Re: The best thing about the ZX81...
"I had to wait for the actual computer until my dad had finished soldering the kit together. But when he did, it worked, and I knew what to do."
At an earlier technology cusp - circa 1961 - my father bought a kit for a 3 transistor MW radio. It didn't need soldering. No circuit board - it was assembled as a rats' nest of wires joined together with 8BA nuts and bolts. The typical household soldering iron in those days was a large chunk of pointed copper on the end of an iron rod - that was heated in the fire.
When the radio was finished - it didn't work. Quoting the advert's slogan of "A child can do it" - it was given to me and I made it work. So started my lifelong addiction to electronics. The radio eventually was upgraded to a Class B pair of OC72 with a proper speaker for my bedside.
My father's next attempt to get a portable transistor radio was one being sold by a shop cheaply - because they had a batch with damaged circuit boards. I managed to repair it. Throughout my teenage years I supplemented my pocket money by doing the repairs that shops classed as "uneconomical" eg dropped in bath; dropped from window; fell off a motorbike.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
