[dirtbox]

I grew up with the ZX Spectrum, initially starting out with the ZX80 and 81 which I soldered together myself with the help of my equally clueless father.

One of the most enduring and engaging aspects of the old micros is the inherent limitation of the hardware. You're constantly battling with extreme optimisation and utilising often quite hacky hardware tricks to do things that would otherwise be impossible to achieve while mastering the arcane arts of assembler. I think above all that's the beauty of them and why people are still supporting these projects.

I'm very sad about missing out on the Spectrum Next which is nearly due to ship their completed cased model after a successful release of only the board. Complete with keyboard and design from the recently late original designer of those same machines I had in the 80s, Rick Dickinson.