comp.sys.sinclair FAQ

Help & Information

The comp.sys.sinclair FAQ has evolved over time to become the accepted reference point for virtually any topic related to the use or emulation of many products produced by Sinclair Research, and several others, during the 1980s. If you can't find the answer to your question within the collection of documents that make up the FAQ, we're doing something wrong, and we need to hear from you!

The FAQ belongs to the users - if there is something you'd like to see added, removed, corrected or re-done, please contact us and let us know. We'll work with you to make sure you are happy with the FAQ, and that your requests and suggestions are accommodated if at all possible. Note, that the FAQ is not a playground for pet projects and special-interest groups to take advantage of; any content should be of value to the wider community, and really should be an answer to a 'Frequently Asked Question' In short, that a product, emulator or website simply exists does not automatically qualify it for inclusion!

Not everything in the FAQ will be of interest to you, and some things will always be incomplete no matter how hard anyone tries, but you should be able to get a good 'feel' for the topic you are interested in, and will hopefully find something of value in every section. Wherever possible, we have included links to additional information from external sources that you can follow to help fill in the 'blanks' that will enevitably (and necessarily, in the interests of brevity) remain after reading the FAQ.

With this revision, and after very careful consideration, the FAQ has been completely overhauled, updated and the entries validated for accuracy. Several old sections are gone, and several new ones added. A substantial amount of 'pruning' has taken place in an attempt to refine the FAQ, focus the areas covered, and increase both the breadth and depth of the topics discussed.

The members of the comp.sys.sinclair newsgroup, and the World of Spectrum forums were 'polled' in an attempt to identify which areas of the FAQ were considered weak, which were complete as-was, and which areas were not covered that should be. The results were very positive, and were of primary consideration throughout the development of this release. The overall structure is similar to previous versions; this is both to aid in the transition from the old to new design, and because they simply worked very well.

The sections most noticeably impacted by the redesign are:

As mentioned previously, the overall navigation structure and layout of the FAQ is the same as before. There have been several small changes to the location of certain entries; this restructuring will continue through the first few revisions as additional content areas are identified, and those already established become more complete. For this reason, please bear in mind that while the 'fixed' structure already introduced will remain, certain entries will move between locations during subsequent revisions. You should familiarise yourself with the site structure described below, and can refer to this page at any time for a review. Should any significant movement of entries take place during future revisions, they will be listed here.