PICOZX81 - a ZX81 emulator for Raspberry Pi Pico

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Frank N. Furter
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Joined: 28/05/2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 1057
Posted: 07:36am 17 Dec 2024      

  Grogster said  Does the emulator emulate the 16K RAM-pack?
I would expect so.

The ZX81 with 1K of RAM, was, basically, useless.
The 16K RAM expansion pack was touchy as hell - BREATH near it, and it would cause an intermittent connection, totally crashing the machine.

We used to call the ZX81 "The door-stop", cos that was about as useful as it got!
I won't go into the HELL that was using a standard audio cassette recorder to attempt to save or load programs....

Despite those issues, it was remarkably popular, even though with just the base 1K of RAM, it was almost dumber then a dumb terminal.  
I expect the machine would have been MUCH more usable, had Clive allowed 16K of on-board RAM, but Clive was well known to squeeze every penny - to the extent that the PCB for the ZX81, had no soldermask, only a solder-wave coating!  Saves a few cents per unit!  


Yes, the ZX81 is terrible and yes, the PICOZX81 also emulates the memory up to 48K!

Nevertheless, it is a piece of contemporary history and I find it very interesting!

Can anyone tell me how to stop this program? It comes from the manual - I haven't found a way yet...

10 PLOT INT (RND*64),INT (RND*44)
20 INPUT A$
30 GOTO 10

Frank