| ZX 80 |
/media/museum/photos/sinclair_zx80_hr_1s.jpg |
/companies/sinclair |
Sinclair |
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| label |
value |
| MANUFACTURER |
Sinclair |
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value |
| TYPE |
Home Computer |
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value |
| ORIGIN |
United Kingdom |
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value |
| YEAR |
February 1980 |
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value |
| END OF PRODUCTION |
1981 |
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value |
| BUILT IN LANGUAGE |
Sinclair Basic |
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value |
| KEYBOARD |
Membrane keyboard, 40 keys, 1 SHIFT key |
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| label |
value |
| CPU |
NEC 780C-1 (Z80 compatible) |
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value |
| SPEED |
3.25 MHz |
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value |
| RAM |
1 KB, 901 bytes available (upgradable to 64 KB) |
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value |
| ROM |
4 KB. Can be expended to 8 KB, thereby making it almost a ZX81 |
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value |
| TEXT MODES |
32 chars. x 22 lines |
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value |
| GRAPHIC MODES |
64 x 44 dots |
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value |
| COLORS |
Monochrome |
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value |
| SIZE / WEIGHT |
21,9 (W) x 17,5 (D) x 4 (H) cm / 375 gr |
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value |
| I/O PORTS |
Z80 Bus, tape, TV/RF video |
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value |
| POWER SUPPLY |
9v DC, external PSU |
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value |
| PERIPHERALS |
16 KB RAM extension |
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value |
| PRICE |
Kit model: £79.95 (UK, 1980) 255 (Germany, 1980)\
Assembled model : £99.95 (UK, 1980), 190 (France, 1980)\
16K RAM module: 127 (Germany) |
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| ZX-80 |
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/media/museum/photos/sinclair_zx80_hr_1.jpg |
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| FROM ABOVE |
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/media/museum/photos/sinclair_zx80_up.jpg |
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| FRONT VIEW |
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/media/museum/photos/sinclair_zx80_face.jpg |
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| SIDE VIEW |
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/media/museum/photos/sinclair_zx80_side.jpg |
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| FROM BELOW |
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/media/museum/photos/sinclair_zx80_under.jpg |
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| REAR |
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/media/museum/photos/sinclair_zx80_rear.jpg |
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| INSIDE |
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The big black thing is the Z80 CPU of course. Then on the right, the big chip is the ROM of the ZX-80 made by Sinclair. The video modulator is easy to spot... |
/media/museum/photos/sinclair_zx80_inside.jpg |
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| THE KEYBOARD |
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The keyboard is quite minimalist ! Notice that for the first time Basic statements are written on the keys, and so will it be with the future ZX-81 and Spectrum... |
/media/museum/photos/sinclair_zx80_keyboard.jpg |
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| SIR CLIVE SINCLAIR |
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Sir Clive Sinclair presents his new child.
Thanks to [ARRGH!](http://www.arrgh.demon.co.uk/) for this picture |
/media/museum/photos/sinclair_zx80_clive.jpg |
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| LEAFLET COVER |
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/media/museum/photos/sinclair_zx80_leaflet-cover.jpg |
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| OPERATING MANUAL |
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/media/museum/photos/sinclair_zx80_operating-manual_1.jpg |
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| TINTIN'S CASE |
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In 1980, Gerard TOUITOU was an Olivetti computer salesman in Belgium. He built probably the first portable computer in the world, before Osborne, Kaypro, IBM and others.
It was a ZX-80 (then later a ZX-81) fitted into a briefcase, along with a printer and a tape recorder. The display was a mini-portable TV set.
