The Spectrum 128 is the latest computer from Sinclair in the Spectrum family. It is housed in a Spectrum + body, but has more pluses than the Spectrum + ever dreamed of having.
The particular version that we received is the Spanish one currently being sold in Spain. Sinclair is holding back the English introduction of this machine until after the first of the year due to a surplus of unsold Spectrum Pluses’ still available in England and expected to be sold during the holiday season.
At first glimpse, it looks like a Spectrum + with an extension on the right side of the computer which turns out to be a large heat-sink. At second look, we see that the connections have been moved around a bit and some have been added! An RGB interface has been included and has the same connections as on the QL (An 8pin DIN connector). The EAR & MIC connections have been moved to the left side and an RS232 port has been added. On the right front of the computer is another port to attach the (included) external keypad which includes 0-9, period, /, *, (, ), -, +, and ENTER (=) plus many edit functions.
Because these are European computers, we have always had a problem with them running in color on U. SS. televisions. With the RGB interface, it works beautifully on any RGB monitor. I have tried it on my Sears RGB and on the Magnavox (NAP) Monitor 40. It also has the long time standard TV channel 36 output in black & white on U. S. television.
The computer boasts having 128K of memory, if you add everything up as they did with the TS 2068 (72K) you come up with a whopping 160K of memory. This is because there are two operating systems in this machine. One operating system is the standard Spectrum, and the other is for the new 128 enhanced system.
When you power up the system, you are in the 128K mode. A new 1985 copyright notice tells you something is different. On this unit, it says Espanol underneath (all prompts and messages are in Spanish). While in the 128K mode, you can go to the Spectrum mode at any time by typing in SPECTRUM at the bottom of the screen, and it will behave exactly like a Spectrum. Otherwise, you have a full-screen editor on your hands where you type in the full word (letter by letter) for each BASIC command.
The full-screen editor allows you to move the cursor anywhere on the screen and correct or change any of your program. The keypad has additional control where it can move to the end of the program and _ back, move a word or line at a time and delete a word or line just as easily. There is also a renumbering command which allows you to start and space each line how you want to. For example, NUM 100,5 will renumber the program lines so that they start at line 100 and increment by 5. Also the DELETE command has been added so you can delete a block of lines at a time: DELETE 50,70 will delete lines 50 through 70 inclusive.
All commands must be typed in capital Imode and UPPER CASE is spelled out at the bottom of the screem when you are in that mode. If a syntax error is detected, the cursor appears just before the error with a picture of a bug blinking inside. When listing back programs which you have used the colon to separate commands, each command is listed on a seperate line for easier editing. And get this: Programs created in the 128K mode can be LOADed in on a Spectrum and vice-versa!
The separate keypad is a very powerful extension of the keyboard. In 128k mode, it will act like a calculator where numbers and math symbols are entered directly and then = is pressed and the answer is displayed.
A text edit mode or word processor is built into the machine. When EDIT ES is entered, the screen changes to one similar to Tasword. Line and column position is given as well as the text edit mode you are in. Even word wrap on/off is. given. Edit modes include insert, substitution, and automatic margin. The external keyboard comes in handy again as it allows you to move through and delete text as needed and to change commands and set InMargins. I found the external keypad easier to use than a joystick.
With the RS232 port connected to a serial printer, the text can be printed out. LPRINT, LLIST, and COPY are all supported via the RS232 port connected to an Epson type printer. The baud rate can be changed using the FORMAT command and can be set to 50, 110, 300, 600, 1200, 2400, 4800, and 9600 baud. The RS232 port is connected to channel 3 and can be used to transmit and receive.
The extra memory is accessed as a “RAM disk”. All the storage commands are the same as they are for cassette, but use the exclamation mark as the qualifier. Example: SAVE! “name” LINE 10, etc. VERIFY is not supported, however, you can use CAT! to list files stored in RAM disk and ERASE! “name” to erase files. SAVEing and LOADing of these files is instantaneous.
