#MONITOR FOR A SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM TV#

'The 48Kb RAM is potentially as powerful as the Apple II costing around three times the price' The Basic is based on that of the ZX-81 and some of the features lacking on the original model have been included in the latest one. There is a capitals lock, which is very useful.

#MONITOR FOR A SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM TV#

The Spectrum plugs into a normal UHF TV tuned to channel 36 and all characters are shown lower-case unless specified by using the capitals shift. Although that may seem rather long-winded it is still shorter than typing VERIFY, which is achieved in a similar way to the square brackets but is on the 'R' key as a single function.Д¬olour coding is effective in this case and the designers are to be complimented on the ergonomic strength, as well as for the design of the whole package, which feels very comfortable to hold and looks very presentable on a desk. Then you have to press either shift and the Y key. The colour coding of the keys and their functions makes life very easy, however, and with the single-key access to all functions, which is similar to the ZX-81, you soon become familiar with the conventions and could easily prefer them to the more normal way of doing things.ДЇor example, to obtain the square brackets symbol involves going into extended mode, accessed by pressing the symbols shift and capitals shift keys at the same time. More than 250 functions are available and some of them require three shifting operations. The other noticeable feature is the number of functions on the keyboard. They move downwards firmly and feel like the keys on desk-top calculators.

Whereas the ZX-81 had a touch-sensitive keyboard, the ZX-82 has a keyboard with keys which are about half the size of typewriter keys. Some of the keys, notably the enter key, are slightly larger than the others. The keyboard has 40 keys, the same as the ZX-81. The main difference between the ZX-82 and the ZX-81 is immediately obvious. The 48KB RAM model, therefore, is potentially as powerful as the very common Apple II computer costing around three times the price. RAM indicates the amount of memory available to the user for working data and programs and ROM is an indication of the power of the computer to run that program and manipulate the data.ДЄnother 32KB of memory is available at around ВЈ50 and that plugs into some sockets already built into the main board. That compares to most other common computers for ROM but it is more RAM than most models in the less than ВЈ300 price range. The basic model has 16KB of RAM and 16KB of ROM. The Spectrum is a small computer, measuring 233 x 144 x 30mm, or slightly wider but not so deep as the ZX-81. It is as if Clive Sinclair has turned to the powers that be in the Government and BBC and said 'I told you so'. The specification is very similar and will certainly affect sales of the Acorn-based machine. In designing the ZX-82 it is clear that the rejection of Sinclair's offer to build the BBC Micro was foremost in the company's mind. At that price it undercuts the BBC Microcomputer Model A, its direct competitor, by around ВЈ175.

THE SPECTRUM is a colour and sound computer for the incredibly low price of ВЈ125. Robin Bradbeer looks at Sinclair Research's new ZX Spectrum and finds it 'incredible' value at ВЈ125

Early promise is shown by colourful Spectrum

Monitor for a sinclair zx spectrum