20 Aug
2006
20 Aug
'06
12:34 p.m.
On Sun, Aug 20, 2006 at 09:51:06AM -0400, Tim Shoppa wrote:
I did a google search and looked on Wikipedia but some
of the details
there do NOT match my memory. They say there were only 50,000 ZX80's sold
and this seems to be a ridiculously low number for a mass-market
machine sold through many different channels. They say that the Sinclair
brand was only in the UK and this does not match my experience of having
bought one in the US (or the
ads in 1980 Radio-Electronics). But this was 26 years ago, so my memory
isn't exactly sharp either!
Certainly at the time of the spectrum, Sinclair machines were sold
stateside under the "Timex" brand weren't they? Although I've never
seen
reports of a timex branded ZX80!
To this day I'm sorry that my ZX80 was thrown out with a bunch of childhood junk, sad
to admit, I've always had the impression that they were MUCH rarer than 50 000 units.
I suspect that the figure of 50 000 also includes other "commonwealth" countries
(like South Africa, where I stay) Also, I recall that my unit always had problems showing
a steady tv picture.
Cheers,
Jonathan.