Every now and again, someone will ask me, “Where can I find out more about Sinclair computers?” Now, to me the obvious well rounded choice is UPDATE Magazine! But of course, I have just a wee bit of prejudice in this matter, so I tell them about it…plus a few others to give a balanced picture. These are some that I find useful. I am not going to mention QL World till I find out what their future is, as they are part of the Maxwell fortune, and just a wee bit in limbo at the moment. I will say that I hope they survive the mess they got with the death of the mega-publisher Maxwell, and perhaps even come out of this stronger than before. They deserve to prosper and grow.
I will not be including user group or club newsletters in this listing. We have many fine ones in North America and in other parts of the world. What I will include are those publications done by groups or individual companies as a business or as a hobby.
Very new on the scene is ZX-91, the new newsletter for the Sinclair ZX81 / Timex 1000. It looks to be good for those who use this computer. To receive a copy, send a SASE envelope if you are Canadian, or a self addressed envelope and an INTERNATIONAL REPLY COUPON (available from your local post office) if you live elsewhere. It is available from Andre Baune, 304 Scott, Chateauguay, Quebec, Canada J6J 4H5.
For the QL we have the International QL Report, published by SeaCoast Services, and available from them by ordering from them at SeaCoast Services, 15 Kilburn Court, Newport, RI 02840, U.S.A.. They publish 4 to 6 issues a year, depending upon the amount of material received, and it averages 12 to 20 pages an issue. The price is $14.95 per year for the U.S., $16.95 per year for Canada, and $28.00 for the rest of the world. All funds are in U.S. dollars. They have put out 5 very good issues so far and have lived up to their name as being International in their coverage of the QL.
The QL Hacker’s Journal, available from Tim Swenson, 4773 W. Braddock Rd. #3, Alexandria, VA 22311, is to be given a good report for those who are actual programmers on the QL. If you program on the QL and are looking for others who can give you support, this is a good place to look. They are “into” MicroEmacs, the language C, Pascal, and how to really use them, as well as solving software problems. They are not into just using off-the-shelf software, and would like to have readers who can contribute to the Journal. As Tim said in a recent issue, it gives him the chance to write the kind of articles he wants. At this time the price seems to be for free. I have been lucky enough to get Frank to share his issues with me.
Computer Monthly has a fairly regular column written by Bill Ferrebee. It has appeared almost every month. In this column Bill covers new program reviews for the TS1000, Spectrum and the TS2068. He also covers Sinclair publications and user groups for the above mentioned computers, as well as the QL and the Z88. He usually tries to throw in at least one short type-in public domain program every issue. He has been a big supporter of TS2068 Desk Top Publishing, using Sinclairs and of UPDATE Magazine. Computer Monthly also is an excellent replacement for Computer Shopper (it is the type of mag they used to be before they did away with the Classic Computer coverage.)
Next issue I will visit the QUANTA mag and user group newsletters for North America and perhaps a few from overseas.