Engineering News Blog

Engineering News

Latest news of interest to engineers. Sourced from GlobalSpec's Engineering News

Previous in Blog: Why Digital License Plates are a Great Idea   Next in Blog: Science Sizes Up 'Ghost Particle'
Close
Close
Close
5 comments
Rate Comments: Nested

Rebirth Of The First Sinclair Computer

Posted June 22, 2010 9:18 AM

From Retro Thing:

Robin writes, "I attended the Vintage Computer Fair in Bletchley Park, England this weekend. Colin Phillips has rebuilt a Sinclair Mk14 with the prospect of them being for sale later in the year. I think this is great news well worth sharing!" Introduced in 1978 at the stunning price of £39.95, the Science of Cambridge Mk14 kit was Sir Clive Sinclair's first foray into the world of personal computing. Built around a National Semiconductor SC/MP process, the little single board machine included 256 bytes of RAM, 512 bytes of ROM, a smattering of I/O ports and (initially) a hideous touch sensitive keyboard. Despite its limitations, over 50,000 MK14 boards were sold in five different revisions. Mercifully, a mechanical keyboard was added to later boards.

Read the whole article

Reply

Interested in this topic? By joining CR4 you can "subscribe" to
this discussion and receive notification when new comments are added.
Guru
Hobbies - Musician - Engineering Fields - Chemical Engineering - New Member Engineering Fields - Control Engineering - New Member Engineering Fields - Instrumentation Engineering - New Member

Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Moses Lake, WA, USA, Thulcandra - The Silent Planet (C.S. Lewis)
Posts: 4216
Good Answers: 194
#1

Re: Rebirth Of The First Sinclair Computer

06/22/2010 9:35 AM

Nice website - thanks!

__________________
"Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it. Do not count on them. Leave them alone." - Ayn Rand
Reply
Guru
Engineering Fields - Instrumentation Engineering - New Member Hobbies - Automotive Performance - New Member Technical Fields - Education - New Member Fans of Old Computers - TRS-80 - New Member Hobbies - Musician - New Member

Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Tucson, AZ
Posts: 1331
Good Answers: 30
#2

Re: Rebirth Of The First Sinclair Computer

06/23/2010 12:56 AM

...how about these "first" breadboard micro's?

* KIM-1 (Keyboard Interface Microcomputer) 6502 cpu, MOS Technology

* TIM-1 (Teletype Interfacte Microcomputer) 6502 cpu

* Intercept Jr. (Intercil 'baby' PDP-8) 1600 cpu

* PACE (National Semiconductor, Rockwell)

* SC/MP (National Semiconductor, Rockwell)

* MEK6800 (Motorola) 6800 cpu

* COSMAC (RCA, Hughes) 1802 cpu

__________________
...and the Devil said: "...yes, but it's a DRY heat..!"
Reply
Guru
Popular Science - Weaponology - New Member United Kingdom - Member - New Member

Join Date: May 2007
Location: Harlow England
Posts: 16512
Good Answers: 670
#3

Re: Rebirth Of The First Sinclair Computer

06/23/2010 5:11 AM

My first foray into home computing was a ZX81. Trying to save/load programs on a cassette player was a nightmare.
First one I had with a disc drive was an Atari somethingorother
Del

__________________
health warning: These posts may contain traces of nut.
Reply
Power-User

Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Allen, TX
Posts: 107
Good Answers: 2
#4

Re: Rebirth Of The First Sinclair Computer

06/23/2010 9:01 AM

I miss my old TRS-80 Model 1 and it's 4K of memory and TRS-DOS.

I don't miss the $300 phone bills for dialing into long distance BBSs with a 300 Baud modem.

Reply
Commentator

Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 70
Good Answers: 3
#5

Re: Rebirth Of The First Sinclair Computer

06/23/2010 4:57 PM

I built my first one with a Z-80 ...can't remember the name of the manufacturer. Even had a floppy disk interface.....ooooooo...just remember soldering tons of .01 cap's everywhere fro the dynamic memory chips... I feel sorry for kids today...There are some single chip units available to build with but you can't do anything with the mainstream chips....

Reply
Reply to Blog Entry 5 comments
Copy to Clipboard

Users who posted comments:

70AARCuda (1); AAndy (1); logan (1); Mikerho (1); user-deleted-1105 (1)

Previous in Blog: Why Digital License Plates are a Great Idea   Next in Blog: Science Sizes Up 'Ghost Particle'
You might be interested in: MASK ROM (MROM), Cement Boards

Advertisement