A Potpourri of Space-age Objects

Only a few trinkets to show here. (I'm building toy robots and there's very little progress yet.)

Zen-On Metrina Quartz Metronome

First on display is an electronic metronome, possibly from the 1980s. Besides the beat per minute dial, the wheel also shows corresponding musical terms such as Andante, Moderato, Allegro and so on. Powered with a single 9V battery, the metronome can be made quiet and the sound can be output from a phone jack to a mixer or headphones.

The A4 position also gives a 440hz tone for tuning instruments, which is pretty handy. The tempo range is from 40BPM to 208BPM. I have not tested if the device is accurate.

Gillette Techmatic 

Next up is Gillette Techmatic safety razor, a design from late 1960s, this model likely from the 1970s. A razor like this (but not exactly like this) was taken on some of the Apollo flights. Not that it's cutting edge, as it is very gimmicky. Instead of a replaceable single blade, the blade is actually a band which can be cycled onwards with a lever. Turning the lever revealed some unused blade, so I actually tried out the razor. It's pretty horrible, but it did cut the face hair. I had to finish with a modern blade, though.

My God, It's Full of Stars!

I think the device can be called innovative, and it certainly looks more interesting than any current cheap razor. But it can be easily argued that the strange blade is just a trick to sell a novelty, and the unnecessary bits and pieces appeal to the tech-hungry male.

The Astronaut Box for the Astronaut Blade.

Safety razors are pretty crappy products overall. Try to buy a handle and replaceable blades and you'll find out the company will eventually change the connector so that you have to buy a new handle anyway after a few years.

The handy interface will tell you if the band has run out.

Sanyo Data Recorder

Ok, I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel here. A Sanyo "data" recorder. In addition to a normal tape recorder, this has Attenuator, Phase and Monitor switches. The attenuator boosts the signal, which is pretty good for square waves I guess. I'm not sure about the phase reversing, perhaps it inverts the waveform. Don't know what's the use for that. Monitor turns the speaker on and off. It's not the most beautiful tape deck there is, but I kind of appreciate the humble no-nonsense design and the tiny triangular buttons for the "extra" functions.

With some heavy-duty spreadsheet software largely written in BASIC.

Weird kind of brand loyalty: The "Sinclair" A-bike

Note that it is actually an "A-bicycle", not an "A-bike".

I recently acquired a clone of Sinclair's A-bike from a private net auction. I've been looking for this thing mostly because it's a Sinclair product, but I have also a fascination towards the idea of a folding bike. But not so fascinated I'd go buying other brands. Well, what I have here is not really a genuine Sinclair. I'd like to have the original but it's quite expensive and not directly available outside UK. This "chinese" knock-off has the same overall physical design, dimension and weight, so although it probably is not built to the standard of the original it's possible to say something about the concept.

The A-bike is not Sinclair's first foray into the bike market, as Sinclair designed the Zike electric bike back in the nineties. As a matter of fact, Sinclair appears to have been planning an electric-enhanced version of the A-bike, but I don't know if it has ever materialized. The bike approach at least fixes some of the image concerns the earlier C5 "car" designs might have had, as the A-bike is able to elevate the cyclist to the same height as in a proper bicycle.

It was initially frustrating to get the bike to fold and unfold properly. It seemed that always something slipped away or I made a wrong move in the wrong stage. After some dedicated training I could get it to work reliably. Not the promised "under 10 seconds", though. Now that I have some practice behind me I can get get to 20 seconds without great stress, but that is not at all bad. It's not as trivial as unfolding an umbrella, perhaps something between a deck chair and a camera tripod on a scale of inconvenience. It's pretty impressive nonetheless. It's also possible the original works a bit more smoothly.

To fold in the bike, a couple of fasteners are first loosened. Then a button is squeezed in the horizontal part of the A-frame, and then the whole A-shape starts to fold in. Then two buttons are pushed in in the vertical tubes, which allows them to retract. The seat tube is levered backwards, the handlebar is rotated 180 degrees, and then what's left is to pull out and bend the handlebars (more buttons) and push in and bend in the pedals. Folding out the bike is pretty much the reverse of this procedure.

