When I heard the sad news about the passing of Sir Clive Sinclair, it made me think of those in my generation who like me. Who got the computing and technology bug due to the Sinclair range of computers and specifically the Spectrum.
Our first Computer
My parents were not wealthy, so I will always be grateful to them for buying me and my brother a Sinclair ZX Spectrum for Christmas in 1982. My brother and I, along with our Dad, used to play games on our Spectrum. I also tried to write some BASIC programs on our Spectrum, Awakening, an interest in computing and technology that has stayed with me throughout my life.
I, like many others of my generation, will remember the original Spectrum rubber keys. Or the challenge you faced loading a program or game from a cassette via the external cassette recorder. The game or program would take minutes to load. Some games could be pretty temperamental require adjustments made to the cassette player volume.
I fondly remember the arguments between Speccy owners and those who owned Commodore 64s. The Commodore 64 owners would always go on about colour clash, which occurred when one colour appeared directly alongside another colour.
Conclussion
Thank you, Sir Clive Sinclair; your development of the Sinclair ZX80, ZX81, and the ZX Spectrum opened up the world of computing and technology to many in my generation who might not have had their eyes opened otherwise. The CTNET website and this blog wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for Spectrum; my parents bought it for my brother and me back in 1982.