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DK's Speak Easy<br />
"Well boss, whatssalldis 'bouta<br />
new speakeasy?"<br />
Nothing to worry above. Daps,<br />
'snothin to do with moonshine."<br />
Actually it is the latest of a<br />
whole bunch of units produced<br />
by DK'Tronics all of which look<br />
very similar, and that must keep<br />
design and production costs<br />
down!<br />
Could you tell the difference<br />
between the Beep Booster and<br />
the 3 Channel Sound Synth?<br />
No? Well now you have the<br />
Speech Synthesizer to add to<br />
the confusion. Consisting of the<br />
same speaker pod and interface<br />
case as the other units, into<br />
QL News<br />
which it plugs, the electronics<br />
this time produce speech!<br />
"So what", you say,<br />
"there's several around<br />
already". But DK assure me that<br />
the system has several advantages<br />
over the existing units, for<br />
instance, there is a word<br />
recognition system built in<br />
which makes using it very simple.<br />
Just enter speech in its nor<br />
mal english form!<br />
And that's not all, based on<br />
the SLO/256 chip it lets the<br />
computer get on with whatever<br />
else it should be doing while the<br />
words are being verbalised.<br />
"Sounds good, what else<br />
can you tell me".<br />
Nothing as yet, except it<br />
costs £ 2 4 .9 5 and I hope to do a<br />
full review very soon.<br />
QCOM is a set of communications modules for the Sinclair QL,<br />
manufactured by OE Ltd, North Point, Gilwilly Ind. Est., Penrith,<br />
Cumbria CA1 1 9 BN.<br />
QCON is the essential controller, and QMOD allows direct con<br />
nection to the telephone line. Each of these costs £ 75.9 5 QCALL<br />
is optional and adds auto dial and auto answer facilities to QMOD.<br />
It costs £49.95.<br />
• Prism, well known for their Spectrum peripherals, have produced<br />
a nice looking and reasonably priced Monitor for use with<br />
the QL. All black, the 14" colour monitor costs £199.99 and<br />
displays the full 8 5 columns. A connecting cable is supplied as well<br />
as a detachable anti-glare tinted glass front.<br />
• Another monitor specifically for the QL is made by MBS Data<br />
Efficiency Ltd. This one is recommended by Sinclair Research.<br />
However it has a 1 2 " screen and costs £ 2 9 9.0 0.<br />
• An interesting mobile plotter from Penman Products, 8<br />
Hazelwood Close, Dominion Way, Worthing, W. Sussex, BN14<br />
8 NP will connect to any RS2 32 socket to provide desk top plotting<br />
and turtle actions. Cost is £249.00.<br />
• The QL, after a slow start, seems to be taking off at last. Some<br />
of the hardware now available makes it an attractive machine for<br />
buyers. The first spate of books has now been followed by a<br />
veritable flood and no doubt we'll soon see a boom in software.<br />
Quest has produced the QL Executive Series of peripherals and<br />
programs to boost the capabilities of the QL. these include<br />
CP/M6-4K either on 5.25" at £49 .95 or on microdrive cartridge<br />
HARDWARE NEWS<br />
IN BRIEF<br />
• For those who own a standard Spectrum in its original<br />
keyboard and who want a cheap but effective joystick could be in<br />
terested in the clip-on mechanical joystick from E.E.C.<br />
Guaranteed unbreakable it costs £9.95 and is available from<br />
EEC. Ltd., 1 Whitehouse Close, Chalfont St. Peter, Bucks, SL9<br />
ODA.<br />
• Thurnell tell me that their latest Disk drive system is proving to<br />
be a great success. Using Hitachi 3" double sided drives, it uses<br />
absolutely none of the Spectrum's memory. Software is being<br />
prepared to facilitate tape to disk transfer.<br />
It will cost you £219.95 from Thurnell Electronics, 95 Liverpool<br />
Rd. Cadishead, Manchester.<br />
• USA TS2068 users who want to run Spectrum software can<br />
do so by fitting the ROMSWITCH from G Russell electronics, RD1 ,<br />
BOX 539, Centre Hall, PA 16828 for $54.95<br />
RD Digital Tracer<br />
Traced<br />
This device which we reviewed<br />
favourably in a previous issue<br />
was saved from extinction by<br />
the take over of RD Laboratories<br />
by Kane-May Ltd. David Jeffcock,<br />
the managing director, expressed<br />
his faith in the unit in the<br />
face of increasing interest in the<br />
creative and educational usage<br />
of computers. Used in conjunction<br />
with the Microdrive,<br />
transferring the software to this<br />
medium is a very easy operation,<br />
the ability to use the computer<br />
to create fast and accurate<br />
diagrams, charts or pictures extends<br />
the scope of the Spectrums<br />
viable usage.<br />
Two versions are available<br />
for different size master paper,<br />
A4 and A3 and cost £75 and<br />
£60 or thereabouts.<br />
at £79.50.<br />
Disk drive units are available from 200K (£249.001 to 7.5M<br />
bytes on Winchester hard disk at £995.00 RAM memory expansion<br />
boards from 64 K to 51 2K can be supplied, and a console to<br />
house all of it. Business software includes Tally I and II which form<br />
a comprehensive ledger and stock control package.<br />
50 ZX COMPUTING APRIL/MAY 1985
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