Custom PC - UK (2020-07)

B

eforethebelovedSinclaircomputerbrandwas
boughtoutbya freshandfurry-facedAlanSugarin
1986,CliveSinclair’sengineerswereworkingona
projecttoinjectnewlifeintotheZXSpectrum,codenamed
‘Loki’.Withcustomsiliconenhancingthegraphicsandsound
oftheZXSpectrumcore,anda 7MHzZ80HCPU,it could
possiblyhaverivalledtheAtariSTandCommodoreAmiga.
TheZXSpectrumNextonp94givesusa glimpseofsomeof
thepotential.Whatactuallyhappened,though,wasthe
SinclairPC200.
ThePC200wasAmstrad’slastrolloftheblackandred
Sinclairdice,aimingtobuilda homebusinessmachinewith
familyappeal.It wasbasicallya black,rebadgedversionof
Amstrad’sPC20,withanRFoutputenablingit tobeplugged
intoa TV,plusa joystickand gamesbundle.Unlikeprevious
Sinclairmachines,it wasalsoIBMPC-compatible.
LiketheAtari520STandCommodoreAmiga500,
thewholeshebangis shoehornedintothesameboxas
thekeyboard.Thebaseunitwouldsetyouback£459inc
VATonitsown,while£574incVATwouldalsogetyoua
monomonitorand£689incVATwouldgetyoua
colourmonitor.

Specs

PCsweren’tcheapatthistime,though,andhittingthose

pricesmeantseriouscompromises.Atitscore,theSinclair

PC200wasa primitiveXT-levelIBMPCclone.It hadan

8MHzAMD 8086 CPU(marketedas‘Intelcompatible’rather

thanAMD),512KBofRAM,CGAgraphics,a 720KB3.5in

floppydriveandnoharddrive.I say‘primitive’,becausethe

specswereconsidereddreadfulevenatthetime.In1988,

boththe 286 and 386 hadbeenoutforsometime,ashad

EGAgraphicsadaptors.YouveryrarelysawPCswithouthard

drivesatthistimeeither.

Thatwouldallbefineif youweremakinga cut-down

businessmachine,butthePC200wasverymuchnota

homegamesmachine,despiteitspretences.Forstarters,

theCGAgraphicsadaptorcouldonlydisplayfourcoloursat

320 x 200,ortwocoloursat 640 x 200.

AsyoumayrecallfromourguidetoCGAgraphics(see

Issue191,p101),thesevisualswerepitifulcomparedwiththe

full-colourgraphicsontheAmigaandAtariST.If youwanted

toplaya racinggame,youcouldforgetluxuriessuchas

havinga blackroad,a redcar,blueskyandgreengrass.

Thesoundwasn’tmuchcopeither.WhilethelatestAtari

andAmigamachinesfeaturedarcade-qualitygamingaudio,

thePC200hada basicPCspeakerbeeper(seeIssue196,

p112),althoughtherotaryvolumecontrolonthesidemeant

youcouldtakedowntheshrillchirpinga notchortwo.The

RETRO TECH / ANALYSIS

Sinclair

PC200

Ben Hardwidge takes a lookback at his very first PC,

the last computer toofficiallybeartheSinclairbrand

The Sinclair

PC200’s black

chassis looked

smart compared

to other PCs at

the time, but its

innards left little to

be desired. Photo

by Marcin Wichary

(flickr.com/photos/

mwichary)

Rick Dangerous 2

running the default

four-colour CGA

palette. My eyes!

y