The Amstrad PCW series is a range of
personal computer
A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...
s produced by
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
company
Amstrad
Amstrad was a British electronics company, founded in 1968 by Alan Sugar at the age of 21. The name is a contraction of Alan Michael Sugar Trading. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in April 1980. During the late 1980s, Amstrad ...
from 1985 to 1998, and also sold under licence in Europe as the "Joyce" by the German electronics company
Schneider
Schneider may refer to:
Hospital
* Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel
People
* Schneider (surname)
Companies and organizations
* G. Schneider & Sohn, a Bavarian brewery company
* Schneider Rundfunkwerke AG, the former owner of th ...
in the early years of the series' life. The PCW, short for ''Personal Computer Word-processor'', was targeted at the
wordprocessing and
home office markets. When it was launched the cost of a PCW system was under 25% of the cost of almost all IBM-compatible PC systems in the UK, and as a result the machine was very popular both in the UK and in Europe, persuading many
technophobe
Technophobia (from Greek τέχνη ''technē'', "art, skill, craft" and φόβος ''phobos'', "fear"), also known as technofear, is the fear or dislike of advanced technology or complex devices, especially computers. Although there are numerou ...
s to venture into using computers. However the last two models, introduced in the mid-1990s, were commercial failures, being squeezed out of the market by the falling prices, greater capabilities and wider range of software for
IBM-compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT, all from computer giant IBM, that are able to use the same software and expansion cards. Such computers were referred to as PC clones, IBM clones or IBM PC clones. ...
PCs.
In all models, including the last, the
monitor
Monitor or monitor may refer to:
Places
* Monitor, Alberta
* Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States
* Monitor, Kentucky
* Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States
* Monitor, Washington
* Monitor, Logan County, West Vir ...
's casing included the
CPU
A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, and ...
,
RAM
Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to:
Animals
* A male sheep
* Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish
People
* Ram (given name)
* Ram (surname)
* Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director
* RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch
* Ra ...
,
floppy disk
A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, or a diskette) is an obsolescent type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined w ...
drives and
power supply
A power supply is an electrical device that supplies electric power to an electrical load. The main purpose of a power supply is to convert electric current from a source to the correct voltage, current, and frequency to power the load. As a r ...
for all of the systems' components. All except the last included a printer in the price. Early models used 3-inch floppy disks, while those sold from 1991 onwards used 3½-inch floppies, which became the industry standard around the time the PCW series was launched. A variety of inexpensive products and services were launched to copy 3-inch floppies to the 3½-inch format so that data could be transferred to other machines.
All models except the last included the
Locoscript
LocoScript is a word processing software package created by Locomotive Software and first released with the Amstrad PCW, a personal computer launched in 1985. Early versions of LocoScript were noted for combining a wide range of facilities with o ...
word processing
A word is a basic element of language that carries an objective or practical meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consen ...
program, the
CP/M Plus
CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/ 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initially ...
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
,
Mallard BASIC
Mallard BASIC is a BASIC interpreter for CP/M produced by Locomotive Software and supplied with the Amstrad PCW range of small business computers, the ZX Spectrum +3 version of CP/M#CP/M Plus, CP/M Plus, and the Acorn Computers, Acorn BBC Micro's Z ...
and the
Logo programming language
Logo is an educational programming language, designed in 1967 by Wally Feurzeig, Seymour Papert, and Cynthia Solomon. ''Logo'' is not an acronym: the name was coined by Feurzeig while he was at Bolt, Beranek and Newman, and derives from the Greek ...
at no extra cost. A wide range of other CP/M office software and several
game
A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...
s became available, some commercially produced and some free. Although Amstrad supplied all but the last model as
text based
In computing, text-based user interfaces (TUI) (alternately terminal user interfaces, to reflect a dependence upon the properties of computer terminals and not just text), is a retronym describing a type of user interface (UI) common as an ear ...
systems,
graphical user interface
The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...
peripherals and the supporting software also became available. The last model had its own unique
GUI
The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...
operating system and set of office applications, which were included in the price. However, none of the software for previous PCW models could run on this system.
