Microdigital TK90X

Brazil’s electronics-import restrictions of the 1980s — the “reserva de mercado” (market reserve) policy — meant imported computers were effectively locked out, and a wave of domestic manufacturers built their own compatible machines instead. Microdigital’s TK90X (1985) was its ZX Spectrum clone: functionally a 48K Spectrum, built locally rather than shipped from the UK, with a sturdier full-travel keyboard than Sinclair’s rubber original and support for Portuguese accented characters. It became one of the most recognisable home computers in Brazil through the mid-to-late 1980s.

No specimen in the collection — I had one as a kid and no longer own it — but it’s exactly the kind of machine this GeekDex exists to remember even without a physical unit on the shelf.

Reference photo: Wikimedia Commons (“TK90X.jpg” by Spohl), CC BY-SA 3.0 / GFDL.