The ridiculous keyword entry system the BASIC used, with no way to turn it off. Moving from an Oric to Speccy, it was painful to use after just being able to type normally. I stuck with the Oric for my programming.
I had a Spectrum+
Things I hated:
Flimsiness of the 9v socket on the board. I had bits of folded paper stuck in the machine to stop it from moving and resetting! If only I had soldering skills back then.
R Tape Loading Error !! Waiting for ages for games to load then having to repeat often with the same result :) Also the tape player often chewed up your favourite tape eg Samurai Warrior which I somehow still managed to fix and load although the ending was missing !!!
Lack of sound or music on most games and this was the main source of C64 envy for me was that SID chip!!
Color clash leading to often very monochrome games, where you couldn't see a thing and hence die all the time !
Loved:
Hi res graphics compared to its contemporaries and choice of color palette.
Many games were fantastic and full of character.
Machine itself was beautiful, powerful and easy to get into and program.
I actually liked the loading tunes !! No wonder I'm into experimental electronic music years later :)
The Spectrum magazines were brilliant both overseas where I was from in ex-Yugoslavia. Also when I moved to Australia I just managed to get a few issues of YS and Crash before the Speccy disappeared in the early 90s.
Loved my 48K rubber keyed Spectrum when I got it - seemed such a huge step forward from my ZX81. However, after time I disliked:
- Keyboard
- Metal plate over the keyboard - heat and it lifted off
- 32 characters per line - wanted 40 or 80
- Speed of the BASIC - seemed so slow compared with BBC BASIC
- Lack of structured programming constructs in Sinclair BASIC
- Lack of data types in Sinclair BASIC
- Tapes (got a lot better when I bought a Microdrive)
I know you can code around many of the BASIC items I have listed above but at the time I was "learning" and wanted to use these sort of features. Went from my Spectrum to an Acorn Electron and for at the time this was a great little machine although my all time favourite 8 bit machine was the Amstrad CPC6128.
Always thought the Spectrum 128 should have been a mini-QL i.e. as it was plus a built in Microdrive.
Colour clash. If only Sinclair had followed the Spectrum up with a machine that could handle more than 2 colours in a 8x8 space, things could have been so different. The 128 was a disppointment to me as it didn't fix this problem, so I never got one.
This, so much. That they couldn't be @rsed to even add the Timex multicolour mode (a machine sold in Portugal) to that Spanish 128K design was unforgivable. I nearly bought an MSX, but was never going to bother with a 128.
I dont hate anything about Spectrum.
Some things could be better, but then it would no longer be Spectrum.
I like Spectrum as it is, with all the virtues and flaws - a unique and perfect in its imperfection.
I didn't like having to adjust the tv tuning so much, but I had an issue 4 so it was supposed to stay in tune.... I actually thought the problem was with the tv, not the spectrum. I had a massive tv with 4 buttons you pulled out to tune. I don't think it was all that accurate and when you pushed the button back in, it had to go in straight or it'd knock it out of tune... or so I remember. I did get it sorted eventually. I didn't like tape loading errors, but again I thought this was a problem with the tape player, not the spectrum (which is probably true). The spectrum to me was perfect, I couldn't find fault with it at all.
I never had the keyboard membrane fail on me as I 'upgraded' to a + before it had chance to. The ZX power supply failed though, but I was told by a relative that this was my fault as I'd been unplugging the spectrum but not the supply from the wall and it had consequently 'burned out'.
Colour clash was just the way it was on some games, not an issue to me. The total lack of sound on some games seemed lazy to me, surely they could fit in a few clicks and bleeps on simpler games.
Sod hi-res colour attributes, they should have added the 512x192 mono mode!
No they shouldn't...
yes they should because then the +3 would have got it too and CP/M would have actually been useful.
Doubly so if the 64K paging mode had a less silly contention layout. And on that if the +2A/+3 had the same contended pages as the original 128.
For me though, it would be the lack of a standardised disk interface early on. The microdrive was crap and the Speccy could've done so much more with a floppy drive instead but the disparate third party solutions weren't compatible enough to really take hold. And by the time there was a standard it really was too late (especially since Amstrad then went with the 3" drives)
Sod hi-res colour attributes, they should have added the 512x192 mono mode!
No they shouldn't...
yes they should because then the +3 would have got it too and CP/M would have actually been useful.
Doubly so if the 64K paging mode had a less silly contention layout. And on that if the +2A/+3 had the same contended pages as the original 128.
