Is the New Computer Too Much of a Break from Tradition?
Some grumbling as to whether the new Z88 laptop computer should be included in the “Sinclair family” have fallen on my ears and perhaps yours. It has a new operating system, including of all things, BBC BASIC, and it does not load ZX81, 2068 or QL software. So has Sir Clive invented too much of a maverick? a look backward may be the best way to answer this.
As a card-carrying pack rat I am privy to something many are denied: history. In perusing through all the old SYNC, E. Arthur Brown catalogs, and other innumerable goodies I have hung on to all these years, I was able to see Sinclair’s U.S. history. I thumbed through all the old ads from 1983 and found just what was being offered for the ZX81 and TS1000. 64K add-ons were hot. A system called “Basicare” even offered a bank-switching add-on and 64K modules for up to 1 Megabyte (Mb) of RAM (for big bucks). Memotech had some software on EPROM: just plug in and go! But the hottest upgrades were KEYBOARDS. I’ve charted average prices on peripherals for each machine (within the first six months of release for most things) in Figure B.
As 1984 began, so did the excitement over the new arrival: Sir Clive’s Spectrum reworked and expanded as the TS2068. And just as everyone was ordering their unit from Sears, Timex threw in the towel. Ever wonder what would have happened if they had stuck by it? After all, the Spectrum with 128K and a built-in disk drive is still in production and selling in merry old England. Well, Sinclair users circled the wagons. Third-party producers kept giving us the peripherals we needed. And in late 1985, after months of rumors, the QL was unveiled. But it wasn’t really a grown up Spectrum: it was something brand new. We bought them here, but not like they did in Europe. Then the flat-screen TV and electric car bills caught up with Uncle Clive. And in the Summer of 1986, he saved the family by selling the farm. The new owner said, “Spectrum: yes, QL: no.”
Now, after three years since the QL was released Sinclair’s team (renamed “Cambridge” after the place they’ve always been) show us what they’ve been working on: the Z88. But the remaining Sinclair users are older and wiser now. Some healthy skepticism requires we take a careful look before we buy. Upon close examination we find some interestingly familiar Sinclair touches. The unit is small, definitely from up Sir Clive’s alley. After calculators, watches, ZX80s and 81s, he’s back to home turf. And this time there’s actually a category in computerdom for his latest invention called “laptops”. It is distinctively Sinclair black. It has a water-resistant keyboard, too. All the keys are normal enough but each is connected underneath by a rubber membrane to repel fluids. Is there a Serial Port? You bet. And a rear edge connector? Yes, but it is on the side this time. Is there an on/off switch? Well, no switch, but pressing both SHIFT keys at the same time turns it on. Figure A details more Sinclair machine comparisons.
SINCLAIR COMPUTERS SPECS:
Figure A. ZX81/TS1000: TS1500: TS2068: QL: Z88:
------------ ------- ------- ------ -----
CPU Z80A Z80A Z80A 68008 Z80A(CMO[illegible]
FOOTPRINT 6.5"x6.9" 9"x5.6" 14.5"x7.5" 18.6"x5.4" 11.4"x8.[illegible]
UNIT THICKNESS 1" 1.2" 1.3" 1.8" .9"
VOLUME 45 cu ins 63 cu ins 136 cu ins 176 cu ins 85 cu i[illegible]
WEIGHT 12 oz. 19 oz. 39.5 oz. 49 oz. 31.5 o[illegible]
KEYBOARD SIZE 5.8"x1.9" 8.4"x2.3" 8.8"x3.5" 12.2"x3.7" 11.2"x3.[illegible]
NUMBER OF KEYS 40 40 42 65 64
SPACE KEY LEN .43" 1" 5.2" 5.2" 5.2"
INITIAL MEMORY 2K 16K 72K 128K 32K
MAX (UNALTERED) 64K 64K 16Mb 1Mb 3Mb
ROM PORTS 0 0 1 1 3
SERIAL PORTS 0 0 0 2 1
JOYSTICK PORTS 0 0 2 2 0
MONITOR OUTPUT N N Y Y N
TV OUTPUT Y Y Y Y N
SCREEN PIXELS 2816 2816 45056 131072 40960
NO. CHARACTERS 704 704 1408 2000 848
SINCLAIR COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS:
Figure B. ZX81/TS1000: TS2068: QL: Z88:
------------ ------- ------ -----
COMPUTER 99.- 190.- 300.- 480.-
BUNDLED SW INCL 0 3 4 5
ADD 16K RAM 43.- - - -
ADD 32K RAM 98.- 110.- - 42.-
ADD 64K RAM 135.- 130.- - 83.-
ADD 128K RAM 420.- 176.- - 98.-
ADD 256K RAM 720.- 198.- 220.- 195.-
