How can we convey to a world in which a 64-bit laptop can be a near-throwaway item, just how amazing a miniature laptop version of the 1980s Sinclair ZX Spectrum could have been? perhaps we don’t need to, because here in 2023 there’s a real one for all middle-aged geeks who had the original to drool over.
8-bit home computers were super-exciting for the kids of the day, but they were in no way portable and relied on a TV, frequently the family model in the living room. It’s safe to say that a portable version of one of those home computers, not in an Osborne-style luggable case but in a clamshell palmtop, would have been mind-blowing, so four decades later we’re fascinated by [Airrr17]’s portable Sinclair ZX Spectrum.
At its heart is a dev board using one of the STM32F4 series microcontrollers, and running the Spectrum as an emulator. Alongside that is an LCD, and perhaps what is physically the best part of this, a Spectrum keyboard complete with BASIC keyword decals, made with large-button tactile switches that have we think, printed paper on top. Add in a small lithium-polymer cell and associated electronics in a cute little palmtop case, and it’s about as good a portable Sinclair as we could have imagined. All the details can be found in a GitHub repository, and as if that weren’t enough there’s an assembly video we’ve placed below the break.
This would have been easily possible back then, too. I’d preferred an ZX81, though.
There used to be portable black/white TVs running off batteries (mono cells aka D cells).
The smaller portable TVs had an integrated AM/FM radio and were roughly the size of a car battery. A cassette recorder was inside, too, in some cases.
So making a cheap portable computer was totally doable. I thought about this possibility in the 90s, already.
Both Black/white CRT TVs and the ZX81 were available for “cheap” (in comparison to the alternatives).
And since the ZX81 was so small and had an RF-modulator built-in, it could be easily installed inside such a portable TV. Wiring it up to the antenna jack was easy as pie, after all.
Here’s an example of such a TV:
https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/tmktoyomen_tv_radio_cassette_record.html
That being said , the laptop in the article is very cute. Building such a thing at the time in same form factor would have been sort of a challenge.
The only solution that comes to mind was using early handheld TVs with monochrome back-projection CRTs.
They technically existed and had an RF input, so they could display the video no problem.
http://tvsets.org/1980s-portable-tv-sets/
Yeah a “monitor” alone the size of a car battery, and ignore the computer build, the keyboard…..Totally the same size as this hardbacked book foldable
Hm. The car battery was the only international thing that size (roughly) that came to mind. 🤷♂️
If I had said it’s a bit wider then, say, a DIN A4 paper, people would be confused, maybe.
The keyboard of a ZX81 was tiny. About DIN A5, I think. The ZX81 motherboard would have had fit inside the TVvs case somehow.
If needed the cassette components could have been removed.
The weight wasn’t such a problem, either.
With batteries, it would have had weighted like a school bag with all the school books or a portable mechanical typewriter in its suitcase.
For the 80s, this was fine. It wasn’t nice for carrying around casually, but nice for the holidays. Say, summer vacation at the grand parents’ house. 🙂
Hm. I think I’ve didn’t think things through here. The cassette hardware was useful as a datasette, maybe. Removing the radio or using battery department for the ZX motherboard would have been an alternative.
Back in the 1980s, I had a Crown 4″ B&W TV that would run off 120 or 12 volts. It fit nicely on the shelf under the glove box of my Datsun 720 pickup.
Sir Clive Sinclair hated LCD screens, there is now way he would Sinclair would have ever made something like this back in the day, even if it was possible.
http://www.r-type.org/articles/art-054.htm
Sinclair’s folded CRT TV.
That’s cool, thanks for the link! (But now I want one!)
Sinclair TV80, flat CRT, totally possible.
Hey, Sinclair made “pocket” tvs too, so they could have could have come out with a portable themselves, it would have need a Fresnel lens to magnify the screen, but totally doable.
A great build, but for me, a full size keyboard (and matching monitor) is necessary.