Why Clive Sinclair's final, simple, brilliant computer is still relevant and useful today.

[@oldhedders]

I'm happy to own one of these. And yes, it is genuinely useful even in the 21st century. I've been known to use it for note-taking in meetings, much to the confusion of the other attendees.

[@TheRetroShack]

Thanks for watching and glad you're still finding a use for it :)

[@arfanmedni7294]

Bet the silent keyboard helps

[@roberthazelby4424]

How easy is it to get files off the machine? Is there software available for either PC, Mac or Linux to do this?

[@firsteerr]

we got two at our comp[any in the late eighties due to building management systems becoming more powerful we had them until we got a few huskies

[@RickSwartz]

Lovely video! I have an early model where the edge connector to the Z80 is accessible. According to the fine people on the Z88 Telegram group, access was later removed because it proved too unstable. The Z88 is still being actively supported by a group of enthusiasts today, including new cartridges, OS updates, software and, importantly, keyboard membranes.

[@TheRetroShack]

Thanks! It is quite a healthy community for these machines and new Roms and software seems to come out quite often :) Just wish I’d had one first time around :)

[@eekee6034]

What about the rubber keyboard itself? If you leave a Z88 in the sun, for instance as a display model in a shop window, the key keys in the corners fall off. I had a bunch of ex-display ones in my last year of school. I made the mistake of selling them to schoolmates and then spending the money before they asked for their money back. All the same, they're lovely machines to hold and type on, and I wouldn't mind getting another. Oh and the screen; I forgot how nice it was. Nostalgia for me there! :) It's a shame about the keyboard, because you can use screens like that in the sun. ;)

[@simiushugenot8253]

A super video and tribute to one of Britain's greatest treasures. I was brought up on Sinclair products (a fine collection of which I still have) and it is thanks to him, that I have a successful career in computing. I have a Z88 and use it daily for various home administration projects. At the time of his C5, the oil and motor companies were far too strong and he, unfortunately, did not really stand a chance. Sinclair was just 40 years too early, which we all now see as lost time and chances for the environment, with the race to more electric vehicles from companies that "shunned" him. Shame on our societies and governments. Individuals, such as he, do not come a long that often and should be paid more heed. Thank you and I look forward to seeing more videos on Sinclair :-)

[@TheRetroShack]

Thanks for watching and glad you enjoyed it :) :)

[@RondenBreems]

Great times. I had the first QL in the Netherlands and used it for years. Awesome. I started a usergroup that grew to 1500 users. I also used the QL to write the first MS-DOS course in the Netherlands. I also owned and used a Psion for years. Good to see this video. I never saw the Z88 before though I was a real fan of Sir Sinclair's products.

[@TheRetroShack]

There’ll be a QL series coming up later in the year :) Thanks for watching !

[@StJohnsChurchWoking]

Absolutely loved my Z88 - such a fabulous device and so much better than the competition. Wrote several games in BBC Basic that run so smoothly on this machine. I truly wish I'd never sold it!

[@TheRetroShack]

You'll be buying another one after watching this :) :)

[@davocc2405]

In terms of contemporary usefulness - there is a niche market for writers who want a zero distraction machine that is robust and small/light with good typing support. I have seen modern implementations with good keyboards and E-paper screens which are deliberately limited in functionality so as to not permit the writer distraction - and they can take it to odd locations and work here. The Z88 taught me about the idea of "incidental use" - pull out, wake from suspend and go, fill in some dead time with useful activity. It's a notion which a few machines have done since but finding one with a proper keyboard has been of course more difficult.

[@TheRetroShack]

Perfectly put!

[@nweston5070]

I had one as my only machine when at university. I remember I wrote some structural engineering code for optimising a bridge design on it. I also wrote a pre-processor which would allow an Epson dot matrix printer to print graphs and line drawings in high resolution - it was very slow since each “dot” had to be sent over the RS232 serial line. By the time I got to my final year project I had moved on to borrowing some time on my mate’s 286 PC to write that up. I remember being frustrated with the Z88 in the end because I couldn’t get enough on the screen at one time to cross reference things in the text while I was writing. The portability, applications and battery life were amazing for the period though.

[@TheRetroShack]

Thanks for sharing :) It's always great to read how people interacted with the machines we feature on the Shack :)

[@Dunbar0740]

Great little machine. Reminded me of a random encounter I had a decade ago while sitting in a hospital waiting room. I was casually scrolling through my Kindle when an elderly man sitting next to me said he helped develop something similar in the 1970s. The machine in question used bubble memory and a liquid crystal display "for the purpose of reading electronic books". The project met with resistance due to potential issues regarding digital reproductions of copyrighted material. He said his own published material had been reproduced in the GDR without his consent and suggested the machine he helped develop might have been better suited for use in a socialist republic... Unfortunately, I was called for my appointment before I had a chance to ask the man's name. He was in his 80s; it was clear both he and his wife possessed fierce intellects. I still wonder who was behind the project, whether it was the product of academic research or a commercial endeavour.

[@TheRetroShack]

It's better to be stupid than clever :). Us stupid people don't know we're being stupid most of the time :)

[@beatricemeyers4640]

AlphaSmart was the spiritual successor to this. It used serial or USB to connect with a PC or printer to transfer files. When connected to a PC, it would show up as a keyboard device and "upload" the files by simply typing them back. We used AlphaSmart 3000's in primary school because laptops were still too expensive. I actually own a few that I got off ebay years ago and they work great for distraction-free writing. There was a later version called the Dana that had a large screen and ran Palm OS.

[@TheRetroShack]

Just had a little look at the Alphasmart - Interesting!

[@richardwestwell1456]

@@TheRetroShack Alphasmarts are the best - Neo or Neo2 are the ones to get - great keyboard, distraction-free writing, USB connection for file transfer, instant-on and the AA batteries last about a year :D

[@paulluce2557]

The AlphaSmart Dana is a really nice machine. Ive got one. Apparently they were designed by ex Apple Engineers.

