Logan’s Run…

Interview with Ian Logan, author of several Sinclair ROM disassembly books.

When Ian was working at Sinclair, he met Scott McCourt. Scott was in charge of writing the system software for the Timex 2000 machine, the US Spectrum equivalent. He asked Ian for help – to go over to the US and write software for them.

“They wanted to add new commands to the Spectrum,” says Ian. “The machine was a 1981 design and requirements for a 1983 computer have evolved since then. They were going to have to redo the Spectrum printed-circuit board for the TS2000 to satisfy US FCC regulations and to make it compatible with the NTSC TV standard. So, while they were about it, they decided to produce an enhanced version, with extra commands.”

“I’m not sure if Timex made the right decision – maybe they should have just put out the Spectrum, more or less as it is and got it out over there earlier.”

During his two weeks stay with Timex, Ian showed them how to add new commands and routines. He extended the syntax checking and corrected some of the small bugs in the Spectrum’s own ROM. “I wouldn’t want to make too much of the Spectrum’s faults. It is a very successful machine,” he says. “After all, it is not often you need to use the number -int 65536.”