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SAM Coupé: Difference between revisions
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BetaBASIC → Beta BASIC, MasterDOS → Master DOS
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The '''SAM Coupé''' is a computer that was developed by [[Miles Gordon Technology]] and later sold by [[SAM Computers Ltd]] (SAMCo), and finally [[West Coast Computers]]. | The '''SAM Coupé''' is a computer that was developed by [[Miles Gordon Technology]] and later sold by [[SAM Computers Ltd]] (SAMCo), and finally [[West Coast Computers]]. | ||
The computer is somewhat compatible with the Spectrum, in that it has an extended version of [[Sinclair BASIC]] written by Dr. Andrew Wright, the author of [[ | The computer is somewhat compatible with the Spectrum, in that it has an extended version of [[Sinclair BASIC]] written by Dr. Andrew Wright, the author of [[Beta BASIC]], and it can load a fair proportion of Spectrum games. | ||
The machine was sometimes regarded as a clone of the Spectrum or dubbed a 'SuperSpectrum', but many users would insist that it was more than that. | The machine was sometimes regarded as a clone of the Spectrum or dubbed a 'SuperSpectrum', but many users would insist that it was more than that. | ||
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It was not compatible with software for the 128K/+2/+3 Spectrums, as it used an entirely different memory paging scheme. | It was not compatible with software for the 128K/+2/+3 Spectrums, as it used an entirely different memory paging scheme. | ||
It came equipped with either 256 KiB or 512 KiB of RAM, although external 1 MiB RAM packs were available, of which up to four could be connected. External memory required software to be specially written to make use of it, and as such, the main use of external memory is for RAM disks when using Dr. Wright's [[ | It came equipped with either 256 KiB or 512 KiB of RAM, although external 1 MiB RAM packs were available, of which up to four could be connected. External memory required software to be specially written to make use of it, and as such, the main use of external memory is for RAM disks when using Dr. Wright's [[Master DOS]]. | ||
Up to two floppy disk drives can be attached, although the system can load from tape. Due to the large amount of memory required for use of the Coupé's high-colour graphics mode, software for the machine is often distributed on floppy disks (or floppy disk images), as although tape loading is slightly faster than on the Spectrum, this does not make up for the increased amount of data that must be loaded. | Up to two floppy disk drives can be attached, although the system can load from tape. Due to the large amount of memory required for use of the Coupé's high-colour graphics mode, software for the machine is often distributed on floppy disks (or floppy disk images), as although tape loading is slightly faster than on the Spectrum, this does not make up for the increased amount of data that must be loaded. | ||