====== Sinclair ZX Spectrum (and clones) (1982) ======
===== Features =====
* CPU: Zilog Z80A 3.5 MHz
* RAM: 16k or 48k (42k left for programming)
* ROM: 16k (Basic & OS)
* Text Modes: 32 x 24
* Graphic Modes: 256 x 192
* Colors: 8 with two tones each (normal and bright)
* Sound: 1 voice / 10 octaves (Beeper)
* I/O Ports: Expansion port, tape-recorder (1200 bauds), RF video out
* Keyboard: QWERTY rubber keyboard (40 keys) with up to 6 functions by keys !
* Peripherals: ZX printer, ZX microdrives
* Built In Language: Sinclair Basic
===== Usage =====
TK90X/TK95 add two commands to the Sinclair BASIC:
TRACE 1/0 (E cursor, Symbol Shift+P)
turns on/off the display of the line currently executed,
UDG 0/1/2 (K/L/C cursor, Symbol Shift+X)
controls the behavior of the (guess what?) UDGs: when the parameter is 0/1 they restore their shape to accented letters used in the Portuguese language (still haven't discovered the difference between 0 and 1) while the UDG 2 command activate the built-in character editor.
You can use the keys 5,6,7,8 +CAPS or Symbol Shift to plot/move the cursor, the A-U keys to select the UDG to edit or copy (with the shift keys), INVERSE VIDEO key to reverse the character.
Maybe there are yet more command-keys, but I haven't discovered them yet. Curiously, the BEEP command has been renamed to SOUND: who knows why...
//(info from JoJo Priore)//
Requires full keyboard emulation. At startup, full keyboard emulation mode is enabled by default. Whilst in full keyboard emulation mode, some key associated functionality may be disabled (like the ESC key for EXIT). The keyboard emulation mode is toggled using the
scroll_lock key.
===== History and Trivia =====
The Sinclair ZX Spectrum was one of the most popular European computers of the 80's. Two models were launched: one with 16 kb RAM and one with 48 kb RAM.
One of its most "interesting" characteristics is its keyboard! Some keys have more than five (!) functions! It is impossible to type BASIC keywords letter by letter, instead you have to use function keys. A lot of peripherals and programs were developed for this computer. It seems that several models of this computers were launched (at least 3), but I've no technical details about them. It was replaced in 1984 by the Spectrum + and in 1985 by the Spectrum 128.
Alan Wilson reports to us : The 16K version of the computer had only the 16K ram chips loaded, while the 48K version had both banks full. To keep the prices down Sinclair used faulty 64K chips (internally 2 X 32K). All the chips in the 32K bank of RAM had to have the same half of the 64K chips working. A link was fitted on the pcb in order to choose the first half or the second half. It was possible with a few logic chips for the experimenter to have access to the faulty 32K bank.
//(info from old-computers.com)//
===== Links =====
* Planet Sinclair -- http://www.nvg.ntnu.no/sinclair/
* World of Spectrum -- http://www.worldofspectrum.org/
* Your Sinclair -- http://www.yoursinclair.co.uk/
* ZX Specticle -- http://www.worldofspectrum.org/zxspecticle/
* Speccy.cz -- http://www.speccy.cz/
* Sinclair.hu -- http://www.sinclair.hu/
* Zoom's Speccy Corner -- http://tcg.speccy.cz/zoom/
* ZX Spectrum at old-computers.com -- http://old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=223
===== Other Emulators =====
* SpecEmu -- http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.dunn4/
* Speccy -- http://fms.komkon.org/Speccy/
* EmuZWin -- http://kolmck.net/apps/EmuZWin_Eng.htm
* DSP -- http://leniad.cjb.net/dsp/index.htm
* Unreal Speccy -- http://alonecoder.narod.ru/zx/
* YASE -- http://www.tu-ilmenau.de/~hackbart/download.htm
* ZX Spectrum Emu -- http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Bay/9932/
* RealSpectrum -- http://www.ramsoft.bbk.org/realspec.html
* Spectaculator -- http://www.spectaculator.com/
* GLECK -- http://gleck.emuunlim.com/
Generated on Sun Jul 19 10:17:28 2009