News Emulate the ZX Spectrum with Raspberry Pi

[Admin]

Learn how the Raspberry Pi can be used to emulate a classic computer which influenced a generation of coders.

Emulate the ZX Spectrum with Raspberry Pi : Read more

 

[Co BIY]

My first computer exposure was playing on my dad's Timex Sinclair 1000. He had quickly tired of it and I had free use of it. It had no storage (a cassette tape system was available I think) so it limited me to programs within my short attention span in a single session.

Even then the horrible membrane keypad seemed unnecessarily cheap and nonfunctional. The pain involved in retyping every session made it essentially non functional.

I was introduced to coding but it seemed tedious and unrewarding.

But soon I would get the chance to use an Apple II at school. Color screen, good keyboard and 5 1/4 floppy disks!

 

[Yebemather]

It is great that RISC is being pushed so hard in the last decade. We can finaly do things that we did on CISC 40 years ago!

 

[nofanneeded]

ZX Spectrum was a failure ... bad keyboard . and bad way of shortcuts . Apple 2/ee/2c was around at the same time and was far superior.

Also Commodore came and destroyed Spectrum to pieces in Europe back in the day.

 

[Neutrinophyre]

ZX Spectrum was a failure ... bad keyboard . and bad way of shortcuts . Apple 2/ee/2c was around at the same time and was far superior.

Also Commodore came and destroyed Spectrum to pieces in Europe back in the day.

Dont know where you are getting your information from but the spectrum wsd one of the biggestbselling home computers in the uk and parts of mainland europe. With new games being released regularly. Plus still has a big following.

 

[BogdanH]

ZX Spectrum was my second comp (after ZX81) and even games were a selling point, it was an excellent tool for learning programming (and I don't mean BASIC). Talking about which of them (Sinclair, Commodore, Apple) was better, is just silly. Importance of Sinclair is, that he made a first usable computer that anyone could afford! It was the first comp that created the term "hobby programmer".
But reason for my writing is actually Raspberry Pi emulating Spectrum. Seriously, what's the point to "downgrade" Raspberry Pi to an 40 years old budget comp? What a waste of time.

 

[DZIrl]

ZX Spectrum was my second comp (after ZX81)

Same situation here. It was introduction to computers for many kids in Europe cause Apple II was too expensive. And big.
Later I, my parents, bought Apple II replica for, think, some 1500 DEM while Spectrum vas like 200 DEM.

I just googled and this is what they say on Wiki:

It was originally released on 23 April 1982 with 16 KB of RAM for £125 (equivalent to £348.92 in 2019) or with 48 KB for £175 (equivalent to £488.48 in 2019);

Oh my God! 3 times in 40 years!

 

[allstarspfunk]

ZX Spectrum was a failure ... bad keyboard . and bad way of shortcuts . Apple 2/ee/2c was around at the same time and was far superior.

Also Commodore came and destroyed Spectrum to pieces in Europe back in the day.

Not in my house, it was a sucess, played it every day for several years, tons of games most of them were great... and I don't think it's fair to compare to another computer that was like 10 times more expensive...

 

[nofanneeded]

Not in my house, it was a sucess, played it every day for several years, tons of games most of them were great... and I don't think it's fair to compare to another computer that was like 10 times more expensive...

Commodore 64 was ~$550 not ten times more expensive . and it destroyed all home pc market in Europe lol .

and Atari 400 in USA at the time was about the same price as well .

I also remember MSX from Japan was competing at $499

MSX was also a hit ,in 1983 , and Konami made the first Metal Gear game on it.

ZX spectrum had no hope compared to these PCs back in the day.

by the way , my father owned all of them , including Apple //e as well , and ZX Spectrum .

 

[BogdanH]

Commodore 64 ... destroyed all home pc market in Europe lol...

-at that time, home PC market didn't exist at all in Europe.

..my father owned all of them ...

In short, you have no idea how it was back then.

 

[nofanneeded]

-at that time, home PC market didn't exist at all in Europe.

In short, you have no idea how it was back then.

you are simply wrong.

 

[madmatt30]

Commodore 64 was ~$550 not ten times more expensive . and it destroyed all home pc market in Europe lol .

and Atari 400 in USA at the time was about the same price as well .

I also remember MSX from Japan was competing at $499

MSX was also a hit ,in 1983 , and Konami made the first Metal Gear game on it.

ZX spectrum had no hope compared to these PCs back in the day.

by the way , my father owned all of them , including Apple //e as well , and ZX Spectrum .

The spectrum was £125 in the uk, the commodore was over £300.

Thats a huge price difference back in th day, the spectrum eclipsed commodore sales for well over 12 months until commodore dropped the prices massively.

 

[nofanneeded]

The spectrum was £125 in the uk, the commodore was over £300.

Thats a huge price difference back in th day, the spectrum eclipsed commodore sales for well over 12 months until commodore dropped the prices massively.

I know but still the Commodore was affordable for most people back then. almost all my family friends had a Commodore at home . I used to enjoy what my father bought , My first PC I bought from my pocket was Amiga 2000 .. then I switched to PC at the time of 486 DX2.

Who didnt play Boulder Dash !!!