Test driving the bike, my first impression was that there's little hope of using this at any kind of cobbled or uneven roads with gaps between slates etc. Firstly the small wheels don't cope too well with the bumpiness and secondly they are quite prone to get caught into openings. Also the seat and the wheels are a bit too hard for the old behind. So it will be smooth paved roads all the way, and you'd be better of carrying or folding the bike when difficulties arise.

The 6-7 kg weight is stretching the definition of "portability" a bit. Also, the folded size, although impressively small, is still quite large for something you'd carry around comfortably. So it really works better if you don't actually have to walk distances, like standing in a tram or a bus. This is what it has been designed for, but that sounds somewhat overtly specific. The A-bike seems to fill a very narrow traffic-ecological niche, and the worrying implication is that somewhere there is a person who needs to optimize just that one bit of time use during the commute, to do something more "productive" with the hard-won minutes. To me it's better to see the bike as some kind of toy, bringing a little bit of strangeness and fascination to our lives through its mere existence.

I'm somewhat surprised that the knock-off has most of the features of the original. Compared to the information on Sinclair's website, the folded dimensions are pretty much correct and so is the weight, something I did not expect really. Yet I can see the build quality is not that great. Wherever I look I can see ill-made seams, poorly "sanded" surfaces, wobbly pieces. Compared to the original (I have to imagine) the material feel is not as good, likely the wheels and the seat are not as comfortable. The handlebars feel somewhat too rubbery and hard. The rigidness is overall a bit shoddy, and one can fear that the bike breaks down at some inopportune moment.

On the positive side, even with this copy I could get a glimpse of Sinclair's design in the 2000s. The foldability is great and the bike is about drive-able. I'd bet the genuine article is better. Has the A-bike something in common with the old school Sinclair products? Well, miniaturisation and "societal goals" have always seemed to be part of Sinclair's design philosophy, so in a sense it continues the Sinclair tradition.

Link to Sinclair's A-bike web page (Nope, dead link in 16.7.2023)

Evolving

Just a small comment on the continuing Evolution I case project. I added strips of balsa to the sides of the plywood board to give it a different appearance.

Although the flat plywood was kind of nice, it did not have that "old school" style I was going for.

Now the computer has this nice floating box appearance, but as a side effect the computer looks bigger, a bit uncomfortably so. The seams between the plywood and the added bits are visible, but less intruding than I had thought.

Fight for you right... to fight

When waiting for the glue to dry, I'll have a look at three Spectrum fighting games that are in a way similar. These games mixed the martial arts with exploration and adventure. Here, I'm looking at the protagonist from the side and I can explore a two-dimensional map of rooms, while occasionally kicking and punching my opponents. Simple and clear fun. Let's have a look.

Bruce Lee

The perennial (I learned a new word) favourite. Bruce Lee roams through about 20 chambers, collecting lanterns, kicking and punching his way through the army of Ninjas and Green Yamos. But that's not nearly all: there are a bunch of mobile traps, beds of daggers, moving ladders and other kind of intense platform game elements that make this game very different from almost any other fighting game that came before or after.

The game is perhaps best described as a platform game with some fighting elements. The player only has two fighting moves at his command, a punch and a fierce flying kick. Yet, these two moves are so satisfying and integrate well to the overall gameplay that there's really no need for anything else. For example, characters can fall off the platforms after a healthy kick and the enemies are also susceptible to all the same traps the player is. (There's a two-player option too.)

Bruce Lee sure puts the 'cute' in 'electrocute'

The game is a conversion from the C64/Atari original. I think the Spectrum one still rules, even if I'm a bit biased. (This was among the first few batches of games I ever played on the computer) Granted, it's a pretty bold move to make both the Ninja and the Green Yamo white. Yet even back in the day I had become to accept that things on the Spectrum screen rarely correspond well with reality, so I merely accepted the shapes as abstractions.

