AlchNews and Z88 USER ISSUE 38, MARCH 2002 THE SPECTRUM RETURNS TO THE SHOPS! 1 INDEX ISSUE 38 3. EDITORIAL. My ramblings. 4. NEWS & VIEWS. Latest happenings. 9. THE AMSTRAD EMAILER-PLUS. Amstrad’s new multi-function telephone device, which now features a Spectrum emulator! 10. LOOK, IT’S 1983. Michael Bruhn looks at the first full year of Sinclair software and some classics which first appeared. 16. THE HISTORY OF SINCLAIR BASIC. Andrew Owen details how one of the finest BASIC interpreters was created. 23. CP/M PLUS SOFTWARE FOR THE SPECTRUM. Christian Secara reviews some essential utilities for Spectrum CP/M and Realspec. All programs can be downloaded from his site. 28. SINTECH ADVERT. Credits Big thanks to the following contributors: MICHAEL BRUHN for his series ANDREW OWEN for his excellent BASIC article and work on a new OS. CHRISTIAN SECARA and his great CP/M material And even AMSTRAD for putting a bit of computing history in their new product. Despite the knockers I hope it does well and gets even more people interested in the Spectrum 2 EDITORIAL I apologise immensely for the feature some initial feedback delay between issues. After from genuine Spectrum users Mick died, I just completely later on, although much of it is gave up on the Spectrum for a extremely negative - genuine short time. All the hardware dislike of the machine and all and software he collected, all that Amstrad stands for, or the hours he put into his just typical negative behaviour projects, and for what? It left from the CSS regulars? The me very disheartened with the fact that you have to actually whole business. pay to download games is certainly an issue, but I for But, I decided to stop moping one would recommend people around and get things back on actually try it before making track. I was tempted to make judgement. this the last issue but, getting towards the end of compiling it A few unplanned articles crept I thought “hell, why?”. We did into this issue, forcing the CP/ have a quiet spell of Spectrum M ‘special’ I had planned over activity a while ago but, once to the next issue. But, it will be again, things are picking up. worth it. Andrew Owen’s history of Sinclair Basic, and This issue’s news section is his new projects, make for one of the largest for ages, excellent reading. It is with information on new refreshing to know that as the emulators and hardware, Spectrum approaches including details on a build- TWENTY years old at the end your-own-+D project! of the year there are thousands of people still It’s fantastic to see that the striving hard to keep the name Spectrum is once again being going. sold in the shops, although technically it’s an emulation in Thanks for still reading and a glorified telephone! We keeping the magazine going. have a brief page of information on that and will Andy Davis, editor. 3 NEWS & VIEWS WOS UPDATED versions of each and every re- release. Using a new database The largest project on WoS to format and style for the point- date was successfully carried and-click lists, you can instantly out: a complete redesign of the tell which titles are MIA or part archive, the tooling and the of the new Spectrum Tape databases behind it, plus a Preservation project. The lists replacement of all TZX and are kept up to date fully DSK images from this archive automatically. with the ones on The TZX Vault! All short 8.3 filename directories (duplicated, hard- More importantly, the new linked) have gone - only tooling will make all future fullname directories are kept archive updates a breeze. (but still with the short We think it's a major filenames inside the zips). improvement and hope you like it too! Well over a thousand (!) database corrections were The new system gives much made in both the WoS and TZX more detailed information and Vault databases. e.g. tell you (much) more accurately which titles were re- The Spectrum Tape released, by whom and under Preservation project's site is which name. now hosted on WoS. Finally, +3 disks and compilation tapes are properly HACKERS HANGOUT 11 dealt with as well. Issue 11 was released in mid- We stopped fiddling with the February. The cost is £1.50 current Perfect flag for game and is available direct from: images. Instead, we will aim for a full set of 1 TZX and 1 non- Andy Ryals TZX image per game, plus TZX 29 Dent Drive 4 Eastmoor Estate about former athletics star, Wakefield Daley Thompson. West Yorkshire WF1 4JG Part of the documentary, entitled ‘Black Icons: Daley Thompson’, will focus on the Andy now has a new project on various Daley Thompson the go—ZX DIGEST., an on- computer games that