings amounted to £25,000.

In conclusion, here are the main myths and misconceptions regarding Clive Sinclair and the ZX Spectrum:

– Sinclair did not invent Spectrum; he had little understanding of PC architecture at all.

- a wild fallacy, Sinclair made millions from Spectrum.

- another misconception, there were more advanced IBM computers, but they were much more expensive.

– every two years an improved modification of the Spectrum was released.

– Sinclair didn’t go bankrupt, he sold Sinclair Research for 5 million and left the business.

The most popular home computer in the late USSR was the Sinclair.
He worked in computer classes, cooperatives, and arcades. Many of today's programmers
started with him.

Development

"...All work was carried out in the Design Bureau of the Lvov Polytechnic Institute - a secret, sensitive enterprise at that time, now (1999) called NIKI ELVIT (Research Design Institute of Electronic Computing and Measuring Technology) of the state university "Lvov Polytechnic"

Eduard Andreevich Marchenko can be considered the initiator of the transformation of the branded Spectrum into a domestic one. He designed the computer case and for the first time connected the Spectrum to the TV through the antenna input. However, he is not so proud of his accomplishments.

According to Marchenko, if he had known that RU5 memory chips would begin to disappear from all enterprises of the Union, stolen by homemade Spectrumists (and on such a scale that it became impossible to fulfill some government orders), he would have thought carefully before promoting the popularity of Spectrum. Yuri Dmitrievich Dobush was the first to completely reproduce the Spectrum: he studied and disassembled into parts available in the USSR the proprietary and top-secret ULA microcircuit, which actually contained the entire computer, not counting the memory, processor and a pair of multiplexers. Evgeni Evgenievich also took part in the development Natopta, who worked on the software part of the computer, and Oleg Vasilyevich Starostenko, the creator of the first Lvov printed circuit board.

"How did the idea of ​​copying the Spectrum come about, and why exactly the Spectrum? The fact is that at that time the need for a computer of this class was already in the air, especially the need to develop something with graphics. At that time there was no such thing as a home computer Just a computer that would have good graphics. By the way, to this day I am surprised and admired by how original the screen (screen memory /author/) was designed in the Spectrum. It had to be a computer with enough software! funds, in particular, games, and so that they are accessible. These are two. What was the third?

Probably the fact that IBM then began to work in Kyiv. And it was very bulky and expensive. Therefore, the question arose of how to make something compact, convenient, cheap, and at the same time reliable. Then there were no normal disk drives. The only thing that appeared , - a CM 1800 machine with 8-inch disk drives, they constantly had to be clicked, and it was such a bandura... Using a tape recorder in the system was quite convenient. The Spectrum was not created as a household computer or as a computer for games. design system for developing and debugging programs on a 580 processor.

There was this Zhenya, he had contacts somewhere. One of the foreign students brought a branded Spectrum here to the OKB. This Zhenya was in contact with Evgeniy Evgenievich Natopta, who, having seen this computer, asked Zhenya to take it home to play with... We take the 99th oscilloscope from work, drag it there and literally go through all the legs, sketch out the oscillograms of this ULA. In addition, we had information on the structure of the software: literally one piece of paper was covered. We also read the information from the computer’s ROM. And Evgeniy Evgenievich Natopta worked on the software, and I, a young specialist at that time, worked on the hardware itself. development. I reconstructed the circuit using the oscillograms.

It didn't last long. A month maximum... But we worked! We worked like this: in the morning you come at nine, and until eleven, until the guard kicked you out, both on Saturday and Sunday. What a job! By the way, we had an interesting approach to circuit synthesis back then: we didn’t draw the circuit - we soldered it. And the whole scheme was always in my head. Once she started working, you never returned to her, the main thing was that she worked. It was hard to do this routine - to draw a diagram. Sinclair is also interesting because it was very compact and quite powerful for those times.

We watched it on such a small TV (shows the size of the TV - a little larger than a palm), which stood on a computer, the computer was a board with soldered wires.

This could later be refined in different ways, but we repeated the oscillogram one after another - we were afraid that the program might not work. We had specific inserts into RAS and CAS. There was a whole system of tricks that made it possible to do everything optimally. And we tried to keep everything as much as possible as it was in the original. It was only later that people began to think: there is a scheme and they tried to do it differently. In addition, we used the element base that we had available. For example, only six months later the eight-bit registers IR22, IR23 appeared on sale. They didn't exist then. That's why there are so many IR16s. And what’s typical is that I tried to make a computer with the same consumption as the original. And it was a success!

I remember there was series 176, for some fragments of the circuit the task was set not only to implement, but also to optimize. Some were with such twists! I remember making a counter on 176IR2, it was so twisted that I sometimes wonder how it occurred to me to do everything like that. ...Only Kaunas walked with us. But Kaunas was late with the development, although their first version started working earlier. Natopta was in contact with them and some sketches were from them, they also had their own developments. It was parallel work, but they were unable to synthesize the entire circuit. We gave them our circuitry and then they were able to finish the job. They had some work done, they tore out some pieces somewhere about the structure of the programs, where what kind of memory was located. I remember the memory cards were brought from Kaunas. This gave us the opportunity to work faster. And then we brought them our circuitry. Then Leningrad, Novosibirsk appeared...

