[darrenf]

Likewise. At the time my folks could just about stretch to a ZX81 plus 16k RAM Pack[0], but not a wobble stopper[1] - so we fashioned one out of corrugated cardboard and gaffer tape. A few years later I scored an upgrade to the ZX Spectrum+ which was an absolute revelation - what with stuff like colour and sound.

I learnt BASIC through typing out listings from ZX Computing Monthly, Sinclair User, Your Sinclair, and others, borrowed from the local library. I forget the name of the magazines which had multi-platform listings, for the Electron and Vic-20 and MSX and others.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAM_pack [1] https://web.archive.org/web/20110614170203/http://www.sincus...

[stevekemp]

Since it was my first computer, and the reason I started programming, I dug out one of the old badges I earned by submitting POKEs to the magazine:

https://i.imgur.com/FT97X2H.jpg

[UncleSlacky]

Computer & Video Games (C&VG) and Your Computer used to have multi-platform listings, even including machines such as the Sharp MZ-80 series.