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The Spectrum is powered by a Zilog Z80 CPU (NEC D780C-1 clone) running at 3.5 MHz. The original model has 16 KB (16,1024 bytes) of ROM and 16 KB or 48 KB of RAM. Richard Altwasser of Sinclair Research designed the hardware, and Sinclair industrial designer Rick Dickinson designed the external appearance. An RF modulator provides video output, which is intended for use with modern televisions for simple color graphics display. Text can be displayed using 32 columns and 24 rows of characters from the ZX Spectrum character set or a set supplied within an application, with a palette of 15 shades: seven colors with two levels of brightness each, plus black. The image resolution is 256192 pixels, and the color limits are the same. The color is stored separately from the pixel bitmap in a low-resolution, 3224 grid overlay that matches the character cells to save memory.
In effect, this means that the pixels in an 8×8 character block all have the same foreground and background color. This design was patented by Altwasser: a foreground and background color, a brightness level (normal or bright), and a flashing “flag” that, when set, causes the two colors to move at regular intervals, make up an “attribute”. This design leads to a phenomenon known as color clash or attribute clash, where a desired color for a certain pixel is not always available. This became a defining feature of the Spectrum, requiring applications, especially games, to be built around it. This constraint did not apply to other machines available at the time, such as the Amstrad CPC Commodore 64. Color attributes were used in a similar way on the Commodore 64, however a specific multicolor mode and hardware sprites were used to avoid attribute clashes.
Sound is produced by a beeper on the machine, which can produce a ten-octave channel. An expansion bus edge connector and 3. 5 mm audio input/output ports are provided. 5 mm for connecting a tape recorder to load and save programs and data. The “ear” port has a higher output than the “mic” port, making it better for headphones, while the “mic” port is better for connecting to other audio devices such as line in. The machine was made in Dundee, Scotland, at the now defunct Timex factory.
The original collection
The CPC series had two philosophies: first, it was an “all-in-one” computer that merged the computer, keyboard, and data storage device into a single unit, and came with its own dedicated monitor. Most home computers of the time, such as the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and BBC Micro, relied on a separate disk drive for the tape recorder and a home television. The all-in-one concept was not new in and of itself, having been seen on business machines and the Commodore PET, but it predated the Macintosh in the home computer market by over a year. intended the machine to look like a “genuine computer, comparable to what someone might see used to check in at the airport for vacation,” and not like “a pregnant calculator” – apparently referring to the low-cost, membrane-type keyboards of the Sinclair ZX81 ZX Spectrum. In 1988, Paperboy was released on the CPC 464.