The Martin at Sinclair was Martin Willcox. He was chief engineer in the early days. He joined a company that Wesley Ruggles (Sinclair production director) set up. Dad thinks Martin went to the States after that.
I found a 1974 article in Billboard magazine about their Stateside company
My dad's experience will differ to that of others. They were making calculators, hi-fi gear, computers, televisions and, possibly their most successful business, instrumentation (hence TTI). There were different pressures on each team, depending on what was working and what was not. I think dad talks about a set of chips which didn't work as an example.
What I didn't realise until today (after reading the polymath article) is that Thurlby Thandar came from ex-Sinclair people. I have a Thurlby Thandar logic analyzer I use for debugging various bits of 8 bit digital electronics (including misbehaving Spectrums), and I never realised it kinda-sorta came from the Sinclair fold, too :-)
Poor old Clive. I was thinking about it, and in the main his ideas WERE very good, but he seemed to believe that everyone else should come around to his way of thinking, rather than that his business was there to appeal to theirs.
Look at the QL. It was a really decent machine. If they had just released standard floppy drives (like PCW 3", 3 1/2" and 5 1/4") as peripherals and had included a simple ASCII Word Processor (like MS EDIT) and perhaps a spreadsheet, then it would have sold like crazy. Also, if Clive hadn't had his hard-on for the QL being a business-only machine and they had incorporated some newer graphics hardware, it could have supplanted the need for the 128K Spectrum and just been the 'family home computer'. (Just as the PC is nowadays). Having reached that rung, they could have kept developing it.. We may have ended up with something like the 'SAM Coupe' 10 years earlier.
Also, the C5 was a good idea on paper, it just didn't fly in the 'real world'. If we'd had Lithium-Ion batteries back then - and the driver was a bit more comfortable - it might well have worked.. Look at the 'Smart' car - that's not too far removed.. (Although I think it's a small petrol engine). I saw a magazine interview with Clive back in the day where they had concept drawings for the C10 (which was a 2-seater car, not unlike a Smart Car) and the C15 - which was a 'normal' car that looked a bit like the Smart Roadster, but obviously they never came about.
Look at the QL. It was a really decent machine. If they had just released standard floppy drives (like PCW 3", 3 1/2" and 5 1/4") as peripherals and had included a simple ASCII Word Processor (like MS EDIT) and perhaps a spreadsheet, then it would have sold like crazy. Also, if Clive hadn't had his hard-on for the QL being a business-only machine and they had incorporated some newer graphics hardware, it could have supplanted the need for the 128K Spectrum and just been the 'family home computer'. (Just as the PC is nowadays). Having reached that rung, they could have kept developing it.. We may have ended up with something like the 'SAM Coupe' 10 years earlier.
Yep the QL was definately a lost opportunity. IMHO the QL looked fantastic and he should have gone down the Atari route i.e. full 68000, proper disk drive, more memory and waited to release it when it was ready. It was obvious even then that the market was moving ahead quickly and that the need for things like Microdrives had gone away. Mind you Sinclair had lost interest in the computer business I suppose.
Also, the C5 was a good idea on paper, it just didn't fly in the 'real world'. If we'd had Lithium-Ion batteries back then - and the driver was a bit more comfortable - it might well have worked.. Look at the 'Smart' car - that's not too far removed.. (Although I think it's a small petrol engine). I saw a magazine interview with Clive back in the day where they had concept drawings for the C10 (which was a 2-seater car, not unlike a Smart Car) and the C15 - which was a 'normal' car that looked a bit like the Smart Roadster, but obviously they never came about.
Now if he had sold the C5 as a disability scooter he could have had a real success on his hands. For me it was not the technology, more the market he was aiming it at. It could have been the scooter or an executive toy but not a serious transport option - not in the 1980s. Sinclair was about 30 years ahead of the market though.
Look at the QL. It was a really decent machine. If they had just released standard floppy drives (like PCW 3", 3 1/2" and 5 1/4") as peripherals and had included a simple ASCII Word Processor (like MS EDIT) and perhaps a spreadsheet, then it would have sold like crazy.