Enter the White Ninja, later in the game.

The Spectrum gameplay is in ways more bearable than the clunky and unpredictable movement in the C64/Atari version. The colour scheme is more a matter of taste, but I somehow feel the black background makes for a more pleasing environment. The palette has been used quite sparingly to avoid any colour clash problems that usually haunted Spectrum games.

Don't wish for an easy life, but the strength to endure a difficult one.

The people converting this one at least tried to improve the game: For example, the Yamo is a bit more intelligent and can follow you on ladders. A pity that the enemies are otherwise far too easy to evade, which is not the case in the C64 version.


Fist II- The Legend Continues

It's not a bad premise: All the moves and graphical flair of The Way of the Exploding Fist combined with a purposeful quest set as a scrolling adventure.

Tit mountain, Japan

The game is a pretty good technical achievement on a Spectrum. It has reasonably fast scrolling and a lot of colour on screen. Also, there are different varieties of background graphics and they're quite big. The C64 version is well done too, with background music as an added bonus.

What it all boils down is a boring maze. Compared to the original, every addition seems largely an illusion. Sure, the pictoresque landscapes change but there's virtually no interaction with the environment, so their role is mainly cosmetic. It's not like the fights ever take place in varying conditions. The labyrinthine playfield involves getting to places where there might be a symbol that can then be taken to another place where there might be a buddha statue. And that's about it.

I thought, stars are good, so, collect the stars- but no. Avoid these bread-sized shurikens.

Even the fighting has become tedious. Oh why, oh why do the characters need to have these loooong health bars? It makes the combat ridiculously boring. One of the more inventive things about the first Way of the Exploding Fist was the excellent balancing of the "hit points" for the combatants. You could basically get defeated by two hits, but sometimes not. I'd have thought that making the enemies mostly one-hit, and giving the player a bunch of health would have made a lot of sense here.

Props for including all the moves from the original, though. Also, the combat is slightly spiced with the enemy throwing stuff at you. I readily admit the best part is the occasional bunch of wild cats that may be nose-kicked with hilarious results.

Here kitty kitty, here kitty... ROUNDHOUSE

I can sort of see that after all the graphics and backgrounds there was little memory for content. But even by just rethinking the existing ingredients, the game could have been made much more interesting. Don't get me wrong. Having said all these negative things, I still feel drawn to the game. It oozes some weird atmosphere and unfulfilled promise that has to be meditated upon, buddha-like, in front of the screen, not really trying to play the game.


Saboteur!

Saboteur! gets many things right that Fist II got wrong. The enemy compound/base/building whatever is interesting to explore, with reasonable amount of variety and different obstacles to negotiate. In some ways it resembles Bruce Lee, but is at the same time simpler and more complex. It has some platform-jumping elements, but thankfully not too much as the jumping is a bit hard to manage.

The graphics and character sizes are pretty much the equal to Fist II, whereas the combat has been kept very simple. A bit too simple, one might say, as the guards die from a single blow. In fact, you can kill them by throwing a single rock at them. At least the different environments make the combat situations slightly different. The enemies can't be made to fall into pits, though.

Note the CCTV camera which occasionally, but impotently, shoots bullets.

Instead of wild cats there are guard dogs. These tend to be more annoying than the human guards, but this is mostly because they cannot be kicked. It seems a bit absurd, but it's a game, and you know, they make the rules. However, it's possible to throw stuff at the dogs in diagonal angle, but this requires precise timing.  Sometimes you meet both a dog and a guard, who can shoot a submachine gun at you, and then things can get a bit hectic. What I like is that unlike in Bruce Lee, all the killed opponents stay dead. There's some real incentive to killing them, as you often need to backtrack your route.

I've noted there are a couple of grenades lying around, but for some reason they are not any more powerful than throwing the bricks, pipes or rocks.

