🚀 go-pugleaf

Peter Corlett <abuse@mooli.org.uk> scribbled the following
on comp.sys.amiga.hardware:
> Joona I Palaste <palaste@cc.helsinki.fi> wrote:
> [...]
>> "MUCH MUCH better SPECTRUM"? The same Spectrum which had 8-colour graphics
>> at 240*120

> 256x192. 16 colours if you include "bright" mode.

>> or something instead of 16-colour graphics at 320*200?
>> The same Spectrum which had "beep, beep" sounds

> Worse, it was a polled-IO single bit on an output port.

This only strenghtens my argument.

>> instead of 3-channel 4-waveform sound? The same Spectrum which had usually
>> 16k memory (48k if you were really lucky)

> 48k was fairly standard for the Spectrum. 16k Spectrums were quite rare and
> wouldn't run most of the software available for it anyway.

>> instead of 64k as standard?

> 16kB of ROM and 48kB of RAM, to fill the address space completely. To put
> more into it involves faffing around with bank switching. Later models of
> Spectrum had bank-switched memory to give it 128kB, but I don't recall it
> being a particularly heavily-used feature.

The C=64 had fully addressable 64k of memory, but only about 42-45k of
it was available for users. The C=128 (and the luxury model C=128D
with integrated disk drive) also had the bank-switched 128k memory.

>> What is so "MUCH MUCH better" about it? For some reason, the British are
>> wacko over their Spectrums. I always thought there was something odd about
>> the British.

> The Spectrum was dirt cheap and readily available, and many people migrated
> to it from the even cheaper ZX81.

So? What does this have to do with "much much better"? Some pocket
calculators at the time cost about a quid or perhaps even less, but
you don't hear people saying they're "much much better" than
Spectrums (Spectra?).

-- 
/-- Joona Palaste (palaste@cc.helsinki.fi) ---------------------------\
| Kingpriest of "The Flying Lemon Tree" G++ FR FW+ M- #108 D+ ADA N+++|
| http://www.helsinki.fi/~palaste       W++ B OP+                     |
\----------------------------------------- Finland rules! ------------/
"To err is human. To really louse things up takes a computer."
   - Anon