For me though, it would be the lack of a standardised disk interface early on. The microdrive was crap and the Speccy could've done so much more with a floppy drive instead but the disparate third party solutions weren't compatible enough to really take hold. And by the time there was a standard it really was too late (especially since Amstrad then went with the 3" drives)
Yep, 3.5 inch disk drive would have been far more sensible, but then whenever did a Spectrum ever take the standard route...
Amstrad or an entrepreneurial third party could easily have sold a 3.5" or 5.25" external drive if interoperability with non-Amstrad systems had been important to people, but again the lack of a decent video mode renders it pretty useless as any sort of business machine.
I have nothing against 3.5" drives - used plenty over the decades and found them quick and reliable. Having said that, I never had any issues with Amstrad's 3" drives as they always worked for me. Mind you, I did not not have to buy blank discs! :-)
For those members moaning about the BASIC and comparing it to "BBC BASIC", keep in mind that both the Acorn BBC (A and B models) and the Acorn Electron each have a 16k byte OS ROM and a 16k byte BASIC ROM. So a total of 32k bytes of ROM as standard. While the ZX Spectrum had a 16k byte ROM that combined BASIC with the "OS" functions. Sinclair wanted the maximum number of features at minimum price. So the programmers went for compact code rather than speedy code. The spare space in the ROM was supposed to be for the Microdrive code.
! Standby alert !
“There are four lights!”
Step up to red alert. Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing the bulb!
Looking forward to summer in Somerset later in the year :)
! Standby alert !
“There are four lights!”
Step up to red alert. Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing the bulb!
Looking forward to summer in Somerset later in the year :)
For those members moaning about the BASIC and comparing it to "BBC BASIC", keep in mind that both the Acorn BBC (A and B models) and the Acorn Electron each have a 16k byte OS ROM and a 16k byte BASIC ROM. So a total of 32k bytes of ROM as standard. While the ZX Spectrum had a 16k byte ROM that combined BASIC with the "OS" functions. Sinclair wanted the maximum number of features at minimum price. So the programmers went for compact code rather than speedy code. The spare space in the ROM was supposed to be for the Microdrive code.
Mark
Totally agree Mark. These days I can look at the Spectrum ROM and see how amazing it is that they crammed so much functionality in to a relatively small space. However, in the 80s I appreciated the fuller implementation and more polished feel on the Electron, CPC etc. Mind you, could be worse, I could have had a C64! :-)
No point comparing it to some other machines as they were at a different price point.
What did I dislike? Spilling a can of coke onto the keyboard and it failing a few days later when the coke had eaten the copper tracks off the membrane. But that's hardly the spectrum's fault.
The 7805 used to go wrong but it was easy to replace.
A lot of bad games were released for the speccy, occasionally the magazines would recommend a crap game and I'd be caught out that way.
bad arcade conversions abounded,
In the late eighties some really good games came out for it which made up for the stinkers.
As I (more or less) 'started' with a Speccy, the keyword input did not really bother me. It was quite easy to hammer out statements.
Things I did not like:
1. Maybe more of a suggestion but a rocker type on / off switch in the PSU (to cut the 240v) would not of gone amiss. I ended up cutting my power cable and inserting one of those Maplin 'inline' table lamp rocker switches into it, I did this to the mains side as otherwise there seemed little point as you'd still be powering the transformer.
2. The lack of a reset button, placing excess wear on the power plug / socket, although to be fair the first point of failure was the cable itself at the 9v plug, this despite never having pulled on just the wire. I recall a friend had a Kempston interface with a reset button on it although I cannot remember what make it was.
3. Gripe: Someone 'forgot' the ELSE statement in Basic. This was not actually that much concern until I used other versions of Basic and realise how much more efficient it could be as in ZX Basic I needed two lines whereas with a working ELSE I could stick it all into one line.
4.The 'coil' er 'noise' seemed to be quite loud 'back then' at least to me. Although these days I do not really hear it as such, well not as much.
Comments
I wonder where it all is now...
Things I hated:
Flimsiness of the 9v socket on the board. I had bits of folded paper stuck in the machine to stop it from moving and resetting! If only I had soldering skills back then.
R Tape Loading Error !! Waiting for ages for games to load then having to repeat often with the same result :) Also the tape player often chewed up your favourite tape eg Samurai Warrior which I somehow still managed to fix and load although the ending was missing !!!
Lack of sound or music on most games and this was the main source of C64 envy for me was that SID chip!!
Color clash leading to often very monochrome games, where you couldn't see a thing and hence die all the time !
Loved:
Hi res graphics compared to its contemporaries and choice of color palette.
Many games were fantastic and full of character.
Machine itself was beautiful, powerful and easy to get into and program.