The Spectrum 128 does not have a speaker inside like earlier models. With this model, you use the TV speaker or connect the mic jack to your monitor’s audio input jack. Both music and sound effects can be obtained with this model due to the addition of a sound synthesizer just like the one used in the TS 2068.
The Spectrum 128 also has MIDI access (Musical Instrument Digital Interface). This access allows you to plug the computer into different types of musical instruments such as synthesizers which use this type of standard connection. In this way, the computer can be used to program music which the musical instrument will interpret.
The BEEP command is the same as before. To program the sound generator, a much easier approach is taken then that with the 2068. You build up your music or sound effects in chains by using character arrays. Once you build up your chain, you use the PLAY command. PLAY controls up to three sound channels like A, B, & C. to play these back, you would use PLAY A$,BS, C$.
To build a chain, you would simply state LET AŞ=”cfedafg” and upon entering PLAY AŞ, those notes are played. You can change the octave by using the command and a number from 0 to 8. Now LET AŞ=”07cfedafg” and the notes are played in the eighth octave. The # and $ will raise and lower the tone. The M command programs the noise and tone channels. Duration is controlled by placing a letter before each note. Pauses are specified by &. The command sets the volume. The W command sets the envelope or shape of the sound waveform. The X command controls the duration. Tempo is controlled by the T command. The H command turns the channels off. The character arrays can be as long as you wish and the nicest thing is that there are no commas between commands as on the 2068.
The MIDI interface is another story in itself. Most Synthesizers have eight channels you can control and all can be controlled form the Spectrum 128. Being interested in music myself, I went out and looked at some of the smaller keyboard synthesizers and had intended on getting an inexpensive one to experiment with. Unfortunately, the cheapest one I could find that had the MIDI interface was $650 from Casio. I’ll just take there word for it that it works well!
The Spectrum 128 comes with the standard Spectrum manual and its own separate guide just covering the 128 mode of operation. The manuals we got were of course in Spanish, so we had to have them translated, but they seem to be written quite well and covers the new functions thoroughly.
Three pieces of software come with the 128. The USER GUIDE COMPANION, SUPERTEST, and INTERNATIONAL MATCH DAY. USER GUIDE COMPANION comes with all the Spectrums. INTERNATIONAL MATCH DAY is a soccer game with excellent graphics, and SUPERTEST tests you at many different events. This last one takes eleven minutes to load which tells you that the extra 64K RAM memory is being used for something!
To ensure a fair start for this new machine, Sinclair has contacted several software houses and offered incentives to ensure that a good supply of software is available when the machine does hit the market in the UK. This is a practice not seen in the past from Sinclair and it means that Sinclair must really be serious about the future and success of it.
All the hardware that we have tried seems to work fine on this machine. The QL printer works in 128K mode. The TS 2040 printer works in 48K mode but not 128K. The QL joystick adapter works in the keypad port for games which use the joystick. The keyboard itself seems to work and feel better than previous models.
Looking inside, the PC board fills every space available. The huge heatsink on the right side should keep any over heating from ever occurring. The familiar Z80 CPU and two ULA chips and sixteen 4164 (64K X 1) RAM chips and a 32K xX 8 EPROM are found along with 8 support chips a PAL (Programmable Array Logic) chip and the AY-3-8912A programmable sound chip. The EPROM and the Ferranti chip are both in sockets. The connectors seem to be good and sturdy. The board is marked “version 2”.
Overall, I am very impressed with this machine. I would have liked to have seen a 64 column mode included, but otherwise, it seems to me that this would be a better transition to go to from the 2068 or Spectrum then to go to a completely different machine like the QL.
It has much more power than its predecessors and allows use of more peripherals without having to buy more interfaces to stack on the rear expansion port. I would say its a worthwhile machine to invest in.
One final note: SINCLAIR USER announced that the 128 will be on sale in the UK by the end of January or at least as promised to software houses who are currently writing programs for this new machine.