I thought the QL did come with a word processor and spreadsheet (4 microdrives came with the machine IIRC with software written by Psion).
Let me just have a grovel about the internet...yes, indeed it came bundled with 4 applications, word processor, spreadsheet, graphics and database from Psion software.
Yes it did Winston and if memory serves I believe the intention was that they would come in ROM originally. The Psion suite of apps were "integrated" and could exchange (excuse the pun) data between them. You could argue they were the precursor to Microsoft Office.
I never used them on the QL but I did when I was working at ICL for a short period (on the ICL OPD). For their day they were really good and to think they came free with the QL!
On paper the QL should have been a success but Sinclair's delays, unrealiability etc. killed it. Shame.
Now if he had sold the C5 as a disability scooter he could have had a real success on his hands. For me it was not the technology, more the market he was aiming it at. It could have been the scooter or an executive toy but not a serious transport option - not in the 1980s. Sinclair was about 30 years ahead of the market though.
Paddy
He was ahead of his time very often. When the C5 came out cars were all about petrol and speed. Now, all the car manufacturers are going electric. Also, towns were full of roads, now they have been pedestrianised so people are trundling around on Segways and mobility vehicles. If the UK had more cycle paths, the C5 might have been a success.
But also his flat screen TV is an interesting example. As it says in my dad's interview, the idea dated back to the 1970s but it took many years to develop the tube (and chips) to do it. At the time, small televisions were a novelty and didn't really take off. Everyone really wanted to watch a large picture if they could. But now we have the iPhone, people are watching all sorts of things on a tiny device, about the size of the TV80.
History is littered with inventions which didn't find a use until years later.
He was ahead of his time very often. When the C5 came out cars were all about petrol and speed. Now, all the car manufacturers are going electric. Also, towns were full of roads, now they have been pedestrianised so people are trundling around on Segways and mobility vehicles. If the UK had more cycle paths, the C5 might have been a success.
I found a 1974 article in Billboard magazine about their Stateside company.
That's where I got Wesley Ruggles name from. Dad could only remember that Martin had been about five years older, had left the company in the early 70s and joined forces with another ex-Sinclair manager to form another short-lived company, possibly moving to the States.
I asked Adrian Espin if this description rang any bells and he said that it fitted a wiz called Martin Willcox. The power of Google did the rest. I sent the Billboard screen grab to dad, who confirmed that these were the people he was talking about. Adrian still has a pair of fine nose pliers with MW engraved on the handle, which Martin left behind.
I've been meaning to say that the cramped working conditions that Dr. Ian Logan was talking about would probably have been at 6 King's Parade. The Mill was pretty big (it's all flats now), but for some reason the design engineers were working in cubicles on one of the upper floors. So the cubicles were cramped, but there was plenty of space in the building!
Unfortunately I never got to see inside. I do recall sitting in our Hillman Avenger on the old bridge outside, while dad nipped into the Mill to do something or other. Probably on the way home from Saturday shopping.
Comments
I found a 1974 article in Billboard magazine about their Stateside company
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YgkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA54&lpg=PA54&dq=%22martin+willcox%22+sinclair+research&source=bl&ots=bkxosixiIM&sig=JQy9bE5VAAR0uyzHh9YAZ06-8D8&hl=en&ei=NO4eTrizNIW7hAfAoImiAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22martin%20willcox%22%20sinclair%20research&f=false
continued from Page 1
I just found out that Billboard has been scanned. I used to buy the odd copy.
