Home computing pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair dies aged 81

Guardian ^ | 9/16/2021

[Catfan15]

Sir Clive Sinclair, the inventor and entrepreneur who was instrumental in bringing home computers to the masses, has died at the age of 81.

His daughter, Belinda, said he died at home in London on Thursday morning after a long illness. Sinclair invented the pocket calculator but was best known for popularising the home computer, bringing it to British high-street stores at relatively affordable prices.

Many modern-day titans of the games industry got their start on one of his ZX models. For a certain generation of gamer, the computer of choice was either the ZX Spectrum 48K or its rival, the Commodore 64.

[Catfan15]

Maybe not well known of outside of England and tech circles, but he had a huge impact on early home computing.

[Red Badger]

I had a Sinclair Computer!.....................RIP, Sir Clive!............

[dirtboy]

I had a dual floppy CPM machine at home in the early eighties. Never thought I’d see the day when computers would become a standard home appliance.

[frank ballenger]

This other computer savvy fellow was well respected in his day:

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”

Thomas Watson, president of IBM, 1943

Someone here may have one of the five right now.

[dfwgator]

William Shatner VIC-20 commercial. I had one of those!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK9VU1aJvTI

[wally_bert]

Me too.

[vikingd00d]

In memoriam:

a ZX Spectrum Emulator for those wanting to revisit the old days...

http://www.zxspectrum4.net/index.php

[dfwgator]

And then I got the Commodore 64. That’s where I learned to program. Actually wrote some assembly language programs on it.

[oh8eleven]

... the computer of choice was either the ZX Spectrum 48K or its rival, the Commodore 64.
I remember buying the Commodore 64 ... and my wife asking me,"We've got one job, two kids, a mortgage, and a car payment. What the hell are you going to to do with a computer?"
Me and my kids had a ball with the 64.
RIP ...

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I bought a Sinclair ZX-81 when it first came out and that was WAY before it was marketed as the Timex-Sinclair. I recall the black case and squishy membrane keyboard. I used a small B&W television for a monitor and a Radio Shack cassette tape player to record programs. It was a fun curiosity, but I never did anything remotely useful on it except learn BASIC.

Clive Sinclair and the ZX-81, circa 1981.

[frank ballenger]

I hear Biden hangs onto his Tandy TRS-80 but has trouble with the cassette data startup boots having uneven speeds and having to be retried. Sometimes because Biden tries to use one of his Cowsills or Fifth Dimension cassettes. $699 retail.

online question site said:
Are old Radio Shack computers worth anything?
An old Tandy Color Computer 2 is probably worth around $50 today. ....TRS-80 referred to Tandy Radio Shack, and the 80 was supposed to refer to the CPU inside. This led to the nickname Trash-80, which Tandy executives hated.

[ADemocratNoMore]

I’m the operator with my pocket calculator
I’m the operator with my pocket calculator

I am adding
And subtracting
I’m controlling
And composing

Kraftwerk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSBybJGZoCU

[rockvillem]

I had a ZX81 - hadn’t thought of it in ages! What a blast from the past.

May he RIP

[SeekAndFind]

What a great guy! His work introduced me to the world of computing when I was young.

Here is one of his gadgets: The C5 Electric Tricycle





The SINCLAIR ZIKE

[wally_bert]

I had one as well.

Me and programming didn’t mix.

I tried stuff from the books.

Anything with more than a few lines had a tendency not to work at all.

My grandfather the accountant could do some.

[ADemocratNoMore]

>Sinclair invented the pocket calculator

Don’t forget that Issac Asimov had Hari Seldon using one in the “Foundation Trilogy” back in the early 50’s.

Of course, Asimov’s trilogy took place in the 12,000th years of the Galactic Era. Missed it by that much !

[Catfan15]

It’s kinda sad, he lost out big to Acorn in the education market, then failed real hard with the C5 and he never recovered.

[TangoLimaSierra]

I started out with the same setup. Learned Basic on it then moved up to the Timex Sinclair 128K. (Who would ever need more that 128K of memory?)

After a a few months it would heat up so bad it would shut down so the last few months of use was while it was setting on an ice bag or on an A/C vent.

[ShadowAce]

[Retrofitted]

lol Still have my TRS-80 Model I, complete with Programma hi-res board and Exatron Stringy Floppy. Works like a champ still. Still have my Sinclair ZX-80. It was a great little machine. My one regret was never getting a Commodore PET. I just loved the way those things looked like they escaped from "2001: A Space Odyssey."

Rest in peace, Sir Sinclair. You gave a lot of people enjoyment and a fascination that continues to this day.