French magazines of the time called it 'Tintin's case' (as Tintin father, Hergé, was from Belgium too) |
/media/museum/photos/sinclair_zx81_tintincase.jpg |
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| UK ADVERT |
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Thanks to David Wilson for this picture |
/media/museum/pubs/sinclair_zx80_uk-pub_wilson.jpg |
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| PROMOTIONAL PICTURE (1980) |
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from Popular Science magazine |
/media/museum/pubs/sinclair_zx80_prm-picture_popscience_1980.jpg |
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| STUPID SITUATION |
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A translation would be : "the 10 years old and more children appreciate quickly the computing principles and have a lot of fun with their ZX-80"
So they say... |
/media/museum/pubs/sinclair_zx80_ad1.jpg |
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| ADVERT #1 |
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Picture courtesy of Steve Browning, www.sbrowning.com/vintage. |
/media/museum/pubs/sinclair_zx80_pub_1.jpg |
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| ADVERT #2 |
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Picture courtesy of Steve Browning, www.sbrowning.com/vintage. |
/media/museum/pubs/sinclair_zx80_pub_2.jpg |
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| 16K RAM EXTENSION |
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This RAM pack was dangerously top-heavy and had a habit of falling out of its socket, thus reseting the computer and destroying hours of work ! Most users solved the problem by using Blu-Tack or chewing-gums...
£49.95 (UK, 1980)\
650fr (France, 1980) |
/media/museum/hardware/sinclair_zx80_16kram.jpg |
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| 64 KB |
from Suntroncis |
Suntronics T/S 1000 & ZX81 64K Memory Pack (Male Socket on Back, Female Socket on Front). |
/media/museum/hardware/timex_1000-suntronics-64k_1.jpg |
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| TIMEX SINCLAIR 1016 |
16k RAM extension |
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/media/museum/hardware/timex_sinclair-1000_16kram-1016.jpg |
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| ZX80 - 1-3K BYTE RAM PACK |
from Sinclair |
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/media/museum/hardware/sinclair_zx80_1-3kb-ram-expansion_1.jpg |
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| A BASIC LISTING |
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/media/museum/software/sinclair_zx80_ss1.jpg |
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| GRAPHICAL SCREEN |
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This example shows the extremly high resolution o the ZX-80 and its bright colors. Hmmm.... |
/media/museum/software/sinclair_zx80_ss2.jpg |
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| EightyOne |
http://www.chuntey.com/eightyone/ |
Windows |
Excellent emulator emulating nearly all ZX computers (80, 81, Spectrums, Timex, etc.). As well as emulating the machines themselves, numerous addon cards are supported, including hi-res graphics, custom character sets, sound and colour cards. |
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| XZ81 |
http://www.zx81.nl/ |
Unix / Linux |
And other ZX-81 emulators there... |
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| MESS |
http://www.mess.org |
Multiplatform |
MESS emulates the ZX-81, Lambda 8300, Power 3000 and other clones ! |
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| DOCUMENTATION |
http://www.8bit.ht.st/ |
The Lil Old Sinclair Computer Technical Information Repository |
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| The ZX81 Hardware and Software Collection |
http://zx81.atspace.com/ |
Online museum for ZX81 hardware, software and literature |
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| ZX-Team Homepage |
http://www.zx81.de/ |
Quite a reference for the ZX-80, ZX-81, TS1000-1500, PC8300, Lambda and Jupiter Ace ! |
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| SINCLAIR ZX-81 BASIC PROGRAMMING |
ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/books/ZX81BASICProgramming.pdf |
/media/museum/docs/couvs/sinclair_zx81_basic-programming.jpg |
[**SINCLAIR ZX-81 BASIC PROGRAMMING**](ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/books/ZX81BASICProgramming.pdf)written by Sinclair Research Limited / Steven Vickers
compiled/archived by Robin Stuart\
type of document : PDF\
size : 5,2 MB\
source : [www.worldofspectrum.org](http://www.worldofspectrum.org/)
**... READ THE ONLINE VERSION BY CLICKING BELOW :** |
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| THE COMPLETE TIMEX TS1000 & SINCLAIR ZX81 ROM DISASSEMBLY |
null |
/media/museum/docs/couvs/sinclair_zx81_rom-disasembly.jpg |
**THE COMPLETE TIMEX TS1000 & SINCLAIR ZX81 ROM DISASSEMBLY**\
written by Dr. Ian Logan & Dr. Frank O'Hara
compiled/archived by Bill Hicks\
type of document : PDF\
size : 5 MB\
source : [www.ts1000.us](http://www.ts1000.us/)