(Programs) Copied directly from tape recorder to tape recorder. Then copying programs appeared, and two years later someone started writing these programs. I personally didn’t do this anymore. We then asked the question of how to make a copying machine. But there was already a question of tape speed. The first copy is fine, then the second, third: worse and worse. We literally indulged in this for another six months and completely forgot how this always happens. In addition, there were problems at work - to put it mildly, we were not praised for this. Not directly our superiors, but the authorities. No, it was impossible to do anything at all then. The main thing is that we were a regime organization. Therefore, perhaps they have never heard of us.

There were very few programs. I remember they could still be collected - two, three, four... I remember I had about fifty cassettes in two years. By the way, just like on IBM, I once collected all the programs that were available - everything fit in one box, five-inch, 360 kilobytes. Interestingly, when they created this model, there were enthusiasts, such as Oleg Starostenko Vasilievich, who worked in the same group. He undertook to embody all this in “metal” - printed circuit boards, etc., etc. Firstly, his task was to reproduce the circuit diagram using these hanging and protruding from the breadboard, wiring the board, etc. .d. He worked on this for six months.

When Oleg Vasilyevich had already made a printed circuit board, then with its appearance the first computer appeared. This was 84-85. And he brought this first option to Moscow to his customers. He had friends in Moscow and Leningrad, and it is likely that he dragged her there. It was important that there was already a working computer, and this gave me confidence that everything would work. But when the first microcircuits were installed, they did not meet the technical specifications. This was also a kind of risk.

They said that domestic RU5s should not have worked there at all. They never worked like that at all. Well, the RU6-e then started working, but I don’t remember the RU5-e working. Well, it seems to work, but it crashes. It fails. For the same reason, the SM1800s constantly malfunctioned and constantly broke down. It was impossible to do anything normal on our microcircuits, especially memory. It was a disaster. I also remember that we installed such thick power buses and hung capacitors on top - it’s terrible. I still have such boards somewhere. What is characteristic of our “memory”, that there are capacitors inside, and during regeneration, during fronts, due to their recharging, it consumed a lot, and there were such “ringing” sounds... Whatever we did: multilayer, and no matter how the junctions were installed, even the companies then recommended how to wire the matrix, how to run the conductors. The worst thing is that our capacitors had high lead inductance and they were not suitable for filtering. We encountered this already at IBM...

real branded Sinclair http://demin.ws/blog/russian/2012/09/01/sinclair-zx-spectrum/

Production:
Source: how it was in Leningrad: http://habrahabr.ru/post/118474/
For the first time, a spontaneous market began to form at the “Young Technician” store, located at 55 Krasnoputilovskaya Street back in the 80s of the last century. The reason was that during the time of total shortage in the whole of St. Petersburg there were only a few stores selling radio components at all, and they did not shine with assortment. Therefore, on weekends, people gathered at the entrance to the store and tried to buy or sell something. Moreover, all this was done from the underground, because... the activity was considered illegal, and often the police drove away this “crowd” of 30-40 people. Therefore, someone stood, say, with instructions from a tape recorder in their hands, someone kept a list of available transistors pinned to the lining of their jacket. In general, everything is like in the film “Ivan Vasilyevich changes his profession.”

In Tashkent, for example, these were radio rows on Tezikovka (flea market). Parts, boards, operating instructions, Tseshki, kits of parts, etc. were laid out on a newspaper spread out. The bazaar collected 50 kopecks per place.

The boards were industrially manufactured; various keyboard buttons and stickers on them were sold separately. To make the case, we used whatever we could, for example, plastic boxes for photographic film or jewelry.

Sometimes at Young Technique they bought a kit to assemble an amplifier and used its case and transformer. The joystick was made from a tonearm, 5 microswitches and a rubber handle for a motorcycle handlebar.

Sinclair was connected via a toggle switch directly to the video input of the TV's kinescope.

BK is a family of Soviet 16-bit home and educational computers. It has been mass-produced since January 1985. In 1990, the retail price for BC 0010-01 in the Elektronika brand store chain was 650 rubles

This is the Tseshka - an indispensable measuring device for any radio amateur. The standard wire is replaced with fluoroplastic

Source: http://abzads.livejournal.com/32469.html
"25 years ago, the sight of this device aroused the admiration of experts:


ZX Spectrum, colloquially "Sinclair". This particular one is the “Zonov” version, it was developed by a certain Zonov. This was the most common option in Leningrad. The button on the left is Reset. Connectors for connecting to a monitor and power supply. This device is not for sale, it is a machine for the tuner. All microcircuits are installed in connectors, colloquially referred to as “beds”

Note the row of large "beds" with gold-plated contacts. Such connectors made it possible to quickly insert and remove a set of chips, in this case RAM. I also made money by testing microcircuits when I was on the market. This is an extended version of Sinclair, which had 128 KB of RAM. It’s not funny, even 48 KB of the simple version allowed both playing and programming in BASIC. Sinclair had a resident OS with built-in BASIC, and language operators were typed with one click of the appropriate button.
In order for the extended device to work, it was necessary to add something to the standard wiring and install it with wires:


I was proud of it. The installation pitch, the distance between two adjacent legs of the microcircuit, is 2.5 millimeters. That is, between the wires that connect the RAM legs (at the bottom of the board) - 1.25 millimeters, without taking into account the thickness of the wires. Wires in fluoroplastic insulation. To solder, you need to remove a piece of insulation no more than half a millimeter long. This was done on the flame of a match or lighter; the fluoroplastic did not melt, but evaporated. The solder flowed a little under the insulation, it turned out quite strong, and could withstand use on the street, at the Juno market. In the first photo, at the top left, you can see two large “beds”, one inside the other. This is to test the operation of the sound coprocessor; there were two options. This coprocessor produced pretty decent stereo sound. To set up all these miracles, you needed a power supply, a monitor and a keyboard. I tried different options and finally settled on these:


Monochrome monitor, reed switch keyboard. I played on it. I took all this to the market on Saturday and Sunday to sell what I had made during the week. Imagine, this worked even in cold weather. You could connect a disk drive to this computer:


As you can see, this is a mobile device. There is a controller board on the box. After checking the chipset on this board, I soldered it into a device for sale. Five-inch drive. The floppy disk contained a dozen or more(?) toys.
The installation was carried out using liquid acid fluxes; after soldering, it was necessary to wash the board. Later they began to use solder with flux placed inside the wire. And most often, after installation the computer did not work. There were solder “sticks” between the tracks. There were bad prints, with the same sticks or cracks in the tracks. There were poorly functioning microcircuits. Sometimes it was necessary to shift the momentum. To see the operation of the device, the pulses, you need an oscilloscope. Starting with a huge box with a round window, I ended up choosing this one:


And the next device is still working. Sometimes on the farm you need to solder some small things:


The wire on the reel is solder. Rosin is poured inside the wire.
Don't you see that the soldering iron is so unsightly. I've tried a lot of them. The copper tip dissolved quite quickly in the solder, lost its flat cut, and a depression formed. Nozzles were bought in bunches. As you can see, there is no regulator or thermostabilizer. Soldering was carried out in a barbaric manner, with an overheated tip to speed up the process. On a normally tinned board, soldering one pin of the microcircuit took half a second. Then it moved to the next pin, etc. I put a disco record on the turntable and played to its rhythm.
The most common option was a small case in which the board was placed under a flat film keyboard, with a remote power supply. By order, we made computers in large cases with disk drives:


In the foreground is one of Sinclair's variants. The Soviet analogue of the Z80 and one large chip that ensures all the operation of the computer. They even made computers with two disk drives:


The power supply is visible at the back, and on the left is a computer with a disk drive controller.
Some users managed to do accounting on the Spectrum and edit texts (you could connect a printer that printed not only text, but also graphics). But the vast majority bought it for toys.
My memories of this period of my life are contradictory. On the one hand, this is all quite a skilled craft. On the other hand, there is handicraft, no progress, regression in the organization of production.

Over time, some manufacturers switched to selling computer junk. Very few continued to manufacture various devices. And the majority took up a wide variety of activities not related to computers.

I worked alone for a while. He made it himself, he sold it himself. At first the profits were great. But one day I felt that I couldn’t continue like this: computers were getting cheaper, and I needed to feed. I managed to save money, purchased parts, hired workers. The workers were the same neighbors in the RFF dormitory, acquaintances. And I became a bourgeois. At first I perceived this as a new task: to distribute finances in such a way as to produce the largest possible number of products. Over time, the bill grew to tens of pieces per week.
update:
From 1990 to 1994 prices changed significantly;) I can’t remember everything.
In 1988, when I returned from military service, a set of parts cost 600-800 rubles. More precisely, I forgot, I remember the figure 800, but now it seems too high, because the average salary then was under 200, although perestroika was already bearing its rotten fruits. There was a black and white TV in every dorm room where they wanted one. A used one cost 50 rubles. Similarly with a tape recorder, so we are talking about a set of parts without a monitor and driver;) My father refused to subsidize such stupidity, so I saved up money for the first computer two years later through petty speculation. Then many students were engaged in this rotten business. Soon he began to earn exclusively from computers and refused the help of his parents.

Around 1990, the price was formed, the processor cost about a dollar, the work process was in full swing, and a profitable business appeared for nimble cooperators: they took out a loan in rubles, converted it into dollars at the government rate, bought processors for dollars, sold them here for rubles at the black market rate and returned the ruble loan. For such a profit, as we know, capital will not stop at any crime, not to mention banal speculation and bribery to the right person.

A set of two 64Kb ROMs also cost about a dollar, as far as I remember. Then 128Kb ROMs appeared, one of which was enough. In 1992, when I hired soldering workers, the work cost about the same as a processor.

A worker had a nightmare to unwrap the processor. I remember how one girl was afraid that she had unwrapped it, and in fright tried to unsolder it, but only ruined it. For me, unsoldering the processor took a matter of minutes using a tool called “suction”, and then few could determine from barely noticeable traces that the processor had been unwrapped. In general, sometimes during setup I had to unsolder microcircuits that I wasn’t sure were working. One day a worker moved all the memory, there were holes for capacitors. And it’s clear that it wasn’t just processors that were deployed.