ADD 512K RAM 1320.- - 403.- 385.-
CONTR & 1 DDRIVE 479.- 373.- 330.- 200.-
EPROM BASED SW 50.- 30.- 72.- 46.-
EPROM PROG CIRCUIT 60.- 34.- 120.- 1NCL
MODEM COMPLETE 150.- 115.- 281.- 200.-
PAR PRINT I.F. 72.- 65.- 49.- 61.-
The Z88 has sound, but harking back to the days of the ZX81 and TS1000, there are only four chips. One is a whopping 128K ROM chip that holds the operating system and five built-in programs. Another is the 32K RAM which would have made TS1000 owners drool, but is limiting now as their 2K RAM was back then. The user can easily upgrade this computer to an amazing 3Mbs providing he can afford it (for more on that see Figure C). The third chip is a custom gate array made by NEC. But the fourth and final chip is what really proves Sir Clive came home: the Z80 CPU. All of his computers have had a Z80 with the exception of the QL (which implemented the fundamentally different 68000 CPU chip). The Z80 is the “Cadillac” among 8-bit CPUs. This Z80 is a special CMOS type, meaning it is very low power consumptive, but otherwise uses the same machine code all Sinclair hackers are accustomed to. The Z88 even has a built-in assembler for us! And somehow Sir Clive has managed to make the four chip Z88 computer plenty fast. I’ve been impressed by its speed and also its ability to jump mid-stream from one program to another, call up menus with a key press and then return without a hitch. The Z88 does act in some ways like the QL, too.
The Z88 has many of the good features from his previous machines. And it has a few new surprises as well. The built-in (no-need-to-load) programs are very good. The word processor trounces the QUILL program the QL came with. And as a previously dedicated “Day-Timer” daily schedule book user, I am particularly pleased with the calendar feature. It will automatically transfer today’s task to tomorrow’s list of things to do if you haven’t completed it. The choice to go with what amounts to RAM disk technology instead of floppies or microdrives for storage will raise some eyebrows. But certainly a whole range of disk and even cassette based storage options are coming. The Z88 will change the way we think about programs. No LOADing or long SAVEs are required. Software plugs in instantly, and programs we are working on will stay unharmed in the machine for a year. With an EPROM burner built in to every machine, every user is a potential EPROM-based software writer, too!
What does the Z88’s future look like? I don’t know for sure, but I think the signs are more encouraging for us this time around. For one thing, Sir Clive’s big debts were paid in the Amstrad sale. For another this machine has no “U.S. TV hook-up” problems all his previous machines have had to overcome. The special U.S. software, U.S. ROMs and U.S. modulator circuitry always required before are unneeded: we all have the same screens! So most all of Europe’s Z88 software will work and vice versa. Ditto for hardware. That brings me to my next point: even though Sinclair was forced into selling his BASIC, isn’t it conceivable that even a one-key entry of BASIC utility (on EPROM of course) might how up to make programming like I’m most at home with? Could be.
Talking with dealers is also enlightening. Sir Clive has very little marketing of the new machine going on in the U.S. as of yet. He’s pushing it at home, presumably to get it going strong overseas. If we were seeing the big magazine ads and slick-paper mailings we received with his previous machines, I’d be worried. Perhaps he has learned some austerity in the last few years. They are also holding the line on prices. They are determined that the mad fury of gas-war style price cutting that derailed the TS1000 will not sink the Z88, too. We are also seeing Clive promote the machine himself. This is not to save money on sales help, but I believe the man for the first time in a long time is truly proud of a creation. And rightly so. The Z88 belongs in the “Sinclair Family”.
Figure C. ZX81/TS1000: TS2068: QL: Z88:
------------ ------- ----- ------
16K 2.69 - - -
MEMORY 32K 3.06 3.44 - 1.31
UPGRADE'S 64K 2.11 2.03 - 1.31
COST PER 128K 3.28 1.38 - .77
256K 2.81 .77 .86 .76
BYTE: 512K 2.58 - .79 .75