The guard, caught in the middle of some embarrassing maneuver. 

The Commodore 64 version has marginally better sound effects. Running makes a metallic sound that adds to the atmosphere. Some corners have been cut in the graphics department but essentially it's the same game. I don't remember exactly, but I think some features were missing too.

Hiding behind that box is not going to help you: I'm coming from the other direction.

The building is interspersed with little touches that make exploration that much more rewarding. In some ways the subway is a totally useless feature, because there's no gameplay involved,  but it can be considered a kind of a cut-scene. There's a stealth element, too, as guards facing another direction can be approached slowly from behind. This adds some to the "ninja" quality in the game, even if it is bit pointless given how easy the guards are to kill anyway.

The game features a rapidly replenishing health bar, which works bit like the one in Halo. This also contributes to the silly-easy nature of the game. Though I do confess I tend to play the game on the easiest level, so what do I know.

The ultimate goal is to find a diskette and activate a bomb that blows up the base, and escape via a helicopter, with the disk if possible. With each difficulty level, the positions of the required items change. Also, the numerous doors in the building are locked in different configurations, and you have to know which terminal unlocks each of the doors. Let's just say the architects did not make the most obvious connections. Did I mention the time limit? It's mighty stressful.

A nice one-person subway.

The game spawned a sequel which had some neat additions, such as choosing one's own entry point by dropping out of a hang glider. Yet the game was slower, with simpler environments and harder enemies. Like the 2-meter androids with flamethrowers. This kind of details sort of distanced from the realistic tone set by the first game. Admittedly, the action cleverly extends over the screen space, so that guards from the next room can enter the space you are in. Sabouter 2 was not a complete failure, but I tend to think it as inferior to the original.

All in all

We had it sooo good in the 80s! The games these days, blah blah...

But seriously, one might think all the fighting game varieties have been exhausted long ago, but still it seems these three games demonstrate a sub-genre that could have been explored more. Although I have enjoyed Tekken and the likes, the one-on-one fighting genre does not really do it for me. Also, I'm not going to start playing Assassin's Creed or the latest Prince of Persia, I don't want the game playing to become a project, anymore.

Evolution I, Part II

Featuring the Suncom TAC-2, perhaps the best Atari-compatible joystick there was.

The exciting continuation of the Evolution I casing project!

I have added two plywood pieces to the case. It does not sound much but it took some time.

The wide piece at the front is only really necessary for keeping the bottom rigid. I'd rather have the front open also to ensure better ventilation. Even if the evo does not get really hot it would be a good precaution.

I'm leaving most of the backside open, which also simplifies the case a lot.

Don't do this at home.

It took more work to add a back panel piece which includes the RGB and a Joystick port. After all the time spent getting the wedge shape into correct angle, I managed to glue it in rather lazily... If I now did the whole thing again I'd pay more attention to building the outer frame of the case bottom and given it a bit more depth, too.

I added furniture feet to the bottom of the case. Rubber feet would have been much better, because the ones I used tend to slide somewhat. The height of the case is now 35 millimeter high at the front (counting from the table surface) and 52 at the back. The keyboard part of the case is still loose, but it has small wooden blocks that guide it better to position.

The keyboard cable is a bit redundant, but I'm not going to break up the keyboard yet.

I've been building this as I go along. This means there was bound to be some hiccups. If I get too many things wrong I'll just build another case, learning from the previous attempts. I'm not going to stress much with drawings and 3d modelling when doing these projects, I often lose interest if I do too much pre-planning.

To be continued. (maybe)

Evolution I, Part I

My ZXEvo has evolved!