At first, they assembled the computer on cribs on such a test board, and if the set of chips worked, they soldered it. Later, more efficient batches were sent, and only the memory and processor were checked. After some time, the defect rate decreased so much that it was easier to solder everything at once and replace the faulty ones during setup. Although once I completely quarreled with one supplier when almost half of the purchased memory turned out to be dead.

All in all, it was a very eventful life.

As far as I remember, in a couple of years my shop produced several thousand Sinclairs. I experienced this heady feeling: money appears on its own. But I knew that they don’t appear on their own. I felt some discomfort in front of my workers and no superiority over them. Although there were some urges to tell myself that they could have cooked themselves, it’s not my fault. Once there was an unpleasant moment; I was surprised to learn that old acquaintances disliked me. Later I talked to some bourgeoisie. This seems to be common: social stratification is less noticeable from above than from below. The bourgeois believes that he communicates normally with his subordinates, like human beings, and is not aware of their hatred."

Do you know what the first mass-produced personal computer was? How did the era of personal computers begin? Some may even remember their very first computer, which was a ZX Spectrum. It is he who is the progenitor of all modern computers. ZX Spectrum lasted on the market for more than 10 years. We will tell you about the history of the Spectrum, rich, with many interesting facts, myths and misconceptions.

Riding the wave of success, Sinclair Research releases its most popular computer. This happens in 1982. " ZX Spectrum 48"had 16 KB of ROM, into which a dialect of the BASIC language, the so-called Sinclair BASIC, was flashed. This same ROM program provided basic I/O and user interface. There were huge problems with the release of the ZX Spectrum. Sinclair's company received a huge number of orders, up to 40 thousand. The real possibility was to produce only 5000 ZX Spectrum per month. Sinclair constantly lied in interviews, announced the release of MicroDrive, which was supposed to add additional kilobytes to the Spectrum model with 16 kilobytes of RAM. The factories could not cope with the huge number of orders, huge queues appeared: 40,000 people waited from 4 to 5 months for their ZX Spectrum, and Sinclair periodically spoke publicly, assuring that the situation had been corrected and the problems were behind them. Soon the truth emerged. Sinclair's reputation was badly damaged. Contrary to popular belief, Sinclair himself understood practically nothing about computer architecture, but he took part in the development of the keyboard for the ZX Spectrum. The result was a terrible and uncomfortable rubber keyboard, which everyone soon abandoned. An additional keyboard could be purchased for £40.


Despite the failures with the ZX Spectrum, Clive Sinclair remains an extremely popular figure in the UK. Mainly due to the prevalence of the ZX81, sales of which account for 40% of all computers sold in England. The company was forced to release a new version of Spectrum in order not to lose user confidence in this platform. Since June 1984, developers have been preparing the ZX Spectrum+, which was released in October of the same year. It was a Spectrum with 48 KB of memory, an updated case and keyboard; a reset button appeared on the case. Quite quickly, the new model began to sell twice as much as the previous one; however, some sellers talked about a high percentage of breakdowns. In addition to everything, ZX Spectrum+ came with the same terrible keyboard


This was followed by the next and final model from Sinclair Research. This ZX Spectrum128. Sinclair Research developed the ZX Spectrum 128 together with its Spanish distributor Investronica. Investronica helped adapt the ZX Spectrum+ to the Spanish market after the Spanish government imposed a special tax on all computers with 64 KB or lower memory that did not support the Spanish language. The new model contained 128 KB of RAM, three-channel audio via AY-3-8912, MIDI compatibility, RS-232 port, RGB monitor output, as well as 32 KB of ROM with an improved BASIC editor. The machine was first introduced and launched for sale in September 1985 in Spain. In the UK, due to the large number of unsold Spectrum+, sales were delayed until February 1986; the starting price was set at £179.95. The Z80 processor has a 16-bit address bus, which means it can only directly address 64 KB of memory. To access the additional 80 KB of RAM, a memory bank switching technique was used, so the RAM was available in the form of eight pages plugged into the top of the address space. Switching between the new 16 KB ROM and the original 16 KB ROM at the bottom of the address space was performed in a similar manner. To use the new sound capabilities, the PLAY instruction has appeared in Sinclair BASIC; to switch to the Spectrum 48K mode - SPECTRUM. The new instructions took the place of two existing "user-defined symbols", which caused compatibility problems with some older BASIC programs.