**... READ THE ONLINE VERSION BY CLICKING BELOW :** |
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| TIMEX SINCLAIR 2020 COMPUTER PROGRAM RECORDER |
null |
/media/museum/docs/couvs/ts2020_tape-recorder_manual.jpg |
**TIMEX SINCLAIR 2020 COMPUTER PROGRAM RECORDER**\
written by Timex Computer Corporation
compiled/archived by Bill Hicks / www.ts1000.us\
type of document : Online reader
**... READ THE ONLINE VERSION BY CLICKING BELOW :** |
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date |
text |
| steve |
Tuesday 18th October 2022 |
You can run the same Basic programs in ZX81 and Spectrum but ... there will be slower! ZX80 Basic was faster and not only because of the FAST mode, but also because of integer variables and less tokens! $) |
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| Nick Blackburn (Isle of Man, UK) |
Monday 11th October 2021 |
David W. from Ithaca - best to keep your mouth shut and let others believe you are an idiot, than open it and confirm their assumptions. Sir Clive was a visionary, way ahead of his time and only stymied by the technology and attitudes available in the early eighties. |
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| Wim Holland (Netherlands) |
Tuesday 6th December 2011 |
I bought a new ZX81 in 1983 and it started my interest in computing. Sir Sinclair was the man who gave a lot of people the possiblilty of using and learning a computer.\
I still own the ZX81, the ZX Spectrum and the Sinclair QL and they are still in working condition ! |
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| Jim Schifalacqua (Virginia, USA) |
Wednesday 6th July 2011 |
I bought the ZX-80 from an advertisement in Popular Science. It was great for writing/testing BASIC programs. You could then hear the processor chunk through the code by the loud interference that came through the TV speaker! |
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| David W. (Ithaca, NY) |
Thursday 1st November 2007 |
I completely fail to understand the adoration of Sinclair. I read a detailed history of his business, and even though it was actively skewed in his favor I can't see him as anything other than a low-rent shyster.
The ZX80 is a good example - the adverts claim that it's the "most powerful personal computer ever produced". This is, of course, utter and complete bollocks. Even assuming it had a Z80a in it as claimed (which I don't believe it really did), at the time it was released it was up against the 68000 and the 8086. And it was, if I recall correctly from my ZX81, abysmally slow even by Z80 standard - almost remarkably so. This, though, is not surprising from a man who sold things he knew were broken, usually had a 30% failure rate, specified things so tightly that his audio equipment usually had a lifetime of 8 to 12 hours, and even dug up rejected ICs from TI's driveway and used them in his products! To describe him as anything other than a criminal is charitable. That he was knighted based on success in selling equipment that doesn't work based on lies is truly amazing - and it would be nice if sites like this didn't gloss over the truth behind a con-man. |
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| Adrian McMenamin (UK) |
Monday 24th September 2007 |
Actually, it was possible to get a ZX80 to run in "slow" mode if you installed your own interrupt handler. Z80 machine code for that was widely published. |
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| Marcus Misiukiewicz (Luxembourg) |
Wednesday 2nd May 2007 |
I originally bought a ZX-80 in bare component form. It took around 3 hours to put together - soldering in the components and sockets, plugging in the IC chips.
It worked first time.
I later upgraded it with the ZX-81 ROM, there was also a new keyboard overlay provided.
To my knowledge it is still operational, as it is in storage. |
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| Rasher (USA) |
Friday 19th May 2006 |
I remember one sunday spending about 6 hours writing code on my trusty ZX80 only to experience a power-cut before I had saved anything. (onto magnetic tape I might add!) That was a valuable lesson which stands me in good stead to this very day! BACKUP YOUR VALUABLE FILES! |
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| Andy Heath (Sheffield) |
Wednesday 15th January 2003 |
I was sure that the ZX80 I had when I was younger used the language FORTH and not BASIC! Perhaps I am confusing it with the Jupiter Ace which I also had. I never really used them though so cant be sure. I bought both computers around 1984-85 with the intention of collecting old computers. I think I paid a couple of pounds for each. Unfortunately I allowed my mother to throw them out a few years later with all the other junk from the attic! If only I still had them. *sigh* |
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| /museum/czerweny-cz-1000 |
| /museum/czerweny-cz-1000-plus |
| /museum/lambda-electronics-ltd-pc-8300 |
| /museum/microace |
| /museum/sinclair-zx-81 |
| /museum/timex-sinclair-1000 |
| /museum/tonel-pc |
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