comp.sys.sinclair FAQ

A large amount of Reference and Technical information has been published, much of which is available online, both here and at several other sites. The sections below will provide you with a great deal of information that may be of use while working with various Sinclair hardware components and common peripherals. Within each section, you will find links to further information where this is available.

• BASIC Reference
  An introductory guide to Sinclair and Timex BASIC, with links to additional documentation where necessary.
  
  
• Hardware
  A short description of each Sinclair / Timex computer is provided, with key technical specifications and links to original documentation (if available). Several more detailed sections are available for those that require comprehensive information about the internal operation of these machines.
  
  
• Peripherals
  Contains descriptions of several common hardware components and peripherals produced for use with a variety of Sinclair products. Includes sections for: Sinclair Interfaces, Printers, Mass Storage Devices and Miscellaneous components.
  
  
• Disk Reference
  A brief overview of the disk systems available for the Sinclair and Timex machines.
  
  
• File Formats
  Specifications for the file formats commonly used by many of the emulators available. Full documentation of the .z80 format is now available.
  
  
• Pinouts and Hardware Ports
  This section contains reference information about the pin configurations and hardware ports found on each ZX Spectrum, plus other components.
  
  
• Timex Reference
  This section contains technical & reference information for several Timex variants of the original ZX Spectrum design.
  
  
• Zilog Z80 Reference
  This section contains technical & reference information Zilog Z80, including sections on undocumented flags, etc. If you are interested in learning more about Z80 Assembler, James Hollidge has written an introductory guide, which may be of assistance.
  
  
• ZX Spectrum 128K Reference
  This section contains technical & reference information ZX Spectrum 128K, +2A & +3, AY sound chip, disk drives, etc.
  
  
• ZX Spectrum 48K Reference
  This section contains technical & reference information ZX Spectrum 48K, ZX Interface I, contended memory, etc.
  
  
• ZX Spectrum SE Reference
  Details of the ZX Spectrum SE, developed by Andrew Owen and implemented by Jarek Adamski, are provided. The ZX Spectrum SE is a modern development of the original ZX Spectrum design based on the Timex TC2048 hardware. Any ZX Spectrum can be upgraded to a ZX Spectrum SE.