For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
By rjc101
#1871191
I worked for a number of years back in the 1990's in the old Sinclair building, now part of Anglia Ruskin University. We used to get requests for help in the post addressed to Sinclair from all over the world, and would reply where we could help.

The central stair case was not the for faint of heart in Sir Clive's days, he is coming from the roof garden. It was built to his design, as was much of the building redevelopment from it's origins as a victorian mineral water bottling plant. There was a working borehole in the building, it was used in the HVAC (again his design, using a thermal store and a heat pump, very efficient for its time) system in my day. Might still be there now but probably not actively used.

By grow45
#1871199
Dundee Airport - early 1980s. Cessna 425 operated by Sinclair Research Limited - presumably to carry people (and perhaps urgent components) between Cambridge and Dundee where the ZX81 and Spectrum were manufactured for SInclair by Timex.
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By OCB
#1871226
RIP Sir Clive.

I honestly loved him to bits, to the point when a few years back some “students” relaunched his foldable bike as an e-bike - I bought 2.

Belgian roads are far too bumpy for the little 12 inch wheels on that bike - but it was/is a lovely example of what Sir Clive wanted to achieve - affordable tech for the masses.
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By Grelly
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1871417
I was a real Sinclair early adopter...

I had one of the first Sinclair calculators, which IIRC worked in reverse Polish (example taken from Wikipedia - since my memory is nowhere near good enough): to get (3 − 4) × 5 in reverse Polish notation, the order would be 3 4 5 × −

My second Sinclair calculator worked in the conventional sense. I seem to remember the main amusement with that one was working out what words you could make from numbers when you held the calculator upside down. For example, 710 77345 became SHELL OIL.

My first computer was the ZX80 (which most people seem to have forgotten). When the ZX81 came out, I converted my ZX80 to a ZX81 (I can't remember how, but it was all the rage at the time)

I then bought a Spectrum, added memory and a "proper" keyboard.

I think the downfall of the Sinclair computer range (apart from his reluctance to use a proper keyboard) was the poxy cassette recorder to save/load programs.

My other Sinclair product, which I don't think has been mentioned yet, was a Sinclair Black and White portable TV. It had about a 2 inch screen, got it's power from a flat gel-based battery which I have never seen before or since, and pretty rubbish reception.

I don't think I could afford a C5, not even when the price collapsed. I do remember going to a performance of Joseph and the amazing technicolour dreamcoat at the time. It brought the house down when the Pharaoh rolled on to the stage in a gold plated C5. Sadly, Sir Clive was about thirty years too early with an electric vehicle. I don't think he recovered from that set back.

Ah, the good old days.

Grelly
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By RobW
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1871495
Sir Clive provided me with the soundtrack to my Childhood, others were messing around with football, pop music and girls but mine was filled with the beeps and screeches from an old (usually copies) C90.

Last lockdown I tackled my loft that has accumulated an awful lot of detritus in the twenty something years since I moved in, Was very pleased to find my old computers and pleasantly surprised to find they all still worked!

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By OCB
#1871513
I had The Touch of Death when it came to ZX81.

For whatever reason - I accumulate one hell of a static charge “naturally”, forgetting the nylon pea-green shirts and polyester trousers I sported as a kid in the late 70s.

I got to measure this as a tech in IBM in the early 90s…I was “shocking”!

It might explain why, every time I touched my mate’s zx81, it crashed. No joke - I got barred from going near the assembly of zx81/cassette/crt portable TV whilst it was loading a game. Once the game was loaded - it seemed a fair bit better, but there was always a moment of apprehension when it was my turn to play a game…. :oops:
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By eltonioni
#1871556
Cripes. I think my dad might still have my Oric 1 in the loft. Wonder if the games will still load.