"Y O U R S P E C T R U M"
U N O F F I C I A L A R C H I V E
now incorporating
S P O T * On
The Sinclair Spectrum magazine index
and
T T Fn
The Sinclair magazine type-in programs archive
In The Beginning ...
In January 1984 two significant new magazine titles
were launched into the burgeoning
Sinclair Spectrum UK computer marketplace,
competing with the already well
established Sinclair User; these two new
titles were Your Spectrum from
Sportscene Specialist Press and Crash from Newsfield. All three titles were
destined to prosper for the best part of a
decade (Your Spectrum metamorphosing
into Your Sinclair in Jan.1986), during the
Spectrum's rise and fall in the home and
small business microcomputer market. This is the story of those early days
as reported between the covers of Your Spectrum ...
These pages aim to cover all 21
issues of Your Spectrum (incorporating QL User in issues 2-7), providing a
contents synopsis for every issue, a
picture of the Spectrum's development
during those two early years as covered in
Your Spectrum, and access to key news,
reviews and feature articles.
To start by getting into that '80s mood of optimism,
here's the very first editorial from the very first issue of Your Spectrum
YOUR SPECTRUM What are we here for?
There are magazines and there are magazines - and when it comes to microcomputer publishing, there are even more magazines. But however wide the choice, always there seems to be an unquenchable public thirst for more.
The Sinclair Spectrum has been an astounding success story. Who, after all, could resist saying "Wowee!" to the idea of 16K plus colour for under the ton (even though many buyers promptly added the extra £30 to triple the available memory)? And even if the machine is no longer 'new', still nothing seems able to staunch the flow of demand.
However, times they are a'changing and yesterday's newcomer aspires to be today's Spectrum literate. Your Spectrum evolved with them in mind. It's for those who are eager to step beyond basics. For those who enjoy testing and stretching their own knowledge an expertise. The magazine, in comparison to others, may seem a bit of a 'Vogon', but that's because we're on a new insterstellar highway - one which doesn't stretch logic to the point of boredom. And at times the content may seem a bit tricky to you - tough, that's what progress is all about!
Don't give up, because we're in business to broaden your computing spectrum.
Your Spectrum will be many things to many people: a forum for ideas; an open door for those who 'do' to explain how they 'did' it; and a space where Spectrum owners are able to share their enthusiasm with others.
Your Spectrum is about YOUR Spectrum - keep in touch. Accept no substitute. Tell us what you think.
Bruce Sawford
Select from the menu below for a serving of Your Spectrum nostalgia.
Pages are best viewed with a smaller character size; I use the 'Small' font setting in MSIE.
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Use the Index Summary page to search for a featured topic.
The Your Spectrum Unofficial Archive (YrUA?) is a SPOT Enterprises Production
from: Jim Grimwood, Weardale, England
Home of the SPOT database (Spectrum Opus Textorial)
If you want more information on any of the articles listed, or on YrUA? or
SPOT, or have any helpful suggestions, or any errors to report,
then please contact me:
withinthehills@gmail.com .
* (SPOT Enterprises has no existence beyond the author's imagination. "Hey, I made it up!")
Last YrUA? update: 1st October 2023
(see
What's Gnu? for details)
This site was inspired by Nick Humphries' The Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll Years - now with Added Articles!;
and thanks to the Good Eggs for assistance
These pages were prepared with the FlexED HTML editor from Infoflex Pty Ltd. (Spanderific!)
Have a look in
Spot's Pourri for some Spectrum programs which you probably won't find anywhere else -
and some which you might not want to find anyway ...
See
Links for some other places which might be of interest.
For an extensive index of articles in Your Spectrum,
as well as Crash, Micro Adventurer, Sinclair User, Your Sinclair and ZX Computing,
see my
SPOT*On pages.
YrUA? gratefully acknowledges the stirling efforts of those scribes who contributed articles to Your Spectrum over its two-year existence, many of which are remembered within. See the
Credits page for a summary of those featured on this site.
If you are the author of any articles reconstructed here and I haven't managed to find you yet, then please get in touch; and if you don't want them to be made available to all us nice Speccy fans, then please advise and they will be removed - but then we wouldn't be your friend any more.
We hope that you will appreciate and enjoy this effort to preserve some of this classic Spectrum title, before the rapidly diminishing pool of original source material is lost forever.
