--- title: "Dear Editor: Character Generator Add-On and Thoughts on Technology Churn" type: "article" slug: "dear-editor-character-generator-add-on-and-thoughts-on-technology-churn" url: "http://localhost/article/dear-editor-character-generator-add-on-and-thoughts-on-technology-churn/" markdown_url: "http://localhost/article/dear-editor-character-generator-add-on-and-thoughts-on-technology-churn.md" published_at: "2026-03-13T12:38:29+00:00" modified_at: "2026-03-13T12:38:29+00:00" featured_image: url: "http://localhost/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/20230809-041332.jpg" excerpt: "Letter from Dick Wagner: describes demonstrating an EPROM-based character generator add-on (Spyder Electronics) for his ZX81, prompting questions about high-resolution PLOTting. He wrote to the manufacturer and discovered they had gone out of business. Reflects on technology churn: new products spawn new businesses while dropping others into obsolescence. Editorial response discusses the value of affordable…" category: - name: "The Plotter" slug: "the-plotter" taxonomy: "category" url: "http://localhost/category/periodicals/the-plotter/" post_tag: - name: "TS 1000" slug: "ts1000" taxonomy: "post_tag" url: "http://localhost/tag/ts1000/" model: - name: "Timex/Sinclair 1000" slug: "ts-1000" taxonomy: "model" url: "http://localhost/model/ts-1000/" indiv: - name: "Dick Wagner" slug: "dick-wagner" taxonomy: "indiv" url: "http://localhost/indiv/dick-wagner/" publication_r: id: 21216 title: "The Plotter" type: "periodical" url: "http://localhost/periodical/the-plotter/" authors_r: - name: "Dick Wagner" slug: "dick-wagner" taxonomy: "indiv" url: "http://localhost/indiv/dick-wagner/" volume: "1" issue: "4" issues_articles: - id: 39410 title: "The Plotter v1 n4" type: "issue" url: "http://localhost/issue/the-plotter-v1-n4/" pages: "2" archive_link: false --- # Dear Editor: Character Generator Add-On and Thoughts on Technology Churn Letter from Dick Wagner: describes demonstrating an EPROM-based character generator add-on (Spyder Electronics) for his ZX81, prompting questions about high-resolution PLOTting. He wrote to the manufacturer and discovered they had gone out of business. Reflects on technology churn: new products spawn new businesses while dropping others into obsolescence. Editorial response discusses the value of affordable low-cost computing.