... and snags award |
The British newspaper The Guardian has named Clive Sinclair as the Young Businessman of the Year. The award is made annually to people in Britain who have shown particular ability in business. Past winners have included Sir Michael Edwards, the man responsible for improving the ailing fortunes of Britain’s state-owned carmaker BL. The award has |
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16 Pin Bowling |
Sixteen pins appear at the top of the screen for Bowling and the ball at the bottom. Use keys 5 and 8 to line up the two and press key 0 to bowl. The ball will be deflected by impact with the pins and thus make your task more difficult. For every pin hit you |
Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
2K games will please |
Starblaster is one of six 2k games on a tape sold by Softsync. The game uses machine language to scroll starts right to left across the screen. They player scores points by moving a based in front of the stars. The major problem with Starblaster is the instructions. The information with the games gives the |
Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
A-maze-ing 3-D overview |
Description: Labyrinth is a game sold by Mindware that creates a maze which the player must go through. At the start of the game, the player must choose the width and height of the maze. Before entering the maze, the player is given the option of seeing it first This gives the player plenty of |
Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
Alien Lure |
A game which links the bugbaiting type of program with a battle against alien invaders has been produced by Sanath Yogasundrum. When the game begins, the player is asked for a skill level, A or P, which stand for amateur or professional. It is advisable to start on the amateur level while the player begins |
Timex/Sinclair 1000, Downloadable |
Aliens Attack |
In Galactic Invaders, seven alien crafts fly randomly around the screen, and fire at your laser base. The base can withstand seven hits before it is destroyed. After all seven crafts are destroyed, seven more appear and move at a higher speed. The player scores one point for each craft shot down. Evaluation: Although this |
Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
All about ROMs |
In Understanding Your ZX-81 ROM, by Ian Logan, the reader doesn’t have to contend with an update from the Sinclair ZX-80. Hold your joy, however, because since the book was published Sinclair has modified their original 8K ROM monitor. A two-page insert at the front of the book explains the differences, which are about a |
Sinclair ZX81 |
Assembler offers aid |
Description: Machine language programming is very slow and tedious without using an assembler program. International Publishing and Software sells ZX Assembler, a program that allows you to enter and edit machine language using mnemonics. ZX Assembler occupies 7K and is located at the top of memory. It stores the machine language in a REM statement |
Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
Build your own EPROM blower without blowing a fortune |
Because most users of the T/S1000/ZX81 are software orientated, the hardware has been made simple in this design. The software needed to run it consequently will be large and some of it is in machine code. The heart of the design is the 8255 programmable peripheral interface device. This chip has 24 lines of input |
Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
Bulletins: Software satirizes suburbanites |
2-Bit Software of Del Mar California, has introduced a software four-pack that satirizes the suburban homemaker. Mad Dash tests your ability to race through the house when you haven’t had a break all day, while Carfool demands you figure out how to use the least amount of gas while running errands all over town. Harried |
Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
Check our handy chess guide |
In a stalemate over which chess program to buy? Check here before you make your move and you won’t get rooked! To help you bring order to the wide array of software available For the T/S1000/ZX81, our writers will look at specific types of programs in each issue. This month we look at six different |
Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
Clive sells 1.6 million computers... |
Sinclair Research has claimed to be the first company to sell more than one million home computers. Since it began selling the ZX80 three years ago it has sold 130,000 ZX80s, 750,000 ZX81s and 200,000 Spectrums, an upgraded version of which is to appear soon in North America as the T/S2000. And these figures do |
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Computer Combat! |
The first question often asked about a new machine is “Does it play Space Invaders?” Though a 1K machine has considerable difficulty getting anywhere Computer Combat using only 1K, is a type of mini Space Invaders but with only one invader and one base and a much slower rate of firing. The object of the |
Timex/Sinclair 1000, Downloadable |
Computers as teachers: do they work? |
Computers are in our schools now, and students are using them every day. Are they dehumanizing? Do they teach anything? Will teachers reject them? Charles Durang, science and computer editor for Reston Publishing, explores some old computer myths. Can you remember, not too long ago, when no one thought computers would get into the education |
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Defend your planet |
Description: You are in charge of a missile launcher and must save Earth from invading spaceships. With 15 rockets, you must choose a velocity to shoot down the invaders. The direction of each rocket is determined by the velocity you choose for it. If that sounds like an exciting game, then you would probably like |
Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
Fast Action In 2K |
Description: In TS Destroyer, you fly in the center of the screen, and objets fly toward you from the left; you must dodge or shoot them. At the same time, another spaceship is flying up and down to your right, taking shots at you. In Space Raid, you control a gun that moves horizontally across |
Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
Fresh air from Reston |
If you’ve ever had to struggle through page after page of a boring book, you’ll really appreciate this breath of fresh air: in fact, customs officials should have bestowed it a personality award. It’s fun. The writing is very readable and will please both adult and child. The book (Making the Most of Your Timex |
Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
Go with the flow and no illogical jumps |
Last month I explained how to draw a flowchart of a program by splitting it into parts. Each part corresponds to an operation performed either by the user or the computer program. This month we take that a step further and examine a way of breaking a program code into easily-understood areas. There are three |
Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
How educational are the "educational" programs |
Kids do learn from using computer games. This does not make those games educational programs. To be educational, a program must teach something that somebody planned to teach. In the jargon of the schools, that is called a learning objective. Further, to be educational, a program must show somehow that the kid has learned that |
Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
In search of a golden memory |
The Most important hardware device you can add to your computer is a memory unit. In this article we analyse three memory units for design, flexibility, durability and cost: the Memopak 16K, the Sinclair !6K RAM and the Panda 16K. These connect to the T/S1000 via the expansion port at the rear of the computer. |
Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
Knight's Move |
Knight’s Move uses the movement pattern of the knight in chess to try to cover every space in a square. The program asks where you wish to start on the board, giving the vertical coordinate first, and then marks the moves as you make your way round the board. There is a check routine to |
Timex/Sinclair 1000, Downloadable |
Laser Cannon |
A fleet of 20 "X” ships is attacking you. You must destroy at least 15 of them or be destroyed. |
Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
Letters: Lending an Ear, Keeping the Faith, Complaint Department |
LENDING AN EAR I purchased the Timex Sinclair to see if a 60-year-old retired gent could learn computer programming. I do have problems finding books that do more than teach one to input programs and play games. I have purchased five books on the T/S1000 and ZX81 and have yet to find an adequate explanation |
Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
More Missile Madness |
Description: A missile launcher moves up and down on the left side of the screen in the program called Missile Launcher. You fire missiles at ammunition dumps on the right side of the screen. The player gets 25 shots and scores points for hitting the ammunition. Bonus points are scored for destroying an entire ammunition |
Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
No Faire for Timex |
Fifty thousand people agreed that the 8th West Coast Computer Faire, held in San Francisco From March 18 to March 20, was fantastic. It boasted 500 different exhibitors ranging from the small single-booth entrepreneur selling tapes and books to the “big guns” like Apple, Commodore and I.B.M. No, we didn’t forget to mention Timex, they |
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Shoot Your Way To Safety |
Description: Combat Flight casts you as the commander of a fighter ship, flying through mountainous terrain shooting at alien ships. Seven types of alien ships fly by. Points scored depend on the of alien you hit with lasers. A player gets three lives per game. After the game, the top five scores are displayed with |
Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
Surround |
You will probably recognize Surround as soon as you RUN it. It is a version of a fairly standard routine in which you are required to surround your adversary before he can surround you. Both players are in continuous motion and are not allowed to cross their tracks or those of their opponent, or to |
Timex/Sinclair 1000, Downloadable |
The basic route to a habit-forming hobby |
Buying a Timex Sinclair machine can be the start of a lifetime obsession with home computing. It is easy, however, to become discouraged if everything does not go according to plan from the beginning. For those with only a little knowledge of computers and their capabilities, the best way to approach the machine is to |
Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
The Great Connecticut Kit-Building Experiment |
New Haven's Chris Baldwin ignited young minds by introducing 28 students to the world of tech through his 10-week ZX81 workshop. |
Sinclair ZX81 |
The Paradoxical World of Clive Sinclair |
Now 42, and with his company, Sinclair Research, recently valued at over 200 million dollars, Clive Sinclair can reflect on a 20-year career in electronics which has established him as Britain’s leading high-technology entrepreneur. He has many ‘firsts’ to his name, from the world’s first pocket calculator (1972) and pocket television (1977), through to the |
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These kids' books make learning fun |
There are many books on the market today aimed at teaching kids how to get the most from their home computers. Two of these are Computers for Kids, by Sally Greenwood Larsen, and Katie and the Computer, by Fred D’lgnazio. Both are From Creative Computing Press and both should delight young computer users everywhere. Katie |
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Timex needs higher profile |
Welcome to our second issue. Your response to our first was overwhelming and really gratifying. From all of us on this side of Timex Sinclair User to all of you, “Thanks”. Our contest editor is screaming for more help to deal with all the great games that are pouring in. In case this is your |
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U.K. Hoax Exposed |
Last April, the British counterpart to this magazine, Sinclair User, ran a program entitled “Machine Code Converter” that was amazingly economical — only 27 lines long. “Now a brilliant piece of programming enables the Basic programmer to convert his listing automatically into machine code by LOADing from a tape or by entering the program line |
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Use It |
Eleven-yeah-old Keith Goode of Arlington, Texas, certainly gives you your money’s worth with this program. In the menu, Use It presents you with, you can choose one of seven options. The first turns your computer into a drawing board. Option two draws sine wave curves. Three, four, five and six convert your keyboard into a |
Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
Vast database soon available to Sinclair users |
With the next new computer from Sinclair Research not expected until next year, attention in the U.K. is being focussed on expanding existing systems. The two major expansions for which Sinclair owners are eagerly waiting are the Microdrives and Micronet 800. Both have been announced but neither is yet available. The Microdrives are expected soon |
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Vast support network growing |
A vast support network exists for the T/S1000/ZX81: wherever goes the most popular computer in history, user groups are not far behind. Below is a list of many such groups in the United States; as new ones are springing up all the time, we make no claims that it is inclusive. Whenever two or more |
Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
When the lights go out ... |
The Cramic-81 is a low-power, battery-backup RAM. It uses up-to-date technology such as lithium batteries to maintain your RAM’s contents even when the power is disconnected. It is ideal for keeping large, often used programs, machine code routines or programs you are working on without the bother of having to load them from cassette each |
Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
Who says that graphics have to be complicated? |
All you need to start is a simple understanding of the PLOT command, says professor and author Michael K. Barnett in this exclusive interview. Can you tell us some of the computers that you use for computer graphics? These include some very large IBM machines like 370s, 3033s and 3081s, some personal computers like the |
Timex/Sinclair 1000 |