Your Spectrum 05 - Contents

FEATURES

Spectrum Control
Penny Page looks back at Project 2, inviting Christopher Ashford to play piano on the Spectrum.

ZX Phone Home
Computerised bulletin boards are the next 'big thing' claims SQ Factor - find out how to get hooked up to a phone fast.

Getting Attached to Printers
Accessing the entire Spectrum character set on a professional printer is no mean feat - without Dilwyn Jones' help that is.

Unzipping ZIP
Now you've got your ZIP compiler, Simon Goodwin details its operation.

Interface Zero
Throwing chips to the wind, Simon Goodwin comes up with the goods on a joystick interface you can build.

QL USER

A Process of Philosophy
Why did Sinclair Research abandon its favourite processor when starting development of the QL? Answers to this question and others inside.

Your Spectrum
& QL User

YR.05 cover - Click for the BIG picture

Issue 5, July 1984
- contents -

ON THE BENCH

The Luck of the Draw
For all you Hi-res artists, Henry Budgett lokks in general at the state-of-the-art and, in particular, British Micro's Grafpad.

Thrills from The Quill
Fed up with playing other people's adventures? Thomas Green takes a look at a package that allows you to write your own.

REGULARS

Frontlines

Top 20 Games

Forum

Spectrolysis

Back Issues

A Chance Encounter

Spectrum Soft

Rumbles

Subscriptions

Paper Data

Input/Output

Program Power

Circe

Home

Click on a highlighted entry to view the full article

SECTION PAGE SUBJECTS

Frontlines 5 Bags of news and views on all the latest hardware and software.

Hardware

Light pens (Trojan & CCI)

Micro Command speech recognition (Orion Data)

Pro Ace joystick (Sumlock Microware)

Software

Copy Four (Euroelectronics)

Home Budget, Which? Tax Calculator (Sinclair Research)

The Inferno (Richard Shepherd Software)

Marvel Questprobe adventures (Adventure International)

Mugsy (Melbourne House)

Sci File business package (Visions)

Stuart Henry's Pop Quiz (Bellflower Software)

Vegetable Crash (Kuma)

ZIP Compiler printing errors

Miscellaneous

Ant Attack competition results

Anti-copying system banned by MoD (JCL Data)

Blue Chip stationery (Moore Paragon)

Home computer fair (Essex Exhibition Centre)

Level 9 adventure clue sheets

Virgin Games Centre opens

WH Smith open new Computer Shops

YS phone-in helpline

Spectrum & QL News 47 SinclairWatch
QLs finally arrive, Misleading advertising, Price changes

56 Rumbles
Ron Smith, software sleuth, reassembles the rumours. Our man behind the software scenes, Ron Smith, gets to grips with the gossip on all that's new from around the houses. Star Trader & Twin Kingdom Valley (Bug-Byte), Humpty games (Artic), Combat Lynx (Durell), BC Bill & 'megagames' (Imagine), Highway Code & Tripz (CRL).

Software Reviews 52 Spectrum Soft
Chiltern Computer Club took the latest software up into the hills to give us their unbiased (and panoramic) views. 'Sticks at the ready, the Chiltern Computer Club buckled down to some concentrated critique as they sifted through the latest bundle of software to give us their unbiased evaluations.

3D Star Wars (CCI) 53%

Arcturus (Visions) 36%

Atlas Assignment (Virgin Games) 70%

Bubble Trouble (Arcade Software) 40%

Caesar the Cat (Mirrorsoft) 90%

Colditz (Phipps Associates) 66%

Fantasia Diamond (Hewson Consultants) 60%

Knight Driver (Hewson Consultants) 53%

Millypede (Add On Electronics) 43%

Night Gunner (Digital Integration) 73%

Olympimania (Automata) 73%

Orion (Software Projects) 60%

Pedro (Imagine) 40%

Two Gun Turtle (Lothlorien) 40%

Zig Zag (Dk'Tronics) 53%

Software Features 58 Thrills from The Quill
After all those hours spent playing other people's adventures, the time has come to create some of your own. Thomas Green takes a look at the do-it-yourself package from Gilsoft.
(letter)

Hardware Features 29 The Luck of the Draw
Discussing the artistic potential of various micro add-ons, Henry Budgett concentrates his critical powers on British Micro's Grafpad.

