It was announced yesterday that the inventor and computer pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair died at his home in London after a long illness. Although according to his daughter he was still inventing last week.
Sir Clive Sinclair: Computing pioneer dies aged 81 – BBC News
If you follow the link to the article above you will find the BBC editorial team led with a photograph of Sir Clive in a C5 electric car – a not very successful project and something he was ridiculed for in the day. But let’s remember that he had a vision that we would all be driving electric cars eventually. He was just a little ahead of his time and technology.
Obituary: Sir Clive Sinclair: Tireless inventor ahead of his time – BBC News
The first pocket calculator I had was a Sinclair Cambridge. It took some persuading for my Dad to get it for me – as then it was quite expensive. Mine came in a kit form to save some money but also because I was interested in how the thing was put together and worked. When I showed it to my school friends it was a great hit as you could spell eggs and boobs on it!
Sinclair Cambridge – Wikipedia
The next Sinclair product I got was a ZX81, I got the kit again but not because of the saving but because I had plans for this computer. It was fortunate that I paid for the ZX81 myself as when my Dad saw the innards of the computer screwed to a plank of wood and then a trail of wires leading off to a cannibalised case/keyboard and a number of boxes that attached to my amateur radio set, he would not have been happy if he had paid for it!
That set up over the years drifted between a variety of projects and went “portable” to various Scout events around the country, eventually just failing because of one too many soldered on mods.
If you ask anyone what they remember of their ZX81 experiences it will probably be the time sitting waiting for the program you had crafted into the machine and then saved, later slowly loading back into the ZX81 from a tape recorder making a noise reminiscent of a dial up modem. The innovation to use easily available domestic tape recorders and standard cassette tapes for data storage was a game changer for home computer enthusiasts.
Another ZX81 memory would include waiting for the program to load and the just gently touching the memory pack and causing the whole computer to crash – after one too many of those crashes I disassembled the memory pack, screwed it to the plank and soldered it in place. The ZX81 was my first experience of coding and modifying my own software in basic and machine code.
I never got a ZX Spectrum – the successor to the ZX81 – I had moved onto other computers by then, although Diana did have one. But the Spectrum has a big impact even today – a friend of mine has these:
And the mug featured in one of my “geek present” blogs:
So your Dad is a geek… Presents for a Geek Dad – Octagon Technology
I think he was one of my inspirations to get into technology and from there eventually starting Octagon Technology with Diana.
Our thoughts at Octagon go to his family and friends.
Clive Catton MSc (Cyber Security) – by-line and other articles
Further Reading
Regrets from 1983 – Octagon Technology
