#02
30 сентября 1995 |
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Part 7 - Spectrum history (part 2).
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* PART 7 - SPECTRUM HISTORY PART 2 *
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A STORY OF SURVIVAL Part 2
Orignially published in
Crash 79 - August 1990
Creator of our fave home computer, Sir
Clive Sinclair is fifty this year. Last
month we looked at how he started the ZX
range of computers and now we complete the
story: from the launch of the ZX Spectrum
in 1983 up until the present day.
CHEAP AND POWERFUL SPECTRUM
The Spectrum hardware was designed by
Richard Altwasser, and the software was
adapted from the ZX-81`s by Stephen
Vickers. The Spectrum had a new custom
chip which could keep a colour display up
yet hardly slow the processor at all - but
a last-minute bodge was needed to make the
keyboard work properly. This was the "dead
cockroach" modification: a chip soldered
on its back with its legs in the air!
At 125 for 16k, or 175 for 48k, the
Spectrum was very cheap and powerful for
its day. The 48k model seemed such a good
deal that it sold eight times as well as
the 16k model from the start, so a new
version was produced - the issue 2 - which
could hold 48k on one board. The issue 2
had blue keys rather than grey ones, to
make the lettering on them easier to read
under electric light.
Meanwhile Altwasser and Vickers left
Sinclair to set up their own firm, Jupiter
Cantab, selling a small fast computer that
was a cross between a Spectrum and a
ZX-80. Their Jupiter Ace flopped.
Sinclair refined the Spectrum again in
1983, making BEEP slightly louder, using a
cooler logic array, and adding a minor
tweak which unfortunately stopped lots of
sloppily written games recognising the
keyboard. This Spectrum was the infamous
Issue 3.
Meanwhile in the USA...Timex was bemused
by the success of the TMS-1000 and tried
to follow it with a 16k variation, the
TMS-1500. It flopped, so Timex came out
with the TMS-2068 - a super Spectrum with
graphics much like the SAM Coupe, sound
like a Spectrum 128K. That flopped too,
mainly because of competition in the US
Market and poor software compatibility.
Timex gave up in February 1984.
The rubbery Spectrum keyboard was
universally hated, so Sinclair tried to
develop something better looking. The
result was the Spectrum Plus. Brilliantly,
with the plus, Sinclair preserved total
compatibility by using exactly the same
circuits as in an old Spectrum, in a new
box. And the Plus sold well for a while,
though the routines to read the keys still
insisted you pressed them one at a time -
fine for rubber keys, but now frustrating.
THINGS GO WRONG
Sinclair had been putting off plans for a
superSpectrum since 1982. He spent most of
1983 designing a portable business
computer, but at the last moment a
near-random collection of design features
merged into the Sinclair QL. The QL was
launched, designed, manufactured and
made-to-work in that order. In 1985
Sinclair`s main distributor, Prism,
collapsed. The QL price was slashed in
half. Sinclair, now a knight, was bust
advertising electric tricycles. Robert
Maxwell stepped, sniffed the air, and
stepped out again. And by now the Spectrum
was not considered sophisticated, even
witht the new keyboard. People began to
demand more memory, interfaces and better
sound. A mixture of new and TMS-2068
features were cobbled together to make the
Spectrum Plus 128K. The money for the 128
came from Spain, so thats where it was
launched.
In January 1986 the Spectrum Plus 128K was
launched in the UK, in a desperate bid by
Sinclair to look busy as debts piled up.
But by March the bank had closed
Sinclair`s accounts and the company staff
were paid on the firms behalf by a large
retailer who took stock in return.
OVER TO AMSTRAD
On April 7 1986, Amstrad bought the rights
to make Spectrums, and to kill the QL, for
just 5 million and also paid 11 million
for the remaining stocks. Unconfirmed
reports suggets that about 4 million
standard Spectrums were produced by
Sinclair research. And there must be about
500,000 128s in circulation, with the bulk
of those being first-edition Amstrad Plus.
