A Short History of the Z88

Most of this article is compiled from news events appearing in Z88 FAX News and Z88 EPROM. Z88 FAX News was an American publication printed on FAX paper in a newspaper style format. Z88 EPROM is the newsletter published by the Z88 Users’ Club in the United Kingdom. The club has a worldwide membership. Z88 EPROM is available from Sharp’s if you buy the ‘Z88 Newsletter’.

The story starts out in 1986 with Sinclair Research, Ltd. Sinclair is short of cash. So a deal is worked out with Amstrad Computers. Amstrad is a chief rival. Amstrad get the rights to the existing computer range (QL and Spectrum) plus the right to use the name Sinclair. Sinclair get 5 million pounds. Amstrad market the Spectrum as a game machine. They try to kill off the QL, presumably because it competed with their own machines. The QL survives anyway due to support from numerous third party companies.

From the money made in the deal, Clive Sinclair forms a new company, Cambridge Computer, Ltd.

The first product is a laptop computer called the Z88. It was announced in June 1987 with an official launch for the UK retail market in September 1987. The price is £249.95.

The Z88 is a Z80 based laptop with an 8 line by 106 column screen, 32K RAM built-in, a built-in serial port and a conductive rubber keyboard. It weighs less than two pounds. There are three expansion ports for extra RAM and a built-in EPROM burner in slot three. There is a task-switching operating system which can access more than 64K at a time due to bank switching which is completely transparent to the user.

December 1987 messages about the Z88 first appear on the GEnie Information Service.

Spring 1988 Cambridge Computer LTD. show a prototype 512K RAM card. The official Z88 carrying case is launched. It is black padded PVC with a nylon zipper around the sides. There are six pockets for extra batteries or additional RAM and EPROM cartridges. MacLink is introduced. The official modem is introduced. It is the Datatronics 1200P. This is a pocket sized 1200/300 baud unit.

Summer 1988 CCL appoints National UK distributors. The 512K RAM is available in small quantities.

Cambridge Computer signs a deal worth $7.1 million with Diversified Foods for distribution in the USA. There is an initial 13,000 Z88’s. The expansion port on the side is phased out. Cambridge is worried about Z88’s failing from peripherals being plugged in and out. The Z88 is never off. Just the display is turned off. The official modem is being shipped. 128K and 512K RAMs are being delivered after a shortage.

Winter 1988 Z88 now has official distribution in Italy, France Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Turkey.

Wordmongers has a deal with Diversified Foods to distribute 1000 copies of zBASE to North America. Non-sale of EPROM software is rumored to be one reason for Diversified’s later demise in the Z88 market.

December 1988 Z88 BBS in Los Angeles is started.

Cambridge Computer markets Xmas Pack with Z88, 128K RAM, carrying case and AC Adapter for £299.95.

January 1989 Cambridge decides to sell Developers Notesm which is a good move guaranteed to increase third party software on the market. Spring 1989 Comets and Dixons, two large UK retailers, decide to no longer sell the Z88. There still are quite a few dealers of the machine in the UK. A list appeared in Z88 EPROM. Cambridge reduces the price of the Z88 to £199.95.

Three different disk drives are introduced. Two of these are based on the Tandy portable 200K disk drive which was originally developed for the Tandy Model 100 portable computer. One of these systems was developed in the US by PCIC and the other was developed in the UK by XOB. There is a third drive by Ranger which formats to 720K and the disks are PC compatible. It is quite expensive at £450 and is intended for the corporate market.

August 1989 ZED-88 BBS in suburban Washington D.C. is started.

January 1990 Z88 FAX News is started in the US. It is published by Curtis Claar. ZFN has two or three 8 1/2 by 11 newspaper-style pages sent by fax machine or by regular mail if you don’t have access to a fax machine.

A new organization appears in the US. The Cambridge Group targets college students, selling Z88s through sales reps.

February 1990 Cambridge Computer have a one per pupil order of Z88s from Macmillan City Technology College covering an initial 200 computers. The students are 11 year olds.

Cambridge North America, the US distributor (Diversified Foods), is reported to be on the verge of bankruptcy. They reportedly owe $1 million to Cambridge Computer Ltd. They file Chapter 11 for protection but still remain in business.

March 1990 Pipeline stops publishing after two issues. Pipeline was a Z88 publication put out by Time Designs Magazine. When Time Designs Magazine went belly-up, Pipeline did too.

April 1990 larger RAMs, up to 1 Megabyte, larger EPROMs and larger internal RAMs to replace the usual 32K :RAM.O are developed by MACroSystems, ETC. in the USA. These are also available from Sharp’s, which is a long time Z88 dealer.

Vision 100 is introduced from Ranger Computers Ltd. This program provides VT100 terminal emulation. This gives you the ability to display graphics from some online systems. It is priced at £175.00.

June 1990 Cambridge Computer Ltd. announce support of the Environmental Education Charity Living Earth. They donated five Z88s for use in the UK and in West Africa.

The New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries use the Z88. The Z88 is used in a special case as a display unit for motion compensated scales. These are used to weigh fish accurately at sea. The scales provide the true weight of the fish regardless of the pitch and roll of the ship.

Cambridge North America calls it quits on June 1st. Despite some later rumors of CNA still being in business, it really is gone. Its 800 number is sold to the Cambridge Group. ERI gets CNA’s inventory and customer list. ERI sells products for the Macintosh.

August 1990 Cambridge Computer Ltd. was unable to purchase the required number of Z88’s from SCI Ltd., who manufacture the machine in Scotland. So an agreement was reached with SCI. Cambridge gets some much needed funds in exchange for Sir Clive Sinclair’s controlling interest. He resigns as Chairman and no longer runs day to day business of the company. He does remain a shareholder.

Also Cambridge moves their headquarters to Irvine, Scotland where the Z88 is manufactured. Cambridge was developing a PC compatible laptop. This will no longer be developed. Sir Clive may develop this machine separate from Cambridge. CCL are interested in developing an improved Z88 at the same price level.

There continue to be UK Z88 workshops scheduled twice a year by the Z88 Users’ Club. UK Z88 companies are present and there are seminars on various topics. One Hundred members attend the latest workshop. Five people from Cambridge Computer attend including Jim Westwood who was a member of the Z88 design team.

February 1991 Z88 BBS is Los Angeles closes down due to interest by the Sysop in other areas.

May 1991 The Z88 Users’ Club have an improved relationship with the new Scottish Cambridge Computer. Customer support is greatly improved.

A 256K EPROM and a 1 Meg RAM are announced from EFS Ltd. EFS make all the the RAM and EPROM cartridges sold under the Cambridge label. The prices are said to be only marginally more expensive than the current Cambridge 128K EPROM and 512K RAMs.