Two Stop Bits | Looking on the internet, Was there another variant of the xz81 that had chicklet...

bmonkey325 348 days ago | parent

Looking on the internet, Was there another variant of the xz81 that had chicklet keys instead of the membrane keyboard ? I only remember seeing the membrane one in Canada. Perhaps I am mis remembering?

Also. Is this to give new life to an otherwise ailing machine ? I cant imagine modding a vintage working machine with this. Does that make me a purist snob ?

me 348 days ago
There was a clone by Timex, the T/S 1500, which was a ZX81 (with 16 kB RAM!) in a Spectrum-like case with rubber/chicklet keys: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timex_Sinclair
You can build your own ZX81 replica, there are several projects available and all components are still available since the replicas replace the Sinclair ULA with a bunch of regular 74-series TTL ICs. We used the ZX81plus38 for a soldering course with our students, this works very well:
https://github.com/mahjongg2/ZX81plus38
There's also a Sinclair Spectrum clone, the Harlequin, which is also quite simple to build.