[@richardwestwell1456]

@@paulluce2557 Danas are great too - I use one to write at home, and the Neo2 when I'm on the move, as its battery life is endless.

[@johnforde7735]

Wow, I never heard of this machine and I generally kept up with Clive's inventions.

[@TheRetroShack]

Yep, I missed it first time round too - shame, because it's a truly great little machine!

[@greenaum]

I got one for Xmas back in the day! Loads of fun. Just messing with the OS and BASIC and writing programs, it's all I could do with it but it kept me occupied for _ages!_

[@ravisriram6746]

I remember the Sinclair: it was indeed quite ahead of its time. People regularly ooh and aah at every new or improved device rolled out by Apple every year, but they either forget, or are unaware of pioneers such as Clive Sinclair.

[@TheRetroShack]

I'm still using this almost daily over a month after filming the video - it's really nice to use!

[@mr.wibble]

Great video - makes me also think of the Psion 3 and 5 series.

[@TheRetroShack]

Much bigger and easier to type on though :) I loved my Series 5 MX but my fingers didn't :)

[@gwarner99b]

I agree; I owned all three and found them useful tools for work and academic study.

[@darkstarnh]

I loved my Z88 (serial No. 95) and still have it. It got years of use and still works fine. There was a great user group and magazine as well.

[@TheRetroShack]

I was amazed to find that there's still a very active community for these machines! :)

[@greenaum]

Hey you're not Neil Harris from Yorkshire are you? Of Neil Harris Enterprises?

[@darkstarnh]

@@greenaum Sorry, no. I'm in Cardiff, Wales.

[@greenaum]

@@darkstarnh Ah, don't apologise! You're a different bloke so it doesn't matter where you live.

[@mikerichards6065]

I loved my little Z88, I wrote most of my MSc dissertation on that machine. A complete delight.

[@lovelpetrovic1865]

Interesting enough, this machine was featured in Slovenian computer magazine Moj Mikro which was also published in Serbo-Croatian language, and I was a regular reader in late eighties. It was even on front page.

[@TheRetroShack]

I didn’t realise that this machine had made it that far into Europe! Very interesting!

[@rastersoft]

The problem with the expansion connector, AFAIK, was that the CPU was a CMOS version, and they discovered quite far in the design phase that static electricity could destroy it, just if the user touched the electric contacts.

[@TheRetroShack]

Just like the Acorn Electron - the edge connector was exposed and you could kill the machine by touching it :)

[@eekee6034]

I wonder why Ataris didn't have that problem with their 65C02 CPUs and massive expansion connectors. But maybe they were buffered, I don't remember.

[@OffstagePfaffa]

@@eekee6034 The Atari 8bit used a either a 6502 or the custom Sally chip which had Atari part# of 6502C. However it is unrelated to the MOS 6502C or the 65C02.

[@davidgapp1457]

I was a huge Sinclair fan and my first computer was a ZX81. I had never heard of the Z88 (wish I had) so much appreciate this video. Shame it wasn't more successful. Portable computing in that timeframe was either tragic, ridiculously heavy or ludicrously expensive. Sinclair was and is a genius.

[@TheRetroShack]

Glad you enjoyed the video :). It really is a beautiful little machine :)

[@firsteerr]

sir clives real genius was his ability to be the conductor of the orchestra effectively deciding the tempo of it bringing all the components together

[@ClayMann]

I lusted after the C5. I just thought it was utterly amazing. It was so unlike anything I'd ever seen. I never got to ride in one and the cost was way way out of a childs Xmas present level. Today I see its flaws but I still remember loving it. As for Sinclair I think they hit the big time almost by accident. Sir Clive himself was never into computers and they never really marketed or built on their success. I was sold into Commodore slavery very early on and its really only now I can look back and appreciate the computers, the crazy printers and micro drives. Also super video, really enjoyed it. Just found the channel so subbed and off to see what else you've made. Cheers.

[@TheRetroShack]

Welcome to the channel, and glad I'm not the only one out there with a longing for a c5. They come up for sale every now and again so if I do get one at some point, there'll be a video on here all about it :)

[@ridbensdale]

0:55 was the Sinclair Computer Building in Cambridge when I was at uni. It was the first place I ever surfed the web back in 1995.

[@TheRetroShack]

Glad the video sparked a memory :)

[@ridbensdale]

@@TheRetroShack I’m sure my school had a couple of Z88s. It was a special school and we got good kit :)

[@TheRetroShack]

@@ridbensdale Nice! Curious to know what you thought of it?

[@ridbensdale]

@@TheRetroShack I seem to remember it being a bit laggy. And, as you mentioned, it did let you save items without added storage. I don’t we had them for very long.

[@paulwesterman]

I had one of these! Loved having BBC basic to carry around. I also had the parallel printer cable to connect to my Canon BJ10e and a BBC Link cable which I could use to transfer data to/from my BBC Model B! Fun times :)

[@TheRetroShack]

Glad this brought back fun memories :)

[@jamesgibson3582]

I used one of these to take notes and wrote my MSc thesis on it. Data in spreadsheets, handy word processor, nice Basic language, it was great. I still have it and I fire it up every so often. Boom right back to the 1990’s and ready to go. I love it.

[@MichaelPolymhxanos]

Why is Z key on the QL images, inverted? For example on 02:17 . Has anyone else noticed this?

[@frankowalker4662]

I've only ever seen pictures of the Z88 in magazines, thank you for this. It was a treat. Sir Clive hated the fact his computers were being used for games instead of learning and business. That's why he came up with the QL. Ha ha.

[@alerey4363]

9:50 it looks like the recessed expansion port connects directly to the Z80A

[@TheRetroShack]

It dies indeed - direct access to the cpu.

[@theprincessoftreeleaves205]

The Z88 went a bit opposite Clive's (sold and abandoned) QL poject as it's an 8-bit machine but that makes the Z88 more friendly because the internal architecture principles are cleverly designed in similar manner like those in the Spectrum few years before. The OZ is very well designed and the machine is easy to use, offering a kind of multitasking. The BBC Basic is a bit light and doesn't offer as wide range of commands as the full interpreter, but it's still good. The integrated Z80 assembler option inside the BBC Basic is genius thing.

