SYNC Notes: U.K.
The Second ZX Microfair Report
Following the enormous success of the first ZX Microfair, the second ZX Microfair was held in Central Hall, Westminster, London, England, on January 30, 1982. Twice as much floor space and twice as many exhibitors ensured that everyone was catered for, that is, everyone who endured the two to three hour wait to get in. The queues outside doubled round the building as thousands waited for the doors to open at 10:30 a.m. Meanwhile, inside, the seventy-one exhibitors were making final adjustments to their stands.
Once inside, the ZX enthusiast was confronted by row after row of ZX80 and ZX81 suppliers with hundreds of products on show. These varied from simple ‘addition’ programs to disk drives with network controllers. The ‘in’ things at the show were high-speed machine code games, a wide variety of books to suit all requirements, and hardware accessories.
Some of the more spectacular demonstrations included a prototype color board by Haven Hardware, a 5 1/4 inch floppy disk drive by Macronics, a hi-res graphics controller and speech board by Quicksilva and a joystick controller by Microgen. Machine code games were all the rage—Defender, Asteroids, and Invaders by Quicksilva; Centipede by dK’tronics; Galaxians by Artic Computing, to name but a few. Many ZX users have complained about the miniature keyboard on the Sinclair computers, and, as a result, some twelve firms were demonstrating and selling full-size keyboards. However, even with a full size keyboard, game playing can lead to finger ache. Microgen’s joystick controllers allow up to two people to play complicated games with ease.
Sinclair was there selling ZX81s, RAM packs, and ZX Printers, and answering questions related to the ZX80 and ZX81. Another group answering queries relating to these computers was the National ZX80/81 Users’ Club founded by Tim Hartnell. Hints and tips were exchanged and a great deal was gained from this user-to-user conversation. SYNC was represented by Hazel Gordon, Creative Computing’s U.K. representative, and myself. A number of people took out subscriptions on the spot. Some of the smaller local clubs were running stands and selling newsletters.
If a prize were to be given for the most effective and stunning use of the graphics on an unmodified ZX81, it would surely have to go to J. K. Greye Software for their 3D Monster Maze which actually shows a moving, walking Tyrannosaurus Rex wandering around an apparently three-dimensional lair. It has to be seen to be believed.
If ZX80/81 related books were more your scene, then you had some 47 titles to choose from. If, on the other hand, you wanted your ZX80/81 to control your house or apartment then the RD8100 system would have attracted your attention. It comprises a large console which plugs into the back of the ZX81 with option Logic Input/Output, Analogue Input, Analogue Multiplexer/Amplifier, Analogue Output, Real Time Clock, and Light Pen System. Many other firms were selling Logic Input/Output units at very competitive prices.
Two disk drive systems were on show—one prototype by Monolith and one fully operational 5 1/4 inch unit by Macronics. The Macronics drive, called F.I.Z. (Floppy Interface for ZX81), comes with 2K operating firmware in ROM and 2K disk work RAM. The drive itself, a Shugart SA400, comes in an attractive cabinet which also houses the power supply. The interface is TTL which eliminates the need for expensive disk controllers. The F.I.Z. managed to load an 8K program in just 22 seconds. The capacity of each disk is 43250 bytes organized as ten 128 byte records per each of the 34 tracks.
The industrial applications of the ZX81 were highlighted by Mindware whose Barscan system allows the ZX81 to read optical bar codes like those found on the side of most merchandise. With some suitable software, it would be possible to load programs using this system. Businesses and small firms were catered for by Hilderbay’s Payroll and very fast Stock Control programs. To go with these and other more complicated programs is the Memotech low-cost 64K RAM pack announced at the show. This pack allows 16K Basic programs with 32 K of variables and a further 16K of paged memory. Another 64K RAM pack, called the SUPER Z, was available from Audio Computers.
“Big Ears” is a voice recognition unit for the ZX81 from William Stuart Systems. This unit consists of a microphone, pre-amplifier, analogue frequency filters, and digital interface and comes complete with software.
The show finished at 8:30 p.m. and a reception was held for exhibitors at the “Westminster Arms,” a local pub, by Mindware Co., where the first annual Rosetta Stone Award was made for the outstanding independently developed product for the ZX80/81 computers. The award was won by Dr. Ian Logan for his work in decoding the 8K ROM.
SYNC Program Listings
Readers should note the following conventions used in the program listings in this issue:
# or • = Used in PRINT statements to show necessary spaces.
“A” (shift) = Used in PRINT statements to indicate graphics; in this case use the graphic on shift A.
INPUT = Used in PRINT statements to show that the keyboard key or token should be used instead of spelling out the word.