The release of the ZX Spectrum128 marks the end of the Sinclair Research story. It ends quite unexpectedly. In '82 and '83, Clive Sinclair's company made profits of £13.5 million, although he owned 85% of the company's shares. However, in the years 83-85, the ambitious Sir, confident in his genius, sponsored various projects such as an electric car, a flat-screen TV and a new computer model (Sinclair QL). He entrusted the construction of the car to a company that specialized in assembling washing machines. Nobody bought cars. Nothing worked with the flat-screen TV either. The new computer lagged behind its competitors in quality, power and price. In 1985, to avoid bankruptcy, Clive managed to persuade the Dixons brand to enter into a deal with him for £10 million. Around the same time, his wife left him. Reason: a banal betrayal that had been going on for several months. Apparently, it was here that Sinclair felt that it was time to leave the computer business. There is an opinion that Sinclair went bankrupt, but in fact this is not the case. Sinclair managed to leave quite gracefully and profitably. In 1986, the situation is improving and it seems that the company is about to get back on its feet. However, on April 7th, Sir Clive Sinclair unexpectedly left the computer industry. When the company is sold, Clive receives £5 million in cash. All rights to Spectrum computers have been transferred to Amstrad, which successfully continues to develop the Spectrum line. Finally, a new comfortable keyboard was created, which replaced the mutant from Sinclair. Amstrad has released ZX Spectrum +2. The machine had a gray body with a spring-loaded keyboard, two joystick ports, and a built-in cassette recorder called a "Datacorder" (as in the Amstrad CPC 464), but otherwise the machine was completely identical to the ZX Spectrum 128. The production price was reduced, bringing retail prices down to £139-£149. The new keyboard did not have BASIC keyword labels, with the exception of LOAD, CODE and RUN, which were needed to run programs, but this was not a big problem since the +2 had a menu system similar to the menu in the ZX Spectrum 128. , where you could switch between the old BASIC 48K and BASIC 128K with a set of keywords letter by letter


ZX Spectrum +3 looked similar to the +2 model, but instead of a tape recorder it contained a 3-inch floppy disk drive. The body was black. The model was released in 1987 with an initial price of £249, which later dropped to £199. It was the first Spectrum capable of running the CP/M operating system without additional hardware. In “+3”, 2 more 16 KB ROMs appeared, in the form of one 32 KB chip. Half of this volume was occupied by the second part of the reorganized 128 ROM, the second half by the disk operating system +3DOS, which was essentially a modified version of AMSDOS. To make it possible to use other operating systems, the memory bank switching mechanism was changed so that RAM could be mapped to the entire 64 KB of address space. These drastic changes resulted in a number of incompatibilities, with some 48K games and a few 128K games no longer working on the new machine. The ZX Spectrum +3 was the last official Spectrum model to go into production; production of the model continued until December 1990. Although Spectrum sales accounted for a third of all home computer sales at the time, Amstrad discontinued production in an attempt to convert consumers to the CPC line.


In 1987, the ZX Spectrum +2A was released. It was made to make the line of cars more homogeneous. The body still had the inscription “ZX Spectrum +2”, but the body color returned to black, like the first models. The "+2A" was based on the "+3", with a 4.1 ROM model and a motherboard that had a significantly reduced number of chips - most of them were integrated into an ASIC chip. The disc drive and equipment for it from the “+3” model were replaced with a cassette drive, as in the original “+2”. Amstrad originally planned to introduce a disk interface, but this never materialized. As with the ZX Spectrum +3, some 48K games and a few 128K games were not compatible with this model


The following devices were created for the ZX Spectrum:

The ZX Printer is a printing device developed by Sinclair Research Ltd for use with the Sinclair ZX81 and ZX Spectrum computers, and released in November 1981. In the USA, the device was produced by Timex Corporation under the name TS 2040 Personal Printer, in Portugal - under the name Timex Printer

The ZX Microdrive is a high-speed storage device released in 1983 by Sinclair Research for the ZX Spectrum computer. Also used for Sinclair QL and One Per Desk computers. The device is a replaceable cartridge with a looped, “endless” magnetic tape. When working with this device, you get the impression that you are working with a disk drive. Up to eight microdrives can be connected simultaneously. The capacity of one microdrive is approximately 100 Kilobytes

Kempston Interface is an external device for the ZX Spectrum computer, developed by Kempston Micro Electronics and released in 1983 - an interface for connecting a joystick. The interface connected to the ZX Spectrum system connector and allowed the use of Atari-compatible joysticks with a DE-9 connector, which had become the de facto standard. The device retailed for £15.00. Kempston Joystick looked something like this:

What did Clive Sinclair do after leaving business? 5 million was more than enough for him to lead a wild life. The end of the 90s for Sir Sinclair can be called the Time of Knightly Fun. He was repeatedly (about 10 times) found in the company of young actresses, models and strippers aged 20-22. However, all relationships ended very quickly, there was no talk of any love. In 2004, Sinclair distinguished himself by inventing the bicycle. He shows the world his own folding bicycle, A-bike. The uniqueness of the bike is that it folds easily and fits into a backpack. It is worth noting that this invention did not bring any dividends. This is what this “miracle of technology” looks like

We traced where the story of the legendary Clive Sinclair and his inventions began and ended. Currently, Sinclair is interested in poker. His games were shown on TV a couple of times and his winnings amounted to £25,000.

In conclusion, we present the main myths and misconceptions regarding Clive Sinclair and the ZX Spectrum:

Clive Sinclair was a great inventor, engineer who created the ZX Spectrum – Sinclair didn't invent Spectrum; he had little understanding of PC architecture at all.

