ZX81 Museum - Sinclair ZX81 Hardware, Software and Literature

The ZX81 Museum was set-up to preserve and showcase a private collection of original Sinclair branded ZX81 hardware, software and literature. The museum has since expanded to include ZX81 software from other publishers of the time and a variety of other ZX81 peripherals and reference books. The collection dates from 1981 to 1983 and features the complete Sinclair-branded software series. For more information please contact us

info@zx81museum.net

Released as the successor to Clive Sinclair's ZX80 in March 1981, the Sinclair ZX81 with its 1K RAM was positioned as the first affordable personal computer for the UK home market. Its characteristic appearance was the brainchild of Rick Dickinson, an industrial design engineer who joined Sinclair Research in 1979.

The success of the ZX81 triggered an industry of hardware manufacturers and software publishers providing peripherals, games and utilities to support the growing market. A cottage industry of budding software programmers sprung-up with individuals selling their 1K RAM (and later 16K RAM) software titles through the classified sections of popular home computing magazines such as 'Your Computer' and 'Home Computing Weekly'. The concept of the personal computer was born and Sinclair successfully put home computing within reach of the general public.

The Sinclair ZX81 won a 'British Design Council' award and the 'Haus Industrieform' award in 1981, gaining a permanent place in the 'Design Innovationen Collection' in Essen, Germany. The drawing boards and sketches used at Sinclair Research to design the ZX81 and its peripherals are now on display at The Science Museum in London. The National Museum of Computing in Milton Keynes has a working ZX81 on display for visitors to play with. Today, the ZX81 has its place firmly in history as the machine that kick-started the personal computer industry in the UK.

www.ZX81Museum.net