Sinclair ZX81 - Oric 1 - Oric Atmos

[fusionvillage]

haha still have my ORIC/1 working... Xenon-1 really rocked!

[VOJINozn]

oric was a dream

[capricious71]

The ZX81 had a great minimalist look. :)

Shame Australia didn't really get the Sinclair machines. They were great times.

[Koshums]

zap

explode

[wordreet]

Yay! Had a ZX81 years ago, bought it for a fiver when everyone else was into the Spectrum. Added a 16k ram pack to it. Then upgraded to a Commodore with 8k :-?

Then came the Oric Atmos !! As far as I can remember, it had the same Basic language as the BBC. Excellent excellent!

Like this loads.

[BelieveNoGod]

My 1st computer was an Oric-1. I remember it was a LOUD machine compared to other computers from that era.

I later rebuildt it to an Atmos. I remember I thought it's keyboard was so wonderful to type on.

I also ordered a disc drive for it. But before I got it home the company went bankcrupt. :(

[Nomasain]

The ZX81 was my first. Programming was so easy. Only problem was the add on 16K memory which lost its memory at the slightest tough due to the dodgy connector. Software could be stored on any tapedeck (fax-noises :-)

[boghead]

Wonky 16k memory packs and when you pressed a key, it crashed!, ah the good old days :)

[SuperSonicoTV]

I had a sinclair I was 11 back in 1982 it had some games and but it was king to techy for me back then..

[bald33sh]

I remember the oric 1, zx spectrum and vic 20 on display at the till in boots, i ended up with a dragon 32 and later a spectrum and i don't regret at thing ;-)

[johnwx777]

Oric was really popular in France.

[Keruaran]

Computers in the 80's were visually interesting in a way that computers today generally aren't.

[adrianokeeffe]

hey man - thanks for uploading this - christ i had an atmos - 83/4 - cant remember - but the memorys - i spent 3 weeks typing in 'wumpus hunt' - a hudge game i found in a magazine - saving to casette every night and hopeing to christ it would load in the next day - the atmos was a ba$tard for loading and saving

and hitting the "master reset" from underneath with a matchstick - jesus how times have cjanged

again - thanks for the memorys

[amberarmy1969]

I had all 3 of these. When my brother & I outgrew our ZX81, he went ZX Spectrum & went Oric-1. I SO wanted the Oric to overthrow the Speccie's dominance, but it wasn't to be. Plus, mine broke fairly quickly (despite careful use) & so did it's replacement Atmos. I was gutted, and had to join the 'enemy' & ended up with a Spectrum+. Eventually got an Amstrad CPC6128 - which I still think was a vastly underrated machine, and never got the support of it's cassette-based smaller brother.

[larwe74]

I'd disagree with the assertion that the ZX81 was rare in Oz! It was sold in every Dick Smith store, for instance. It was going to be my first computer, but when my mom saw the membrane keyboard she said she wanted to buy a "real" computer, so we got a VIC-20 instead (at $399... and of course it dropped to $199 in a couple of weeks).

[banzaiian]

i have a zx81 somewhere.. the only game i can remember is one where the player was a battle ship and had to drop depth chargers / bombs onto a submarine..

i played it on a black and white TV...

[jedw]

I cannot believe how small these are, expecially the zx81. Another early 80's british machine, the BBC, was enourmous by comparison.

[justintechnology]

Yeah, they say things get smaller but really they started small and got bigger.

[alanporic]

That is in perspective, though. The ZX81 only had 1k of usable memory. The most basic BBC Microcomputer had 32k. Having said that though, Sir Clive Sinclair did have a bit of a thing for trying to keep his products small and compact, as the 48k spectrum showed; you could have fitted at least 3 of those in the case of a BBC!

[bloodystump]

I remember being on the waiting list for the first release of these but they had issues with the chip and it was delayed. I ended up going and getting a Vic-20 instead.

I'll always remember the Oric for being the cool computer i never had.

[Hopplepopple]

I got my ZX81 as a kit. That was cheaper.

And assembling it was real fun... not for my fingers which got burned ;)

[nanomanimal]

I had a ZX81 with 16k ram, the 'P' key broke though cause we used to type in so many programs, it was then replaced but with the P from a Vic 20!!!

[oohvahvu]

I had an Oric 1. Loved it.

I went home one Christmas 10 years ago and went in to my bedroom to check it out.

The Oric 1 was missing!

I said to my Mother 'Where's the Oric?'

'Your old computer? I threw that out.' she replied.

'Why?' said I, incredulous

'Well it was an old computer and I figured that it would be so slow and have so little memory compared to modern computers that it was wasting space up in your room'

Arggh!!

[Nibster213]

I had an Oric-1, my mum and dad had to buy it for me for Christmas 1983 as Specturm's had sold out everywhere. Whilst it was a much better machine that the spectrum the games were shite and few and far between and my mates took the pi** out of it on a regular basis. I have the mental scars to prove this! Soon went on to a C64, which was the ultimate games machine of the 80's, in my opinion anyway. Great movie and many memories from watching this.

[stokely69]

i want one

[drilltowera]

I had an Oric 1 . Great waiting 20 mins for a game to load :)

[musicmumbler]

Memories. Had a Tandy Color Computer that I won in a competition. It forced me to learn programming (still remember random 6809E machine code!) as very little software for it in the UK. Later got my hands on an Oric 1 via a friend of my brother who worked for them (very briefly before they went bust!). It had more memory and great for a budding musician cos it had 3 channels of audio and a white noise generator! Still got it but it wont power up anymore and has something rattling inside! :-(

[mrkallen]

a massive 1k of ram

[amberarmy1969]

Great memories. I always wanted the Oric to be the best, but it just wasn't reliable. I got through 3 including an Atmos in a few months before giving up and replacing it with a Spectrum+ . I've still got an old Spectrum and 2 ZX81s in the cupboard, although I've no idea if they work after 17 years of storage. Great video !!

