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ZX81 BASIC Programming

Internals

Board

This particular board has a rare mod installed that originates from Poland, most probably it was done by the company that sold the machine: APINA from Zielona Góra. There are several modifications done to the original board:

• 16K RAM extension (or actually a replacement of the original RAM), as an interesting add-on board soldered to the ZX81 board
• Composite video mod that adds a composite video signal to the RCA connector, while preserving the original RF signal on the same connector
• A larger radiator on the voltage regulator that was moved to a new position on the board

Here is a schematic of the composite video mod that was done to this particular board back in the eighties:

Close-ups of the RAM add-on board:

Power Supply

ZX81 is powered with 9V DC though a mono mini-jack type of connector with plus on the tip of the plug. Original power supply is 0.7A

Keyboard

The original keyboard membrane broke into pieces at the connector.

Reassembly