Load ZX Spectrum – first Museum dedicated to our first personal computer

The emphasis should be on "our" in the title: I think they mean Portugal's first involvement, which was around 1984. If you took "our" to mean Earth, then other PCs predate the ZX Spectrum and these.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timex_Computer_2048

I love vintage computers, have a vintage computer collection, and have enjoyed visiting computer museums, but does this computer museum website really need to send me desktop notifications?

I visited a couple years ago - it was lovely to finally touch an authentic Spectrum, 3 decades after spending my early life hacking around on various clones. Was well worth the 30 minute ride from Coimbra.

The ZX81 and the ZX Spectrum were interesting machines at the time, but man did they have crappy keyboards.

Perhaps with a decent keyboard, the ZX Spectrum could have stood a chance against the Commodore C64. The price of the ZX Spectrum was 175 £ ($306 at the time) and the Commodore cost $595. Of course, the C64 also had much better gfx and sound capabilities.

https://jsspeccy.zxdemo.org/ File Find games… Jetpac Enjoy

On minicomputers (or microcomputers, can't remember) I am always astounding that some people wrote some micro-text adventure for the Kim-1 (think of it like a reduced version of Apple I), played with a numeric keypad plus A-F keys.

https://bluerenga.blog/2025/02/10/kim-venture-1979/

https://github.com/markbush/KIM-Venture

Also, MicroChess. I tried to find a MIT licensed copy for the Kim-Uno in order to adapt it from the ACIA (serial) output to the simulator from https://t3x.org written in T3X, but I had no luck. But you can virtually use the C sources with the bundled MOS 6502 CPU emulator, so in the end it's the same outcome as running an emulator and the MicroChess code on it. Also, it's MIT licensed.

https://www.benlo.com/microchess/ForsterMicrochessC.zip

GCC/Clang will compile it staight under GNU/Linux, BSD and OSX. Windows users can just use MinC and compile it if they want to peek and improve the implentation.

https://www.benlo.com/microchess/index.html

Kim-Uno emu, Sim65 kit https://t3x.org/t3x/0/sim65kit.html

(use T3X's "tx0 -c" command against .t files):

      tx0 -c sim65

T3X0 compiler https://t3x.org/t3x/0/index.html

As for the ZX, there's this gem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1K_ZX_Chess and I'm pretty sure people ported MicroChess for the Z80 based computers.

And, well, as for gaming, The Hobbit surpasses the adventure of the Kim-1, but with far more resources. Still, before the ZX there was the ZX81 and people did crazy things on it, even Sokoban games. But Sokoban it's something playable even with a graph paper, pen and some tokens.

Nice, I live in PT. Will visit. I have around 30 working speccy's and especially the rubber key ones give me great nostalgic joy even though I was an MSX child.

Oh nice, a Living Computer Museum. That would be a nice thing to have near where I live... oh wait there was one.

The emphasis should be on "our" in the title: I think they mean Portugal's first involvement, which was around 1984. If you took "our" to mean Earth, then other PCs predate the ZX Spectrum and these.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timex_Computer_2048

Indeed, I was part of this generation, the first real computer I got, by opposition to build your own kits from electronic stores, was the Timex 2068 from that same factory.

Only recently I got to understand Timex spotlight in USA was long gone, while in the Iberian Penisula it was still all over the place, alongside ZX Spectrums and some MSX models.

I never knew anyone with a C64 back then.

Then the next computing wave was mostly Amiga, there were some people with Sam Coupe, until Windows 3.1 came to be, which is when I left my dear Timex 2068 into PC land, buying on credit, hardly anyone could afford paying on the spot.

Of course there was the 'holy trinity' of the TRS-80, PET and Apple II in 1977. But even with Sinclair, the ZX80 / ZX81 came before the Spectrum.

https://cybernews.com/editorial/the-1977-trinity-and-other-e...

Indeed, I was part of this generation, the first real computer I got, by opposition to build your own kits from electronic stores, was the Timex 2068 from that same factory.

Only recently I got to understand Timex spotlight in USA was long gone, while in the Iberian Penisula it was still all over the place, alongside ZX Spectrums and some MSX models.

I never knew anyone with a C64 back then.

