[HN Gopher] Jokes for the ZX81
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Jokes for the ZX81
Author : robin_reala
Score : 117 points
Date : 2026-10-26 12:45 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (spelk.press)
(TXT) w3m dump (spelk.press)
| desireco42 wrote:
| Brings back childhood memories...
| yoz wrote:
| "Rob Manuel is a writer, curator of Fesshole, and co-founder of
| B3ta. He lives in London."
|
| He also has a BlueSky account, where he posts lots of good links
| to new indie games: https://bsky.app/profile/robmanuel.b3ta.com
| 7kago_yomi wrote:
| The color count is so low it seems like it would be hard to see
| in this day and age, doesn't it? Isn't this effectively the pixel
| art that's popular right now?
| mrob wrote:
| Most books are printed in black and white too. How does that
| make it hard to see?
|
| The art style is "semigraphics", not pixel art. See:
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semigraphics
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII_art
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_art
| Lio wrote:
| Well the ZX81 was black and white only so that's not too
| surprising.
| throw98226 wrote:
| Took a course on programming the brand new ZX81 back in 1982.
| Bought one, fell in love with it. Just 15 years old at the time.
| Wrote lots of programs, stored on cassette using my Grundig
| cassette recorder. Hardly slept. Just kept learning. Retired
| early in 2020 after a fulfilling career in IT. Zx81 still is one
| of my favourite machines!
| stephbu wrote:
| Yes, my dad bought me a ZX81 when I was nine, and got bitten by
| the thrill of creation. At 18 I dropped out of college, my then
| lecturer told me I'd never get paid to play games. I bullied my
| way into the industry, and ended up in the US working for the
| two of the Mag7, many AAA titles, and a couple of game console
| platforms.
|
| I'm only a few months away from retiring. I still remember Z80
| mnemonics and machine code equivalents even today.
| neilwilson wrote:
| Oh to C9 to those days...
| Scubabear68 wrote:
| I was able to talk my dad into getting the U.S. equivalent,
| the Timex-Sinclair 1000, which had double the RAM - 2K! It
| was only possible because it was only about $100, compared to
| every other computer at the time which was way out of our
| lower-middle class reach.
|
| I spent a lot of time doing stupid animations using the
| character set and it set me on my path of software for life.
| spacedcowboy wrote:
| I got the kit at 11 for Xmas. I still remember one of the jokes
| in the manual...
|
| "How many legs has a horse ?"
|
| '6, 2 legs at the back and forelegs in front'.
| kieckerjan wrote:
| I remember seeing the ZX80 at my parents' friends house and
| realizing that this was a different kind of beast than the pocket
| calculator and the electronic dictionary we had at home: you
| could make this thing do.. well.. anything!
|
| When the ZX81 came out I spent all my pocket money savings on it.
| First on the thing itself, later I would shell out for its 16K
| RAM extension.
|
| Restoring software on the ZX81 using cassette tapes was so slow
| and cumbersome that it was quicker to restore it from my own
| memory. I had a little scrolling evasion game that I knew by
| heart, and I would type it in if I felt the need to play.
| Changing little aspects of that game (first different characters
| for the obstructions, then game mechanics) was what set me on the
| path of programming.
|
| My brother somehow salvaged that first ZX81 from our parents'
| estate and it is now hanging framed on the wall next to me as I
| type this.
| lproven wrote:
| The first privately-owned computer I ever used: my uncle Thom's
| ZX81. I had played with a couple of Commodore PET 4032 machines
| at school so I just about knew how BASIC worked and how to
| enter it.
|
| On the ZX81, I knew from reading computer magazines that
| Sinclair BASIC had this weird single-key input method and it
| was mandatory. So, I managed to type in some very short program
| from the manual, SAVE it (I already knew how important that
| was!) and _then_ RUN it. And it worked.
|
| As this was more than my uncle had managed so far, in weeks or
| months or ownership, he was deeply impressed, and conveyed this
| to my parents, which as I type it very belatedly occurs to me
| is maybe why they bought me a ZX Spectrum the next year.
|
| I don't think he ever used it much more. He was the son of
| Arthur Doodson, known for his work in tide prediction:
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Thomas_Doodson
|
| Thom died 23 years ago. His wife was my auntie Valerie, a tiny
| bit famous in her own right for preserving Arthur's legacy. She
| remarried about 20 years later, and her husband David is still
| alive and still has that ZX81. I hope to get it off him some
| time.
| Lio wrote:
| One of my friends had a ZX81 when we were kids.
|
| If you went round this house he'd have to start it loading from
| cassette while you went out to play in the garden.
|
| When you'd had enough pretending to be the A-Team you'd creep
| back, praying no one sneezed or farted lest the RAM pack
| wobbled and you have to start over.
|
| I'd claim this was the Gen X equivalent of the Four
| Yorkshiremen sketch but if you told kids t'day they'd nare
| believe you.
|
| Good times.
| dcminter wrote:
| I taught myself BASIC on a ZX81 (from the manual) at a tender
| age, and even I think this book is pretty niche. Amazing! I'm
| tempted...
| mdp2021 wrote:
| > _"Ridiculously niche but ridiculously joyful" ~~ Richard
| Herring_
|
| Could this be an opening to seeing author Rob Manuel interviewed
| by Herring in the RHLSTP Book Club?
|
| (I must recommend the RHLSTP Book Club. It worked well in
| noticing important new titles I otherwise missed.)
|
| --
|
| Ah, also I see and want to notice:
|
| > _"Greatest book ever made and you win. Profound." ~~ Joel
| Morris (Philomena Cunk co-creator)_
|
| Joel Morris has a great entry in his curriculum.
|
| --
|
| The initiative keeps on giving:
|
| > _[About "Spelk Press" publisher, near Newcastle upon Tyne:] A
| spelk is a North East word for a splinter: hard to ignore once
| it's under your skin._
| Shorel wrote:
| I can't upvote you more than once, therefore purchasing the book
| seems like the logical option.
|
| I enjoyed a lot the small sample of jokes you have on the
| website.
|
| Kudos to you!
| orac81 wrote:
| How do you double the value of a zx81? Buy a dust cover for it!
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(page generated 2026-10-28 18:03 UTC)