[@TheRetroShack]

Thanks for sharing - Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@eekee6034]

I do like that BBC BASIC has a built-in assembler, kind-of on principle. I've been tinkering with BBC BASIC for SDL a little, but not nearly enough to want the assembler just yet. If I carry on, I'm sure I will.

[@KonradZielinski]

I think that ship has sailed. Though similar devices where do appear to have been available in Japan under the Kingjin brand.

[@TheRetroShack]

Might be an interesting project though - you know, cos it's there :)

[@Ironic-Social-Phobia]

SIM card removal tool? Use a bent paperclip for the full retro experience.

[@TheRetroShack]

Or a needle like I did once and skewered my finger :)

[@larsmathiesen8999]

I still got my Z88 :)) (its my 2nd one. The first one I had was one of the first 1000, so it had problems on warm summer days where horisontal lines of the display would disapere (this could be solved by putting it in the fridge half an hour or so :) ) But for the later models they solved the issue with thicker glass.) Best note taker at meatings that ever was.

[@TheRetroShack]

That made me smile - pop it in the fridge for half an hour :) Old-Style solutions to Old-Style problems :) :)

[@gnomadrocketry]

Here in the States we has the TRS-80 Model 100 which hit the streets circa 1983 IIRC. It was never terribly popular either aside from people who wanted a portable word processor. The keyboard was absolutely stellar and the machine has had a cult following in that regard which exists to this very day.

[@TheRetroShack]

Got my eye on a TRS-80 100 :) Looks like an interesting machine :)

[@strangeluck]

l never heard of the Z88 and kept thinking the Model 100 pretty much beat it to everything. I like the screen better too. The Model 100 was an enormous success however, over 6 million units sold. I have one myself to play with, agree it's a solid machine.

[@leeosborne3793]

The Model 100 is absolutely fantastic. I've got one and use it to write on regularly. The keyboard is superb.

[@michaelmitchell8218]

Loved computers back in the old days, so much fun back then learning to code them. Good old days. Might be just me but I just found them better than today’s computers. The Sinclair and commodore days was great days to be a kid.

[@TheRetroShack]

Couldn't agree more!

[@ZXspectrum..]

here here...captivating

[@005AGIMA]

Really enjoyed this. I actually initially dismissed this as an April fool from the thumbnail and title as it looks too much like an Amstrad notepad, it's not funny. But I see it came out MUCH earlier than the Notepad. Sir Clive really was so very very far ahead of his time. I find myself referencing his work more and more often to point out where many of our "new innovations" today, actually began. And many began with Sir Clive.

[@TheRetroShack]

Glad you enjoyed it :) Didn't even realise it was April Fool's day when I uploaded it :)

[@paulking5665]

I have a Z88 in my loft, still in it's grey case with the cardboard slip case too. My sister bought it at a jumble sale in our local town hall for a few pound as it was not working sometime in the mid 90's. It was a very easy fix which I think was a dislodged micro switch that detected if the clear plastic cartridge cover was closed. I fixed it, had a little play with it and then put it back in it's box and has never been used since.

[@TheRetroShack]

Amazingly, a couple of weeks after filming that video and I'm still using the darn thing :). Really quite a nice device and I have a cable for transferring files now :)

[@mathsDOTearth]

I wanted one of these, ended up with a Amstrad NC100 (and then NC200) which I still enjoyed alot.

[@TheRetroShack]

Got my eye on an NC100 next too :)

[@mathsDOTearth]

Once you get a cf card in the nc1/200 you can also get them running cp/m or fuzix.

[@Fifury161]

I upgraded from a Casio PB1000 to the NB300, still have both!

[@peterhurst]

I recall these being launched and wanting one, the keys felt like tapping a pencil rubber but worked suprisingly well, much better than a spectrum. I would have got one if they had been cheaper but work gave me a Toshiba laptop so I couldn't justify it.

[@TheRetroShack]

You should pick one up now - still great fun!

[@Kw1161]

I remember here the states reading about it in "Computer Shopper Magazine" but when they mentioned the words "membrane keyboard" it killed the deal for me. I planned to replace my Tandy 200 computer....well, I purchased a Pision Revo instead. I agree with your conclusion however.....😀 Great video, thanks for the information.

[@TheRetroShack]

Glad you enjoyed it! Got to say that personally, I think the keyboard is really nice to use - definitely a step up from the Spectrum days!

[@Kedvespatikus]

I remember this machine was advertised/on the price lists for a while here in Hungary, too. But can it run Unix? :)

[@TheRetroShack]

I’m not sure but if anyone know it’s www.rakewell.com/main/index.shtml

[@robertgijsen]

Good informative video! I enjoyed it very much indeed. Never seen one of these in real life. As an IT guy though I must remind you that you use Kb here instead of KB, something that always bugs me as writing Kb is just incorrect being Kilobits rather than KiloBytes. Keep 'em coming!

[@TheRetroShack]

Thanks for watching, and noted re the Kb :)

[@leeosborne3793]

I've got one of these. They're idiosyncratic and quite odd in lots of ways, but highly capable. Unfortunately I've always struggled to transfer data to and from other machines, which makes it a bit tricky to use. I do, however, use it to type up and print stuff. I love portable machines with this form factor. My absolute favourite at the moment is the TRS-80 Model 100.

[@ChrisMcKeown560]

I've only ever seen him on KZbin clips, but _my god_ Tony Bastable was *everywhere* in the 80s

[@TheRetroShack]

The Jeremy Paxman of the day?

[@FadkinsDiet]

Love his dry wit as he calls out the marketing-speak, any other good examples of that?