I have to say, I never was quite happy with the ZX Evolution inside a plain mini-ITX case. Sure, it made it easy to get the computer up and running. Yet at the same time it seemed plain wrong, looking too much like a modern computer. Also, part of the fun of having this kind of computers is to build stuff on your own, so off I went to create my own case.  I hope this is not the last Evo casing I'll ever do, so optimistically I call it the "Evolution I"

I was already interested about re-casing my Evo when I came across the Schneider EuroPC. (See earlier post) I was very impressed with the simple layout of the case. In fact, I initially hoped to fit the Evo motherboard inside it, and even took some steps towards this goal. Here I used a keyboard part from an Apple II extended keyboard, and not the original EuroPC keyboard. This way it would be possible to rewire the keyboard to work with the Sinclair connector.

ZXevolution inside the EuroPC case. Also, a portion of Apple Extended keyboard.

As it is, I got bored with this idea although I could see it would work. Yet the EuroPC case is oversized and it would take time to build the keyboard connections, which was not my interest this time. But I got enough inspiration from this to make my own case. 

I started hunting for a small keyboard that would be compatible with the ZXevo without any additional work. I got a very good one from a net auction so I could start from the scratch. I removed the top of the keyboard to help the keys protrude slightly higher. (The keys are low, lapstop-style)

The small PS/2 keyboard, cover off.

The new case is made from bits of plywood that happened to be around. The plywood is 9mm thick so I could not just simply make a keyboard-shaped hole as the keys are too low.

I used an electric router to cut the needed two-level opening for the keyboard, but a similar result could be achieved with two layers of thinner plywood.

This turned out to be a bit more hardcore than I expected...

When the keyboard was in place I glued a couple of plywood pieces to keep it there. I dared not use the existing screwholes as there was only about 3mm left of the plywood thickness.

When starting to work on this case, I had a couple of aims: First, the case top should be easy to remove no matter what, to get easy access to the evo board. Secondly, I want to be able to dismantle the thing. Thirdly, the important parts have to stay intact. This explains why I've basically left the keyboard as an external keyboard, cable and all. I did not want to break it apart at this point.

I did not have specific proportions in mind, but I knew I'd like the computer be generous in size, so it would be not too difficult to make. I'd be happy with something Spectrum+3 sized.

The underside, I don't much care about how it looks like.
In the end I had to saw off pieces to make the board fit.

The sides are hand sawn from the same thickness of plywood, and sanded. I knew I probably would make a second version of the case bottom so I did not do very precise work. The bottom part of the case is simply a plywood with the motherboard and the power-stuff screwed on. I put some rubber pieces between the wood and the circuit boards, so that the solders do not touch the plywood. The evo board is positioned more to the right hand side of the computer, as the taller parts of the board are at the right, and they should not collide with the keyboard bottom.

The first version of the case bottom, from 9mm plywood

When it came to connecting the power between the ITX-thingamajig and the zxevo board, I first used the ATX-style 24-pin connector. The cables protruded too much so I removed them and used the  ZXevo Molex connector instead. This connector is sideways, problem removed. The POWER ON pin on the ATX has to be shorted to the ground for the power to work. After that it's just a matter of connecting the appropriate pins to the Molex connector.

The first version of the case turned out a bit taller than I hoped for, because I was playing it safe with the dimensions. Of course, there are old computers that are very tall, like the C64, but I wanted this to look good and be comfortable for the hands.

For the second version, I could take almost a centimeter of height out from the front by making the sides slightly lower and using a thinner (about 3mm thick) cardboard for the case bottom. The case bottom needs some rubber feet so in reality I did not win more than about 5mm I suppose. I also had to carve some parts out of the case top so that it would fit with the lower configuration I now have. Obviously many of the connectors on the board are now unusable, but I don't see a need for them.

The second version of the case bottom was made of a thin cardboard panel.

The bottom part dimensions are 40cm x 17cm, whereas the keyboard part is bigger, 44cm x 19cm. This gives an illusion of lightness, a trick inspired by the Sinclair QL case design. A straightforward box was another option, but it would be a bit more demanding to do with all the visible seams and joinery.