have line magazine dedicated to been released over the years. bring you information of new Needing to get hold of three articles within ZX Digest : ageing Spectrum titles - Daley Thompson’s Decathlon, Daley +News of special readers Thompson’s Supertest and offers Daley Thompson’s Olympic +Website updates Challenge - urgently for a film +Details of obtaining brand shoot, a BBC researcher in new Spectrum software Manchester contacted The +The release date of ZX Sinclair Lair after stumbling Digest across our Web site. +The contents of ZX Digest +Information about players Within hours, Sinclair Lair chief guides, maps, hacks to Alex Waddington was able to latest software. offer the Beeb the opportunity to purchase all three titles. Two To subscribe to ZX Digest, were already sitting in a email Andy at: storage, while the other was quickly sourced through the [email protected] Lair’s successful Games Finder Service. JAMES WADDINGTON COMES TO BEEBS RESCUE! "Yet again The Games Finder service comes up trumps," said A small retro computer games Waddington. "The service has Web site has come to the helped dozens of people rescue of the BBC by supplying worldwide find old computer it with three vintage Sinclair titles, and now we’ve even Spectrum computers titles for a managed to help out the mighty forthcoming television program BBC." 5 The Games Finder Service is An exact transmission date for just one part of The Sinclair ‘Black Icons: Daley Thompson’ Lair Web site, which includes has yet to be set, but it will be articles from an old Spectrum shown on BBC2 in the 9.50pm fanzine called Classix, and full slot at some point during the solutions to Spectrum next few months. adventure games. Visitors can also browse a list of original PORNO BARON IN Spectrum software for sale, TEACHING SHOCK!!! with prices starting at just 5p. If any of you in the Blackpool Anyone seeking an elusive area are thinking of going, or piece of software for the sending your children to the Sinclair Spectrum, or indeed local college, beware! For our any old home computer, is old pal ROY BENSON is now encouraged to get in touch with employed as a Computer The Sinclair Lair by visiting the Lecturer at Blackpool & Fylde Web site or by emailing College. [email protected]. Seriously, congratulations to If the Games Finder Service Roy, we are pretty sure that he manages to track down the will make an outstanding software required, the enquirer teacher (in where to get the is contacted and offered the best porn!). opportunity to purchase the title (s) at cost price plus a £5 LOADED FORUM CLOSES ‘finder fee’ per item. For customers in the EEC, the fee The LOADED Sinclair forum, is £6 per item, and £7 per item tipped to be the new CSS, has for those in other parts of the sadly folded. The hit rate was world. approximately 26,300+ in 3 months, but only post rates "We operate a genuine no win, count on Message boards not no fee policy," adds hits! - Loaded was only getting Waddington. "If we fail to find around 1 post per 20 visits. the software you are after, you don’t owe us a penny." The CSS newsgroup is still going strong, and can be 6 accessed by your email UK2086 Timexes. But by program’s newsgroup facility, replacing the existing system of or via the GOOGLE website. channels and streams with something more flexible the REALSPEC VERSION 11C aim is to make it fully platform RELEASE independent. Just before the brand new The development of Sinclair Windows version of Realspec, Extended Basic means that any one minor update has just been Spectrum can be turned into a posted at the Realspec website ZX Spectrum SE, from the (www.ramsoft.bbk.org) original 16K machine upwards. This means that you can use This update features improved whichever machine suits you, AY/YM emulation (probably or an emulator. These are just perceived by audio maniacs some possibilities, but they are only), a usable tape browser by no means the only ones: (SHIFT-F7) and a few bugfixes. Most importantly, it is linked to 1) ZX Spectrum +3e (designed a new version of the Allegro by Garry Lancaster) - 3.546 library which seems much more Mhz / 128K stable than the previous ones, so you are recommended to 2) Timex TC2144 (designed by update if you are experiencing Jarek Adamski) - 3.528 Mhz / weird problems with the post- 144K beta10 releases. 3) SpeccyBOB (designed by SPECTRUM SE PROJECT Mike Wynne) - 7Mhz / 4MB Andrew Owen is currently 4) Sprinter (designed by Peters undertaking a project to design Plus Ltd) 21Mhz / 64MB a new operating system for the new Spectrums which are A full rundown of the software abound at present.