[@TheRetroShack]

@@FadkinsDiet I'll take look - I imagine there are loads! He was that kind of character :)

[@thomashenden71]

Thinking about how straining it was for your eyes to work with those first computers on a television that even didn’t have enough resolution to properly display 80 colums, it is really strange that LCD-based computers for business use, didn’t take off. Also, they used extremely little power, so could be used at the airplane and everywhere, really. Even then, this machine could have been integrated with a PC with Word Perfect to transfer documents and spreadsheets via the serial cable, very easily. I had a ZX Spectrum myself in the 80’s - liked it a lot more than Commodore 64 although - technically, the Commodore was superior. However, the programming was much easier and faster on the ZX Spectrum thanks to the shortcuts on the keyboard, no cumbersome POKE commands to do well, uh, 'basic' stuff. So thanks Sir Clive - you were just born a little too early, that’s it, you contributed to improve the world anyway, your computers will be remembered, wish I knew about this one, a little earlier though.

[@TheRetroShack]

Another Spectrum kid :) I do admit to being envious of my friend's C64's - but I was a smart enough kid to be grateful for what I had rather than moaning about what someone else had. Well... most of the time :)

[@michaelhawthorne8696]

A modern version of this with the changes mentioned at the end would indeed garner a lot of interest today.......A portable computer running on batteries for a couple of weeks !, OLED, USB, probably a lot thinner too.

[@TheRetroShack]

I *am* tempted, got to be honest!

[@matthews4159]

* if you look inside the case of the early Apple MAC's the signatures of the people involved are in the inside case plastic * The Z88 has the names of those involved ( including a Dog ) held in the ROM containing the OS which was called OZ if i remember

[@TheRetroShack]

That's an interesting note!

[@LoftBits]

Some guys did exactly what you say: dusted off the idea, put on better batteries, more memory, better keyboard, e-ink display - and called it Freewrite. It's actually less than a Z88, more of a typewriter, and yet people are AMAZED by it lasting for weeks on single charge and are ready to pay c.a. 500USD for it. When I first saw it, I thought: "I would still go for my 30 year old Z88, thank you. Except maybe for the keyboard..."

[@TheRetroShack]

Thanks - I'll take a look at that!

[@leeosborne3793]

The Freewrite is absolute crap. It's far too limited in its capabilities, the software is flaky and inconsistent and it's criminally expensive. I was sent a review machine for a magazine column I write. I'm glad I didn't pay full whack for it, I'd have been furious if I had.

[@redlinetelevision]

Did amstrad release a similar product like they always did after Sinclair?

[@zapod20]

Nice video! I enjoyed my Z88 while it was still working. Long gone now, but I still have a couple of cartridges in a drawer somewhere. I think the screen was manufactured by Epson, then known for high quality LCDs - my 1984 PX-8 sports a lovely 80x8 LCD that still looks great today.

[@TheRetroShack]

Thanks for sharing! Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@Fezzler61]

I'll give your old cartridges a good home!

[@andrewfrost8866]

I bought one when they were released. I loved it. Used it mainly for programming, but was very partial to Pipedream.

[@TheRetroShack]

Really wishing I’d had one of these first time around :)

[@stevegreen5552]

I bought a Z88 at an Acorn computer fair. I used it to key in text for a book, periodically taking it upstairs to do a serial transfer to my Acorn A5000 (using Computer Concepts Impression to for formatting). The Z88 was (and probably is, since it's still inside one of my cupboards) a nice little machine, and the extra memory pack was handy. Rechargeable batteries were constantly in use. If only there had been some proper storage... Being an owner of a BBC model B (and later the Acorn A5000), the BBC Basic, View and the Pipedream software were nice for continuity. But it was the lack of storage and only volatile memory that made me look elsewhere.

[@TheRetroShack]

Luckily there are non-volatile solutions now, but 34 years too late :(

[@stevegreen5552]

@@TheRetroShack The magazine "The Micro User" (originally "BBC Micro User") did, for some months, have a few pages dedicated to the Z88 (presumably because of the BBC Basic connection) that gave useful info that wasn't mentioned in the user guide or a book I had (Ian Sinclair?) on the Z88. So much so that I removed and kept these pages before getting rid of the magazine - "just on case it's needed". It wasn't. I never really referred to them after that but the folder will be still around somewhere.

[@notlessgrossman163]

Why isn't the tooling, circuits etc being used to make these again?? It drives me crazy, these videos and computers are so fascinating and I wish I could just order one for 99$

[@TheRetroShack]

Well that's an interesting question! Maybe someone will :)...

[@bazza5699]

has anyone modded the z88 to include those features you mentioned?

[@TheRetroShack]

Not that I can find... Maybe I’ll just bite the bullet and...... ask Ben Heck to do it :) :)

[@rog2224]

I remember Dixons selling a couple of ex-display ones when I bought my ex-display Psion MC400 in 1989/90. My colleague bought one, and was always happy with it.

[@TheRetroShack]

I’ve been really impressed with it so far :)

[@JohnDlugosz]

Hmm, this was in 1987? But the TRS-80 Model 100, with the same specifications, was in 1983. It had BASIC, word processor, spreadsheet, terminal, appointments, contacts, etc. and was based on an 8080 with file system in RAM. Meanwhile, in 1987 we had full MS-DOS laptops with 80x25 character black&white LCD screens and glowing vacuum type displays, with 640K ram standard and two floppy disks.

[@TheRetroShack]

Yes we did. And Clive didn't care :). He was a man on a mission. And to be fair to the device itself, it *is* quite nice to use. But yes, not exactly groundbreaking considering what else was around.

[@another3997]

Their were many 'pocket computers' and luggables back in the '80s. The point of the Z88 was to make a portable device at a relatively low cost, at least in comparison to MS Dos laptops. This was smaller, lighter, cheaper, ran for 20 hours on AA batteries and had the core apps built in. The concept continued with the Amstrad NC100/200 and the Alphasmart Dana etc. Simple, portable, programmable data entry devices.

[@joseph7858]

Thank you very much for your video. I‘ve had a ZX 81... programmed it at nights being a boy. Such good memories!

[@TheRetroShack]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@petercoen]

I bought a Z88 several years ago by Bay, I got forgotten and disappeared in a cupboard. Found it recently (with the manual), put in batteries and it started up without any problems. Very elegant machine.

