Sinclair C5

[Terminator]

I had an Atari VCS in 1981 my first so called computer console.As I wasn't interested in computers while I was at school and more into trains this sent me off onto my career path im still in today.

 

[buggi]

I found one at work. Christ knows what it was doing there, tucked away in a mezzanine floor above the warehouse with a load of old promotional stuff for exhibitions.

I'll have to go take a look see if it's still there. Never seen one on the road.

Ooh, there's some on eBay

C5

OMG i wish i found one at work, i'd go to the "street" area (our main foyer which is really long) and whizz up and down in it (as fast as it will whizz anyway) and make everyone look in shock. what a larf! i can just imagine running one of the directors over ha ha!

Remember the Spectrum !

we had one to share between 4 of us for Christmas. O the arguments over whose turn it was to play frogger!

 

[TheDoctor]

I cant remember if there was ANYTHING before the Spectrum..

Before the Spectrum - as well as the ZX80 and ZX81 there was the Texas Ti 99/4 (IIRC), the Acorn Atom, the BBC Micro, the Commodore VIC20 (goes all soggy with nostalgia). The Dragon32 was launched after the Spectrum, but didn't have the long delivery time.

Back OT, though, if the C5 had a decent range of gears and an adjustable seat it would probably still be in production. I suspect the A-Bike will go the way of the Zike (if anyone remembers those).

 

[palinurus]

The ZX81! 1K of Memory, only black and white and no lowercase letters. Annoying touch-sensitive keyboard, and it was incredibly slow. Amazing at the time that you could get a computer for £40.

We got one when I was nine years old. Set me on the career path I'm on today ;-). I remember the first time I saw a Spectrum, I was blown away by the raw power of the thing - it could do a times table in less than a second - much faster than the ZX81...

Of course, my parents being academics, we got a BBC Micro for our next computer - not as many good games, but it was a joy to program.

My first introduction to computers was also a ZX81, I guess I was about 11 or 12 (although I was lucky enough to also have a wobbly 16k RAM pack so I could play 3D monster maze). Spectrum later (it was awesome, when I could get near it: the old man was always tryna beat it at chess). Was introduced to 6502 machine code on a BBC micro, but never had one.

 

[Vapin' Joe]

I had both the ZX81 and the Spectrum. It was amazing what programmers were able to get out of both machines, the standard 1k ZX81 actually had a chess game that would run on it.

The mistake sinclair made with the C5 was in describing it as an electric car in the massive pre-launch publicity it generated. everyone was Expecting something like a Fiesta with an electric motor and when it was unveiled it became a complete joke. I think they retailed for £499 in Comets.

Anyone remember the Black Watch? A digital watch where you had to push a button to activate the display, and then the flat screen tv with a display the size of a matchbox. I remember three of us trying to watch an England - scotland game at work one Saturday and fighting for position because unless the screen was dead ahead of you the picture distorted.

We might laugh now, but back in seventies and eighties Sinclair made computers and calculators affordable to the masses and helped launch the home computer boon.

 

[LordoftheTeapot]

I have a sinclair radio, in it's day it was the "smallest radio in the world"

 

[Terminator]

Now it's the biggest.

 

[buggi]

like the first mobile phones. mine was a the size of a brick and that was when the new smaller versions came out LOL.

 

[magnatom]

Yes I remember the ZX81. Mine came with the whopping 16k RAM pack .

My favourite game was 3D Monster Maze (I was young). You moved through a 3D maze and had to try and avoid the very pixellated monster! Ah how easily pleased I was!

I was a bit slow at upgrading but eventually got a spectrum+. It almost had a proper keyboard

So many memories of Attic Attack, sensible soccer, cobra, etc.

Of course I always wanted a commodore 64 (didn't everyone). I remember going around to a friends house to play the graphical adventure Hobbit on his c64. It took 11 minutes to load .

Ah a misspent youth.....

 

[Wobbly John]

I have a photo, somewhere, of Sir Clive Sinclair at a BHPC meeting in 1992.

 

[Tetedelacourse]

I weighed in with a Spectrum 128k with built-in datacorder. I can hear the games loading up as I type now.

My pal had the rubber keyboard ZX48. He ruined the keys by playing Daley Thomson's Decathlon.

 

[Cab]

Mentioned the C5 to a mate who was round to eat last night. He said that he's seen one in Cambridge too, but his description of the 'driver' (pilot? rider?) made it sound like a very different chap.

So that means that there must be at least two of them in town

 

[magnatom]

I just remembered that I used to copy games from my friends for my spectrum ( yes I know that was naughty!). However, sometimes the copy wasn't great and so wouldn't load. However, for some reason if I held the fast forward button down, just the right amount, for the time the game would take to load, the tape would run a little faster and the game would load (the screaching would be a little higher pitched).

Why did that work?

It certainly was a bummer if my finger slipped and I had to start a 7 minute load again