The iberian peninsula was all about the ZX because pirating tapes was the norm. Also, saving custom software in tapes was cheap and producing the games in tapes, the same; they could even fight piracy by selling the games in newspaper kiosks at a very cheap price.

Similar on how the Play Station spread about the country: burning CD's and modding the PSX was trivial.

Spain is still pushing out great titles for these machines- the scene around the Oric-1/Atmos computers (competitors to the ZX Spectrum) is particularly virulent, among the Spanish retro hacking community. Some truly astonishing things coming from those folks, for these 40+ year old machines ..

Hi I also was part of this generation. My first was a Sinclair ZX81 with 1 kb ram :)

I love vintage computers, have a vintage computer collection, and have enjoyed visiting computer museums, but does this computer museum website really need to send me desktop notifications?

https://jsspeccy.zxdemo.org/ File Find games… Jetpac Enjoy

Oh nice, a Living Computer Museum. That would be a nice thing to have near where I live... oh wait there was one.

https://bluerenga.blog/2025/02/10/kim-venture-1979/

https://github.com/markbush/KIM-Venture

https://www.benlo.com/microchess/ForsterMicrochessC.zip

GCC/Clang will compile it staight under GNU/Linux, BSD and OSX. Windows users can just use MinC and compile it if they want to peek and improve the implentation.

https://www.benlo.com/microchess/index.html

Kim-Uno emu, Sim65 kit https://t3x.org/t3x/0/sim65kit.html

(use T3X's "tx0 -c" command against .t files):

      tx0 -c sim65

T3X0 compiler https://t3x.org/t3x/0/index.html

As for the ZX, there's this gem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1K_ZX_Chess and I'm pretty sure people ported MicroChess for the Z80 based computers.

The ZX81 and the ZX Spectrum were interesting machines at the time, but man did they have crappy keyboards.

> the ZX Spectrum could have stood a chance against the Commodore C64

Isn't it kind of the other way round? When both machines were current there wre about ten ZX Spectrums sold for every Commodore 64, at least in the UK and Europe.

The Commodore 64 like the Apple II was very much a North American thing.

It was manufactured to be as cheap as possible. There were the plus editions that had much better keys.

The Spectrum did feel slightly better, but the most annoying thing of the ZX81 was the lack of autorepeat. Moving the cursor on a long line was real physical exercise :-)

Nice, I live in PT. Will visit. I have around 30 working speccy's and especially the rubber key ones give me great nostalgic joy even though I was an MSX child.

I visited - really nice!

They also have a Philips VG8020 MSX on display.

Really? That sounds strange to me. I still have one somewhere.

Of course there was the 'holy trinity' of the TRS-80, PET and Apple II in 1977. But even with Sinclair, the ZX80 / ZX81 came before the Spectrum.

https://cybernews.com/editorial/the-1977-trinity-and-other-e...

And before the Apple II, the Apple I and Kim-I. As a sokoban lover I'd love one for the Apple I or the Kim-I over serial, but the 1K RAM limit looks tiny. But you can always create several tapes/ROMs with different level sets...

Similar on how the Play Station spread about the country: burning CD's and modding the PSX was trivial.

Yeah, one reason why I grew up bilingual, besides having grandparents close to Badajoz, was the amount of Speccy stuff in games and magazines that we got from the other side of the border, because why bother with translations. :)

Microhobby, Micromania, Solo Programadores (this one came later in 32 bits days), are some I still remember the names.

La Abadía del Crimen, Sir Fred, Livingstone Supongo, Game Over, and such.

> the ZX Spectrum could have stood a chance against the Commodore C64

Isn't it kind of the other way round? When both machines were current there wre about ten ZX Spectrums sold for every Commodore 64, at least in the UK and Europe.

The Commodore 64 like the Apple II was very much a North American thing.

It was manufactured to be as cheap as possible. There were the plus editions that had much better keys.

> It was manufactured to be as cheap as possible.

Exactly. The membrane keyboards weren't aesthetic choices, they were one of a number of compromises that were necessary to achieve the price point set by Clive Sinclair. He intuited that a sub-£200 colour computer would sell in huge quantities, and he was right. My (middle class) parents couldn't countenance the cost of a Commodore 64, but they were prepared to buy me a ZX Spectrum.

The Spectrum did feel slightly better, but the most annoying thing of the ZX81 was the lack of autorepeat. Moving the cursor on a long line was real physical exercise :-)

Really? That sounds strange to me. I still have one somewhere.