[trumpettelly]

recently bought a ZX81 with printer off that supercilious auction site, brought back some great memories from being 15 and sneaking it out of the box before Christmas Day...

[ianchard]

zap

ping

shoot

explode

[StukaStukaStuka]

10 Zap 20 wait 100 30 Ping 40 wait 100 50 Shoot 60 wait 100 70 Explode 80 wait 100 90 goto 10 That.. and drawing circles in Hires mode to impress. I also wanted a Spectrum..

[ahmi94]

argh! oric atmos ! my first computer when i was a little kid in the 80's!

[thegallantpig]

wow! i haven't seen these computers for... so long!

I had a Thomson TO7.

I remember Apple IIe was the Rolls Royce of computers.

PC (IBM in fact)were for professionals only.

[wilmeriscool]

omg i love the mhz on that baby 3.5 mhz is the best you will find on the market LOL

[netwalker72]

ZX81 was soooo cute!! preety little thing...was my first contact with the computer´s world at the age of 11...I can´t believe that seen my eyes...this tiny machine WAS A COMPUTER ?? (looks like a toy or something..). Burn my head forever.

Thanx a lot for the vid...

[uggla03]

loved my spectrum thinking back its cpu was pretty fast for when it was released

[SnipersDestiny]

OMG Blast from the past here. I went on hunger strike when i blew the power suplly for my Oric 1. nobody could fix it coz there was no support for it. Bit like Micr***** er hmmm

Lol

Great Vid

[uggla03]

wow i remember unpacking my zxspectrum and the smell of the packaging still smell it now

[mwng]

Oric 1 please, hated the crashy zx81 =)

[justintechnology]

all good things

[sisterthing]

OH, I miss wandering through shops and typing that in all the computers that someone else hadn't already.

And also-

1 print "........"

2 cls

3 print "..."

4 cls

5 print "..................."

6 cls

7 goto 1

It would then look like there was a video fault:-)

[chienandalou1970]

jajajjaja... the first lines of code that i've learn... good remembers...

[madmomentsgo]

i never owned a zx81, but my friend had one. great memories watching this,never heard of the oric computers.

[GaryDogBelfast]

I had the Oric 48K ... My first ever computer ... the joys of hunchback and harrier attack .... and waiting forever for games to load ...

[FroggyMe6581]

That Atmos was nice! I've never heard of Oric before. It had a real keyboard...reminds me of the C64 keyboard.

[EdZep123]

I'm not fussed about computers these days. It's all too generic but the old British 8-bit computer boom was such a happy time. I liked the early 80s. :)

[kmp008]

Aw man - this was my first ever programming tool. Me and a buddy spent hours, days, weeks entering code from magazines and playing Gulp II. And the cover of the manual has never been bested imho. Totally sci-fi and Voss-like. Thank you, uncle Clive.

[JULIANAND]

wow!! .... my very first computer was an Oric Atmos... i think it was discontinued almost immediately after i brought it, so i could never get any games or software or peripherals for it... so instead i would jump on my school bike & cycle round computer shops looking for back issues of computer magazines which might have programs to write & try out.

This quest got me into programming.

What a lovely little machine.

If you type in the word PING and press ENTER a little bell would sound!

[mykylc]

ZX81 Basic!!! God I miss mine.

[mfaimt]

Almost brought tears to my eyes seeing that Sinclair ZX81! My first PC, bought 1982, at 15 y/o, started my life and career as an obsessed programmer. I knew the Hex codes for the ZX81 command set by heart (what a nerd!).

Thanks for that.

[henktm]

Ohhhh! Deja vu of unpacking my first ZX Spectrum at age 11. What a joy seeing this again!

Computers don't come in those boxes anymore...

[tyuiopdoc]

My first computer was a ZX81 Sinclair ... I was 12 yo, we used to programme in Basic, I never realy recovered since those times.

What is the name of the song playing ?

[interneticon]

The Oric - my first computer, and still my favourite even to this day.

[joliteal]

ORIC-1 was not sold Spain.

Look Manuals! Was programming text books! What a tribute techno-society should pay to these books!

[khisanth75]

never seen an Atmos in the flesh before, great condition all those machines AND boxed with everything!

maybe i should film my ZX81 (brand new still) thats in kit form??

[TiuArTTeK]

Soooooooo lovelyyyyyy the zx81 box my first computer, so great to see this ebnormous video on youtbe its a treasure with the oric atmos after :))

[JordoMugumbo]

Mate! I love the choice of song given the product!

[zxspectrum128]

Nice. It's difficult to find a ZX81 still inside its box nowadays, and that one looks in mint condition!

[peacertr]

Perfect ! I really got excited when atmos is coming out from its box ! Took me 20 years backwards..

Oric Atmos rules !

[cosine303]

first comment ? ;-) . they were all pretty rubbish, if I had to choose one out of the 3 it would have to be the atmos and not a lot of support. esp. the oric things. dragon 32 next? hehe

[WiggyStHelens]

Ahhh the memories, the ZX81 was my first computer. As for the Oric 1, i always has to laugh when it said, professional keyboard!! I must say the keyboard was better than the ZX81 and even the Atari 400.. Thanks for the look back in time.