comp.sys.sinclair FAQ

Amstrad PLC are very supportive of the Sinclair community and have granted permission for much of the original documentation to be published and freely distributed. In addition, many other companies have expressed no concerns about their manuals, etc. being made publicly available. The following is a short list of the most commonly requested, with many additional items being available from most of these sites.

User Guides:
Amstrad PLC encourages distribution of the original User Guides for many of the machines they hold copyrights for. This is very welcome, and ensures that the Sinclair community is well served where official documentation is concerned.

• ZX Spectrum Introductory Manual
  The short introductory manual provided with the original ZX Spectrum has been converted to HTML format by Colin Woodcock, publisher of ZXF Magazine. See the essential sites page for more information about this publication.
  
  
• ZX Spectrum Basic Programming Manual
  Originally converted to HTML by Pete Robinson from Chris Owen's plain text available, this was previously available from the now closed Classic 8-Bit Computers' site and is now hosted at World of Spectrum.
  
  
• ZX Spectrum 128K Introductory Manual
  Damien Burke has made the ZX Spectrum 128K introductory manual available in HTML format using the above link, or as a plain text document. Both are available for offline use from the World of Spectrum.
  
  
• ZX Spectrum +3
  A (de facto) plain text version of the ZX Spectrum +3 User Guide; originally available from 'Classic 8-Bit Computers'.
  
  
• ZX Printer
  The original instruction manual supplied with the ZX Printer, now available in PDF format.
  
  
• ZX Interface I & Microdrive
  
  
• ZX Interface II
  An HTML version of the user manual supplied with the ZX Interface II; previously available from Classic 8-Bit Computers.
  
  
• ZX81 Basic Programming Manual
  Available in HTML format using the above link, and as a single (large) .pdf file from the World of Spectrum.
  
  
• TS1000 User Manual
  Lewin A.R.W. Edwards has scanned the entire user manual originally supplied with the Timex TS1000 and made it available as a .pdf file. Details of other Timex products are also available from his web page. See the 'Service Manuals' section (below) for assembly instructions.
  
  
• TS2040 User Manual
  Each page of the User Manual has been scanned by Ron Reuter and can be downloaded from his Timex/Sinclair pages.
  
  
• TS1016 User Manual
  The instruction sheet supplied with the Timex TS1016 memory expansion has been scanned by Ron Reuter and can be downloaded from his Timex/Sinclair pages.
  
  
• Sinclair QL User Guide
  The full QL User Guide has been reproduced as a single (large) .pdf file from the World of Spectrum.
  
  
• MGT Lifetime Disc Drive
  Damien Guard has transcribed the entire MGT Lifetime Disc Drive User Manual, plus an enormous amount of additional information about this device. So much, that an entire FAQ is now available!
  
  

Reference Documents:
A small selection of reference documents are available. You may want to refer to these when reading other sections of this FAQ, particularly the ports, pinouts, hardware and Timex sections.

• Z80 Family Official Support Page
  Gaby Chaudry maintains a very large site filled with probably as much information as you could ever need about the Z80 (and related) processors - FAQ & hardware documents, developer tools and utilities, project source code, etc.
  
  
• Timex TS2068 Technical Manual
  Based on the original 'blue manual' published by Timex in 1984, this book was produced by Time Designs Magazine in 1986. This .pdf version was produced by Alvin Albrecht, and is one of the few technical references available for this machine.
  
  
• Rotronics Wafadrive User Manual
  The original User Manual for the Wafadrive is now available from World of Spectrum..
  
  

Service Manuals:
If you need to repair a Sinclair machine, or are interested in learning more about how the systems are designed and constructed, the following Service Manuals may be of use to you. Since it is possible to damage your machine by attempting a repair, and can be dangerous if you do not follow the saftey precations, please do not attempt any repairs if you are unsure of your ability to complete them. Several companies offer a repair service and may be able to service your machine for you at reasonable cost.

