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start tape

lsdinclsdinc
edited November 2004 in Sinclair Miscellaneous
I picked up an old spectrum zx in a junk shop. it seems to be working ok but as i remember there was some kind of start tape. can you help me to locate a new one.
thank you
Post edited by lsdinc on

Comments

  • cyborgcyborg
    edited October 2004
    There isn't.
  • J?rg PleumannJ?rg Pleumann
    edited October 2004
    On 2004-10-30 20:51, cyborg wrote:
    There isn't.

    At least not in the sense that you need it for starting the machine. There was usually a tape included with the machine that contained some demo programs and simple games. I think the Horizons tape is what came with the rubber-key Spectrum:

    http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseek.cgi?regexp=^Horizons$&pub=^Sinclair+Research+Ltd$

    The Spectrum+ came with a different tape by Goldstar, I think. Don't know the title and didn't find it in the archive.
  • madmekonmadmekon
    edited October 2004
    Spectrum+ came with a different tape by Goldstar, I think. Don't know the title and didn't find it in the archive.

    Close...
    http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseek.cgi?regexp=^ZX+Spectrum+%2b+User+Guide+Companion+Cassette$&pub=^Sinclair+Research+Ltd$
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  • J?rg PleumannJ?rg Pleumann
    edited October 2004
    Close...
    http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseek.cgi?regexp=^ZX+Spectrum+%2b+User+Guide+Companion+Cassette$&pub=^Sinclair+Research+Ltd$

    Yep, right. Should've been able to find it myself. But it's late, and I'm lazy. :)

    While we are talking about it: Did the +2/+3 machines contain similar tapes? I have a +2B that comes with a strange self test tape, but I don't kown if that's all that was contained in the box when the machine was new. Did the +3 come with an educational disc?

    Ahh... I remember being totally fascinated by that foxes and rabbits program. I think it was on the Horizons tape. How easy it was back then to impress a newbie with two simple graphs.
  • cyborgcyborg
    edited October 2004
    My +3 came with an Amstrad disk containing Super Test, Cosmic Wartoad, NOMAD, Mailstorm and Gift of the Gods. I assume that this was a pretty much standard pack.

    I know that there was a James Bond pack for +2s.

    I don't think there is really any standard software package - since the Spectrum doesn't require any.


  • J?rg PleumannJ?rg Pleumann
    edited October 2004
    On 2004-10-30 21:31, cyborg wrote:
    I don't think there is really any standard software package - since the Spectrum doesn't require any.

    Yes, but I liked the idea of providing new users with a couple of "educational" programs that tought them basic stuff: Using the keyboard, how does the machine work, what sort of cool stuff can be accomplished with a small Basic program. Amstrad seems to have dropped that tradition in favour of lightguns and the like.
  • cyborgcyborg
    edited October 2004
    That's because Sinclair designed the Spectrum as an educational machine and Amstrad marketed it as a games machine.
  • SpectorSpector
    edited October 2004
    The Spectrum was unique in the reason behind it's creation. Making money was not Sinclair's motivation. Sir Clive was an idealist and genuinely beleived he could make the world (or at least Great Britain) a better place by making cheap educational computers. Pretty naive eh? Instead it became a makeshift games machine, and he was appalled.
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  • J?rg PleumannJ?rg Pleumann
    edited October 2004
    On 2004-10-30 23:51, Spector wrote:
    The Spectrum was unique in the reason behind it's creation. Making money was not Sinclair's motivation. Sir Clive was an idealist and genuinely beleived he could make the world (or at least Great Britain) a better place by making cheap educational computers. Pretty naive eh? Instead it became a makeshift games machine, and he was appalled.

    I wouldn't subscribe to that in its entirety.

    I know Sir Clive has always been trying to teach people about computing, and the Horizons tape is surely an example of that. It's also clear that the majority of Spectrum users were interested mainly in games and the couple of real applications that existed at the time. Yet, I think a significant number used the Spectrum as a vehicle to learning programming (hence the line "a generation that can code" in "Hey hey 16K"). I count myself in here, and I could imagine the same holds for a number of other forum members. So he's been successful in a way.

    It's a sad thing that similar machines or approaches don't seem to exist anymore these days. Most people grow up with a PC (a complex machine the hardware of which you can't really understand) or a console (which you can't program easily).

    Regarding the "not making money" attitude, I don't think that's true. He might not have been the best businessman, but I'm sure he was happy about every penny that came out of a Spectrum of ZX81. After all he needed the money for his more important projects like the C5. :)
  • chaosmongerschaosmongers
    edited November 2004
    I never thought of the Spectrum as having a 'socialist ethic'.

    How heartwarmingly nice.


    not like that evil capitalist American Commodore company that used to charge ?300 for a disk drive, the size of Wales and with lesser density.






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