Podcast Personal Computing

Texas Instruments has always been a leader in microprocessor technology. After a few years as a top manufacturer of electronic calculators using their custom microprocessor technology, and a foray into minicomputer systems using their 16-bit TI-990 processors, Texas Instruments decided to throw its hat into the ring of the home computer market in 1…

What happens when you strip most of the metal from those earlier homebrew computers, toss in a third-party Z-80 clone CPU, and have what’s left expertly bound together by a disciple of a miniaturization luminary? You get the compact ZX80 personal computer! The Sinclair ZX80 was released in 1980 and was arguably the first British […]…

Debuting in Japan in 1978, then in Europe in 1979, the Sharp MZ-80K series of computers were some of the most popular personal computers in those regions. The series continued well into the mid-1980s. Its name stands for “M” as in microcomputer and then “Z-80” for the microprocessor that it uses. From the first model […]…