Sinclair replies to the critics

IN RESPONSE to many queries which I understand your magazine has received, I would like to explain the delivery situation for our new ZX Spectrum personal computer.

The response of the general public to our new computer has far exceeded our expectations and we have been swamped with orders. This and some small initial production delays have led, in turn, to considerable delays in delivery.

Regrettably, many of our customers may have to wait up to 12 weeks, from our receipt of their order, for delivery of their Spectrum and we are writing to them all to apologise for the inconvenience and to offer them the chance of an immediate refund.

For those customers who continue to wait, we shall be sending with each Spectrum, in compensation for the delay, a £10 voucher, which can be used in part payment for a ZX printer or to buy a complete pack of five rolls of printer paper. We are also providing customers with a new demonstration tape containing:

A complete keyboard trainer to introduce the Spectrum.

Three major programs - an exciting game, Through the Wall, a drafting program, Draw, and Character Generator, which demonstrates user-defined graphics.

A series of illustrative programs - Bubble Sort, Evolution, Life, Monte Carlo and Waves.

I would like to assure you and all our customers that the initial problems with the Spectrum have now been completely overcome. Production is running smoothly at 5,000 units per week and will rise sharply in the coming months.

We are confident that our present back-log will be cleared by the end of September and hope that you will see current delays in the context of our successful delivery of more than 500,000 computers in the last two years.

Clive Sinclair, Sinclair Research Ltd.

Growing software

I WAS very interested in your article on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum but I would like to know if programs for the ZX-81 could fit into the ZX Spectrum. If not, why are there no games for the ZX Spectrum of which I have heard?

Andrew McInees

WITH THE information now available for the Spectrum I am thinking of buying one but as yet I have not seen much software for it.

Can the same amount of software be available for the Spectrum as the ZX-81. As there was no competitor for the ZX-81 we saw a flood of software for it.

Can the same be expected for the Spectrum with the news of Vic 10, a new Acorn and even a ZX-83 next year?

S Plumpton

Sinclair Research says that ZX-81 programs can be converted for the Spectrum with relatively minor changes, as Spectrum Basic is a super set of ZX-81 Basic but, regrettably, ZX-81 cassette programs cannot be used with the Spectrum. There are, however, a growing number of commercial tapes on sale.

Colour printer

CONCERNING YOUR article Sinclairvoyance, in the August issue, the colour printer is already here, at least in prototype form.

Earlier this year Sony announced its Mavika system camera, a video camera producing still pictures on a 50-exposure video disc. The camera will be supported by a television interface for viewing and an "inexpensive" colour printer capable of producing inprint quality non-photographic prints. The system is due to be launched in 1983.

The first ZX hardware company to produce a Mavika-ZX interface should have an eager market.

The Mavika was received by the British Journal of Photography a few months ago. By now it may have more information on the printer.

Tony Bewlay

Readers expect

I WOULD like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your very good publication. I have found it of great use when using my ZX-81 and especially like the simplicity of the writing style, although this does not stop the articles being really informative.

Now I have purchased a Spectrum and expect your magazine to be of equal merit for this in the future.

S P Bird

Flickering doubt

FIRST I must congratulate you on your review of the Spectrum, which prompted me to order one. Having been a former ZX-81 owner, I am still wondering whether my new Spectrum will have the same flickering screen output when programmed in Basic.

As I want to program in Basic and not Assembler, I do not want a horrible flickering screen. Please could you find out, as no one I know has seen the Spectrum?

C A Howes

According to Sinclair Research there should be no problem with flickering screen output for the ZX Spectrum.