Development and launch
In 1984,
Tandy Corporation
Tandy Corporation was an American family-owned leather goods company based in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. Tandy Leather was founded in 1919 as a leather supply store. By the end of the 1950s, under the tutelage of then-CEO Charles Tandy, ...
executive Steve Leininger, designer of the
TRS-80 Model I
The TRS-80 Micro Computer System (TRS-80, later renamed the Model I to distinguish it from successors) is a desktop microcomputer launched in 1977 and sold by Tandy Corporation through their Radio Shack stores. The name is an abbreviation of '' ...
, admitted that "as an industry we haven't found any compelling reason to buy a computer for the home" other than for
word processing
A word is a basic element of language that carries an objective or practical meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consen ...
.
Amstrad
Amstrad was a British electronics company, founded in 1968 by Alan Sugar at the age of 21. The name is a contraction of Alan Michael Sugar Trading. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in April 1980. During the late 1980s, Amstrad ...
's founder
Alan Sugar
Alan Michael Sugar, Baron Sugar (born 24 March 1947) is a British business magnate, media personality, author, politician and political adviser. In 1968, he started what would later become his largest business venture, consumer electronics com ...
realised that most computers in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
were used for word processing at home,
and allegedly sketched an outline design for a low cost replacement for
typewriter
A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an inked ribbon selectivel ...
s during a flight to the Far East. This design featured a single "box" containing all the components, including a
portrait-oriented display,
which would be more convenient for displaying documents than the usual landscape orientation. However the portrait display was quickly eliminated because it would have been too expensive, and the printer also became a separate unit.
To reduce the cost of the printer, Amstrad commissioned an
ASIC
An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC ) is an integrated circuit (IC) chip customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use, such as a chip designed to run in a digital voice recorder or a high-efficien ...
(custom circuit) from MEJ Electronics, which had developed the hardware for Amstrad's earlier
CPC-464. Two other veterans of the CPC-464's creation played important roles, with Roland Perry managing the PCW project and
Locomotive Software Locomotive Software was a small British software house that did most of its development for Amstrad's home and small business computers of the 1980s. It was founded by Richard Clayton and Chris Hall on 14 February 1983.
It wrote or contributed sign ...
producing the
Locoscript
LocoScript is a word processing software package created by Locomotive Software and first released with the Amstrad PCW, a personal computer launched in 1985. Early versions of LocoScript were noted for combining a wide range of facilities with o ...
word processing program and other software. The
CP/M
CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/ 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initial ...
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
was added at the last minute.
During development the PCW 8256 / 8512 project was code-named "Joyce" after Sugar's secretary.
For the launch the product name "Zircon" was jointly suggested by MEJ Electronics and Locomotive Software, as both companies had been
spun off from
Data Recall, which had produced a word processing system called "
Diamond
Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...
" in the 1970s. Sugar, preferring a more descriptive name, suggested "WPC" standing for "Word Processing Computer", but Perry pointed out that this invited jokes about Women Police Constables. Sugar reshuffled the initials and the product was launched as the "Personal Computer Word-processor", abbreviated to "PCW".
The advertising campaign featured trucks unloading typewriters to form huge scrap heaps, with the slogan "It's more than a word processor for less than most typewriters".
In Britain the system was initially sold exclusively through
Dixons, whose chairman shared Sugar's dream that computers would cease to be exclusive products for the technologically adept and would become consumer products.
Impact on the computer market
In 1986, John Whitehead described the Amstrad PCW as "the bargain of the decade",
and technology writer Gordon Laing said in 2007, "It represented fantastic value at a time when an
IBM compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are similar to the original IBM Personal Computer, IBM PC, IBM Personal Computer XT, XT, and IBM Personal Computer/AT, AT, all from computer giant IBM, that are able to use the same software and expansion cards. Such ...
or a
Mac would cost a comparative fortune."
At its
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
launch in September 1985,
the basic PCW model was priced at £399 plus
value added tax
A value-added tax (VAT), known in some countries as a goods and services tax (GST), is a type of tax that is assessed incrementally. It is levied on the price of a product or service at each stage of production, distribution, or sale to the end ...
,
which included a printer,
word processor
A word processor (WP) is a device or computer program that provides for input, editing, formatting, and output of text, often with some additional features.
Word processor (electronic device), Early word processors were stand-alone devices ded ...
program, the
CP/M
CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/ 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initial ...
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
and associated
utilities
A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and r ...
