Hello, a recent ZX81 owner having sold my original in 1983

Introduce yourself to your fellow forum members - what was your journey into the Sinclair world?
Post Reply
SabreWulf
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Jul 26, 2021 6:31 pm

Hello, a recent ZX81 owner having sold my original in 1983

Post by SabreWulf »

Hello all.

I first owned a ZX81 in 1982, it was sold less than a year later to fund a Spectrum. Somehow an Oric-1 came into the mix for a short while before malfunctioning and being replaced by a Spectrum. I never left the Sinclair fold again. I still have my original Spectrum and have kept it going through the years and it has a few brothers and sisters to keep it company now. The ongoing project to master machine code remains, sadly, ongoing, but it's still fascinating. I was on the lookout for a ZX81 to restart the journey and have recently acquired one along with a Memotech keyboard. It's beautiful. Sinclairs and keyboards have always been a thing: I had a DK'Tronics keyboard for the Spectrum and then made the mistake of "upgrading" to a plus - out of curiosity and that damned enticing TV advert that they produced - what a horrible and unusable keyboard that was and is: extraordinary to look at but useless to type on and I speak as an ardent fan. Anyway, the Memotech is the nicest ZX add-on that I've ever used.

In my "untested" bundle, there was also a Memotech 16K RAM pack. I was as excited as an eleven year old by this as I didn't have a RAM pack in the first period. Again, the aluminium construction is something to behold. But, nothing happens when I power on with it attached: just continued snow without a flicker of life. Life returns without the RAM pack attached: with and without the keyboard expansion. From the snippets that I've picked up here, I've gathered that the Memotech power circuit is different to the ZX RAM pack but that generally RAM packs displace the mainboard RAM. If I'm getting snow, is it that the ZX81 isn't seeing any RAM at all and so doing nothing? Could it be as "simple" as the voltage regulator in the RAM pack? Or is it likely to be damaged chips? Or both and more still? I've been meaning to build a chip tester and this seems like a good time to do it. The Spectrum's power up behaviour is more helpful (to me) and I've repaired a fair few along the way. The ZX81 power-up behaviour is unknown (to me) and so my diagnostic skills are zero - so far. If anyone can nudge me along then I'd really appreciate it.

I'm a newcomer to this forum and I'm impressed by the depth of knowledge and enthusiasm here. When I first saw my "new" ZX81, the same flood of excitement returned - just as it had been on Christmas morning in 1982. Nostalgia is a powerful drug. When will I ever find the time to get to grips with the entire collection?
User avatar
1024MAK
Posts: 5103
Joined: Mon Sep 26, 2011 10:56 am
Location: Looking forward to summer in Somerset, UK...

Re: Hello, a recent ZX81 owner having sold my original in 1983

Post by 1024MAK »

Hello and welcome to our forum SabreWulf!

:D :D :D

Oh dear, you seem to have the same addiction to ‘retro’ computers as me! :lol:

I hope you enjoy this forum :D

For you hardware troubles, please start a new topic in the hardware section ;)

Mark
ZX81 Variations
ZX81 Chip Pin-outs
ZX81 Video Transistor Buffer Amp

:!: Standby alert :!:
There are four lights!
Step up to red alert. Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing the bulb :!:
Looking forward to summer later in the year.
Andre
Posts: 46
Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2008 7:28 pm
Location: Chateauguay-Quebec-Canada
Contact:

Re: Hello, a recent ZX81 owner having sold my original in 1983

Post by Andre »

I always happy to greet a new member. I am a fan of the ZX81 basic. Whenever you get your computer going and try yourself at programming, i will be there. Welcome on board!
The ZX81 pleasure is spreading, ANDRE***
http://zx81.ordi5.free.fr/andre
http://zx81.de/andre
Post Reply