Clive Sinclair did not seek commercial profit in his products, for example, the profit from the sale of one computer, even in the most difficult times, did not exceed one pound – a wild fallacy, Sinclair made millions from Spectrum

All computers produced by Clive Sinclair were advanced and better than their competitors. In addition, his computers were the most popular in the world – another misconception, there were more advanced IBM computers, but they were much more expensive

No other computer - neither before nor after the ZX Spectrum - has been able to last so long without becoming obsolete – an improved version of the Spectrum was released every two years

Quite unexpectedly, for no apparent reason, Clive Sinclair went bankrupt in 1986 – Sinclair did not go bankrupt, he sold Sinclair Research for 5 million and left the business

Also in the section:

The development of the computer market in the 70s was in its early stages. The industry was still far from making this product mass-produced. Therefore, for the most part, computers were complex devices designed to perform any large-scale tasks. But by the end of the decade, people were asking the question: “Why not use these machines as an entertainment tool?” Their voices were heard, and some manufacturers began producing special kits for self-assembly of a gaming system. However, the disadvantages of this approach significantly outweighed its few advantages. Firstly, such sets were very difficult to find on sale. Secondly, even if this was possible, their cost was beyond reasonable limits. For the money that was asked for the set, it was quite possible to buy a good used car. And thirdly, there was frankly little software for such sets. Why would a user spend several thousand dollars on a computer that does not have a single cool application? In short, to develop the idea of ​​​​creating a device for recreation and entertainment, a different approach was needed. One of them was proposed by the British company Sinclair Research, headed by Clive Sinclair.

Clive Sinclair

The company's idea was to create the most simple and accessible computer that would combine ease of learning and programming and, of course, a low price. This was supposed to solve the main problem of the above-mentioned PC building kits - the lack of a software base. Ease of operation would allow users to write numerous applications themselves. This is exactly the path that Sinclair Research took when developing its ZX Spectrum computer. However, before we begin to tell the story of the legend, we will pay a little attention to the history of Sinclair Research itself.

History of Sinclair Research

Clive Sinclair created a company called Sinclair Radionics in 1961. At first he had no partners - he developed his business alone. Clive was engaged in selling radio components by mail (Sinclair Radionics even produced several successful radio designs). At the same time, Sinclair tried to launch several innovative devices. For example, in 1970, a vinyl record player with an unusual design was introduced. Instead of the traditional round record support, it used a triangular structure with weights mounted on the tops. According to Sinclair, this reduced vibrations transmitted from the support to the playback head, and also prevented contamination of the vinyl record itself. However, almost no one showed interest in the development, and the device never reached store shelves. More precisely, to the post office counter of Sinclair himself.

The unfortunate fate of the unusual player was repeated by the Neoteric 60 Hi-Fi amplifier. At that time, competition in this segment was extremely high, and Sinclair tried to conquer the market with the help of unusual products, which was the Neoteric 60. However, the company was unlucky again - Hi-Fi -the amplifier sold very poorly.

Amplifier Neoteric 60

One might get the impression that the company's first decade was marked exclusively by failed projects. However, the financial statements say otherwise: by 1971 the firm's annual turnover was £560,000 with a net profit of £90,000. At the same time, the company's staff was replenished with 50 new employees. Things were looking up.

The 1970s can easily be called the “calculator era” of Sinclair. At this time, the company released two models of pocket calculators. One of them became the first commercially successful product. This could not even be prevented by a large number of device shortcomings, including their unreliability. The second model was intended for a more serious market, but never gained a foothold in it. Initially, it was created simply as a device with an expanded set of functions, but Sinclair attempted to turn the gadget into an office computer, and this attempt failed miserably.

Sinclair calculator

Computer ZX80

In the second half of the 70s, Sinclair Research began developing an inexpensive household computer. Engineer Jim Westwood was responsible for the project. In 1980, the process of creating the device was completed. The ZX80 appeared. It was the world's first computer whose cost did not exceed hundreds of pounds. The ZX80 was also available for sale as a kit for self-assembly. This version actually cost £79.95.

The developers managed to achieve such a low price by simplifying the element base and using fairly primitive components. The then popular Zilog Z80 with a frequency of 3.25 MHz was used as the central processor. To be more precise, it is a clone of this “stone” produced by NEC. The crystal had several advantages. Not only was it low cost, but (due to its internal architecture) it required fewer logic chips. The amount of RAM was only 1 KB, but this was enough to run the programs the user needed. Plus, it was possible to install an additional 16 KB of RAM in the form of expansion cards. The ROM size was 4 KB, and the Sinclair BASIC programming language was already built into it. And to store written programs, ordinary tape recorders and audio cassettes were used.

This is what the ZX80 looked like

Interestingly, the ZX80 did not have a video controller. The image was formed with minimal participation of hardware - the operation was performed primarily through the software part. The main and very significant drawback of this approach was that the ZX80 was able to show a picture only in those moments when it was not busy executing the program. The screen would simply go blank before displaying the new graphics. By the way, the ZX80 specifications did not provide for the use of any special monitor; the screen was an ordinary TV, which was also a plus for ordinary users.

As for the “exterior” of the ZX80, the computer’s appearance was more reminiscent of a game console than a computer. It was a small white plastic box with a membrane keyboard on it, which had no symbols, only commands. The user simply pressed the register button and selected the appropriate BASIC command. This greatly simplified the process of writing programs.

