Floppy Days 116 - ZX Spectrum Part 2 - History with Alessandro Grussu

Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast

donate at https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Welcome to Floppy Days #116 for July, 2022. And I’m your host, Randy Kindig.

Mark Hacker provides his thoughts and memories about the ZX Spectrum to kick off this episode.

As mentioned in the last show, 1982 was a landmark year for home computers, as there were some significant introductions in this year. One of the most impactful computers released at this time was the ZX Spectrum; in the UK by the iconic Sir Clive Sinclair. This episode is the continuation of a multi-episode arc that covers the Spectrum through all the usual topics. In fact, there’s such a rich history leading up to the introduction of the Spectrum, and through its lifetime in the market, of which many in the US may not be aware, that we’re going to be spending three (3) full episodes just on its history. This is the second of those, with the first having been the interview with John Grant of Nine Tiles, who played a part in the development of the Speccy.

As I was looking for materials to help discuss the history of the Spectrum, I had difficulty in finding books and other references that went into the full timeline, other than Wikipedia. Luckily, I happened upon a wonderful reference that covers all aspects of the machine, called “Spectrumpedia” by the Italian Alessandro Grusso. I was able to contact Alessandro and he graciously agreed to co-host on one or more topics, starting with history. His book has a wonderfully complete and detailed section about the history of the Speccy. In this episode, Alessandro and I attempt to walk through the introduction of the machine, all of the different models that were produced, its competition at the time, its positives and negatives, and ultimately the impression it left in home computer history books.

I will, as usual, talk about a few new acquisitions that have come my way in my never-ending adventures to discover new modern upgrades for my collection of old machines; as well as bring you news about upcoming shows.

Finally, while I usually abstain from talking about monetary support for this podcast, I do want to mention that I have a way for you to help if you have the inclination. I have a page set up at https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays where you can donate. Any funds will be used to defray the cost of managing the podcast as well as acquiring new hardware to talk about. Thank you so much everyone who has contributed and continues to contribute!

Links Mentioned in the Show:

New Acquisitions

• Commodore 64 Assembly Language Programming by Derek Bush and Peter Holmes - https://archive.org/details/Commodore_64_Assembly_Language_Programming/page/n13/mode/2up
• Complete Commodore Inner Space Anthology by Karl J. H. Hildon - https://archive.org/details/Complete_Commodore_Inner_Space_Anthology_The_1985-03_Transactor_Publishing
• Visible Solar System cart - https://www.amazon.com/Visible-Solar-System-Commodore-64/dp/B001RY5X0U
• The Paper Computer Unfolded by Mark Jones Lorenzo - https://www.amazon.com/Paper-Computer-Unfolded-Twenty-First-Illustrative/dp/1537421131/
• Vic-20 Exposed edited by John Vander Reyden - https://www.amazon.com/VIC-20-Exposed-Retro-Reproductions/dp/1789825857/

Upcoming Shows

• VCF West 2022 = Aug 6, 7, The Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA - https://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-west/
• VCF Midwest = Sep 10-11, Elmhurst, IL - http://vcfmw.org/
• Tandy Assembly = Sep 30-Oct. 2, Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/
• Portland Retro Gaming Expo = Oct. 14-16, Portland, OR - https://www.retrogamingexpo.com/
• Chicago TI International Worlds Faire = Oct. 29, Evanston, IL - http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/faire/
• World of Commodore = first weekend of Dec. - https://www.tpug.ca/category/woc-posts/ NOT YET ANNOUNCED

References

• “Spectrumpedia” by Alessandro Grussu
• • https://www.alessandrogrussu.it/sp.html
  • Amazon.it: Spectrumpedia - seconda edizione: volume 1 - Grussu, Alessandro - Libri
• Wikipedia