, and a
BASIC
BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages designed for ease of use. The original version was created by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College ...
interpreter.
Software vendors quickly made a wide range of additional applications available, including accounting,
spreadsheet
A spreadsheet is a computer application for computation, organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets were developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data entered in cel ...
and
database
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases sp ...
programs, so that the system was able to support most of the requirements of a home or small business.
Shortly afterwards the
Tandy 1000
The Tandy 1000 is the first in a line of IBM PC workalike home computer systems produced by the Tandy Corporation for sale in its Radio Shack and Radio Shack Computer Center chains of stores.
Overview
In December 1983, an executive with Tandy C ...
was introduced in the UK with the
MS-DOS
MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...
operating system and a similar suite of business applications and became the only other IBM-compatible personal computer system available for less than £1,000 in Britain.
At the time the cheapest complete systems from
Apricot Computers
Apricot Computers was a British company that produced desktop personal computers in the mid-1980s.
Outline
Apricot Computers was a British manufacturer of business personal computers, founded in 1965 as "Applied Computer Techniques" (ACT), late ...
cost under £2,000 and the cheapest
IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible de facto standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a team ...
system cost £2,400.
Although competitors' systems generally had more sophisticated features, including colour
monitor
Monitor or monitor may refer to:
Places
* Monitor, Alberta
* Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States
* Monitor, Kentucky
* Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States
* Monitor, Washington
* Monitor, Logan County, West Vir ...
s, Whitehead thought the Amstrad PCW offered the best value for money.
In the US the PCW was launched at a price of $799, and its competitors were initially the
Magnavox VideoWriter and
Smith Corona PWP, two word-processing systems whose prices also included a screen, keyboard and printer. The magazine ''Popular Science'' thought that the PCW could not compete as a general-purpose computer, because its use of non-standard 3-inch
floppy disk
A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, or a diskette) is an obsolescent type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined w ...
drives and the rather old
CP/M
CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/ 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initial ...
operating system would restrict the range of software available from expanding beyond the
spreadsheet
A spreadsheet is a computer application for computation, organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets were developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data entered in cel ...
, typing tutor and cheque book balancing programs already on sale. However, the magazine predicted that the PCW's large screen and easy-to-use word processing software would make it a formidable competitor for dedicated word processors in the home and business markets. The system was sold in the US via major stores, business equipment shops and electronics retailers.
The PCW redefined the idea of "best value" in computers by concentrating on reducing the price, which totally
disrupted the
personal computer
A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...
market.
The low price encouraged home users to trade up from simpler systems like the
Sinclair Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer.
Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colour ...
, whose sales had passed their peak. According to ''Personal Computer World'', the PCW "got the technophobes using computers".
In the first two years over 700,000 PCWs were sold,
gaining Amstrad 60% of the UK home computer market, and 20% of the European personal computer market, second only to IBM's 33.3% share.
Having gained credibility as computer supplier, Amstrad launched IBM-compatible PCs, once again focussing on low prices,
with its
PC1512
The Amstrad PC1512 was Amstrad's mostly IBM PC-compatible computer system, first manufactured in 1986. It was later succeeded by the PC1640.
Features
Whereas IBM's PC (and almost all PC compatibles) had a power supply in a corner of the main cas ...
surpassing the IBM PC on performance and beating even the Taiwanese
clones
Clone or Clones or Cloning or Cloned or The Clone may refer to:
Places
* Clones, County Fermanagh
* Clones, County Monaghan, a town in Ireland
Biology
* Clone (B-cell), a lymphocyte clone, the massive presence of which may indicate a pathologi ...
on price. Amstrad became the dominant British personal computer company, buying all the designs, marketing rights and product stocks of
Sinclair Research Ltd
Sinclair Research Ltd is a British consumer electronics company founded by Clive Sinclair in Cambridge. It was originally incorporated in 1973 as Westminster Mail Order Ltd, renamed Sinclair Instrument Ltd, then Science of Cambridge Ltd, then ...
's computer division in April 1986, while Apricot later sold its manufacturing assets to
Mitsubishi
The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries.
Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...
and became a software company.
In the PCW's heyday the magazines ''8000 Plus'' (later called ''PCW Plus'') and ''PCW Today'' were published specifically for PCW users.
