Sinclair QL

Low-cost Sinclair Research home computers such as the ZX-81 and ZX Spectrum had taken the British market by storm during 81-83. At this time, rumours swirled in the computer press that the company was working on a super-advanced business computer, one which would be innovative and brimming with advanced technology, ushering in a new dawn of price/performance capability!

This wonder computer was the Sinclair QL.

Highly anticipated and highly hyped (at least in the UK), this micro is a textbook example of how NOT to develop and market a mid-1980s computer. That's why I wanted this (infamous) computer in my collection. Poor R+D management combined with a premature release and over hyperbole lead to what can only be described as a debacle. Sinclair Research and the QL never recovered.

I remember the hype and anticipation in the New Zealand computer press. It made me want one! Hindsight is always 20/20 vision and I'm very glad I didn't shell out thousands when they first arrived here.

This unit is in very good cosmetic shape and has obviously been looked after. This must be a later iteration as it doesn't have the infamous dongle out the back. It came complete with the bundled Psion software package and some other programs. Not all of the software works (no doubt due to age), but thankfully of the Psion bundle only Easel seems damaged. Quill, Abacus and Archive all load and run. However, the keyboard was only partly working at first, which is a common fault with these machines. A new keyboard membrane from the U.K. has fixed this problem and it's now 100% fine.

My impressions now I have one? Notwithstanding that Linux inventor Linus Torvalds learned to program on a QL as did many others (and I'm sure have fond memories of the machine), to me it appears the proverbial "dog's breakfast"! Had I been a reviewer back in the day I would have taken off my rose-coloured spectacles (which many wore) and savaged it. Clive Sinclair promoted this as a business machine yet (early model firmware bugs aside) it has a poor keyboard, a confusing DOS (QDOS) and an unreliable, slow, proprietary and idiosyncratic storage mechanism (microdrives). It doesn't even have a centronic parallel port which was the standard printer interface for business micros at that time! To top it off there isn't even an on/off switch!! Much was made of the 16-bit Motorola 68008 CPU and 128k RAM but the truth is these are hobbled by an 8-bit bus, slow storage media and bloated Psion software which was a port to the QL, rather than having being written specifically for it.

Too highly-priced and lacking a software base for the home market, too buggy (at the time of release), idiosyncratic and propriety for the business market the QL was a quantum leap in rushed product, poor development, hyperbole and vapourware.