With hindsight, the machine lacked the RAM ( a typical program would need to fit in only around 20 kB once display memory is subtracted ) and processing power to take on the prevailing Sinclair ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64.

This gives the effect of a simple toggle speaker similar to that seen in the 48 kB Sinclair ZX Spectrum.

Although not as well supported by the biggest software publishers as rivals like the Commodore 64 and Sinclair ZX Spectrum, a good range of games were available for the Electron.

One nibble of such a byte then controlled the foreground color, and the other nibble controlled the background color, a system very similar to the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, in fact in the 256x192 mode the display mode was virtually identical to the video of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum.

It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and the German-speaking parts of Europe.

* ATM ( computer ), a ZX Spectrum clone, developed in Moscow in 1991

On the Sinclair ZX Spectrum it is accessed by and.

Ports of the game were released for the Commodore 64, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amiga, Atari ST, MSX, Amstrad CPC, Sharp X68000, PC ( MS-DOS, 1989 and 1996 ), Apple II, FM Towns Marty, Sega Master System, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Nintendo Entertainment System, Famicom Disk System, Sega Game Gear, mobile phone ( Sprint PCS ), Texas Instruments TI-8x series of calculators and UltraCade's Taito Arcade Classics.

Category: ZX Spectrum games

* GDOS and G + DOS, for the + D and DISCiPLE disk interfaces for the ZX Spectrum.

In the private home computer market, where games were a significant driver, the Dragon suffered due to its graphical capabilities, which were inferior to contemporary machines such as the Sinclair ZX Spectrum and BBC Micro.

Garfield: Big Fat Hairy Deal is a 1987 video game for the Atari ST, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and the Amiga based on the comic strip.

Both had been on the design team for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum.

* Leningrad ( computer ), ZX Spectrum clone

* Lojix on the ZX Spectrum is clearly derived from pentomino, though it uses a non-standard set of 20 blocks and a 10 * 10 box.

The Sinclair ZX Spectrum version of R-Type was awarded 9 / 10 in the January 1989 issue of Your Sinclair

Category: ZX Spectrum games

The Sinclair QL ( for Quantum Leap ), was a personal computer launched by Sinclair Research in 1984, as the successor to the Sinclair ZX Spectrum.

Microdrives had been introduced for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum in July 1983, although the QL used a different logical tape format.

Physically, the QL was the same black colour as the preceding ZX81 and Sinclair ZX Spectrum models, but introduced a new angular styling theme and keyboard design which would later be seen in the ZX Spectrum +.

The Spectrum was ultimately released as eight different models, ranging from the entry level model with 16 kB RAM released in 1982 to the ZX Spectrum + 3 with 128 kB RAM and built in floppy disk drive in 1987 ; together they sold in excess of 5 million units worldwide ( not counting numerous clones ).

ZX Spectrum + ( Dimensions ( mm ): 319 × 149 × 38 ( W × H × D ))

Planning of the ZX Spectrum + started in June 1984, and the machine was released in October the same year.

Investrónica had helped adapt the ZX Spectrum + to the Spanish market after the Spanish government introduced a special tax on all computers with 64 kB RAM or less, and a law which obliged all computers sold in Spain to support the Spanish alphabet and show messages in Spanish.

ZX Spectrum + 2

This was not a major issue however, as the + 2 boasted a menu system, almost identical to the ZX Spectrum 128, where one could switch between 48k BASIC programming with the keywords, and 128k BASIC programming in which all words ( keywords and otherwise ) must be typed out in full ( although the keywords are still stored internally as one character each ).

The ZX Spectrum + 2 power supply was a grey version of the ZX Spectrum + and 128 power supply.

ZX Spectrum + 2A

The ZX Spectrum + 2A was a variant of the Spectrum + 3 housed a black version of the Spectrum + 2 case mouldings.

The power supply of the ZX Spectrum + 2A used the same pinout as the + 3.

The ZX Spectrum + 2B and ZX Spectrum + 3B were functionally similar in design to the Spectrum + 2A and + 3.

The same slot bus was continued on the ZX81, and later the ZX Spectrum, which encouraged a small cottage industry of expansion devices, including memory ( Sinclair produced RAM expansion packs for the ZX80: the original ZX80 RAM Pack held either 1, 2 or 3 KB of static RAM ; a later model held 16 KB, using dynamic RAM chips ( DRAM )), printers, and even floppy drives.

The ZX Spectrum + 3 looked similar to the + 2 but featured a built-in 3-inch floppy disk drive ( like the Amstrad CPC 6128 ) instead of the tape drive, and was in a black case.

Sinclair also released the ZX Interface 2 which added two joystick ports and a ROM cartridge port.

file: Zx interface 2. png | ZX Interface 2

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.

The ZX Spectrum + 2.

* Sinclair ZX Spectrum + 2 ( Re-engineered ZX Spectrum 128 with tape drive )

* Sinclair ZX Spectrum + 3 ( as ZX Spectrum + 2 but with 3 inch disk drive instead of tape drive )

Jetpac, Pssst, Tranz Am and Cookie were four of only ten games ever to be released on the 16K ROM format for use with the ZX Interface 2.

Rick Dangerous 2 is a platform game developed by Core Design for the Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and DOS-based PCs.

* 3-bit color ( 2 < sup > 3 </ sup > = 8 colors ): many early home computers with TV displays, including the ZX Spectrum and BBC Micro

Timex of Portugal sold 2 versions of TC2068: the Silver TC2068 version came with a ZX Spectrum emulator cartridge and a black TC2068 version sold with TimeWord word processing cartridge plus the Timex RS232 Interface to use TimeWord with a RS232 printer.

The ZX Interface 1 was incompatible with some of later ZX Spectrum models such as the + 2 and + 3, due to differences in ROM and expansion connector, therefore wasn't possible to connect and use the Microdrive units.