[@hansford71]

Can't remember seeing this 'back in the day'. picked up an Amstrad NC100 at a car boot sale last year which looks similar.

[@TheRetroShack]

The Amstrad NC100 was very similar... a little 'too similar' if truth be told...

[@TheTurnipKing]

@@TheRetroShack There was a whole slew of these mini computers around the time. There's a very similar looking Tandy badged job too. (kzbin.info/www/bejne/i5XRm2iJbNV3as0) They were basically enabled by the LCD screens, which were manufactured by Citizen. I think it may have been them that had the design and more or less shopped it around.

[@Havanacuba1985]

I seem to recall a few clones there was one in my mums catalogue and also I’m sure a radio shack one

[@TheRetroShack]

@@Havanacuba1985 What's that saying? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery :)

[@johnd6487]

@@Havanacuba1985 this has me thinking back to a video I’ve seen that I’m sure went through a few Tandy models that looked like this, but I just can’t find it (I watch far too much of this stuff, because I drooled over these things back in the day, but on a paperboy wages, that was as far as it went!).. in the hunt though, convinced it was one of the 8-bit Guys features, I did find him presenting a slew of VTech models (yep, that VTech!) that certainly have a similar form factor and level of functionality.

[@mitsos_306]

Sir Clive sinclair, a true visionary and ahead of his time in all his areas of applications!

[@TheRetroShack]

If you haven't watched 'Micro Men' - I'd recommend it :)

[@trollobite1629]

@@TheRetroShack Yeah great program.

[@ChrisMannphoto]

Wow, that's a blast from the past! I had one of these back in the day... the form factor and light weight was great - keyboard acceptable but not ideal. Main issues for me were the limited screen size, and the lack of data storage! But as with most things Sir Clive developed it was well ahead of its time and limited by the technology of the day.

[@TheRetroShack]

Absolutely :). Poor Clive was always a bit ahead of the curve :) Ambition outstripped capability at times.

[@0ZeroNul0]

A very informative video! Thanks a lot

[@TheRetroShack]

Glad it was helpful!

[@christianblack2916]

I had one and I loved it. It was the only portable computer that was totally silent in operation and therefore the only one allpwed in my university library.

[@TheRetroShack]

The more I use this keyboard, the more I respect the design behind it - it really is quite nice to use! :)

[@christianblack2916]

@@TheRetroShack surprising yes, seeing as at first acquaintance it seems a tray of wine gums

[@debbie09090]

I bought a dead one cheap at a radio rally and sent it back to the manufacturer for repair. It was a lovely little computer for its time. I used it at work mostly for note taking. I loved the fact it had BBC basic too. Limiting factor was the small screen but it was usable but like peering through a letter box at your writing.

[@TheRetroShack]

This machine with a roll-out display like on some of the new smartphones - heaven :)

[@debbie09090]

I bought one of his Mk14 single board computers as my very first venture into computing in 1979

[@LastofAvari]

Only seen this one on photos and in brief magazine articles. Didn't know it had expansion slot planned at some stage.

[@TheRetroShack]

I was surprised to see the expansion myself :)

[@mypinknee]

I used mine between home and the office. Really liked using Pipedream. I could back up stuff to my BBC or the office PC. I sold it in full working order a very long time ago, but I still have files from it that are now in Excel or Google Sheets. THanks for the reminder.

[@TheRetroShack]

Thanks for sharing!

[@noisesoff3985]

I've still got one of these, somewhere. It was my take everywhere machine until the Psion 3mc took over that title. The Z88 was great as long as you kept everything in the machine. The real pain was trying to get anything out. File export was very hit and miss, even something as simple as printing a document had issues.

[@TheRetroShack]

I can only imagine the anxiety if you were out and about and got LOW BATT come up on the screen, and you had NO NEW BATTERIES! Aaaaaarghhh!!!

[@noisesoff3985]

@@TheRetroShack I don't remember ever having low battery anxiety, you got plenty of warning, probably more than was necessary, definitely enough time to pop down the shops and get a packet of 4 Duracell AA's

[@TheRetroShack]

@@noisesoff3985 Well that’s good to hear! I think if this was my daily driver I’d be paranoid and always carry twelve spare batteries at all times :) :) :)

[@noisesoff3985]

@@TheRetroShack Yeah well I was a bit ahead of the curve back then, most people used Fileofax.

[@plunder1956]

I was working freelance in a London AV company at the time. One colleague had one & tried to get me interested in the idea. Later I got into Psion & that became my PDA tool of choice.

[@TheRetroShack]

I had the Psion Series 5mx and this has made we want to get another one! :)

[@AboutFocusTV]

Not only did I have one back in the day but I still have it. No longer used of course but loved it, the iPad of its time.

[@TheRetroShack]

And I bet if you got it out and booted it up, you'd still love it :)

[@Vondoodle]

I’m so looking for something with a basic ascii screen and little keyboard that has long battery life with epoc or similar

[@GeorgeFoot]

The edge connector may have been used for testing during manufacture

[@TheRetroShack]

It is odd - I've seen some versions with a removable panel?

[@GeorgeFoot]

@@TheRetroShack Ah maybe they did plan to do something with it then - an external storage interface could have been useful, or serial I/O. I like the provision for multiple interchangeable cartridges. Not many systems had that back then.

[@TheRetroShack]

@@GeorgeFoot Yep, I'm convinced that this machine, with a few tweaks would find a market today :)

[@GeorgeFoot]

@@TheRetroShack We could build one!

[@TheRetroShack]

@@GeorgeFoot Don’t tempt me :) Too many projects as it is :) .... *thinking*..... :)

[@chrismason7066]

I think i ahave a couple of these. Any idea if value?

[@nickstephenson3444]

I had a Z88 for a couple of years from 1989(and many batteries, 'til I got a power unit eventually!!) Passed on to another friend when replaced with a 286 PC!...still playing after retiring, mainly Apple now but this is from a refurbished Dell 660 running Feren Linux!

