User login
Site Search
Online users
- TripHamer
- Matt Barton
Sir Clive doesn't use any computers...
Sir Clive - world famous in at least the UK and Europe - has recently told reporters that he doesn't use any computer in his day to day life. The current generation of computers suffer from bad design flaws and are the absolute opposite of being conservative in their use of internal memory - according to Sir Clive. And he's the man who knows what he is talking about as he is the designer of the Timex1000/ZX80/ZX81 series of machines that came out in 1980 featuring a whopping 1Kb of RAM and a basic interpreter.
All this and more can all be read in a recent interview in the UK paper the Guardian. It seems that even all email correspondence is all printed out by his secretary and handled by him on paper. That would actually cause the bald red-bearded Sir to be somewhat of an environmental hazard, wouldn't it? Oh, by the look of the photograph in the article he actually lost the beard. Well Sir Clive will be celebrating is 70th birthday this year and perhaps it does make him look a little younger. One does tend to get this Gandalfian/Dumbledorian look when sporting a grey/white beard... Sir Clive has an extensive track record when it comes to the ZX Spectrum line of microcomputers that did shape a large part of computer history - at least in Europe, Brazil and Russia.
He's currently devoting his energy to design yet another energy efficient electric car. Let it be noted that his last attempt called the ' C 5 ' bombed! Perhaps he'll be more fortunate this time around. Go Sir Clive!
Comments
Hmm, it's not like his computers weren't without serious flaws, particularly in terms of input (keyboard). If it's true that he doesn't use computers, it would seem to put him at a disadvantage as a designer. It's always disappointing to hear about some genius (typically authors though) who are stubbornly stuck in the past rather than adapting to modern technology. There is something to be said for sticking with what works, but at the same time, sometimes it's far better to embrace the latest and greatest even if it has a learning curve since you can typically improve efficiency and stay relevant.
***************************
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
Hmm, it's not like his computers weren't without serious flaws, particularly in terms of input (keyboard). If it's true that he doesn't use computers, it would seem to put him at a disadvantage as a designer. It's always disappointing to hear about some genius (typically authors though) who are stubbornly stuck in the past rather than adapting to modern technology. There is something to be said for sticking with what works, but at the same time, sometimes it's far better to embrace the latest and greatest even if it has a learning curve since you can typically improve efficiency and stay relevant.
***************************
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
Well it just proves he's very stubborn and perhaps got stuck in something.... :P
PS3: MarkVergeer | Xbox 360: Lactobacillus P | Wii: 8151 3435 8469 3138
Armchair arcade Editor | Pixellator | Mark's Tube
He's still quite a character isn't he!
He's still quite a character isn't he!
I'd have to agree with you on that!
PS3: MarkVergeer | Xbox 360: Lactobacillus P | Wii: 8151 3435 8469 3138
Armchair arcade Editor | Pixellator | Mark's Tube
It's often nice to have someone who isn't an insider to offer a fresh perspective. Once people get too steeped in a particular technology or platform, it can be too difficult to see the forest for the trees.
Well, he was one of the driving forces behind making computers very(!) affordable for a lot of people. A ZX-81 was actually my very first computer and it really was some kind of beginners drug: You either got hooked and sooner or later got something better or you lost interest quickly and didn't burn much money in the process.
It offered a surprisingly usuable BASIC interpreter which was probably the best part of the deal - apart from the low price which was made possible by choosing the cheapest parts or the fewest components. I'm still wondering why they used a Z80 CPU...
However, I always regarded the ZX-81 more of a learning toy than a computer and of course engineers don't actually *use* the toys they design. As often with engineers there's always a special kind of elitism involved: The belief to be infallible, the belief to be the only one with the correct solution and Sir Clive appears to be no exception.
I consider his statement about memory usage ridiculous as RAM is plentyful and development time scarce. It's only logical that economy prevails in such a case.
take care,
Calibrator
I did a bit of a downgrade, I started with a 6502 based PET at school, but wanted a home computer so I bought the ZX-80 as a kit. I was rather upset with the screen blanking and other problems that I was not used to on the PET. But I did learn the assembly language split bus Z-80 from this machine.
And believe it or not it came in useful last year.
I got a new to me espresso machine that had a Z-80 core for it's processor. It was not working, and I used the knowledge I acquired twenty years before of the hardware data and bus and address bus to trace and fix a board that would otherwise have cost me a few hundred dollars to replace.
Just goes to show, you may never know when some bit of obscure knowledge may just be what you need to get a job done. So I have to say I have almost broken even on the ZX-80 after all those years. But I did feel like I got screwed after I built it, compared to the PET. But at that time I didn't know how forward thinking the whole 6502 multiplexed bus would be VS the Z-80's separate address and data bus.
-Cecil
I did a bit of a downgrade, I started with a 6502 based PET at school, but wanted a home computer so I bought the ZX-80 as a kit. I was rather upset with the screen blanking and other problems that I was not used to on the PET. But I did learn the assembly language split bus Z-80 from this machine.
And believe it or not it came in useful last year.
I got a new to me espresso machine that had a Z-80 core for it's processor. It was not working, and I used the knowledge I acquired twenty years before of the hardware data and bus and address bus to trace and fix a board that would otherwise have cost me a few hundred dollars to replace.
Just goes to show, you may never know when some bit of obscure knowledge may just be what you need to get a job done. So I have to say I have almost broken even on the ZX-80 after all those years. But I did feel like I got screwed after I built it, compared to the PET. But at that time I didn't know how forward thinking the whole 6502 multiplexed bus would be VS the Z-80's separate address and data bus.
-Cecil
Cecil, that's an excellent story about the coffee machine!
The Z80 had some more advanced capabilities and a separate address and data bus. The MSX-2 range of machines all used it and they were capable of incredible things. I got stuck on a vic-20/c64 so I did learn the Basic and eventually 6502/6510 assembly/machine code and actually ended up doing a couple of demos even.
PS3: MarkVergeer | Xbox 360: Lactobacillus P | Wii: 8151 3435 8469 3138
Armchair arcade Editor | Pixellator | Mark's Tube
Many of today's computer programmers started on a toy computer like ZX80, or in my case VIC-20. Too bad Commodore chose such a crummy BASIC. MSX had it easier.
Just as a side note, among my collecting for everything are of course Timex and Sinclair systems. Oddly enough, of the ZX80, ZX81, Timex Sinclair 1000, and Timex Sinclair 1500, the most valuable from a collecting standpoint is the ZX80, which typically sells for at least $100. I was able to finally acquire a ZX80 after many, many years about a year ago, and, even though it's remarkably underpowered (with only 1K RAM), I was struck with how remarkably thin the thing is. It's really nothing more than a sliver. The ZX81 also has only 1K RAM, but has "better" capabilities, but is bulkier (though still quite diminutive in comparison to anything else).
The Timex Sinclair 1000 is the same thing as the ZX81, though with a whopping 2K RAM standard. Both are more or less functionally identical otherwise, particularly when paired with a 16K RAM expansion (for 16K memory). The Timex Sinclair 1500 upgrades the keyboard from membrane to chicklet and includes the 16K RAM standard (internal). In fact, it has the same keyboard as the Timex Sinclair 2068, which is the modified (and mostly incompatible without some work) US version of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum.
***************************
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.