Sinclair ZX Spectrum+ computer with box and accessories. Cambridge, UK, 1985.

Personal computer with software cassettes, instructions, power supply and original packaging.

The computer is a black plastic rectangular box with raised keyboard and raised logo on top left hand side. The AC adaptor is a black plastic box with two black plastic covered cables emerging from either end, at right angles to each other. One has a white plastic three pin plug attached at the end and the other has a DC adaptor for the computer. The cassette lead is a double wire cable, each end finishing with two seperate mono jack plugs, one each with a grey casing and one each with a black casing.

With the computer is a set of instructions, 'User guide for Sinclair ZX Spectrum+', 80 pages of printed paper, a black cover with title on front. 2nd edition.

There are two software cassettes. The first, a 'Sinclair ZX Spectrum+ User Guide Companion Cassette,' is a plastic rectangular casing containing magnetic tape on two plastic reels, with printed paper label in silver on both sides. It is accompanied by a printed and folded paper insert, with a black background on the cover and spine, featuring the title in red and white, and instructions printed on the inside. Both are contained inside a plastic rectangular cassette case: two moulded parts hinged together, the cover being transparent and the back in black.

The second cassette is a black plastic rectangular casing containing magnetic tape on two plastic reels. It is accompanied by a folded printed paper insert featuring the original illustrated covers of four games on a light green background with green grid, with inner featuring instructions. Both are contained inside a plastic rectangular double size cassette case: two moulded parts hinged together, the cover being transparent and the back in black.

The packaging consists of a fibreboard box printed with an image of the contents against a black background. Inside are a lid and base made from expanded polystyrene, moulded to hold the computer and accessories in place during movement. The lid is moulded with the Sinclair ZX Spectrum+ logo.

Given by Alex Carter

This computer was played with by two brothers and a sister, Charlie Carter (30/06/1975), Hana Carter (09/05/1977) and Alex Carter (29/05/1980). They grew up in Basildon until 1987, then moved to Billericay, Essex. Alex remembers, "All us siblings used to set the computer up in my parents bedroom where the 2nd TV was and play computer games together such as Daley Thomson's Decathlon, Jason's Gem, Spy Hunter, Glug Glug, Horace goes Skiing etc. & listen to music like Wham's greatest hits. It was great fun!"

The ZX Spectrum personal computer was released in 1982, quickly becoming Britain's best selling computer, with the series selling over 5 million units worldwide between 1982 and 1987. This '+' model was the third of its type, with an injection moulded plastic keyboard replacing the rubber keys of the original ZX Spectrum. It was an 8-bit system, giving it similar processing power to the Sega Master System and Nintendo's NES, but with software loaded on cassette instead of cartridge, including simple word processing and databases rather than games alone. A cassette player could be attached to the machine and software loaded by playing the cassette, during which digital information was transmitted through frequency changes of a sound wave; this would create some ear splitting sounds and take several minutes to load a programme.

The ZX Spectrum was also programmable by the general user, with a system called Sinclair BASIC (Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code). Through this programmes could be typed into the computer using a system of command lines, which when executed ranged from simple animations to complex games and applications. This particular set was sold with an instruction book and cassette that included tutorials in Sinclair BASIC programming.

B.42:1 to 13-2011