30th Anniversary of the Birth of the Home Computer Age

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) March 5, 2011 -- 5th March 2011 marks the 30th Anniversary of what is seen as the birth of the home computer age, with the famous Sinclair ZX81 having been launched by Sir Clive Sinclair on 5th March 1981 (under the Sinclair Research Limited banner).

At the time, the Sinclair brand was still relatively unknown - having produced a range of products, including electronics equipment and amplifiers, and two early computers - the Science of Cambridge MK14 and the Sinclair ZX80, both supplied as kits for hobbyists to solder together at home.

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30th Anniversary of the Birth of the Home Computer Age

Welcome visit Our WebSite:

http://www.rwapsoftware.co.uk/zx812.html

The iconic Sinclair ZX81 was designed by Rick Dickinson (who had designed the ZX80) and developed by a team led by Jim Westwood. It built on the technology developed for the ZX80, with its processor still being the Zilog Z80A, and its BASIC very similar to the ZX80 BASIC - however, with the ROM doubling to 8K, there was room for more commands and improvements to the system - as well as a reduction in the number of components by the innovative use of an uncommitted logic array (ULA) from Ferranti, meaning just 4 chips were used in the machine.

Like the ZX80, the ZX81 had 1K of memory built in (with an optional 16K memory pack), used cassette tapes to store programs and could be connected to a television set for screen output. However, the big difference for the ZX81, was how it used special coding in its ULA to control the display, avoiding the Z80 flicker as you pressed a key and the chip processed the information. If you wanted raw processing power, the ZX81 featured an innovative FAST mode, where the processor would stop writing to the screen, in order to dedicate resources to processing the program.

The ZX81 was originally supplied in either kit form for just £49.95 or pre-assembled for £69.95 - making it affordable for many families. An in-depth manual allowed people to soon learn how to write simple BASIC programs on the computer, which then spawned a whole computer games industry.

The ZX81 soon became a favourite with the home computer user at a time when the other main option was to pay several £100s to acquire a business computer, such as the Apple II or a TRS-80. Its little foibles, such as lack of sound, limited graphics (64x44 pixels), the flat touch-sensitive keyboard and well known RAM-pack wobble actually helped to ingratiate it with early computer pioneers eager to find out how they worked and eke the best out of their little black machine.

It was perhaps this that helped create the computer market as a whole, with a wealth of companies springing up to support users with improved hardware add-ons, such as sound generators, memory packs, improved keyboards and high resolution displays.

It is hard to imagine that in another 30 years, people will be reminiscing about the iPad or iPhone in the same way!

Despite the improvements in technology and vast advances in computers over the past 30 years, the ZX81 has remained a firm favourite with many people with the past few years seeing the continued development of new software and hardware for the Sinclair ZX81, including high quality games such as Boulder Logic and Panic (Hi-resolution) and even replacement parts, such as our own replacement keyboard membranes (over 700 have been sold since 2009).

5th March 2011 also marks the launch of the The ZXpander.
The 30th Anniversary also sees the launch of a new hardware device - the ZXpander.

This new interface from RWAP Software provides additional functionality that even Sinclair would not have dreamt of in 1981 and should create a new lease of life for the humble ZX81.

The ZXpander provides the following facilities for the standard Sinclair ZX81 home computer:

a) A plug in and go solution
b) LOAD and SAVE programs from / to an SD memory card instantaneously - making it easy to load the latest software for the ZX81 from the internet.

c) 32K RAM, with configurable mapping, to allow you to run any of the various high resolution routines needed by modern software
d) Sub-directory support
e) Optional Atari-style joystick adaptor for specially written or modified games
f) Optional AY-3-8910 daughter board to provide sound (Zon-X compatible).

The ZXpander will be available within the standard 28 days you would expect from a Sinclair based product (only kidding - we will announce when it is actually available to purchase).

The ZXpander will only be available from www.sellmyretro.com - the retro computer trading website. The draft manual for the interface appears at www.rwapsoftware.co.uk/zx812.html

More information can be found online at http://www.rwapsoftware.co.uk/zx812.html

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