The Chip Whisperer: cover design contest

Hot on the heals of my last post, Bit#1 of The Ambivalence Chronicles now has a title – and it’s none of the possible options I offered then. So, heading your way before the end of the year will be Bit#1 of The Ambivalence Chronicles: The Chip Whisperer. And over…

more

Top Ten ZX81 memories

I know I’ve mentioned before that my first computer, despite my friends all having Spectrums, was a ZX81. Not that I begrudge them their good fortune; I caught up in the end after all. In fact I so loved my ZX81 that I’ve now got another one, given it a…

more

Towel Day: Games Inspired By Hitchhikers

No, not games inspired by hopeful looking individuals standing near the exit of Strensham Services holding up a piece of card with ‘Islington’ rather optimistically scrawled upon it. For today is Towel Day, when the Universe acknowledges one of its greatest ever occupants, Mr Douglas Noel Adams, author of The…

more

It lives!

At the end of last week’s post, I had acquired a handful of non-functioning Sinclair computers, and was about to embark on trying to revive them. And as you may have surmised by now, my attempts were somewhat successful. In fact, the ZX81s were surprisingly easy to deal with; maybe…

more

Vicarious Nostalgia

It’s one of those strange quirks of life that some of the most crucial elements of my childhood, some of my defining moments, are associated with things I never owned. For instance, I never owned a Raleigh Chopper, but Stuart Denny did, and for some reason I now have an…

more