In addition to the usual product reviews and technical advice, they featured other content such as articles by
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
writer and software developer
Dave Langford
David Rowland Langford (born 10 April 1953) is a British author, editor, and critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science fiction fanzine and newsletter ''Ansible'', and holds the all-time record for most ...
on his experiences of using the PCW.
By 1989, units had been sold. When the PCW line was retired in 1998, 8 million machines had been sold. ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'' estimated in 2000 that 100,000 were still in use in the UK, and said that the reliability of the PCW's hardware and software and the range of independently produced add-on software for its word processing program were factors in its continued popularity. Laing says the PCW line's downfall was that "
proper PCs became affordable".
IBM, Compaq and other vendors of more expensive computers had reduced prices drastically in an attempt to increase demand during the
recession
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...
of the early 1990s. In 1993 the PCW still cost under £390 while a PC system with a printer and word processing software cost over £1,000. However, after adjustment for
inflation
In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reductio ...
the retail price of a
multimedia
Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradition ...
IBM-compatible PC in 1997 was about 11% more than that of a PCW 8256 in 1985, and many home PCs were cast-offs, sometimes costing as little as £50, from large organisations that had upgraded their systems.
Users of
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
,
Unix
Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and ot ...
or
macOS
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
systems who wish to run programs that were developed for the PCW 8256, 8512, 9256, 9512 and 9512+ can use an
emulator
In computing, an emulator is Computer hardware, hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run so ...
called "Joyce".
There is also another one only for
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
called
CP/M Box.
Models and features
PCW 8256 and 8512
The PCW 8256 was launched in September 1985,
and had 256
KB of
RAM
Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to:
Animals
* A male sheep
* Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish
People
* Ram (given name)
* Ram (surname)
* Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director
* RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch
* Ra ...
and one floppy disk drive.
Launched a few months later, the PCW 8512 had 512 KB of RAM and two floppy disk drives.
Both systems consisted of three units: a printer; a
keyboard
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
; and a
monochrome
A monochrome or monochromatic image, object or palette is composed of one color (or values of one color). Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale (typically digital) or black-and-white (typically analog). In physics, monochrom ...
CRT monitor
Monitor or monitor may refer to:
Places
* Monitor, Alberta
* Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States
* Monitor, Kentucky
* Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States
* Monitor, Washington
* Monitor, Logan County, West Vir ...
whose casing included the processor, memory,
motherboard
A motherboard (also called mainboard, main circuit board, mb, mboard, backplane board, base board, system board, logic board (only in Apple computers) or mobo) is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expand ...
, one or two
floppy disk
A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, or a diskette) is an obsolescent type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined w ...
drives, the
power supply
A power supply is an electrical device that supplies electric power to an electrical load. The main purpose of a power supply is to convert electric current from a source to the correct voltage, current, and frequency to power the load. As a r ...
for all the units and the connectors for the printer and keyboard.
The monitor displayed green characters on a black background. It measured diagonally, and showed 32 lines of 90 characters each.
The designers preferred this to the usual
personal computer
A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...
display of 25 80-character lines, as the larger size would be more convenient for displaying a whole letter.
The monitor could also display graphics well enough for the bundled graphics program and for some games.
![FloppyDisk3InchAmstrad](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/FloppyDisk3InchAmstrad.jpg)
The floppy disk drives on these models were in the unusual
3-inch "compact floppy" format,
which was selected as it had a simpler electrical interface than 3½-inch drives.
In the range's early days supplies of 3-inch floppies occasionally ran out,
but by 1988 the PCW's popularity encouraged suppliers to compete for this market. There are several techniques for transferring data from a PCW to an IBM-compatible PC, some of which also can transfer in the opposite direction, and service companies that will do the job for a fee.
While all the 3-inch disks were double-sided, the PCW 256's 3-inch drive and the PCW 8512's upper one were single-sided, while the 8512's lower one was double-sided and double-density.
Hence there were two types of disk: single-density, which could store 180
KB of data per side, equivalent to about 70 pages of text each;
and double density, which could store twice as much per side.
The double-density drive could read single-density disks, but it was inadvisable to write to them using this drive.
Users of single-sided drives had to flip the disks over to use the full capacity.
