Clive Sinclair of C5 fame just died

I remember making one of these.
cc776ff701b94a4a6055d8e219cfea1c.jpg
 
Like many others, my first foray into home computing was the ZX81 and then the ZX Spectrum.

Used to buy the magazines like "Sinclair User" to program the games, they spent ages to do, but it was all part of the fun.

As many will testify one of the greatest frustrations in life was when your old cassette player was loading a game and you were almost ready to play it.........then it crashed just before loading completely!!

R.I.P Sir Clive - another person synonymous with my youth
 
R.I.P Sir Clive

I had a ZX Spectrum and played most of the games mentioned so far. I think mine came with all the Horace games like Skiing. I remember finally finishing Atic Atac on Christmas Eve 1983. Tau Ceti and Lords of Midnight were other games which I played a lot .

As many will testify one of the greatest frustrations in life was when your old cassette player was loading a game and you were almost ready to play it.........then it crashed just before loading completely!!

I had this problem and the home portable cassette player had an loads of ink lines on the volume slider. This showed where each games optimal loading volume was and even then it was hit and miss. Luckily my girlfriend got a new Sony walkman ( Christmas 1983 ) and gave me her old one which was either Akai or Aiwa. I never listened to any music on it, as it was brilliant for loading Spectrum games and was used for this purpose only.
 
Like many others, my first foray into home computing was the ZX81 and then the ZX Spectrum.

Used to buy the magazines like "Sinclair User" to program the games, they spent ages to do, but it was all part of the fun.

As many will testify one of the greatest frustrations in life was when your old cassette player was loading a game and you were almost ready to play it.........then it crashed just before loading completely!!
R.I.P Sir Clive - another person synonymous with my youth
Oh heck yeah, also trying to get the lines along the edges of the screen equally balanced as it loaded..

Oh and the rubber keyboard….

Wonder what he thought of all the electric/hybrid vehicles that populate our roads nowadays.
 
Genuinely quite sad to hear about this. I do think in years to come he will be regarded as one of Britains most influential people in the modern era

Whilst the thread mentions the C5, it's a bit disrespectful to think that is what he should be remembered for. He invented the ZX Spectrum and the UK owes a substantial part of its IT industry to Sir Clive.

In the 1980s he made the first popular, cheap, home computer and if you're of a certain age there's pretty much a guarantee you learnt to program computers on a ZX Spectrum. His invention created the first bedroom programmers and they wrote games, without any training. He helped to create a new industry.

The Spectrum is as iconic as the Mini. Growing up in the 80s, the British made Spectrum introduced BASIC to kids. The rubber let's, the style and the cost were all exceptional

Of course as an eccentric innovator Sir Clive ventured into many areas, some not as great as the Spectrum. However, when I see the popularity of escooters to get around town, he had the idea of small electric vehicles decades ago. He was genuinely ahead of his time.

Thanks Sir Clive for providing me with the opportunity to get into programming, to go to University and enjoy a career in a fascinating industry. I say that on behalf of thousands upon thousands of others who benefitted enormously from his far sighted genius. I meet them regularly.

RIP Sir Clive. Might have a game of Manic Miner or Football Manager tonight!

10 PRINT "RIP Sir Clive"
20 GOTO 10
Very true. He brought computers to the masses. I remember Amiga and Atari selling for 4 figures which was out of reach for most. Some classic and influential programmers were born from bedroom coding, and he helped that
 

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