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GAME FOR A LAUGH - this is the winner of the cartoon caption contest held at the recent Microscene Brum 82 exhibition. It was from John Stokes, of the West Midlands and he wins a selection of Spectrum cassettes. The organisers say the show was a great success with more than 3000 visitors. |
SALES of the ZX-81 have revived strongly since the price was reduced to less than £50 and the number of retailers was expanded.
A spokesman for Sinclair Research said there had been a five-fold increase in sales between July and August. They were then back to their best levels.
That was confirmed by John Rowland, market development manager at W H Smith, which has been retailing the ZX-81 for almost a year.
"Sales have really taken off," he said. "They started to tail-off in May and fell further in June and July but they were almost back to their pre-Christmas levels in August."
WE HAVE had correspondence from several readers complaining of non-delivery of products ordered from Pretorius Systems as a result of advertising in our June and July issues. It would appear that there has been a serious production problem with the company.
If your order has not been fulfilled and you have not yet communicated with us, will you please write to advise us of the date of your order and your cheque number?
A NEW MICRO every month seems to be on the cards, at least for the foreseeable future. A new one called Oric One is to be launched this month.
The machine is to be produced by a new company, Oric Products, which has been set up by Tangerine Computer Systems. Peter Harding, Oric Products managing director, said:
"Oric will be the most powerful and professional micro in its field".The new machine will cost £99 for 16K and £169 for 48K. That undercuts the Spectrum by £10.
The technical specifications also beat the Spectrum. It uses Microsoft Basic and has 16 colours with a display resolution of 28 rows by 40 characters. Oric also contains a Centronics printer interface and tape cassette ports. A printer, modem, and disc unit are to be available soon after the launch.
The keyboard looks like a cross between the Spectrum and the Video Genie and the keys have a programmable audio feedback.
TOURISTS buying a ZX-81 in one country and returning home with it run the risk of finding they will not be able to use it when they reach home.
They may also find there is nothing they can do to correct the problem.
The difficulties arise because of differing television systems, voltage levels and mains frequencies throughout the world.
Tony Rand, export manager at Sinclair Research, does not advise anyone to attempt converting a ZX-81 and says it would be better to buy a specially-adapted machine.
"People sometimes buy them in this country to take overseas because they are cheaper here," he says. "They should realise that the difference in price is the result of the costs of making the adaptations and exporting to that country."
THE FIRST MOVES in a possible copyright battle have been made by Atari against a small software house in the Sinclair market. The American-based company has written to DJL, Software of Swindon asking for a copy of its Zuckman game to see if it breaches copyright on its Pacman games.
It is the first reported move by Atari in the Sinclair market where there has been a proliferation of Pacman-type games in the last month. It follows the withdrawal by Bug Byte of Liverpool of its Vicmen game written for the Commodore Vic-20 after Atari claimed that it was too similar to its own game.
Bug Byte said at the time that it did not feel it was infringing copyright but that it did not have the resources to fight a large company like Atari. DJL feels the same.
"I do not consider the game is a breach of copyright, as we are using Z-80 machine code, unlike the Vic game which was using the same machine code as the Atari game," said Dave Looker of DJL.
He added that he did not have the money to fight Atari through the courts but if anyone else wanted to contest any claims made by Atari he would be willing to join them.