The Sinclair ZX80 is the new kid in town; a short-lived position in this rapidly changing field. In the past few years, several dozen personal computers have made an appearance. Some are thriving, others have fallen into the obscurity of bargain sales. We believe that the Sinclair is going to be one of the winners; otherwise, there would be no sense in starting this magazine. So, what are our plans? We aim to cover many levels, with articles that will help beginners, as well as features for pros.
The Sinclair is an exciting machine with a lot of potential, and we hope to reflect this in the programs and articles we publish. There will be plenty of games, both new ones and conversions of classics. As new aspects or hidden capabilities of the Sinclair are discovered, we’ll pass the information on to you. As you make discoveries, we hope you’ll take the time to write articles for us.
There is another question tied in with this: what happens when Sinclair owners begin to get extended Basic and expanded memory? Inevitably, there will be a time when our readers cover the full spectrum from those with minimal systems to those with fully expanded ones. This might seem to pose a problem, but the problem is not unique. Several of the popular home computers started out as very small systems with little memory and modest Basics. As memory became less expensive, most owners expanded their systems. For a time, computer magazines dealt mostly with the original configurations, and occasionally ran an article or program aimed at expaned systems. Later, the coverage shifted, but the smaller systems were not ignored.
This will probably be the case with SYNC. We’ll stick to the 1K RAM 4K Basic machine now, while running a few pieces designed for other configurations. Later, there will most likely be more attention given to expanded systems, but plenty of coverage will still be dedicated to the original model. In a way, this will be determined by you. Much of our material will come from free-lance submissions. As more writers expand their Sinclairs, we will receive more articles and programs aimed at larger systems. But it must be stressed that SYNC will never ignore those pioneers who own the original model.