Despite its shortcomings, the ZX80 became extremely successful. Of course, the cost of the gadget also played a major role in this. Already in the first months after the release, a queue formed to purchase the ZX80 and there was a shortage of devices, which Sinclair Research did not expect.

Computer ZX81

In 1981, the next generation of the computer, called the ZX81, was introduced. The price has been reduced even further, with the DIY kit now available for the ridiculous price of £49.95. The finished computer was slightly more expensive at £69.99, which was still cheaper than the equivalent ZX80 version. By the way, the ZX81 became the first Sinclair device that was sold not only by mail, but also through retail chains. As for the technical characteristics, the “heart” of the computer was the same NEC Z80 processor with a frequency of 3.25 MHz. The amount of RAM remained the same (1 KB), which caused particular dissatisfaction among users. Such a modest number of “brains” greatly limited the possibilities for creating new applications. Expansion cards that increased the RAM capacity to 16 KB could solve the problem, but the cost of some of them was comparable to the price of the ZX81 itself. The ROM capacity has increased to 8 KB, and the built-in Sinclair BASIC language has acquired support for floating point arithmetic.

ZX81 received a black body

Interestingly, the ZX81 again did not receive a video controller. To somehow compensate for its absence, Sinclair came up with two operating modes: slow and fast. In fast mode, the ZX81 performed the same as its predecessor, the ZX80. That is, while the program was running, the image disappeared from the screen. In slow mode, the screen did not go dark, but it took about 4 times longer to process the program code. Externally, the ZX81 was not much different from the ZX80. The plastic case of the computer became black, and the membrane keyboard, which received a slightly different key configuration, remained white for convenience.

As you already understood, the ZX81 received only minor changes. But even this was enough for the computer to sell 8 times more than the ZX80.

ZX Spectrum

The launch of the third generation of the ZX computer was planned for 1982. As they say, you quickly get used to good things, so even though the ZX81 offered decent functionality at a more than modest price, users expected new and innovative features from the computer with the working title ZX82. The main difference between the next generation computer was supposed to be support for color images, since the ZX80 and ZX81 only worked with monochrome images. This step was largely influenced by the widespread use of color televisions. In this regard, the name ZX82 was replaced by the saying ZX Spectrum.

On the hardware side, the ZX Spectrum has undergone several key changes. The central processor was still the Zilog Z80A, but its frequency was increased to 3.5 MHz. The volume of RAM and ROM increased to 16 KB each, and the amount of RAM could even be equal to 48 KB. Spectrum really learned how to work with color images thanks to the advent of a graphics controller. The video mode supported a resolution of 256x192 pixels and 8 colors with two brightness levels. One-bit audio output was also provided through the built-in speaker. In fact, it was an ordinary “squeaker” that beeped rhythmically in games. The appearance of the ZX Spectrum was slightly different from the design of the ZX80 and ZX81. The new computer received a different keyboard: the membrane was replaced by full rubber keys.

Programs were entered and loaded from a cassette recorder, which was connected to the computer. Some tapes even had some sort of digital protection. For example, a serial number was supplied with the game, which allowed it to be launched.

Spectrum turned out to be as successful as its predecessors. Starting prices for computers continued to be affordable: versions with 16 KB and 48 KB of RAM were priced at £125 and £175 respectively. And a little later they were reduced to 99.95 and 129.95 pounds.

Subsequently, the ZX Spectrum received several updates. In June 1984, the ZX Spectrum+ computer went on sale. It differed from the regular version by the mandatory presence of 48 KB of RAM, as well as a new keyboard, which received an additional reset button. Despite such minor changes, the ZX Spectrum+ outsold the original model. However, some sellers complained about the unreliability of the device, claiming that the percentage of faulty computers reached as much as 30%.

ZX Spectrum+ computer

ZX Spectrum+ computer

The ZX Spectrum 128, which appeared in 1986, was developed jointly with the Spanish company Investronica. The fact is that the Spanish government imposed a high tax on all imported computers with 64 KB of RAM and below that do not support the Spanish language. The entire European market was important to Sinclair, so together with Investronica the company began adapting Spectrum for Spain. The computer received support for 128 KB of RAM, 32 KB of ROM with an improved BASIC editor, three-channel audio via the AY-3-8910 standard, RGB monitor output and MIDI compatibility.

Also in 1986, all rights to the Spectrum brand and computers were transferred to Amstrad. New models received various suffixes: +2, +3, +2A, +2B. In terms of hardware, Amstrad computers received only minor modifications. For example, the ZX Spectrum +2 had a built-in Datacoder cassette recorder. And in the ZX Spectrum +3 the tape recorder was replaced with a floppy drive. Plus, this model was the first Spectrum that could run the CP/M operating system without additional equipment. She has become, perhaps, the most controversial in the entire line. Thus, the ZX Spectrum +3 RAM was mapped to 64 KB of address space, which led to incompatibility of some games written for the original ZX Spectrum.