[@TheRetroShack]

Just got the link cable so I can hook it up to my BBC Micro :) :) Still loving this little machine :)

[@adriaanstolk4487]

This reminds me of the AlphaSmart Pro device. It connects into the ADB port of a Mac or PS/2 port of a PC, where it sends the data across into a word processor in a way where it types extremely fast into the app.

[@TheRetroShack]

Love this little machine - will have to take a look at the Alphasmart Pro too :)

[@Fifury161]

Yes, I remember the AlphaSmart, it was basically a mechanical keyboard with a screen and a large buffer - perfect for taking notes in class. Very difficult to find info about it though...

[@adriaanstolk4487]

Yeah, but I do remember there was a website about them ~15 years ago. I used to have one of the earlier beige ones. The newer green one looker quite neat though, reminded me of the Newton eMate a bit.

[@r0bhumm]

Are used is at 88 at uni I still got it I think. I remember spending quite a lot of time setting up the spreadsheet to automatically generate a room quest character. I actually used to portable machines that 88 and a Tandy model and 100 I must say I ended up using the Tandy model 100 because of its far superior keyboard even though it was a bit of a lump to carry around. There was an article in the Times educational supplement about me using the that 88 at uni since I was registered as severely dyslexic and it made an interesting piece.

[@TheRetroShack]

You need to find it out and use it for a bit for the nostalgia kick :)

[@r0bhumm]

@@TheRetroShack unfortunately I wouldn’t be able to use it now I lost my site five years ago and I need to use text to speech. I occasionally lend some of my old machines to my brother-in-law to show at the school he works out as a sort of computer history lesson however. The machines include a working zx81. , The Z 88, a Tandy model 100, a Fuji tablet that originally when Windows 95 and the start of the show normally a Olivetti luggable with 5 1/2 inch floppy is unfortunately that doesn’t work.

[@anoopsahal1202]

I’d buy a modern version one but I’d keep the one I have too. The plastics Consultant I worked with tried one to make operation notes on in the late 1980’s he liked the instant “on” functionality

[@TheRetroShack]

Two Z88's? You'd be the talk of the town! :) :)

[@anoopsahal1202]

@@TheRetroShack I have the amstrad version too, the coloured keys were useful

[@ZXspectrum..]

Loved the 48k...it was like a whole new world, technology now is taken for granted and not as captivating...i forgive Clive for all the times i went to load a cassette game, went downstairs to have dinner with my family while it was loading ...only to discover after dinner that the game crashed or the tape had to be rewound onto the cassette with a biro :) Happy days

[@TheRetroShack]

Ahhhh the painful memories of 'R Tape Loading Error' !!! :)

[@gwarner99b]

This was the machine where the idiosyncrasies of Sinclair machines came together in a way that made sense. Even the rubber keyboards of earlier devices became a very useable feature. I remember writing a precursor of what later became known as a statement bank database in Basic, because I was teaching two different subjects to more than half of a sizeable secondary school, so report writing was a headache. I recall sitting on the Isle of Wight ferry finishing reports on the way home. In size and portability I would compare it to the Samsung S7 Plus tabletI have here, though the screen wasn’t quite a 12 inch OLED!

[@TheRetroShack]

Looking at these things in the context of what available and known at the time, they were really lovely things!

[@Fifury161]

6:15 Worth noting that lithium cells hadn't been invented yet - they came out in 1991, almost 5 years after the Z88. Pity as I guess the extra power for a backlit display and perhaps non-volatile memory would have made this a very desirable device back in 1987!

[@TheRetroShack]

I think it would have owned the market with those features at that price :)

[@eekee6034]

Huh? I'm almost sure I was looking at the idea of lithium-backed 32KB SRAM a year or 2 earlier. I just didn't understand the concept of using a MOSFET as a diode and.. well, rightfully didn't have enough confidence in my electronics skills to try it, and then I switched hobbies. But 1989 is still 2 years too late, anyway.

[@Fifury161]

@@eekee6034 I stand by what I stated earlier - commercially available lithium cells where a long way off . The cost of the electronics to charge them was another consideration. With NiCads & NiMH the battery chemistry was a lot more forgiving and didn't need smart (expensive!) electronics to control the charge cycle

[@alankingvideo]

I had and still have a Z88, and I used it for work. I was doing surveys of telephone poles, and I recorded all the details of the pole markings, test dates etc. on a spreadsheet which I imported onto a CP/M based machine at work and I forget what that machine was. It had some basic spreadsheet software however, and ir connected to a terminal. I wrote a Basic program on the z88 which reformatted the spreadsheet data and dumped it via the serial port. The Z88 was conected instead of the terminal.And whatever minicomputer it was connected tojust populated a blank spreadsheet. All pretty simple, but it worked fine. I remember the company buying me a couple of cartridges. Don't think I neded them for work, but they didnt know that. Ha Ha.

[@TheRetroShack]

Amazing! I love the creativity that these machines enable!

[@AboutFocusTV]

CPM machine wouldn’t have been a CASU by any chance would it ? 🙂

[@outerspace78]

My Dad had one ! Brings back memories of when he was a insurance salesman, have a vague recollection the wow factor was being able to quote the customer instantly in their home .... Lol

[@TheRetroShack]

Glad you enjoyed the video and that it brought back happy memories :)

[@DavidDatura]

I remember reading about these when they came out, and being quite impressed by them too.

[@6581punk]

I remember one of the Amiga mags covering them early 1990s and how one or more of their journalists used them. Made me want one. I have one now but it's just a collectible.

[@richardhedderly]

In the early 90s, as a big box store, we were selling off these at crazy prices just to make space in the storage cupboards. As others have said, the Amstrad NC100 was a pretty much a clone and an up yours from Alan which whilst it didn’t feel as well built, did have some nice apps on it. These still weren’t as portable as the Psion Organiser ranges mind.

