Visit Guide
SINCLAIR ZX80
After MK-14’s success, a new journey started: the development of personal computers. Clive Sinclair had always had the vision to reduce the size and cost of computers, so he set the objective of creating a microcomputer under £100.
They first started to work on a project called NewBrain, but it turned out to be too expensive and was abandoned. It ended up being restarted a few years later, under guidance of a new company and are also in exhibition in this Museum.
It is then that Jim Westwood began developing the Sinclair ZX80, which was released in 1980, after the company had been renamed Sinclair Computers Ltd. They sold around 50,000 units. This computer used a Sinclair BASIC operative system, had a Z80 processor and 1KB of RAM (externally expandable to 16KB). It was monochromatic and had a membrane keyboard that was very hard to use.
Curiosities: This computer is so limited that the processor itself decides when to update the screen when it reads the keyboard keys being pressed. This way, whenever you click on a key, the screen “flashes” (refreshes).
Have you ever thought how hard it is to memorize a keyboard in which each key writes a BASIC command and not a letter? Welcome to the first-generation of Sinclair computers!
Showcased model: English version, with a yellow-ish tint due to the years that have gone by.