On Friday, 15 January 2016 00:10:52 UTC, Your Name  wrote:
> In article , Andreas Kohlbach
>  wrote:
> > Your Name wrote on 13. January 2016:
> > > In article , Andreas Kohlbach
> > >  wrote:
> > >> 
> > >> Wasn't there a certain key to press that it would print the key you
> > >> actually type on the screen?
> > >
> > > Possibly - I really couldn't be bothered playing with the crappy things
> > > long enough to find out / remember. The commands were printed on the
> > > "keys" themselves though.
> > 
> > Yep, I once saw it. I was amazed when I visited the UK in 1986 with other
> > students and saw the kids of the host family had one. Had no idea why
> > words are printed on the keys.
> 
> 
> Yep. It wasn't possible to simply type "I" and "F" for the IF
> statement, you were *forced* to press Shift-Function-M (or whatever the
> key combination was). That silliness and the ridiculously bad
> "keyboards" (flat membrane keyboards on the ZX80 and ZX81, and small
> rubberised keys on the Spectrum) made trying to program the toys a task
> in futility and stupidity.

The keywords system made a kind of sense on the ZX80. As the series went on and
the number of keywords increased it made less and less sense until finally in
1985  Sinclair put out a version of BASIC that works the way every other BASIC
does. And yes, it 
wasn't until Amstrad bought the company in 1986 that there was a Spectrum with
anything resembling a usable keyboard. And although Timex put out a licensed
clone with an AY chip in it in 1983, the main series didn't get a dedicated
sound chip until 1985. 
And no, it wasn't a patch on the SID. And the lack of a single standard disk
system meant the Spectrum pretty much missed out on whole genres of games like
the Ultima series. However, if you take the time to appreciate it, it has its
own charm. In many 
respects the Spectrum is the British equivalent of the original Apple][. It's
also what I grew up with so it's what I program. But I have a lot of time for
the C64 and I'm following developments on Lawless Legends with interest.
http://www.lawlesslegends.
com/

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