Am I the only person never to have owned a ZX Spectrum?

Richard Costall and Pete McGann (sorry, no link) of NxtGenUG have just released a beta version of the classic ZX Spectrum platform game "Manic Miner". While I've obviously heard of Manic Miner (I've not been living in a cave all these years), I've never played it as I've never owned a ZX Spectrum. My computer-owning history goes something like:

• Sinclair ZX81
• Jupiter Ace
• Oric 1
• Dragon 32
• BBC Model B
• Atari 520ST

before entering the world of PCs with an Amstrad PC1640 which was so truly awful it went back to the shop almost immediately.

Does this make me a relative rarity for my generation (at least in the UK)? It seems to me I bucked a trend in not owning a Spectrum. I must also be one of only about 3 people who purchased an Oric 1. I'd like to take the opportunity to say thank you to Lasky's (I think it was on West Nile Street) who used to let me come in and play with their computers on a Saturday. In particular the Sharp MZ-80B which for some reason I favoured over the Atari 400/800s.

Update: The Jupiter Ace is generating some interest. They seem to be quite rare now. None currently for sale on eBay. I wrote a great speedboat game for mine :-).

Technorati Tags: silverlight,zx spectrum,manic miner,nxtgenug

Comments

• Anonymous
  August 03, 2008
  PingBack from http://blog.a-foton.ru/2008/08/am-i-the-only-person-never-to-have-owned-a-zx-spectrum/

• Anonymous
  August 03, 2008
  I would've guessed that more people bought the Oric 1 than the Jupiter Ace (How many Forth junkies could there be?). But on reflection I'm probably wrong about that.

• Anonymous
  August 03, 2008
  I never owned one either, although a friend did. I had an Acorn Atom then a BBC Micro B, both hacked to bits (electronic engineer brother). I'm sure I played Manic Minor and know it's history, but it was never one of my staples. @Kevin - Forth, wow, that takes me back. I'm pretty sure Forth for the BBC was the only piece of software I actually bought; cracking software was my thing back then.

• Anonymous
  August 03, 2008
  Nope, there are loads of us non-Sinclair owners out there. I just played on everyone else's Sinclair and had an Amstrad 464 with tape drive until it was time to get an Amiga. I'm surprised there's not an Acorn Archimedes in that list of yours. :)

• Anonymous
  August 03, 2008
  Yeah, Forth takes me back. Maybe you're right about the relative popularity Kevin - I don't think either was a bit hit! I only bought the Dragon 32 for Donkey Kong which to this day I blame for b******** my knees...

• Anonymous
  August 03, 2008
  I never had a Specy. ZX80, Vic20, Acorn Electron, BBC B, Archimedes then the world of PC's took over - until my tried a Macbook pro

• Anonymous
  August 03, 2008
  I also never had a specy, My computer history goes Dragon32, BBC Model B, then straight to PC with a 386DX40.

• Anonymous
  August 03, 2008
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• Anonymous
  August 03, 2008
  Mike, I never had a Spectrum, and I also had an Oric 1.  Who would have thought that both Oric owners would one day work together? I went: ZX81, Oric 1, C64, Amstrad CPC6128, Atari STFM, Atari STE. If I'm honest, my heart still belongs to my old C64 though.  What a lovely machine that was.  Great games too.  I had the "1541" 5.25-inch floppy drive for it, which was an incredible piece of kit.  It connected via a serial link, and had its own CPU and 4k of RAM.  Dreadfully slow of course, even in its day :-) Sorry, I'm rambling now...

• Anonymous
  August 03, 2008
  I'm with Darren, Commodore man here too, no Specy for our household.  Started with a 64, then a 128 then up to an Amiga (500, then 500+, 2000, 1200 and SO many expansions). Programming with BASIC on the 64 and 128, then on to a litle assembly and C++. Finally on to PCs from there, where I switched to VB and haven't look back yet (although I wish I'd kept up with the C++)

• Anonymous
  August 03, 2008
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• Anonymous
  August 04, 2008
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• Anonymous
  August 04, 2008
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• Anonymous
  August 04, 2008
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• Anonymous
  August 04, 2008
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• Anonymous
  August 05, 2008
  I also skipped the Speccy. I got a Dragon 32, without a tape drive, and so spent 6 months typing programs till whilst I saved for one, and hence I'm developing software almost 20 something years later. I also patronised Laskys (and almost anywhere else that would let you near a keyboard in those days). After the dragon, I saved up all my cash and bought a Commodore 128 - the week before the amiga came out. BarStewards, as the saying goes.

• Anonymous
  August 06, 2008
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• Anonymous
  August 06, 2008
  RML 380Z at school, Sharp MZ80K (wonderful beastie for which I had a proper Pascal compiler), a TRS-80 pocket computer (same as the sharp but with more memory - best calculator I ever owned) - at which point (Oct '82) I arrived at university so wasn't particularly interested in sinclair type toys any more... parents had a BBC B with the Torch add-on (on which I could therefore run TurboPascal) then at some point after that it was PCs all the way... Partly a question of age I suspect. Played with most of the alternatives at one point or another!