27 Nov
2004
27 Nov
'04
10:55 a.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
OK, in no particular order :
The keyboard (and see below for my comment on your comment). It's almost
unusuable
The video system. It's a total kludge, about the worst I've seen
The cassette storage (I am used to _reliable_ data storage systems)
The BASIC. BASIC is not my favourite language at the best of times, this
versions is one of the worst, though
The expansion connector (the physical form of it, the fact that if the
RAMpack wobbles, the machine crashes).
The ULA. I dislike hardware I can't hack, modify or repair.
OK, most of those can be got round by adding/replacing hardware. But by
the time you've finished, about all that's left of the ZX81 is the Z80
CPU, and there are plenty of easier ways of getting and useing that chip.
For the time, it was cheap, and therefore sold well. Nowadays there are
many, many, nicer machines available for less money than a second-hand
ZX81...
-tony
What's this love of the ZX81, which I regard
as a postively horrible
machine. I'd not rip one apart, though, mainly because there's little of
use to raid from it...
You regard it as horrible because . . . ?
(Please don't mention the keyboard. Lots of machines of
that era had crap keyboards. It's easy to attach a better
keyboard to a ZX81.)