[@TheRetroShack]

An 'Up yours from Alan' :) What a great way of putting it :) :)

[@richardhedderly]

​@@TheRetroShack How to put this. Around the time Amstrad took over Sinclair, I was working in one of the larger independent computer stores. Whilst we had stocked Goldstar PCs as they were a great price, Amstrad with the PC1512 / 1640, we couldn't keep them in, well until the Western Digital hard disk fiasco. Clive and Alan had that same vibe of doing it "better" / cheaper. It felt like chess. That when Amstrad took over Sinclair, it felt like Alan was saying "I was better all along" and if he couldn't have the Z88 as part of the deal, he was going to win his way, again.

[@petermikus2363]

Wouldn't it be possible to make some kind of separate lithium batterry pack to power this?

[@TheRetroShack]

I did exactly this :) Might throw a quick video update together on it at some point if there's any interest.

[@petermikus2363]

@@TheRetroShacknot sure about the other people who watch your videos but i do think it might be interesting. Another question i have is if it would be possible to connect a external monitor to the user port and if so maybe it would be possible to ganche the displays. I don't know mutch about thing like these so just and idea.

[@tomgidden]

I had one of the Z88 pre-production units with some wire bodges and extra access doors, thanks to a family connection with someone who worked on the software. I loved it... I did my GCSEs, A-levels and some of my degree on it. Pipedream was so useful. I wrote some utilities for RISC OS to make it easier to print to the school printers, serial to Archimedes to Econet. Unfortunately during the first dotcom bubble burst, I was forced to do a clear-out, and eBayed it for about £100. Sad, yes, but worse yet, the Royal Mail managed to snap it in half, so I didn’t even get to keep the £100. :(

[@TheRetroShack]

So you had one with the removable section that exposed the edge connector? I was beginning to think those models were a myth :)

[@tomgidden]

@@TheRetroShack Yes, I have some photos of it from back in 2002, including the connector and the detachable cover. It's a miracle I never lost that cover!

[@tonygallagher6989]

Most of Sir Clive's ideas were just very far ahead of their time. Unfortunately, the available technology couldn't keep up with him. When he launched his pocket TV, no one was watching shows on the move. There was an interview with him in Personal Computer World, after he had left the computer industry (although he was rumoured to be working with Fujitsu). He said the race for more megahertz was ultimately pointless, and having more processor cores was the better solution. Again, he hit the nail on the head.

[@TheRetroShack]

I've always thought he was just that few years out of sync :)

[@bierundkippen720]

„Most of Sir Clive's ideas were just very far ahead of their time“ 🤣😂Hell, no! 🤣

[@gwarner99b]

This was the machine where all the oddities of earlier Sinclair computer finally made sense. For instance, the rubber keyboard was light, reasonably durable and usable. I used one when I was teaching three quarters of the pupils in a large secondary school, often for just one lesson a week. Report writing time was a nightmare , so I wrote in Basic what was later called a statement bank system to streamline the process. I was also responsible for admin of most of the resdential school trips, and again, the Z88 was the most useful computing tool I had ever used up to that point.

[@EddieSheffield]

I have one of these but never knew much about it. A company i worked for in 96 was getting rid of some stuff and asked if I wanted it. Of course I took it but never did anything with it. Being in the US it was a bit of a novelty. This inspired me to pull it out and stick some batteries in it and it still works, tho I locked it up a couple times somehow.

[@TheRetroShack]

Hope you manage to get it to a reliable state :) Not using rechargeable batteries are you? It don’t like them :)

[@davocc2405]

I had one of these - my first ever laptop. I imported it form the UK (to Australia) because it was less than half the price it was sold for in Oz (they wanted $1000 AUD for it there, it was £199 in the UK at the time). It was quite a clever device but just doing ordinary note taking at college on it I was hitting the wall for text only storage; I would take notes (I could touch type) and download them to an Amiga via serial port for formatting, etc. I had only a single expansion module and they were just too expensive, it was hitting limits in working capacity. The rubber keyboard was astoundingly effective - it was really something, other students remarked how quiet it was. The general operation with the inbuilt suite of apps reminded me quite a bit of the HP 95LX I bought a few years later. The screen I thought was too short but nicely wide and fine resolution - but contrasting it to the Tandy Model 100 which was much easier to see (and was still in use by journalists in the field into the 2000's) I think it was just too small.

[@TheRetroShack]

Blimey $1kAus? That's amazing profiteering going on right there :)

[@davocc2405]

@@TheRetroShack The Australian market was the gouging capital of the world - I remember in about 2008 they did a comparison of the same Samsung TV in the US, UK and Australia; in USD (as a baseline) the same model was $750 in the US, about $1100 in the UK and at least $1500 in Australia, sometimes even more. This is where they were flogging HDMI cables for $400 - to dumb buyers who didn't understand how digital worked.

[@jc146174]

Did you have one? Guilty. Bought it in 1990 and used it every day as I trundled to and from work on the Portchester to Brighton commuter train route. I have to say, for the time it was brilliant and I used it for data collection for the research project I was doing; I even wrote the research proposal and grant application on it! But I couldn’t afford a PC or a Mac to plug it into; I’d use by trusty BBC B ... and wrote my own software to pull files off or user the BBC as a printer buffer. I sold it in 2003, along with the programming manual, spare EPROMs and EPROM eraser; I think I got £40 for it (I wish I’d kept it, but I was moving overseas). Incidentally, I continued using Pipedream (and the successor, FireWorkz) for many years on my Acorn Archimedes, and RISC PC - it was a seriously nice piece of software that just did the job (RIP Coulton).

[@TheRetroShack]

Thanks for sharing! They are wonderful little machines and so light and easy to carry about. Just needed better storage options :)

[@retroatx]

I seem to recall that Douglas Noel Adams used the Z88 to write "Last Chance To See" - well, co-wrote I think. The day he died I was devastated. I still have my ORA42 H2G2 LP's that he signed in like 1978 or so - I was a child then.

[@ManDryver]

0:22 - a Science of Cambridge MK14 kit - my 1st computer!

[@TheRetroShack]

I am SO tempted to get a clone of this and build one :)

[@ManDryver]

@@TheRetroShack I hope you do - there's nothing quite like peeking and poking instructions using hexadecimal. The biggest problems I had was with the notoriously awful membrane keypad and the 'frogspawn' LED display. I switched out the keypad for conventional electro-mechanical key-switches, and I eventually replaced the LED display - otherwise it worked fine.