What I didn't realise until today (after reading the polymath article) is that Thurlby Thandar came from ex-Sinclair people. I have a Thurlby Thandar logic analyzer I use for debugging various bits of 8 bit digital electronics (including misbehaving Spectrums), and I never realised it kinda-sorta came from the Sinclair fold, too :-)
Some pics of it in use with a Speccy here:
http://spectrum.alioth.net/doc/index.php/File:128debug3.jpg
http://spectrum.alioth.net/doc/index.php/File:128debug4.jpg
Look at the QL. It was a really decent machine. If they had just released standard floppy drives (like PCW 3", 3 1/2" and 5 1/4") as peripherals and had included a simple ASCII Word Processor (like MS EDIT) and perhaps a spreadsheet, then it would have sold like crazy. Also, if Clive hadn't had his hard-on for the QL being a business-only machine and they had incorporated some newer graphics hardware, it could have supplanted the need for the 128K Spectrum and just been the 'family home computer'. (Just as the PC is nowadays). Having reached that rung, they could have kept developing it.. We may have ended up with something like the 'SAM Coupe' 10 years earlier.
Also, the C5 was a good idea on paper, it just didn't fly in the 'real world'. If we'd had Lithium-Ion batteries back then - and the driver was a bit more comfortable - it might well have worked.. Look at the 'Smart' car - that's not too far removed.. (Although I think it's a small petrol engine). I saw a magazine interview with Clive back in the day where they had concept drawings for the C10 (which was a 2-seater car, not unlike a Smart Car) and the C15 - which was a 'normal' car that looked a bit like the Smart Roadster, but obviously they never came about.
Yep the QL was definately a lost opportunity. IMHO the QL looked fantastic and he should have gone down the Atari route i.e. full 68000, proper disk drive, more memory and waited to release it when it was ready. It was obvious even then that the market was moving ahead quickly and that the need for things like Microdrives had gone away. Mind you Sinclair had lost interest in the computer business I suppose.
Paddy
Now if he had sold the C5 as a disability scooter he could have had a real success on his hands. For me it was not the technology, more the market he was aiming it at. It could have been the scooter or an executive toy but not a serious transport option - not in the 1980s. Sinclair was about 30 years ahead of the market though.
Paddy
I thought the QL did come with a word processor and spreadsheet (4 microdrives came with the machine IIRC with software written by Psion).
Let me just have a grovel about the internet...yes, indeed it came bundled with 4 applications, word processor, spreadsheet, graphics and database from Psion software.
I never used them on the QL but I did when I was working at ICL for a short period (on the ICL OPD). For their day they were really good and to think they came free with the QL!
On paper the QL should have been a success but Sinclair's delays, unrealiability etc. killed it. Shame.
Paddy
He was ahead of his time very often. When the C5 came out cars were all about petrol and speed. Now, all the car manufacturers are going electric. Also, towns were full of roads, now they have been pedestrianised so people are trundling around on Segways and mobility vehicles. If the UK had more cycle paths, the C5 might have been a success.
But also his flat screen TV is an interesting example. As it says in my dad's interview, the idea dated back to the 1970s but it took many years to develop the tube (and chips) to do it. At the time, small televisions were a novelty and didn't really take off. Everyone really wanted to watch a large picture if they could. But now we have the iPhone, people are watching all sorts of things on a tiny device, about the size of the TV80.
History is littered with inventions which didn't find a use until years later.
That is a very, very good point!
Welcome to the forums BTW!
That's where I got Wesley Ruggles name from. Dad could only remember that Martin had been about five years older, had left the company in the early 70s and joined forces with another ex-Sinclair manager to form another short-lived company, possibly moving to the States.
I asked Adrian Espin if this description rang any bells and he said that it fitted a wiz called Martin Willcox. The power of Google did the rest. I sent the Billboard screen grab to dad, who confirmed that these were the people he was talking about. Adrian still has a pair of fine nose pliers with MW engraved on the handle, which Martin left behind.
I've been meaning to say that the cramped working conditions that Dr. Ian Logan was talking about would probably have been at 6 King's Parade. The Mill was pretty big (it's all flats now), but for some reason the design engineers were working in cubicles on one of the upper floors. So the cubicles were cramped, but there was plenty of space in the building!
Unfortunately I never got to see inside. I do recall sitting in our Hillman Avenger on the old bridge outside, while dad nipped into the Mill to do something or other. Probably on the way home from Saturday shopping.