Yep, some of us only had access to what is on the long list here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ZX_Spectrum_clones

I visited - really nice!

They also have a Philips VG8020 MSX on display.

> Philips VG8020

Ah nice, my first love. I still have it, working. I will go sooner.

And don't forget the Nascom 1 and 2 (everyone has unfortunately)

Microhobby, Micromania, Solo Programadores (this one came later in 32 bits days), are some I still remember the names.

La Abadía del Crimen, Sir Fred, Livingstone Supongo, Game Over, and such.

And Aventuras AD; but TBH most modern games written for the ZX in Spanish (especially text adventures) are many times better than "La edad de oro del software español" (The golden age of the Spanish software).

Hi I also was part of this generation. My first was a Sinclair ZX81 with 1 kb ram :)

And a double deck tape player, also made into your collection?

That was eventually the next step, for the school trading ground activities.

Not that the Portuguese shops had any original stuff anyway, I bought several games with clear copied covers in black and white, without manuals.

> It was manufactured to be as cheap as possible.

Computers were a luxury item then, beside that lots of people had no idea what to do with one too. Only the most computer curious people would spend around $900 (inflation corrected) on a fancy calculator ;)

Yep, some of us only had access to what is on the long list here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ZX_Spectrum_clones

oh, I get it now. Thanks for the answer.

> Philips VG8020

Ah nice, my first love. I still have it, working. I will go sooner.

And don't forget the Nascom 1 and 2 (everyone has unfortunately)

Have to check those, I don't play modern games measured in hundreds of GB and hours, thanks for the hint.

And a double deck tape player, also made into your collection?

That was eventually the next step, for the school trading ground activities.

Not that the Portuguese shops had any original stuff anyway, I bought several games with clear copied covers in black and white, without manuals.

For the ZX81 there was almost none programs! I could get a chess and a flight simulator (1kb Ram), the rest i used to get from printed magazines. But for later with the Spectrum the double deck tape player was a must! We would go to the local shop and buy one game, when home, duplicate it then return it saying that it didn't load well. want another and pick a different one and so on...

oh, I get it now. Thanks for the answer.

Have to check those, I don't play modern games measured in hundreds of GB and hours, thanks for the hint.

I have some text adventure saga (Los extraordinarios casos del Dr. Van Halen) which is about Lovecraftian/Poe themes and such; it's composed of nine tapes.

If you are interested, I can send a zip to you with a PDF and the TAP files.

Also, on modernish platforms, there's "El archipiélago", probably the best Spanish Z Machine game ever. You can get the last one at IFDB. Getting the first saga it's a bit cumbersome because you need to get nine downloads and sort the 'volumes' after that.

Back to "Van Halen", as the games are designed with PAWS/GACG or whatever was called that universal format from the 80's, the Zesarux emulator can trap all the interpretatation (as if it were a ZMachine-like interpreter itself) and giving you options to both debug the adventures and translate them to Portuguese (from any to any language) on the spot with online services (and maybe local, IDK; it shoudn't be difficult to add support to Argos Translate, Apertium and the like). Input is not translated but, well, these games have a really common verb set.

Ah yes, my circle also did that approach with local shops.

I have some text adventure saga (Los extraordinarios casos del Dr. Van Halen) which is about Lovecraftian/Poe themes and such; it's composed of nine tapes.

If you are interested, I can send a zip to you with a PDF and the TAP files.

Ah yes, my circle also did that approach with local shops.

A MUSEUM DEDICATED TO OUR FIRST PERSONAL COMPUTER

Museum LOADZX

Museum LOAD ZX Spectrum is the result of a collaboration between the Municipality of Cantanhede and the Associação Geração SPECTRUM (SPECTRUM Generation Association) that explores João Diogo Ramos’s collection, one of the biggest international collectors within this field and that was born in Cantanhede.

which was for many Portuguese and foreigners (Spanish, English, etc.) their first personal computer. But the Museum also includes a lot of other equipment related to this theme, in a functional state and properly documented, so that the visitors can enjoy it.

Get to know the history of this treasure which contributed, in a very decisive way, to the introduction of technology in so many peoples’ lives and some even built careers in the area.

Appreciate the role of this device in the technological revolution that already put cell phones in our pockets.

