If you're an avid fan of the classic Sinclair ZX Spectrum you're going to love this update from CCH curator, Jason Fitzpatrick. In his own words...

"I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon of 19 February with Rick Dickinson, industrial designer of the original ZX Spectrum, and Steve Wilcox, director of Elite Systems and the man behind, 'The Recreated Sinclair ZX Spectrum'.

Rick and I were given a sneak peak of the working prototype, allowed to play with it and feedback our thoughts regarding design, functionality and possibilities for the product.

It's a really nice and generally faithful reproduction of the original speccy, from the overall aesthetics right to the feel of the 'dead flesh' keyboard! Rick even went so far as to suggest the action of the new keyboard is fractionally better than the original! Rick! How could you???  

The product is essential a bluetooth keyboard that can be paired with a whole range of devices from iPads and Android tablets to PCs, Macs and potentially Raspberry Pi (with a bluetooth dongle). With your device of choice, you can run an emulator and play those classic games in the way the original creators intended!

There's a world of possibilities here... pair it with your Playstation and play Call of Duty, your TV to create the coolest remote control ever, your PC to add an extra layer of realism to all those classics of yester year or your iPad to send emails on the bus! You'll definitely get attention from the other passengers!

Rick was very impressed with the design and I agree, this new product is fairly faithful in look and feel. It's lighter than the original (due to having so little electronics in it by comparison); the logo is slightly proud and clearly the buttons on the back and the battery compartment on the bottom are a giveaway, but then this is about recreating the fun, not creating an exact reproduction.

If you were a Speccy owner back in the eighties, you're going to love this little machine!

Elite Systems will have a range of games available to download, including some of their back catalogue. We tried out Chuckie Egg using the recreated Sinclair Spectrum and an iPad and it is definitely more playable than if you just use the iPad alone.

This is Lukas. He volunteers at the museum and was very excited to see this new product!

Will we be replacing our ZX Spectrum in the museum with one of these? Probably not... we're all about keeping the original hardware working, no emulation here! But will I buy one for retro fun and Atic Atac antics? Probably, yes!!

Actually, there is a more serious point that I made during our meeting ...

The software supplied includes Sinclair BASIC which is a great language to teach as an introduction to programming. Last year the museum had over 5500 students visit , most of whom took part in our BBC BASIC programming workshops. A high percentage of these went on to ask: 'How can I do this at home?'

There's actually lots of ways with emulators and even online environments, but - in our view - none quite as exciting as using the recreated Sinclair Spectum!

Yes! It's almost like we're revisiting the eighties here! With the new computing curriculum in full swing and coding the buzzword of the moment, parents are seeking multiple tech ways to encourage their offspring. Back in the eighties parents bought their kids a ZX Spectrum 'to do their homework on' and now in 2015 parents will be able to buy their kids the recreated ZX Spectrum 'to do their homework on'.

Just another of those little examples of history repeating itself maybe?"

The Centre for Computing History will be buying 16 of these great little keyboards to use in our BASIC programming workshops. Keep an eye on our What's On page and be the first to come and have a go!"

Look how much we're looking forward to the release of the recreated ZX Spectrum! It's only a matter of weeks away now ...

You can hardly tell the difference between an original and the recreated version in this picture, so just to prove this is not an original speccy, here's a picture of the back ...

Most of the butons on the back are fairly self explanatory. But what's that LAYER switch? Well that little switch changes the keyboard layout for different applications. IE one layer is as a Spectrum, one layer as a 'normal' keyboard. This makes it more compatible with a wider range of applications ... according to Steve.

Now ... Horace Goes Skiing? Jet Pac? Chase H.Q.? Manic Miner? ahhh .... too many greats!!

The Sinclair ZX Spectrum rides again...

Date : 19-02-2015