The new bottom is not so sturdy as the first one, because the cardboard is this crappy thing I took from the back of a photograph display. 3mm plywood would have been ideal, but there was none around at the moment. Hopefully the cardboard becomes more rigid when I build a backside from the 9mm plywood.

Playing it to the last millimeter with the power cables...

There's some things yet to do: The back panel with proper RGB and Atari-style Joystick connectors.  Also, rubber feet for the computer. (Some of the screws come through the bottom...) I'll also have to think how to connect the top and bottom parts of the case in a way that the top could still be easily removed. The case currently works so that the keyboard portion is simply placed on top of the sides, with nothing to join it. It's ok on the table but for moving around this is insufficient.

I hope to continue this project to its conclusion. See you later! (Check the Part Two)

Previewing the backside. The RGB is still directly connected to on-board pins.

Sinclair QL

I can't help adoring the Sinclair QL, despite its flaws. I never saw it back in the day, but having read Spectrum magazines I was vaguely aware of the QL. As a "business machine", it was awe-inspiring to a mere mortal, but also somewhat boring with its lack of games and entertainment.

Although it was marketed as a cheap alternative to other serious computers, it was still so expensive that I was just as likely to own one as I would an Cray X-MP. Now that I have one I can bring one more childhood fantasy to a closure...

Suprematist, constructivist, neo-plasticist... pick one.

The Sinclair QL is a very pretty object. Rick Dickinson's styling is deservedly award-winning. 80s designers were mining influences from early modernism, fundamental stuff like Van Doesburg, Rietveld and Mondrian. I think it also shows here, even if indirectly. The result is straightforward and stylish, yet somehow playfully geometric. None of this rounded-corners nonsense we have to bear today.

The integrated nature of QL strikes as somewhat odd, as Sinclair had previously promoted modularity to make home computing affordable. The cynic might say that was all a marketing ploy anyway, forcing people to build their "cheap" computer in a piecemeal fashion, ending up with an expensive kit with wobbly connectors. The approach also led to an undesirable diversity of peripheral standards.

With QL, pretty much everything that was sold separately for the Spectrum is found inside one casing: Two Microdrives and ports for serial, controllers and network. Happily, a cheap television set could still be used as a monitor.

OK, it might not be as good as a proper keyboard. But it looks so much more interesting this way! 

The execution was marred by the slow speed of the machine and the inclusion of the idiosyncratic storage format. Peripheral connections are mostly non-standard. Instead of a character display, there are only bitmap modes, which makes text display very slow. Also, there are still only 8 colours. The QL no longer suffers from the colour clash, but then again it does not benefit from the rapidness of a coarse character/attribute resolution.

BASIC, not so basic

Much has been written of the above flaws and I will not retread this territory further. I'll instead focus on using the QL with the built-in SuperBASIC, which is one of the more fascinating aspects of the computer. It is unusual to have a BASIC ROM in a machine touted as "serious" as the QL. To me the inclusion of BASIC shows that the QL design philosophy shares still more with the older generation of 8-bit home computers, rather than with the more serious machines and the16-bit generation of home computers that was to come after.

It was common in the early days to include a BASIC programming language in the home computer as the primary operating system. Some might think the BASIC scene of the 80s was one of the more laughable aspects of the home micros, but I'd say a BASIC in ROM is a pretty clever choice considering the limitations of the hardware. The BASIC home computer setup combines calculator, graphic notepad, data storage, text functions and of course, a programming learning environment. 

It's hardly original these days to point out that something may have become lost in the transition to graphical desktop oriented computers. But what was that something lost? Perhaps the example of QL points in this direction. The QL BASIC is not as simplistic as those included in the smaller computers. It has features that make me think this approach might have grown to become something more significant.

QL allows a glimpse to an alternate history that never really came to be: An era where graphical interaction becomes important, not via mouse and icons, but through keyboard, powerful procedural command sets that can be used to access line graphics and windowing in a hierarchical way.

