MIT header image
About IPOE

Item 005 - ZX Spectrum 48k

robot front
  • Fonds
  • JR Butler's Internet of Things - a collection of objects amassed over a lifetime whether bought, found or given and which no longer serve any purpose other than as a mnemonic.

  • Reference Code
  • JRB/OE 007

  • Title
  • ZX Spectrum 48k

  • Creator
  • Sinclair, Made in UK

  • Date
  • May 1982

  • Unit of Description
  • Personal Computer

  • Level of Description
  • 8-bit personal home computer with 48kb of RAM. All accessories intact except power adapter which had a sheared cable. Base defaced with dried black acrylic modelling paint. Serial No: DO1-246775

  • Provenance
  • Received as a 10th birthday present from my parents Roger and Patricia Butler in the hope I would become a computer programmer.

  • Associations
  • This reminds me of hours spent trying to write a a type of space invader game in BASIC from a magazine. After I'd written reams of code and run it for the first time, it crashed and meant I had to turn off the computer and therefore lose all my work. That was enough to put me off trying to program again, until I started my current university course. After that I used it solely as a games machine, majoritively playing Manic Miner, NOMAD, Lunar Jetman, Ant Attack and Frank Bruno's Boxing. I remember the process of loading games from a tape recorder, listening to the cacophony of machine noise and hoping the Spectrum would load properly, otherwise you had to restart all over again. The Spectrum was soon superceded by other models and was destined to become a mere historical curiosity but nonetheless I have always kept it safe in a shoebox with all my game tapes, the ZX Interface 2 and joystick.

  • What do you think of this object?
    Please add a comment detailing any associations or memories you may have regarding this object.