R.I.P. Sir Clive Sinclair.

[Ian D J]

Not so much a "pioneer" as such but I like to remember him as a real game changer (in the literal sense) with making home computing that much more affordable and accessible with the much loved Spectrum 48K home computer rather than the failure of the C5 and a PC-like computer the QL.

I guess this doodle drawn by me in the winter of 1985 (I was 17 then) was a tad optimistic.

 

[woof woof]

I didn't know he'd died.

Didn't he do a digital watch and a calculator and maybe a small portable tv too?

I was never into micro computers.

Maybe that C5 was just too ahead of it's time, as well as being just a but rubbish.

Anyway.

RIP.

 

[Nod]

Building my hard earned (loads of lawn mowing!) ZX80 honed my soldering skills!

 

[AndrewFlannigan]

...and a PC-like computer the QL.

On paper, the QL should have been a success but Young Master Clive worked his usual magic and turned it into "glod" (special reference for Terry Pratchett fans).

The QL had a 68xxx chip at its heart but unlike the Apple Macintosh, which used a 68000, Sinclair opted for the brain damaged 68008: 32 bit processing throttled by an 8 bit data bus. Then, when the world was moving rapidly to the 3.25" disk drive, Sinclair bolted in a pair of the ghastly 2" microdrives: tapes pretending to be disks.

Sinclair then had the gall to sell this fiasco as a 32 bit business computer!

Mind you, he did unload the circuit board and those bluidy Microdrives on ICL as the basis of the equally ill fated One Per Desk telephone station (also known as the Merlin Tonto when sold by BT).

 

[Ricardodaforce]

Thread 'Sir Clive Sinclair 1940-2021'
https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/sir-clive-sinclair-1940-2021.729690/

 

[Box Brownie]

I too think he was a game changer but unlike Dyson he lacked the 'nouse' to develop his products into successful businesses.

PS somewhere in the loft I still my ZX Spectrum.

PPS I recall reading that the C5 motor was out of the Hoover washing machines! Apart from the C5 design.....I think it was before it's time due to the motor and battery technology of its day.

 

[woof woof]

On paper, the QL should have been a success but Young Master Clive worked his usual magic and turned it into "glod" (special reference for Terry Pratchett fans).

The QL had a 68xxx chip at its heart but unlike the Apple Macintosh, which used a 68000, Sinclair opted for the brain damaged 68008: 32 bit processing throttled by an 8 bit data bus. Then, when the world was moving rapidly to the 3.25" disk drive, Sinclair bolted in a pair of the ghastly 2" microdrives: tapes pretending to be disks.

Sinclair then had the gall to sell this fiasco as a 32 bit business computer!

Mind you, he did unload the circuit board and those bluidy Microdrives on ICL as the basis of the equally ill fated One Per Desk telephone station (also known as the Merlin Tonto when sold by BT).

I used to fix OPD's as the DSS had a gazillion of them and that was one of my contracts when I was in computing working for DPCE/Granada. It wasn't exactly an awful thing and in fact did have some uses but it did also have some issues one of which being the little rom pack application things that you plugged into a holder sticking out of the back, one problem being that as you stuck more in it over balanced the holder and caused connection problems users had to fix by wedging things underneath. The colour monitors had a problem too with a component which was prone to burning out. We used to replace them with a higher rated one and never had a failure of an uprated one.

I had an OPD on my desk for years and it was useful for phoning and messaging people with pagers as there were few mobile phones at the time and those around were in a sort of briefcase thing so pagers were the in thing. I never used any of the rom pack based applications though, I used an Apricot Xen-i 286 with a 30mb hard drive, the DSS and others had thousands of Apricot PC's and I/we fixed thousands. Funny to think that back then you could run a multi million pound contract or business on a machine with a 286 or less and a 30mb hard drive, if you were lucky. One of my main contacts at the DSS had an Amstrad with a 20mb drive and did just fine.

The OPD's with their rom pack applications were I suppose similar to the Wordplex things many receptionist had on their desks which allowed them to do other things whilst answering the phone. These things were by todays standards awful but back then they did a job.

Other notable old kit back then included the ICL DRS 20/50 and Comart Communicators (One computer system that wont sink into obsolescence) which could run something like 16 terminals each running 4 jobs and all with (I think) an 8080 and a HDD which at the most was 80mb.

 

[AndrewFlannigan]

I used to fix OPD's as the DSS had a gazillion of them and that was one of my contracts when I was in computing working for DPCE/Granada.

There were still Tontos knocking around the BT offices I once worked in. Some people liked them but as most of our team needed at least two screens to do our work, a Tonto was a luxury too much. A pile of the things built up in a corner until the cleaners started complaining about them. After a while, Building Services came and the Tontos were (I guess) despatched to the great call centre in the sky.

 

[Tori_T]

Before the implementation of the WEEE directive, disposing of old kit involved hiring one skip, and carefully filling it with the unwanted IT equipment. Within minutes, a student geek would spot it, and the alert would go out; vans would turn up, and geeks would pile out and descend on the skip like a pack of hyenas, stripping it bare in minutes.
Staff then refilled the skip, and watched it happen again, and again, until all the kit was disposed of.
The hire company was then called to collect the empty skip; they were never happy about that. I guess they would have made money from the scrap.

 

[woof woof]

We had several govt related contracts and when one ended I skipped a load of stuff including OPD and other oddball bits and pieces and it was immediately pounced on by nerdy looking types I'd never seen before despite working there for 8 years. They must have been locked in the server cupboard with Richmond. I was happy to help and had a fun time telling them what each thing was and helping them decide if it was worth bagging or not. I took a car full of Comart Quads to my old school and they were overjoyed with them.

 

[woof woof]

There were still Tontos knocking around the BT offices I once worked in. Some people liked them but as most of our team needed at least two screens to do our work, a Tonto was a luxury too much. A pile of the things built up in a corner until the cleaners started complaining about them. After a while, Building Services came and the Tontos were (I guess) despatched to the great call centre in the sky.

I had an OPD with usually a colour screen on the left of my desk and an Apricot Xen-i 286 on my right and a phone between them. It wasn't unusual to be on three calls at once. They were exciting but stressful days.

One nice thing with the OPD's was the slightly posh phone answering voice you could set to say any number of things.