Computer ZX Spectrum +2

About accessories for ZX Spectrum

However, it was not only the low cost that contributed to the growing popularity of the ZX Spectrum. A huge number of different “gadgets” were released for the computer, which significantly expanded the functionality of this computer. One of these devices was the ZX Printer, compatible not only with the Spectrum, but also with the ZX80 and ZX81. The device was connected to the computer using a system connector and used spark printing technology. This type of printing used special black paper coated with aluminum. The print head consisted of two closely spaced needles that moved across the width of the page. To print characters, tension was created between the needles, and they burned through the paper in the right place. In total, the line contained 32 characters. The very idea of ​​printing at home was truly revolutionary, but it was not possible to fully implement it in the ZX Printer due to the unreliability of the device. Plus, spark printing technology also did not show its best side: the print quality quickly decreased, and the paper surface was fragile.

Another interesting accessory was a loopback magnetic tape ROM module called the ZX Microdrive. The volume of such a device was 16 KB. It allowed you to quickly load or save a previously written program. However, the ZX Microdrive never received proper distribution. Users preferred to use time-tested, albeit slower, audio cassettes.

ZX Microdrive ROM module

Cassette for ZX Spectrum

Sinclair also presented expansion cards ZX Interface 1 and ZX Interface 2. Initially, the first was developed as a network interface for organizing a local network in schools. However, before the product was released, support for simultaneous operation of up to 8 ZX Microdrive devices was added, and subsequently the interface was used primarily to connect these ROM modules. As for the ZX Interface 2, this expansion card had connectors for connecting two joysticks (yes, Sinclair even produced a game joystick for the ZX Spectrum), a ROM cartridge connector and a ZX Printer connection interface. But due to the high cost, the device did not sell well, and a year later it disappeared from store shelves.

This is what ZX Interface 1 looked like

In addition, many accessories from third-party manufacturers could be found on sale. For example, devices such as a speech synthesizer (Currah Microspeech), game joysticks, additional digital keyboards, and even a graphics tablet and drum kit (Cheetah SpecDrum) were produced specifically for Spectrum. Impressive!

About the software

But, of course, it’s not the huge number of different peripherals that made people love the ZX Spectrum. The computer was relatively easy to program. In the first half of the 80s, this caused a real boom in the software industry. Both full-fledged companies and individual programmers were involved in writing programs. The development of the Western software market for the ZX Spectrum can be divided into three stages.

During the first stage, which lasted from 1982 to 1984, the market experienced quantitative growth. There were no large companies yet, and the creation of applications was carried out by small firms or single writers. Moreover, about 80% of the software were games! The first video entertainment was quite primitive: the graphic design was not very good, and neither was the plot. Interestingly, piracy began to flourish already at that time.

The third stage covered the years 1988-1993. This period marked the decline of the ZX Spectrum as a gaming platform. The computer was becoming obsolete, and users were switching to other systems. Developers also switched from Spectrum to more modern platforms. Nevertheless, many interesting games were released during these years. For example, over time a demo version of the legendary Doom was released. The computer's performance was not enough for the shooter to work quickly, so the "spectrum" variation used interlaced scanning, which removed every even line of pixels, which increased the speed of rendering scenes.

ZX Spectrum in Russia

The stages listed above do not apply to the post-Soviet space, since many computers (more precisely, their clones) came to the USSR only in the second half of the 80s. And unlike Western Europe, where other computers (the same Atari and Commodore) sold well along with the ZX Spectrum, in the country of the Soviets the Sinclair device was the sole sales leader. Why? The reason, first of all, lies in the low cost of the Spectrum: the computer was not subject to duties, so it was available to many Soviet citizens. Atari and Commodore computers traveled a long way before hitting the shelves of Soviet stores, and their prices were significantly higher. In addition, it turned out that most of the Spectrum parts, if necessary, could be replaced with domestic ones, which made the computer repairable. By and large, the only irreplaceable component of the system was the Z80 processor.

Domestic clone of ZX Spectrum

The software market also lagged behind the European one in its development. In the late 80s and early 90s, the vast majority of programs were imported from abroad, mainly through Poland. Naturally, there was no question of any copyrights - almost all the software was pirated. The percentage of licensed products was extremely small.

At first, the main occupation of programmers was transferring games from cassettes to disks. This operation involved hacking the cassette loader, transferring all the data from the cassette to disk, and writing a disk loader. But gradually the emphasis shifted towards writing your own applications. The peak of development of Spectrum game development in Russia occurred in 1995. At this time, the largest number of games were created, and many foreign projects were localized. In subsequent years, the domestic software market for the ZX Spectrum experienced a decline, and as a result, by 2001-2002, only enthusiasts remained among computer users.

Conclusion

The ZX Spectrum is rightfully considered a legendary computer, especially for the entire post-Soviet space. Spectrum left a huge mark on the history of the IT industry, and in Russia it became the first home computer for many. You could even say that the ZX Spectrum era brought up the first generation of domestic IT specialists. Unfortunately, at one time Sinclair decided not to release a successor to Spectrum, focusing on other types of research activities. Nevertheless, the memory of the ZX Spectrum is still alive. To this day you can find enthusiasts experimenting with this truly iconic computer.