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Introduced in January 1980, the Sinclair ZX80 was the first complete home computer for under £100 ($200/500 Deutsche Mark) and sparked a brisk coverage in the trade press, but was nowhere near as earth-shattering as it is often portrayed today. At the same time, Commodore introduced the much more powerful VC-20 for 300 USD, Tandy, not much later, the Color Computer. Nevertheless, from the ZX80 in a year, to the Presentation of the ZX81, around 100,000 units were sold, more than half of them in the United Kingdom.

This ZX81, a cost-optimized version of the ZX80, hit the market like a bomb in the spring of 1981. The extensive and very active press work as well as deliberately low pricing ensured not only a quick success in England but also worldwide. While the computer cost £70 or 150 USD or 400 Deutsche Mark when it was introduced, the price fell to £50, 100 USD or 240 Deutsche Mark by the summer of 1982. Within the first year, more than 250,000 units were sold and until production was discontinued, a total of around 1.5 million by Sinclair, half a million from Timex in the USA and an unknown number as kits in China were produced.

With this history, it is understandable that the introduction of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum (ZX82) in April 1982 immediately panicked the established US manufacturers. A home computer with 16 KiB of memory and color graphics for just £125! In the trade press, a US sales price of less than 200 USD was circulated, significantly cheaper than any comparable home computer from Atari, Commodore, Tandy or TI. Commodore tried to counter this with the C116 model, which was directly oriented towards the ZX Spectrum, while Tandy launched the MC-10. This was the beginning of a short boom of „rubber keyboard computers“.

Contrary to fears, Sinclair did not sell the ZX Spectrum in the USA itself, but left it to its licensee Timex. Timex designed the significantly improved TS2068 based on the ZX Spectrum, but it did not go on sale until more than a year later, in November 1983. Much too late and in a market where a C64 was already available for 200 USD.

Outside the USA, the ZX Spectrum was built in various variants, even beyond the sale of Sinclair to Amstrad. Over 5 million units were sold by 1992, without taking in account a very large number of more or less compatible replicas, especially in Eastern Europe and South America.

The exhibition shows a large part of the different Sinclair models, from ZX80 and ZX81 to the various ZX Spectrum. The focus is on a prototype for a low-cost POS system based on ZX81 from 1981.

The Sinclair ZX80 is a 1980 home computer built by Sinclair. It is the predecessor of the Sinclair ZX81. The hardware of the successor, which is produced in much higher quantities, is similar, but more integrated and therefore more cost-effective. The case of the ZX80 is white and slightly chunkier than that of the black ZX81. The case of the ZX80 was designed by industrial designer Rick Dickinson. The Z80 CPU is clocked at 3.25 MHz, which corresponds to the state of the art at the time.

The ZX80 is connected to the antenna socket of a TV via the built-in RF modulator and a cable. There, text with 32 columns and 24 rows is displayed.

The character set is not ASCII-compliant and contains not only letters and numbers but also the keywords of the BASIC. Most basic commands are entered with a single keystroke. Only a few functions such as PEEK() and CHR$() need to be entered letter by letter. As a result, the programs require only a small amount of space in the relatively small memory of the ZX80.

Built from 1980 to 1981

The Sinclair ZX81 is a home computer based on the Z80 microprocessor built by the British manufacturer Sinclair Research Ltd. The number in the name refers to the year of market entry on March 5, 1981.

The ZX81 is a further development of the ZX80 and was designed from the outset as a mass-produced product for beginners. Originally only available as mail order, the ZX81, massively advertised as a cheap learning computer, also conquered the shops of Great Britain from the end of 1981. In addition, sales also started in continental Europe, North America and Japan. Within a very short time, large quantities – including the accessories now launched by Sinclair on the market – were sold worldwide. Due to the poor workmanship and faulty system software of the first production series, almost every fourth device was faulty, but this did not affect the enormous demand.

Built from 1981 to 1983

• Wikipedia entry for Sinclair

• Wikipedia entry for ZX80

• Wikipedia entry for ZX81

• Interesting article regarding Sinclair