A few Sinclair staff moved to Amstrad and
produced the Plus 2: a 128 in a new box
with a cassette drive `glued on` as
Amstrad boss Alan Sugar put it. A year
later came the first true Amstrad
Spectrum - the Plus 3, minus Sinclair
chips and plus the disk system from
Amstrads CPC range. The Plus-3 was a new
design, not very compatible with the old
Spectrum and its wealth of 48K hardware
and software.
Sir Clive Sinclair went on to sell a
portable computer called the Z88, designed
by Jim Westwood and using the same Z80
processor as the ZX range. Latest reports
indicate plans for a C-15 electric car...!
At the 1988 PC Show, Amstrad launched its
own machine - the Sinclair Professional PC
200. The machine found many critics -
mainly because no-one understood who it
was aimed at - it wasn`t a good games
machine (it features only four colours
and, at basic starting price of around
350, is wildly expensive) and not powerful
enough for a serious PC alternative. Not
really Sinclair stuff at all.
THE SPECTRUM CLONED
Christmas 1989 saw the launch of the
machine everyone was really waiting for -
the Miles Gordon Technology SAM Coupe.
256K RAM, four colour modes, fast
operating speed and compatibility with the
majority of 48K Spectrum games. Initially
the ROM chip was bugged, but in April, MGT
delivered new ROM chips for users to fit
themselves. By May 1990 the first signs of
real software support were showing -
Enigma Variations specially created SAM
Coupe Defenders of the Earth was just a
week or so off release. Things were really
looking up, and hardware sales appeared to
be good.
THE COMPLETE STORY
1983
JUPITER ACE
80; spin off; 8K ROM, 3K RAM; Forth
Spectrum Keys/tape/display. 3,000,000 Plus
Spectrum Issue 3s sold: new low power ULA,
louder BEEP, runs cooler, no colour
tweaks, key port incompatibility. Prices
cut to 100/130 (16K/48K)
TIMEX TMS-1500
$80; 8K ROM, 16K RAM; ZX-81 with better
keyboard - a flop
TIMEX TMS-2068
$150/200; 24K ROM, 16K/48K RAM; paged in
8K lumps up to 256K. Improved BASIC sound
and much better display, but very
incompatible. UK PAL TV version never
marketed.
1984
SPECTRUM PLUS
180; issue 3 circuits (with minor
revisions) and extra RESET button; new box
and keys
1985
Spectrum Plus plrice cut to 130; 16K and
rubber-key versions discontinued.
SPECTRUM 128K
180; 32K ROM and 128K RAM, in 16K pages;
RGB; old box and chunky heat sink; no
key-words; three channel sound, clumsy
screen editor; MIDI/serial port; funded by
Investronica.
1986
SPECTRUM PLUS 2
140; the old 128 in a new box, with better
keyboard and cassette unit `glued on`;
250,000 sold in first year; the first
Amstrad Spectrum.
1987
SPECTRUM PLUS 3
249; 3-inch disk; AMSDOS in 64K ROM; first
radical re-design since 1982. Earlier 128s
were more compatible with existing
hardware and software than the Plus-3 -
they had extra features just bolted on
rather than built in. Spectrum Plus 3
price cut to 199 - some stores discount
further to 180.
1988
SPECTRUM PLUS 2 (revised)
64K ROM, 128K RAM; outwardly as older Plus
2s but less compatible inside.
SINCLAIR PROFESSIONAL PC 200
16-bit processor 8Mhz 8086, 512K RAM, One
3.5 inch 720K disk drive. Medium
resolution CGA graphics 320x200 pixels in
four colours. Never hit big-time.
1989
SAM COUPE
MGT launches the SAM Coupe. The new
British computer offering compatibility
with the majority of Spectrum software.
1990
Amstrad hold a secret conference in
France, with major announcements expected
To be continued....?
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