20 Aug
2006
20 Aug
'06
11:14 a.m.
Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
That is a shame - I imagine to a lot of people the aim
was the fun in
assembling a kit, rather than the cost saving...
Well, it did come with a schematic, at least!
And it's not like you could figure out its video generation by just
reading the schematic, either :-)
I think you're right and that only applies to UK
machines; other sites I've
seen suggest that the total number produced and sold worldwide was over 100,000.
It's interesting how rare they seem to be considering those sales figures - I
mean there are plenty of other machines around where sales were only a
fraction of that and yet there's still a healthy number in private hands.
Two factors:
1. The ZX80 is so compact that I'm sure there are many of them still tucked
away into corners or even between books on bookshelves.
2. The ZX80 was SO entry level that anyone really interested in computers
moved on to a better platform very very quickly.
Yeah, it was nominally expandable, and I even built a couple little
doo-dads that went onto the expansion connector, but the whole setup was
so physically unstable!
I'm going to leave out the true factor, which is how the ZX80's wedge
shape immediately inspires everyone to use it as a doorstop :-)
Tim.
..