Time Travel Back to the 1980s Home Computer Scene with your ZX Spectrum

One of the best parts of retro computer emulation is that you really can go back in time and get the true experience of home computing with all of the classic machines. I’m not talking here so much about the emulator giving you an authentic recreation of the operation of the machine, though that is an important part, but more about the whole computing scene and how we used to use these devices.

Home computing was very different in the 1980s than it is today. Not just because the machines were less powerful, but also in how we interacted and used the computers.

So in this video I’ll take you back to 1983 and we’ll have a go at home computing ZX Spectrum style.

What You Need

To build your time machine at a minimum you’ll need a modern computer and a couple of bits of software.

I’ll be using a Windows based machine running the Retro Virtual Machine emulator. If you want some instructions on how to set that up please have a look at this video. It’s a good one to use as it will work on Linux and MacOS as well. There are other emulators such as Fuse and Spectaculator and they will work just as well. Whatever one you use make sure it’s setup and running as a 48K Spectrum.

The emulators will run fine with a normal keyboard, but the ZX Spectrum used each key for a whole range of functions. You’re going to need to get hold of a keyboard map so you know which buttons to press. If you pop over any search engine and look for ZX Spectrum keyboard layout you’ll find a whole range of pictures. Most emulators use the left shift key for Caps Shift and either CTRL or right shift for Symbol Shift.

Or if you want a weekend project why not convert an old Spectrum into a USB keyboard to get even closer to the real deal. Check out this video for how to do that.

So we’ve now got our very own home computer. What to do with it?

User Manuals

When you first got your computer it would come with a fairly hefty manual. None of the quick start guides you get today. This was a proper ’what to do if you’ve never seen a computer before’ guide.

We can easily find these online.

If I search for ZX Spectrum User Manual we’ll get a range of options. This one here leads to a full PDF version of the manual.

This tells you exactly how to set up the computer and how to start telling it what to do. How to load programs from tape and how to save one’s you’ve typed in. Most manuals then went on to teach you how to program your new computer. This was seen as a necessary part of owning one ion the early days. You wouldn’t always be able to find a program that did exactly what you wanted so you’d need to work out how to create one yourself.

Finding Information

The early 1980s was really the infancy of home computing. When the Spectrum launched in 1982 the idea of connecting any computers together was pretty much only for business and Universities. So with our Sinclair machine there are no bulletin boards and definitely no Internet.

For information we had to rely on magazines, TV programs and friends with computers.

For friends we’ve now got the Internet so you can connect with literally thousands of other Spectrum enthusiasts on a whole range of message boards, so I’ll leave you to explore that side.

TV Programming

Here in the UK we had a big government initiative under way to make the UK the most IT capable country in the world. Partnered by the BBC, which is our national television service, the Computer Literacy Project planned to get at least one computer into every school in the country. To help people get familiar with the new technology a number of specialist TV series were produced to give people the basics needed to start using the machines. For this they wanted a new computer to front the programs. Although the Spectrum was considered, it was the prototype Acorn Proton that was selected becoming the famous BBC Microcomputer we all grew up with.

The complete Computer Literacy BBC project is now available online for anyone to see. Just head over to

https://clp.bbcrewind.co.uk/

Here you’ll find all 267 programs, 2500 clips and all the software demos used in the series.

Magazines

Mostly though we found out what was going on through printed magazines.

For Spectrum users the World of Spectrum website has a great archive of Sinclair related publications. Or, if you head over to the Internet Archive you’ll find a whole range of copies of the favourite home computer magazines of the time. We’ll be working through Sinclair User but I’d advise you also have a look at any of the magazines of the time to get a feel for what was going on. This was a very exciting time with hundreds of different machines being launched, most of which you’ll be able to find emulators for.

So on the Internet Archive we just need to search for the magazine title and we’ll get this result that links us to an archive of all the issues.

With these you can trace through the whole Sinclair computer development from the ZX80 and 81 through the launch of the Spectrum, the problems with delivery and then follow the machines through to their final demise.

But for now let’s pick an issue in mid 1983, about a year after the launch of the Spectrum and see what was going on.

In these magazines you’ll find lots of news about the industry, new products, new ideas and everything else.

They also had articles on how to use the computers, not only for running applications, but also on how to code and program them. Quite often some very in depth tutorials on the inner workings of each machine.

Most magazines also had type in sections. These were programs posted in to the magazines by other readers for games, utilities and other useful topics. The magazine would print out the code listings so you could type them in for yourself.

Games

Of course it didn’t take long for computer games to become a big part of owning a machine. As you go through any of the issues you’ll see lots of reviews and adverts for new games. One of the best parts of retro gaming is that the vast majority of these games are available online.

As you browse through you’ll find interesting games that you have probably never heard of. They won’t appear on any top 10 lists and have basically been forgotten. But they are there to be discovered and played by us, working our way through the old adverts and reviews.

And this is where you’ll probably see the biggest difference between 1980s software and the heavily produced games of today.

Many of these Spectrum games were coded by people like yourself. Computer hobbyists, learning to code in their bedroom armed with just a Spectrum and a manual. But they were still able to turn out some fantastic (and quite often not so fantastic) games.

As you go through the magazines you’ll often see software houses actively encouraging amateur programmers to send in their work for evaluation with the opportunity of landing a gaming contract with them. Something you don’t really see these days.

Finding the Games

So once you’ve found a game you want to try out let’s see how you can play it.

80s home computers tend to be a bit better with the copyright regulations for software. The code is still under copyright, but largely the owners no longer care, or probably don’t even know they own the rights. This is not to say that you can just go around copying stuff, but people have been tracking down the games and getting permission to distribute them.

The World of Spectrum website is a great resource for legal games.

If you head into their archive you’ll find almost any game you’ll come across in the magazines. If the files are available for download, then you’ve got permission to download and play the game.