Comments on: An easter project

By: The Sinclair ZX Spectrum is 30 today. | tapadoo

The Sinclair ZX Spectrum is 30 today. | tapadoo — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:39:06 +0000

[...] So I thought I’d repost this [...]

By: Stephen Wood

Stephen Wood — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 11:31:03 +0000

Very nice! I’ve always admired the Speccy’s cult design. Even as a Commodore fan. A while ago I framed a Commodore PET chicklet keyboard for my study, then did another for my office at work.

By: Paul Fegan

Paul Fegan — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 14:13:37 +0000

Dermot, I’m proud to say I was there when you were an astute, aspiring programmer. In fact, yours was the first Spectrum I had ever seen in action and, having experienced the graphics on Ed Kirwan’s ZX-81, I was blown away by the Spectrum’s colours. The first thing I used was Melbourne Draw and I recall the difficulty in drawing diagonal and curved lines (no mouse controller or line-drawing tools in those days). I have many happy memories of those Spectrum-obsessed days in the mid ’80s and it’s quite moving to see your first computer framed and on display like this. Great post.

By: dermdaly

dermdaly — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:50:37 +0000

Hmmm. I think that recollection is indeed hazy. I only ever owned 1 spectrum. It was a 48k and this is it. I’m sure of it. Good to hear from you after all these years mind!

By: DaveConnolly

DaveConnolly — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:28:11 +0000

Blast from the past. Just found your site after linking from Paul F’s bitsixteen site. Nice site.

I believe (very very hazy vague recollections from 25 years ago) that you may not be the original owner of that Sinclair Spectrum you so proudly hang in your office. If memory serves, you owned a 16K Spectrum originally and bought the 48k version from me, many years after I had boxed it up and left it aside for my Amiga. So you could be displaying my first computer on your wall instead of your own

By: dermdaly

dermdaly — Thu, 27 May 2010 23:39:21 +0000

Sweet. I have never seen a QL in the flesh, but would love to. I briefly owned A PC1512; it had dual floppies, and booted DOS off one of them (both 5.25 inch floppies). All I remember is that the disks were totally virused, and I only held on to it for a few weeks. I sold it on to a classmate before getting an Epson 8086 PC. I loved this because it supported software power off (Most PCs had a clunky switch at the back at this stage). This was replaced by a Wang 80386sx (VGA Color!) PC, complete with an 80387sx math-co-processor (so my dad could run Autocad on it).

By: Tommy Weir

Tommy Weir — Thu, 27 May 2010 23:19:55 +0000

Nice one. I have a few vintage bits of tech too on the shelves.

The very first computer I lusted after was the Sinclair QL. It was so hot for the time.

But my first purchase ended up being an Amstrad PC1512 (a much duller choice) quickly followed by an Amiga, which I loved.

By: Gianni

Gianni — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 12:10:53 +0000

What about some neat & tidy LED strips placed on the inside of the frame so that it lights up the ZX but you can’t see the lights ?

http://www.led-lightbulbs.ie/scp/LED_Light_Strips/LB_Series.html