• ZX Spectrum 48K Service Manual
  The full ZX Spectrum 48K Service Manual can be viewed as HTML, using the above link, or downloaded for use offline. These documents, and an unofficial guide developed by Ian Worsley, are available from the Lil Old Sinclair Computer Technical Information Repository. A .pdf version of this manual is also available, provided by Andy Dansby.
  
  
• ZX Spectrum 128K Service Manual
  The full ZX Spectrum 128K Service Manual has been converted into a (large) .pdf file by Andy Dansby, and is available from the World of Spectrum.
  
  
• ZX Spectrum +2b/+3 Service Manual
  The +2b service manual and +3 amendment are available as .tif images from the World of Spectrum.
  
  
• ZX Spectrum + 3 Service Manual
  The original ZX Spectrum +3 Service Manual is now available in HTML format from World of Spectrum. This was previously available from Classic 8-Bit Computers before that site closed.
  
  
• ZX Microdrive, Interface I and Interface II Service Manuals
  The combined service manuals for these products have been converted to .pdf format by Andy Dansby.
  
  
• ZX Printer Service Guide
  Originally published in the March 1984 issue of 'Your Computer' magazine, this article (entitled 'Servicing your ZX Printer') is available from the Sinclair Hardware Page. A .pdf version of the original service manual is also available, provided by Andy Dansby.
  
  
• Sinclair QL Service Manual
  Available as a single (very large) .pdf file by clicking the above link, or in HTML format (converted by Juanjo Ruiz Leo) from the Sinclair QL Information page.
  
  
• ZX81 Service Manual and Assemby Instructions
  The original ZX81 kit assembly instructions and original Service Manual is available as a single .pdf file, converted by Andy Dansby.
  
  These instructions have also been scanned as a series of high-resolution .gif images by Ron Reunier, and can be downloaded from his Timex/Sinclair web pages.
  
  
• ZX Spectrum to ZX Spectrum Plus Upgrade Kit (instructions)
  Fitting instructions for the ZX Spectrum to ZX Spectrum Plus Upgrade Kit supplied by Sinclair Research.

Peripherals & Miscellaneous:
There are several original instruction manuals, user guides and information sheets available online for many common peripherals. Listed below are those that relate to commonly emulated (or very popular) devices, primarily intended for use with the ZX Spectrum. Additional documents are available in a variety of different formats from the World of Spectrum and Classic 8-Bit Computers.

• Currah Speech Programming Manual
  The programming manual supplied with the Currah Speech has been converted to HTML format; previously available from the Classic 8-Bit computers site. Details of the Currah Speech are provided in the peripherals section.
  
  
• The Complete Opus Discovery Shadow ROM v2.2 Disassembly
  Written by Martijn van der Heide, and available in either HTML (click the above link) or WordPerfect 6.0/6.1 formats. Please see the Disk Reference page for details of the Opus Discovery. A block diagram is available below.
  
  
• Kempston Disk Interface User Manual
  The Kempston Disk Interface user manual, which includes a list of K-DOS commands, has been reproduced as a (large) .pdf file.
  
  
• Multiface 1 Manual
  PDF version of the original user manual. See the peripherals section for details of the Multiface 1.
  
  

Diagrams:
Circuit Diagrams are available for some common peripherals and most Sinclair computers. These may be of use to you when carrying out repairs, identifying revision numbers for hardware or building your own versions of these items.

• 48K ZX Spectrum
  A Block Diagram of the original ZX Spectrum is available in .gif format.
  
  
• Opus Discovery
  A Block Diagram of the Opus Discovery is available in .gif format.
  
  
• ZX81
  Ron Reunier has reproduced the original circuit diagrams/schematics for the Sinclair ZX81/Timex TS1000. An interactive circuit board is available, with explanations of the main components, as are several extremely detailed diagrams
  
  
• Timex TS1016 Memory Expansion
  The official Memory Expansion offered by Timex for use with the TS1000 and TS1500.
  
  
• Science of Cambridge MK-14 Circuit Diagram
  A .bmp image of the MK-14 Circuit Diagram is available from the MK-14 Emulator pages created by Paul Robson. See the emulators section for details of MK-14 emulators available.