Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!ginosko!uunet!mcsun!ukc!mucs!liv-cs!phil From: phil@mva.cs.liv.ac.uk Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Re: Z88 from Cambridge North America Message-ID: <1897@mva.cs.liv.ac.uk> Date: 25 Sep 89 10:22:38 GMT References: <1709@naucse.UUCP> Organization: Computer Science CSMVAX, Liverpool University Lines: 41 In article <1709@naucse.UUCP>, rrw@naucse.UUCP (Robert Wier) writes: > > In the Sept 12th issue of MacWeek there is an ad on page 56 > for a laptop machine called the Z88, from a company, > Cambridge North America. > > Couple of questions: Does anyone have experience with this machine? > How well does it work, is it reliable, etc., etc. I have used and programmed (in BBC Basic) a Z88 and I suppose it was OK, though I was very happy to get back to the Mac afterwards. It has some neat features - like the built in programs (wordprocessor/spreadsheet) and the real-time clock. The keyboard isn't too bad - though not as good as a real-key keyboard. It's LCD display is very good, and one interesting feature of the word-processor is that although it only has about 8 lines of 80 characters it uses a nifty trick to display the layout of your document on the right-hand-side of the display (imagine a reduced view of your document where each character is represented by a dot - the layout is visible although of course you can't see what the individual words are...) Now the bad points: 1) The keyboard and case are covered in a black rubber material that just sucks up the dust. 2) The only way to edit programs is either to re-type whole lines, or else to use the wordprocessor to edit the text files - and if you get word-wrap it will completely zap your program. 3) Power on & off is achieved by pressing both left & right shift keys together. I once tried to turn it on while I was on the phone and had to use my nose to press one of the shift buttons - they're too far apart for the fingers (and thumb) of one hand. 4) The control sequences in the wordprocessor are extremely obscure. 5) The manual is terrible. > > Also I wonder if maybe there is a connection between this machine > and the old Sinclair Z machine? > Yup - there sure is. The Z88 was created by Sir Clive Sinclair, the genius who brought you the black watch and the Sinclair C5 electric "vehicle". He sold the Sinclair name to Amstrad a while ago, and is now forced to use a different name for his products.