Hi All,
Warning - this is fairly long.
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Dear Editor,
Here are some thoughts on SAMson. In one way they are a bit
depressing, but there is a happy ending.
I started making a wish list, of things like instant Spectrum
emulation, a real serial interface so I can plug in a modem and get
online, built-in mouse circuitry and so on; and then I realised I was
simply describing a typical PC running Z80em. The only difference
was SAM compatibility.
So I thought, which is easier, to re-engineer SAM or to write a
SAM emulator for the PC? Which is cheaper, a SAM surrounded by
a forest of adapter circuits for hard discs, modems, mice and the like,
or a PC which uses them all in their native form?
If SAM became just a software product, could it do more than
gently fossilize the way the Spectrum has?
My thoughts turned to my Psion Series 5 pocket computer (on
which I am writing this letter). Besides having its own Spectrum
emulator (of which more another time, Bob), it has a programming
language, called OPL, which is rather like a structured Basic. As a
SAM user I was surprised how familiar it looked. Just no line
numbers any more. Far easier for me than the curly-bracket jungle
of the recent 'C' articles in FORMAT or of JAVA. The point I am
making is that, if OPL can be a respectable programming language,
SAM Basic can too. Indeed, I use it for original research into
polyhedra (crystal-shaped solids).
I am sure that, with careful thought, SAM Basic could be
developed into a useful programming language. But it will need a
wider market than the SAM hardware to be worth the effort.
After all, even if West Coast do develop some nice add-ons, who
would ever buy a redesigned SAM? We old lags will just want to
replace our old Coupes so we can reuse all our existing add-ons, and
what new user would shell out for a hard disc-ed, online, mega-
sound SAMson when a better-spec'd PC can be had for less?
Do you remember the Amstra PCW and Locoscript?
Locomotive software are still going with a respectable turnover,
selling new and refurbished PCs with Locoscript PC pre-installed -
and to a market not a million miles from SAM's own.
You know, I'd buy one with SAM PC pre-installed.
Yours sincerely, Guy Inchbald.
==
There is already an excellent SAM emulator on the PC called
SIMCoupe which I hope we can do a full review of soon. However,
there is nothing quite like the real thing, so I hope to see SAM
hardware continue for a good few years to come.
I agree that a PC Basic, based on SAM Basic, which is of
coursed based on Spectrum Basic, would be a nice idea - the big
question is /who could write it?/ Personally, just getting a few people
together to help sort out SAM's ROM and DOS is a hard enough
task -it seems that there are still too many people whose main
interest is coding stupid scrolly demos which serve no purpose other
than to inflate there [sic] own egos for five minutes. I've said it
before, and no doubt I'll say it again, if just 10% of the talent in the
SAM world was capable of being properly managed on
professionally formulated projects, then the SAM world would have
software and hardware coming out of its ears.
As to the question "would a new SAM sell?" Well I think the
answer is yes. I think there will always be a market for a nice
friendly machine like SAM. /Ed./
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(Source: Format June 1998; copyright Format Publications and
Guy Inchbald)
So, there you have it. Personally, I think Bob's living on cloud cuckoo
land, but that's just IMO of course.
Paul
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