26 Apr
2018
26 Apr
'18
10:54 a.m.
On Apr 26, 2018, at 7:47 AM, Liam Proven via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
I know this is a rather USA-centric list, so probably most of you started
off with things like the Apple II, the first sub-$1000 home computer. But
in Britain and Europe back then, we were a lot poorer, and $1000 was an
impossibly large amount of money -- many months of pay in a good job.
I think you'd find a few people this side of the pond whose first computer was a Timex
Sinclair 1000 (our equivalent of the ZX81). I know that was true in our household... My
dad purchased one brand-new at Albertson's (a supermarket chain in the southeast US)
for $100. We were enamored with it instantly despite its obvious drawbacks and that
eventually led to the purchase of a more capable machine, the TI 99/4a. Unfortunately much
to my dads chagrin that happening just a few months before its drastic price cut and
eventual discontinuation.
RIP. Definitely a very influential machine worldwide and an effort worth feeling proud of.