Ballagyr @ballagyr@mastodon.sdf.org

#DemonicWaifu

Source: https://www.pixiv.net/artworks/93263691

Happy New Year folks
269980186_439861627779629_6123914736300684975_n.jpg

Today is the 30th Anniversary of the fall of the Soviet Union.

diff chan

Muuuh

I didn't know Clive Sinclair.

I do know what he accomplished.

He broke the cost barrier to entry to a new world. For $99 in 1981 you could have a personal computer kit that allowed you to write code in BASIC... for $149 you could buy the finished computer. This connected to a TV, and a casette deck, and you had not just a learning platform, but one with what would become THE hacker aesthetic.

You could have a $1300 Apple, or this... frankly, looking back... i'm glad I couldn't afford the Apple... this was so much better.

1.5 million of the ZX81 were sold. I had one.

The more hackers I speak to sinceClive's passing, the more I realize how many hackers were born because of his computers. Clive's devices launched thousands of us, and changed the whole world.

I think Clive knew how important those little black boxes with the membrane keyboards were, but I don't know that he knew how big the ripples would be.

My first computer, and people like Weld Pond's too... the L0pht existed because of Sinclair's machine... hackers.town as well.

From there, the impacts are well documented...

Rest well Sir, you earned it. We'll aspire to titanic things too, and take it from here.