Issue 1404 67
REMEMBERING...
A
fter Sir Clive sold his company
name to Sir Alan (although he
wasn’t a Sir back then), it
was a significant blow to the home
computing community. What was to
happen to the much loved Spectrum?
Where next for the games? The future
remained uncertain.
For a mere £5 million, which is peanuts
by today’s standards, Alan Sugar’s
Amstrad became the new owner of the
Sinclair brand and its range of home
computers. That was in April 1986, and it
wasn’t long before we began to see what
was to become of the Spectrum computer
through the pages of Crash and other
such notable magazines of the time.
The ZX Spectrum +2 was the first of
the Amstrad Sinclair computers, launched
in 1986 for between £150 and £200. It’s
remarkable likeness to the Amstrad CPC
464 wasn’treally surprising. After all, the
company had seen some success with
that particular model and layout.
Of course, it was a different beast
to any Spectrum that came before it.
The spring-loaded keyboard, built-in
dual joystick ports and the attached
taperecorder – the Datacorder – werea
startling new look from the old ‘dead flesh
keyboard’ and previous ‘Toastie’ versions.
But it wasn’t a bad new look.
Although there were somereservations
at first, the Spectrum +2 actually proved
to be a far morereliable and effective
home computer than its older siblings.
The improved manufacturing process from
Taiwan, the first time a Spectrum had been
made outside of the UK and better testing
meant that this model was more stable
and significantly morereliable.
It was slightly faster (3.5MHz), it
included the wonderfulYamahaAY-3-
8912 sound chip, and the familiar 128K
menu had changed slightly too, with
the removal of theTape Testing option.
Although there were some problems with
the ROM addressing with older Spectrum
games and the fact that the tape deck
did occasionally die, the +2 proved itself
to be one of the best home computers of
the time.ItsHistory
After spending £5 million on the Sinclair
brand, Amstrad needed to come up
with something new, yet familiar enough
to bring the already established Spectrum
user base on board, while tempting
new users to spend their cash on this
model rather than the still magnificently
popular Commodore.
The first batch of Spectrum +2’s were
sold with a collection of interesting extras,
such as the James Bond 007 Action
Pack, with a light gun. This was quite
a change in direction, as the Spectrum
was now beingregarded as a gaming
machine, compared to Sir Clive’s original
educational-only platform.
It was a clever move on the part of
Amstrad, and it sold around a quarter of
a million units in the first year – less than
Amstrad expected, but still enough to
turn a profit and continue the production
of the Spectrum into the +2A, +2B and
finally the +3 models. There was evena
rumour of a +4.
However, despite the new lease of
life the Spectrum was enjoying, the end
of 8-bit home computing was rapidly
approaching. The + models of theSpectrum were eventually dropped in
favour of 16-bit machines.TheGood
A well designed machine,reliable and fairly
cheap too.TheBad
Problems with early ROMs meant some
older Speccy games didn’t work. The
occasional hissy fit from the Datacorder.
Twiddling Azimuth screws.Conclusion
The Spectrum +2 was a personal favourite
of mine and one I still dig out from time
to time.DavidHaywardhas fond, but painful memories ofhis SpeccyRemembering...
Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2
DidYouKnow?
- The +2A and +2B model
motherboards differed slightly
due to production being moved
from Hong Kong toTaiwan. - There was a 32KB ROM, split into
two 16KB ROMs for the 48KB and
128KB Spectum modes. - Replacing the Sinclair Research
copyright notice on the screen
changed the memory addresses
and caused problems with
some games. - When the tape drive finally died
on my +2, I could get it working
by removing the lid and gripping
the tape against the heads and
the front of the Spectrum while
the games loaded. As a young
teen, I developed remarkable
forearm strength.
iThe grey chassis of the Spectrum +2.
Bless its little rubber feet
iThe +2A was somewhat improved, but still had some
Datacorder problemsiThe +2B was the last tape based Spectrum to be
sold. After that came the +3