49 Getting Attached to Printers
In order to overcome the software problems of attaching a 'grown-up' printer to your Speccy, Dilwyn Jones sorts out how you can produce the full character set on such diverse printers as the Star Gemini 10X and the Epson FX80.

72 Interface Zero
"Throw out the chips", urges Simon Goodwin, as he applies the age-old formula - simple is best - to his DIY joystick interface.

Programming 21 Spectrolysis: Channels and Streams
Negotiate streams and channels with Ian Beardsmore. YS's own Mr Fix-it, Ian Beardsmore, guides you through the rapids of channels and streams. For theory, philosophy, bugs and fixes - write to Ian ...

25 Spectrum Control: Project Two Revisited
YS reader, Christopher Ashford, claims this is your chance to become a machine code musician. Penny Page puts it to the test ...

34 A Chance Encounter
Toni Baker puts back the 'random' in RANDOMIZE. As luck would have it, Toni Baker has come up with an interesting way to access true random numbers - with a little help from machine code, of course.

63 Adding Zip - part three
Following on in our epic series, Simon Goodwin unlocks some of ZIP's darkest secrets, as well as detailing how to add a couple of high resolution graphics commands. And there's still more to come ...

Miscellaneous Features 37 ZX Phone Home
As computerised bulletin boards spring up all over the country, you're going to miss out on all the action unless you get hooked up to a phone fast. Our man on the line, SQ Factor, checks out the scene.

Reader's Programs 78 Program Power
Peter Shaw invites you to tap in his latest masterpiece. This month's Program Power features just one program - and it's been written at the keys of our very own Peter Shaw. Complete with all the thrills and spills of a fruit machine, Peter has managed to cram in a few extras as well.
Katapilla Krazy (Peter Shaw) (letter), (letter).

Books 69 Paperdata: Hard Lines
John Flenley checks out the current bookshelf offerings for the DIY buff. Software might be the success story of the 'eighties, but without the hardware boffins just think where microcomputing would be. John Flenley, logic and software designer, examines the bookshelves to see just how much encouragement there is for the potential hardware freak.

20 Simple Electronic Projects for the ZX81 & Spectrum (Interface Publications)

An Introduction to Digital Logic (MacMillan Press)

An Introduction to Microcomputers (Usborne Press)

Easy Add-on Projects for Spectrum, ZX81 & Ace (Bernard Babani)

Interfacing Microcomputers to the Real World (Addison-Wesley)

Sinclair Spectrum and ZX81 Add-ons (Sigma Technical Press)

Spectrum Hardware Manual (Melbourne House)

TTL Data Book (Texas Instruments)

Interviews 88 Jan & John Peel (Legend)
Phil Manchester unveils the secrets of Valhalla with Jan and John Peel. In a never-to-be-forgotten journey, Phil Manchester breached the icy wastes of the south, in search of the legendary halls of Valhalla and the chariots of the gods - only to find a clapped-out Porsche ...

Odds & Ends 15 Top 20 Games
June's chart-toppers as voted by you the readers.

17 Forum
Speak up for yourselves - this is your letters page after all! Is there something you're not telling us?

Some QL Theory ... (Dr Nigel Brown)

... and QL Practice (Leon Heller)

Monitoring the Situation (David Oram)

Microdriving
(letter) (John Ashplant)

Just Interrupting (Alan Rooney)

ISUG Lives! (Vic Webber)

Your Fuller Problems (CG Lundgren)

Grockles Help Out (M Richard Roche)

Just a Nibble (Miss J Wood)

Nurd of the Month
(letter) (EG Matthews)

Is This Man Ill? (James Reid)

As You Weren't (Roy Stead)

33 Back Issues
If you've missed out on our earlier editions, fill that gap in your life.

62 Subscriptions
Don't blame us if you miss a copy in the shops, take a sub.

77 Input/Output
Make friends, publicise your club, swop your software.