And learn - in case you don’t know it yet - about the important role that Portugal played at the TIMEX factory when this phenomenon started in the 80s.

Come pay tribute to the inventors who created these magical devices and the games that made it famous and come witness that the ZX Spectrum is more alive than ever, with games and even new computers being launched.

Exhibition Area

150 m2

Tour Guides

Spanish guide will be made available as soon as possible.

Portuguese
and English

Revenues & Donations

Reinvested in
the Museum

Photography & Video

YES!
No restrictions

Books & Magazines

For consultation
on site

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Virtual Tour

Business Plan

Sinclair World

TIMEX

Digital Archive [PT]

Events [PT]

Books [PT]

Museum
Exclusive [PT]

How to Help [PT]

Want to play?

5.0 Stars - Based on 63 User Reviews

OPENING HOURS OF THE MUSEUM

Tuesday to Sundays: 10 am – 6 pm

Closed on Mondays and a few Holidays (January 1st, Easter (Sunday), May 1st, December 24th and December 25th)

NEW: As you can see, the museum is now open on Sundays, on most Holidays and no longer closes at lunch time!

contacts

Escola Básica Conde Ferreira, Largo do Conselheiro Ferreira Freire / EN 335, 3060-133 Cantanhede
+351 231 429 813
info@loadzx.com (General)
curator@loadzx.com (Feedback or Doubts)

VISITING THE MUSEUM

Access to the museum is free, and you can take a guided digital tour using your mobile phone or a tablet available at the reception.

GUIDED TOURS

The museum also offers guided tours for groups. These are subject to availability and confirmation by our tour guides and must be requested in advance via the following email:

visit@loadzx.com

Base Price: €20 per group

Duration: 30 to 40 minutes.
A maximum of 20 members per group.

Reductions to the base price:

100% for schools in the municipality of Cantanhede; institutional visits; personalities with relevance to the history of the museum; IPSS of the municipality of Cantanhede.
50% for visits officially promoted by Non-Profit Associations based in the municipality of Cantanhede; large families (5 people from the same household).
25% for groups up to 8 people; partner entities with active protocol.

Museum Brochure (EN)

LOCATION

Patrons

[ gamingfun80-04[661] ](https://www.facebook.com/gamingfun80pt/)

**Travelling and love video games and technology? Check the list to see if there’s a partner of ours you can visit!
**

LOAD ZX Spectrum is not affiliated in any way with any of Sir Clive Sinclair’s companies, TIMEX,
or any of the other companies depicted. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Hacker Times

Hacker Times

Load ZX Spectrum – first Museum dedicated to our first personal computer

Discussion

Discussion

which was for many Portuguese and foreigners (Spanish, English, etc.) their first personal computer. But the Museum also includes a lot of other equipment related to this theme, in a functional state and properly documented, so that the visitors can enjoy it.

150 m2

Portuguese
and English

Reinvested in
the Museum

YES!
No restrictions

For consultation
on site

Virtual Tour

Business Plan

Sinclair World

TIMEX

Digital Archive [PT]

Events [PT]

Books [PT]

Museum
Exclusive [PT]

How to Help [PT]

Want to play?

OPENING HOURS OF THE MUSEUM

contacts

VISITING THE MUSEUM

GUIDED TOURS

Museum Brochure (EN)

LOCATION

Patrons

Hacker Times

Hacker Times

Load ZX Spectrum – first Museum dedicated to our first personal computer

Discussion

Discussion

which was for many Portuguese and foreigners (Spanish, English, etc.) their first personal computer. But the Museum also includes a lot of other equipment related to this theme, in a functional state and properly documented, so that the visitors can enjoy it.

150 m2

Portugueseand English

Reinvested inthe Museum

YES!No restrictions

For consultationon site

Virtual Tour

Business Plan

Sinclair World

TIMEX

Digital Archive [PT]

Events [PT]

Books [PT]

MuseumExclusive [PT]

How to Help [PT]

Want to play?

OPENING HOURS OF THE MUSEUM

contacts

VISITING THE MUSEUM

GUIDED TOURS

Museum Brochure (EN)

LOCATION

Patrons

Portuguese
and English

Reinvested in
the Museum

YES!
No restrictions

For consultation
on site

Museum
Exclusive [PT]