What's so neat about SuperBasic's procedures is the ease and transparency the programmer can add to the existing command set. Let's imagine: The QL is turned on. The computer automatically boots up a BASIC program from the Microdrive, which activates a command set I have prepared earlier. (We'll assume an ideal world where the drives actually work).

The set gives me customized commands for defining objects in three-dimensional space. WALL, ROOM, CHAIR, DOOR procedures have been defined in this way, and can be used for fooling around. Each command draws the corresponding object directly to the screen, rendered from the chosen viewpoint. Should I want the objects to behave differently, I can of course change the contents in the procedure definitions.

Left: Drawing on-screen with the created procedures. Right: A "house" written in BASIC.

A more hierarchical space can be defined by writing a program listing that makes use of these procedures. I create a building out of rooms and corridors, after I have reached some idea how I want to position them. The rooms are adorned with windows and doors, and also contain objects such as chairs and tables. I can use the BASIC program to give the rooms some logic of their own. For example, changing the room dimensions might even re-arrange the furniture within.

If I get tired with the conventional furniture objects, I can redefine the procedures to do something more interesting. Furthermore, all graphical output in the objects is driven through one self-defined procedure which draws the necessary lines. By changing this principal procedure, the outcome of all the other commands also changes. Depending on how the line procedure is written, the view becomes three-dimensional, overhead or an elevation... or the lines and coordinates are randomized and distorted, producing more unconventional outcomes.

Left: Changing the perspective to a side-view. Right: Changed foreshortening and background colour.

In principle, the above could be made to happen with the QL. As a matter of fact, I have tried to demonstrate how this could begin to work, even though this work hardly represents the idealized vision above. But I also specifically did not want to plan too much ahead, as I wanted to experiment with the fluidness of this process. There's something to be said for a mixture of interpreted commands and a program listing, which tends to become lost in a compiled-only language.

The pictures here are a result of about an hours work. It shows to me that the environment is "graphical", despite all the command lines, much like in a good LOGO environment. Without any dedicated drawing package, the QL BASIC could be used to create a rudimentary setting for spatial design exploration. In my mind, here's something more at play than the rather limited idea of a "office desk metaphor" that Apple was peddling to their customers.

With the QL, the graphical component is not presented as a way to make the computing experience easier, but more expansive. Of course, this vision is demanding, as it requires at least some programming skill and some understanding of design exploration.

The video below shows the reality: The lines are extremely slow.

So it might not look much, but this is on a cheap-ish computer from 1984 and pretty much possible out-of-the-box. The BASIC environment becomes a way to access all that the computer does, and it can get pretty interesting with the graphics built-in. In similar vein, the ZX Spectrum already provided a programmable graphics pad. But it is the procedure definitions in a language interpreter setting that bring the QL experience to a whole new level, and at least in principle, the Microdrive allows a rapid retrieval of these command sets. It becomes as easy to type WALL 100,0 as it is to type line drawing commands.

Now, if I were more interested in writing novels or calculating spreadsheets, the QL BASIC might offer less openings out of the box. The truth is, the QL BASIC environment is not enormously flexible towards all kinds of interests. But who knows, what might have happened if this approach had become the mainstream. Instead, we now have computers mostly as platforms for launching applications that achieve fairly limited things. Programming tends to be accessed through counter-intuitive development environments, not very encouraging for direct approaches. (Although it has to be said that projects such as Processing and Python have somewhat helped change that.)

Highlighting different objects with a variety of colours. The TABLEs are made from LEGs and PLANEs,  whereas the PILLAR is a ROOM with a fixed width and depth.

All in all I have liked to play around with the QL Basic, perhaps more so than with other old computers. What I've been here trying to say is that there is an underlying design vision in the QL that continues to intrigue me, and not so much the somewhat flawed computer QL turned out to be. It's of course not fair to criticize a 30-year old piece of electronics, and I know the story of QL did not end with the Sinclair machine. Perhaps I'll be able to get a later version some day, and see how the story continued.