Power On Self Test: The Founders built it to contain Sir Clive's consciousness

Sauce [Rick Dickinson's photoset]

[#1 posted by eustace , July 21, 2008 1:44 AM]

I love this image. It was my first machine - up until then, time on PLATO was my only regular machine time. I built it from kit, added the 16K module, built my first casemod, hacked the flight sim, POKEd my first machine language...
And I still have the manual.

[#2 posted by Anonymous , July 21, 2008 5:54 PM]

Are you sure that's not Ender's battle school?

[#3 posted by daen , July 22, 2008 3:41 AM]

I remember the excitement getting my ZX80 (yes, ZX80) through the post, after more than a four-week wait, then the disappointment of finding out that half the keyboard didn't work. It was fortunate that we lived not more than a two hour drive from Cambridge, so we all piled in the car - my mum, dad, gran and grandad - and made a big day out of going to Science of Cambridge's offices. I swear at one point I remember seeing Clive Sinclair go past us on the stairs, a gutted ZX80 in his hands and a worried frown on his face. Anyway, they fixed my ZX80 in an hour or two. I had many happy times with that odd little machine, always viewed ZX81 owners with some contempt as Johnny-come-latelys. A few years later bought up all the remaindered Sinclair QLs I could find (about a dozen) and sold'em for quite a handsome profit. I think the problem with the QL was marketing - it was a hobbyist computer being marketed as a business machine, which was pushing it a bit. ICL did a deal to get QDOS into their One Per Desk, whose customers memorably included the UK Customs and Excise, where my mum worked. I was more than a bit surprised to drop by her office after school one day, to get a lift home, and see the familiar user interface on the screen on her desk. I thought she'd nicked my QL at first!