The Timex/Sinclair computing world has reached another crossroad. This issue incorporates Quantum_levels and its sister publication SyncWare News into one magazine. This has been done for financial reasons. Don’t worry though, all monies for subscriptions are kept in escrow for each issue and in fact the magazines do pay for themselves. We have seen the trend of expenses going up over the past six years and managed to keep the price of the subscription constant throughout this time period. That is no small task. We have indeed worked on the expense problem and have been able to make ends meet.
Fest Activity
We will have a report on the Washington Computerfest in the next issue and inform all readers as to “How alive” Sinclair computing really is.
New Products
The English market place continues to bring out new software and hardware for the QL. Digital Precision has announced the arrival of “The Solution,” a IBM Emulator for the QL. Sharp’s has reported brisk sales of the Solution and MS-DOS v 4.01 (for which he has the cheapest price and newest version in the country). Miracle Systems has released their QL Hard Disk system, which is an all inclusive (interface, 3 1/2″ hard disk, case and power supply) which should now allow very large applications to be developed. ABC Electronics has worked the bugs out of their MegaRam board. This device replaces the 68008 CPU with its bigger sister the Quad 68008 and expands the QL memory range to 4 megabytes. This board adds ram between 1 and 3 megs (above your Trump card or 512K ram card). Unlike MS-DOS, QDOS is written to support the CPU and therefore the added ram is somewhat implemented with very little hassle. I understand that fitting it inside the case is a hassle though. (Imagine a 3 megabyte computer built into a keyboard!)
We have a review on the Solution in this issue and have the hard disk and MegaRam board coming too. We will report on both of them in the next issue. This issue also contains the long awaited (maybe final chapter) on the QL Saga. Part II is technical enough to allow anyone to fix up there machine with a minimum of effort.