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Comment by bruce511 | Hacker News Reader

It's interesting how one generation basically had the same experience at the same time, but how it varied from place to place.

The UK was very into ZX - first the ZX80 and ZX81, and then the Spectrum. For that generation, in the UK, Spectrum is the start of everything.

I was an Apple child myself (a function of the machine my dad brought home), a BBC Micro at school (because... education), but in the mid 80s the Apple switched to IBM, and I've been on the PC track ever since.

I've met other groups for whom Vic 20, Commodore 64 and especially Amiga hold that first-love status. I'm just blessed to be that generation where the hardware was there at the right time.

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It's crazy how fast things moved back then. Home computing went from Spectrum/C64 to Amiga/Atari ST in a few short years, and the advance was gigantic. Nowadays, I lament that my 2012 PC will lose support when Windows 10 reaches end of life next year - there's not anything especially different or exciting in this year's PC. Yes, it's faster for some use cases, but for 90% stuff it's the same thing.

In 2024 doing AI @home is clearly a new exciting thing but it require a good budget to be pleasant to use.

I started programming due to the ZX Spectrum

https://blog.steve.fi/how_i_started_programming.html

But yes they were everywhere when I was a kid, the BBC was in schools, and a few people had different things, but the Speccy was cheap and cheerful enough that it was the machine of choice.

I don't recall the ZX80 being particularly popular though it was the first computer for under £100. It wasn't until the following year that the ZX81 was released (£70) which could support moving graphics that opened the door to gaming even though it was severely limited and the display was only in black and white.

I remember being mightily impressed by 3D Monster Maze on the ZX81

https://www.zx-gaming.co.uk/games/monstermaze/default.htm

ZX80 iirc had to be built by the owner. Possibly the '81 too (memory fading but my brother was the "softie" in the family and I was the engineer so I got to solder them together for him). The spectrum came pre-built, significantly expanding the target market. The '80 followed on from Sinclair's previous products which were mostly user-assembled (MK14 and some of the calculators). The very first Acorn computer also iirc was self-assembled.

As I recall, the ZX81 came as either a kit (mail-order) or pre-built. My first computer was a pre-built ZX81 bought from WHSmiths.

In my friend group - those with a Commodore 64 were at the top. The Vic-20 was the middle and the Sinclair the bottom. My one friend with a Tandy Color Computer had no idea what he was doing, his family just had money.

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