I actually liked the loading tunes !! No wonder I'm into experimental electronic music years later :)
The Spectrum magazines were brilliant both overseas where I was from in ex-Yugoslavia. Also when I moved to Australia I just managed to get a few issues of YS and Crash before the Speccy disappeared in the early 90s.
I still love it!
- Keyboard
- Metal plate over the keyboard - heat and it lifted off
- 32 characters per line - wanted 40 or 80
- Speed of the BASIC - seemed so slow compared with BBC BASIC
- Lack of structured programming constructs in Sinclair BASIC
- Lack of data types in Sinclair BASIC
- Tapes (got a lot better when I bought a Microdrive)
I know you can code around many of the BASIC items I have listed above but at the time I was "learning" and wanted to use these sort of features. Went from my Spectrum to an Acorn Electron and for at the time this was a great little machine although my all time favourite 8 bit machine was the Amstrad CPC6128.
Always thought the Spectrum 128 should have been a mini-QL i.e. as it was plus a built in Microdrive.
Paddy
Yep, that was pretty terrible by comparison. It should have been so much better.
- IONIAN-GAMES.com -
Some things could be better, but then it would no longer be Spectrum.
I like Spectrum as it is, with all the virtues and flaws - a unique and perfect in its imperfection.
http://zx-pk.ru/
I never had the keyboard membrane fail on me as I 'upgraded' to a + before it had chance to. The ZX power supply failed though, but I was told by a relative that this was my fault as I'd been unplugging the spectrum but not the supply from the wall and it had consequently 'burned out'.
Colour clash was just the way it was on some games, not an issue to me. The total lack of sound on some games seemed lazy to me, surely they could fit in a few clicks and bleeps on simpler games.
This is one of the reasons I really like the CPC6128 - great for running CP/M as was the PCW.
Paddy
For me though, it would be the lack of a standardised disk interface early on. The microdrive was crap and the Speccy could've done so much more with a floppy drive instead but the disparate third party solutions weren't compatible enough to really take hold. And by the time there was a standard it really was too late (especially since Amstrad then went with the 3" drives)
Paddy
Mark
Repair Guides. Spanish Hardware site.
WoS - can't download? Info here...
former Meulie Spectrum Archive but no longer available :-(
Spectranet: the TNFS directory thread
! Standby alert !
“There are four lights!”
Step up to red alert. Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing the bulb!
Looking forward to summer in Somerset later in the year :)
Apparently Sugar bought a warehouse load of 3" drives just because it was a good deal, so which is why all his machines had 3" drives.
Could be urban myth.
Mark
Repair Guides. Spanish Hardware site.
WoS - can't download? Info here...
former Meulie Spectrum Archive but no longer available :-(
Spectranet: the TNFS directory thread
! Standby alert !
“There are four lights!”
Step up to red alert. Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing the bulb!
Looking forward to summer in Somerset later in the year :)
Totally agree Mark. These days I can look at the Spectrum ROM and see how amazing it is that they crammed so much functionality in to a relatively small space. However, in the 80s I appreciated the fuller implementation and more polished feel on the Electron, CPC etc. Mind you, could be worse, I could have had a C64! :-)
Paddy
No point comparing it to some other machines as they were at a different price point.
What did I dislike? Spilling a can of coke onto the keyboard and it failing a few days later when the coke had eaten the copper tracks off the membrane. But that's hardly the spectrum's fault.
The 7805 used to go wrong but it was easy to replace.
https://sinclairql.wordpress.com
bad arcade conversions abounded,
In the late eighties some really good games came out for it which made up for the stinkers.
Things I did not like:
1. Maybe more of a suggestion but a rocker type on / off switch in the PSU (to cut the 240v) would not of gone amiss. I ended up cutting my power cable and inserting one of those Maplin 'inline' table lamp rocker switches into it, I did this to the mains side as otherwise there seemed little point as you'd still be powering the transformer.
2. The lack of a reset button, placing excess wear on the power plug / socket, although to be fair the first point of failure was the cable itself at the 9v plug, this despite never having pulled on just the wire. I recall a friend had a Kempston interface with a reset button on it although I cannot remember what make it was.
3. Gripe: Someone 'forgot' the ELSE statement in Basic. This was not actually that much concern until I used other versions of Basic and realise how much more efficient it could be as in ZX Basic I needed two lines whereas with a working ELSE I could stick it all into one line.
4.The 'coil' er 'noise' seemed to be quite loud 'back then' at least to me. Although these days I do not really hear it as such, well not as much.
I think that's about it. :)
- IONIAN-GAMES.com -