Amstrad has also produced a variety of home entertainment products over their history, including hi-fi, televisions, VCRs, and DVD players.

Recently, Amstrad has also started producing animatronic Alan Sugar heads.

GEM is known primarily as the graphical user interface ( GUI ) for the Atari ST series of computers, and was also supplied with a series of IBM PC-compatible computers from Amstrad.

Simple ported versions were also released for the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum.

The Amstrad PCW series was a range of personal computers produced by British company Amstrad from 1985 to 1998, and also sold under licence in Europe as the " Joyce " by the German electronics company Schneider in the early years of the series ' life.

Although Amstrad supplied all but the last model as text based systems, graphical user interface peripherals and the supporting software also became available.

The main series of games produced by Ultimate were all released on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, with most from Sabre Wulf onward also on the Amstrad CPC and MSX, and most early games up to and including Nightshade also on the BBC Micro.

There was also a computer game called Samurai Warrior: The Battles of Usagi Yojimbo released for the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC platforms in 1988, by the now defunct computer game label Firebird.

The Amstrad version also received the same response getting a 76 % from The Games Machine, although the game fared slightly better with Amstrad Action who rated it 83 % and awarded it with an " AA Rave " accolade.

The Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC also allowed players with the relevant cartridges or Multiface add-on to freeze the running program, enter POKEs, and resume.

It was originally released for the Apple II, and was also ported to the Commodore 64, Apple IIgs, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS, Apple Macintosh, and NES platforms.

Barnett also ported Exploding Fist to Spectrum and Amstrad CPC.

Conversions were done also for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC in 1987 by Ocean Software under their Imagine label.

Unusually, the A video game version of Arachnophobia was also released in 1991, for Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and DOS.

It was also ported to other popular platforms of the day, such as the Apple II, ZX Spectrum ( by Dalali Software Ltd ), Amstrad CPC, Tandy Color Computer 3 and Commodore 64.

A computer game version of the show was also created for the Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro and ZX Spectrum.

Amstrad also attempted to expand its market share by selling computers in the United States.

David Langford has also written columns for several computer magazines, notably 8000 Plus ( later renamed PCW Plus ), which was devoted to the Amstrad PCW word processor.

Some of the installments were also released on other popular home microcomputers, namely the Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, Commodore 64 and MSX.

GX4000 cartridges will also run on an Amstrad 464Plus.

For the Amstrad PCW, introduced in 1985, Locomotive produced the LocoScript word processor and Mallard BASIC, and also wrote the PCW's User Guide.

After Amstrad bought the computer business of Sinclair Research, Sir Clive retained the rights to the Pandora project, and it evolved into the Cambridge Computer Z88, launched in 1987.

Amstrad launched two new variants of the Spectrum: the ZX Spectrum + 2, based on the ZX Spectrum 128, with a built-in tape drive ( like the CPC 464 ) and, the following year, the ZX Spectrum + 3, with a built-in floppy disk drive ( similar to the CPC 664 and 6128 ), taking the 3 " disks that many Amstrad machines used.

Amstrad launched the Amstrad DMP3000 printer, which was an 80 character dot matrix printer with both IBM and Epson compatibility and boasted NLQ ( Near Letter Quality ) and could handle both A4 and fanfold paper.

The word processing software package LocoScript by Locomotive Software was introduced as one of the programs bundled with the Amstrad PCW, a personal computer launched in 1985.

In 1984 the Company launched Sage software, a product for the Amstrad PCW word processor, which used the CP / M operating system.

* Amstrad SM2400 2400 baud internal modem ( came with Mirror software )

The Amstrad PCW's bundled word processing software, LocoScript, used the term " in limbo " to refer to files which had been deleted but which could still be restored, a concept similar to that later implemented by the Trash in the Apple Macintosh and the Recycle Bin in Microsoft Windows 95.

In 1985, the popular Amstrad PCW range was introduced, which were principally word processors, complete with printer, running the LocoScript word processing program.

In 1993, Amstrad was licenced by Sega to produce a system which was similar to the Sega TeraDrive, going by the name of the Amstrad Mega PC, to try to regain their image in the gaming market.

Amstrad ’ s UK E-m @ iler business is operated through a separate company, Amserve Ltd which is 89. 8 % owned by Amstrad and 10. 2 % owned by DSG International plc ( formerly Dixons plc ).

It was announced on 2 July 2008 that Sugar had stepped down as Chairman of Amstrad, which had been planned since BSkyB took over in 2007.

StarDivision developed the first version of StarWriter for the Zilog Z80 home-computer system, the Amstrad CPC ( marketed by Schneider in Germany ) under CP / M, and later for the Commodore 64 under Microsoft BASIC, which was later ported to the 8086-based Amstrad PC-1512, running under MS-DOS 3. 2.

Anti-Multiface was a public domain program for the Amstrad CPC which allowed the restoring of saved memory dumps without the need for a Multiface to be present.

Amstrad Action was a monthly magazine, published in the United Kingdom, which catered to owners of home computers from the Amstrad CPC range and later the GX4000 console.

Sky bought out Amstrad satellite production in 2007 and now only distribute boxes which initially appeared as Amstrad models but are now badged merely as Sky.

A special update — or rather, a ROM extension — was available on the Amstrad CPC Plus series machines, which added specialised BASIC commands for taking advantage of the extra capabilities of those machines.

Systems utilizing the DE9 connector for their game port included the Atari 8-bit and ST lines ; the Commodore VIC-20, 64, 128, and Amiga ; the Amstrad CPC ( which employed daisy-chaining when connecting two Amstrad-specific joysticks ); the MSX, Sharp X68000, and FM-Towns, predominantly used in Japan ; the Sega Master System and Sega Genesis ; and the Panasonic 3DO.

Amstrad licensed both MS-DOS 3. 2 and Digital Research DOS Plus, which was largely compatible with MS-DOS and included some features from CP / M and the ability to read CP / M disks.

The mouse was an Amstrad Mouse, which was incompatible with serial mice common at the time.

Under license from Konami, Ocean Software produced ports of Contra under the title of Gryzor for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Amstrad CPC, which were released in Europe in.

The product did not ship until 1985, by which point the UK home computer market was already dominated by the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and Acorn BBC Micro.