6 Jan
2006
6 Jan
'06
3:22 p.m.
Tony Duell wrote:
I really don't understand the love of Sinclair
products. IU'd much rather
have nad use something DEC or HP, or one of the many other companies that
didn't cut every possible corner and then some impossible ones. But then
collectores are often strange.
Okay, I'm a little behind on reading the list . . . Still, I
feel compelled to reply.
Tony, there's a soft spot in my heart for Sinclair and Timex Sinclair
machines because the TS1000 (aka ZX81) was my first. It was the only
computer I could afford at the time. My exposure to this machine
changed my life. The changes might have also occurred if my first
computer was a C64, or a PDP-11 -- I'll never know. But I *do* know
that using the TS1000 forced me to learn good programming technique
in order to get the most out of a minimalist machine.
It also taught me that there's almost always *some way* to make
things work, despite the limitations of a given piece of hardware.
Many people who use Sinclairs today do things with them that the
designers themselves said was impossible without hardware
modifications -- high-res graphics and high(er) speed data transfer,
for example.
Just like you, I would have rather had a DEC or HP machine, but,
at the time, it was the TS1000 or nothing -- there was simply no
other system available for USD$100.
Of course, today I have lots of other computers which I use and enjoy,
and which are superior in almost every way to the TS1000.
But it was my first, so I'm sentimental about it.
Best,
Glen Goodwin
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