Repair/Restoration Part 1: 2 x ZX81 and a Happy 40th Anniversary!

[@truecrimescotsman]

My (and Hollie's) first love....the ZX81, thanks for the upload.

[@RetroKrazy]

You are most welcome and yes, was mine too :)

[@desiv1170]

Great vid! Just finished my internal 16k upgrade on my TS1000. Unfortunately my keyboard membrane also broke. I already had a new one, because I had a feeling it would break. It broke once before and I cut it down and got it to work. But this last break happened much lower, as I was trying to be REALLY CAREFUL where it plugged in. ;-) I also installed a ZX-CCB for better composite. It works, but I need to open it up and tweak it a bit. It works fine for the initial testing, but when I ran 3D Monster Maze, it isn't syncing too well with too much white (i.e. when I am looking straight down the hall; if I turn to face the wall, it looks fine.). But since I put the ZX-CCB in the spot where the RF modulator was, I have to do that with everything opened up. I am using a CRT monitor (Commodore 1702) so it should be a bit happier. Of course, since I live in NTSC land (60hz) and the 81 was really designed for PAL (50hz), I'm not unhappy with it showing almost anything. ;-)

[@RetroKrazy]

Thanks! Yeah, those membranes are a right pain and prone to failure however with a good community behind the Sinclair range, we will hopefully have spares for a long time yet :) I found on the LCD I'm currently using, I did have to tweak mine as the black wasn't really black, more a grey. Works well though and a much nicer picture than the RF! I was never any good at 3D Monster Maze though... Will get around to getting some of the Timex machines at some point, however have a whole raft of new machines turning up over the next week so they'll have to wait a bit longer.

[@Alex_Valentine]

Very interesting from beginning to end. I have the American version myself but could never do much in the way programming besides store phone numbers and make check lists.

[@RetroKrazy]

Thanks! I remember spending hours typing in a program from a 'game poster' only to find it wouldn't run... And of course going into the local stores and typing in the basic program to print 'Hello' across the screen :D For me, this was a real blast down memory lane and I was surprised how many fond memories it brought back.

[@rustandmagic]

Just got my old ZX80 up and running again, bought in 1980, terrible picture so will see if I can do some good RF to video conversion I think

[@RetroKrazy]

Well worth it for the stable picture and improved quality, especially if you want to run it on a modern TV. Good luck with the conversion!