[@crowbiker4462]

Fascinating - I’d never heard of this 1st PDA even before PSION.

[@TheRetroShack]

Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@nickryan3417]

This wasn't the first device in this form factor, and many devices existed before PSION took the market by storm,.

[@stuartcastle2814]

In an Apple ad in the late 90s. they talked about "the Crazy Ones". It was arguably a great ad, but talked about how the people that stand out are often the ones that *do* change the world. The entire text is "Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do" Sir Clive was arguably one of these people. He wasn't a good businessman, but he was good at Sales. He did arguably push the entire UK computing industry (both consumer and commercial) forward, and arguably contributed to our international standing the computing world. Say what you like about the man, but he did change the industry, and he was difficult to ignore. Not that I ever wanted to. I think the problem with Sinclair products generally (and the QL in particular) was that Sinclair announced them too early, which led to them being rushed, and often unfinished, even though they were late. I think Sinclair should have followed a practice that Apple seem to now. Don't talk about a product at all until it's nearly ready for release. I know that Apple tend to update existing products every year rather than launch new, and they have had failed launches (Airpower springs to mind), but generally, you can bet if they are talking about a product, they are within a month or so of release. Of course, modern companies (Apple included) have a major advantage over companies in the 80s. They can update software remotely. When setting up a new device (be it a Phone, computer or whatever), it's not unheard of to have to download several gigabytes of software before you can do anything. In fact, my Oculus Quest 2 didn't come with any firmware, apart from a bootloader that went online and downloaded the rest.. 80s companies had the send the software out bugs and all, and if anything series was discovered, issue a recall, which would have costed a lot. The Z88 wasn't quite as good a seller as the Spectrum, but I understand it's portability did revolutionise Journalism.

[@TheRetroShack]

Difficult to ignore he most certainly was - and you're right; every industry needs visionaries who push the boundaries of what is both feasible and sensible, Without that, the human race would stagnate very quickly :)

[@bummers]

Brings back fond memories of Me & My Micro (BBC) that featured BASIC programming using ZX80 Spectrum!!

[@AndrewHalliwell]

Which one? The ZX80 or the Spectrum? Very different machines. Hell, he shows them in the video!

[@bummers]

@@AndrewHalliwell My bad, more the ZX Spectrum.

[@TheRetroShack]

Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@slowcatto]

I attended the press launch at Amstrad's headquarters. Clive Sinclair was not around (I thought he had completely gone by then) - just Sugar and a couple of assistants demonstrating the features and handing out devices to a handful of tech journalists. Apart from the light weight, okay keyboard and convenient form factor, I can't say I ever found it that useful - still have it today, though.

[@lorim7487]

Fascinating! This one totally passed me by at the time

[@TheRetroShack]

Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@vmcv3284]

My first computer was the zx spectrum 128 K with the cassette... what a time! awesome! Got me into computers and later on on Graphic Design..Now I am a Creative director thanks to the zx spectrum 128 K because I used to "draw" some cubes and lines and stuff like that with it and made my imagination fly. If I didn't get this computer maybe i will be a football player. I am so happy with what I have become! Thanks Sinclair!!!

[@TheRetroShack]

Very cool!

[@trylleklovn]

I completely agree that a similar modern product would have market - at least I would get a couple. A physical keyboard, simple screen, simple terminal based OS and connectivity abilities, such as being used as a terminal, would be awesome. Unfortunately everything new in that category ends up being a slow touch screen raspberry pi case running a bloated linux distribution.

[@TheRetroShack]

I AM tempted to do it.... And I MAY have a little plan hatching :)

[@eekee6034]

@@TheRetroShack Okay, now I'm not just going to idly flick through your archive of videos, I'm going to be sure to look for any follow-ups to that plan. :D

[@garetnenninger1594]

I had a Z88 in the late 1980s while in university in the United States. I had a battery-powered modem and would use that to dial into the university’s UNIX system. I wrote several term papers on it, and also did a fair number of electronic projects with it. I even made a cassette interface for it so I could save files to cassette tape. BBC Basic had a built in compiler and I started to learn Z-80 assembler, and was able to do some bit graphics using the right portion of the screen. The main drawback I ran into was that pressure against the keyboard while I was transporting it in a shoulder bag would turn on the machine, and I would discover that the batteries were dead before I knew it.

[@TheRetroShack]

That's an interesting point - I wonder if other people had that? I can see how it would easily happen!

[@Deploracle]

I got one of the first ZX-80s, then a ZX-81 .. but then found a friend with a brand-new Zenith Z-150 (one of the very first IBM PCXT clones) and never looked back. Still have the 81 and pretty sure it still works (not that I could tell without a CRT w/NTSC capability).

[@TedSeeber]

Wait, this came out in 1987? Are you sure it isn't just a rebranded TRS-80 Model 100 with slightly different software?

[@TheRetroShack]

Absolutely sure :) Totally different machines and absolutely, completely, totally incompatible with each other :). I'll let you lot decide which you prefer ;)

[@arfanmedni7294]

Defo isn't!

[@another3997]

Theodore: Quite clearly they aren't the same machine. You only have to take a brief look at the specifications to see they are very different. The form factor may be similar, but Sinclair designed his machine from scratch.

[@CJJC]

Even more obscure than the Sinclair C6, the vacuum pump he attached to his hips.

[@TheRetroShack]

:) :)

[@annother3350]

It was to hoover up ghosts

[@Barcrest]

I had something like this but not sure it was exactly the same. The basic on the move was great, the display really limited what you could really do with it. After the initial novelty of coding on the go i stopped using it.

[@TheRetroShack]

The ability to plug into an external monitor when on mains power would have transformed this machine!

[@Barcrest]

@@TheRetroShack 100%. Just an rf tv out would have been better. I am sure mine was identical to this but it was not a sinclair one. It was so long ago now i can't remember the make. I literally got it just for the basic.