The
dot matrix
A dot matrix is a 2-dimensional patterned array, used to represent characters, symbols and images. Most types of modern technology use dot matrices for display of information, including mobile phones, televisions, and printers. The system is al ...
printer had a sheet feed for short documents and a tractor attachment for long reports on
continuous stationery
Continuous stationery (UK) or continuous form paper (US) is paper which is designed for use with dot-matrix and line printers with appropriate paper-feed mechanisms. Other names include ''fan-fold paper'', ''sprocket-feed paper'', ''burst paper' ...
.
This unit could print 90 characters per second at draft quality and 20 characters per second at higher quality,
and could also produce graphics.
However it had only 9 printing pins and even its higher quality did not match that of 24-pin printers.
The dot matrix printer was not very robust as its chassis was made entirely of plastic.
Users who needed to support higher print volumes or to produce graphics could buy a
daisy-wheel printer or
graph plotter from Amstrad.
The daisy-wheel printer could not produce graphics.
The keyboard had 82 keys, some of which were designed for word processing, especially with the bundled
Locoscript
LocoScript is a word processing software package created by Locomotive Software and first released with the Amstrad PCW, a personal computer launched in 1985. Early versions of LocoScript were noted for combining a wide range of facilities with o ...
software
– for example to
cut, copy, and paste
In human–computer interaction and user interface design, cut, copy, and paste are related commands that offer an interprocess communication technique for transferring data through a computer's user interface. The ''cut'' command removes the ...
.
Non-English characters such as
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
could be typed by holding down the or key, along with the key if capitals were required. Other special key combinations activated
caps lock,
num lock and
reboot
In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...
.
![Amstrad PCW - Schneider Joyce](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Amstrad_PCW_-_Schneider_Joyce.jpg)
A wide range of upgrades became available. The PCW 8256's RAM could be expanded to 512 KB for a hardware cost of about £50. An additional internal floppy disk drive for the 8256 would cost about £100, and installation was fairly easy. Alternatively one could add external drives, for example if a 3½-inch drive was needed.
Graphical user interface
The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...
devices such as
light pen
A light pen is a computer input device in the form of a light-sensitive wand used in conjunction with a computer's cathode-ray tube (CRT) display.
It allows the user to point to displayed objects or draw on the screen in a similar way to a tou ...
s,
mice
A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
and
graphic tablet
A graphics tablet (also known as a digitizer, digital graphic tablet, pen tablet, drawing tablet, external drawing pad or digital art board) is a computer input device that enables a user to hand-draw images, animations and graphics, with a spec ...
s could be attached to the expansion socket at the back of the monitor. Adding a
serial interface
In computing, a serial port is a serial communication interface through which information transfers in or out sequentially one bit at a time. This is in contrast to a parallel port, which communicates multiple bits simultaneously in parallel. T ...
connector, which cost about £50, made it possible to attach a
modem
A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by Modulation#Digital modulati ...
or non-Amstrad printer.
The designs were licensed to the German consumer electronics company Schneider, which slightly modified their appearance and consequently sold them as "Joyce" and "Joyce Plus".
The partnership between Amstrad and Schneider had been formed to market the
Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sin ...
range of computers, and broke up when Amstrad launched the PCW9512.
PCW 9512 and 9256
The PCW 9512, introduced in 1987 at a price of £499 plus VAT, had a white-on-black screen instead of green-on-black, and the bundled printer was a daisy-wheel model instead of a dot-matrix printer.
These models also had a parallel port, allowing non-Amstrad printers to be attached.
The 9512 was also supplied with version 2 of the
Locoscript
LocoScript is a word processing software package created by Locomotive Software and first released with the Amstrad PCW, a personal computer launched in 1985. Early versions of LocoScript were noted for combining a wide range of facilities with o ...
word processor
A word processor (WP) is a device or computer program that provides for input, editing, formatting, and output of text, often with some additional features.
Word processor (electronic device), Early word processors were stand-alone devices ded ...
program which included
spellchecker In software, a spell checker (or spelling checker or spell check) is a software feature that checks for misspellings in a text. Spell-checking features are often embedded in software or services, such as a word processor, email client, electronic di ...
and
mail merge Mail merge consists of combining mail and letters and pre-addressed envelopes or mailing labels for mass mailings from a form letter.
This feature is usually employed in a word processing document which contains fixed text (which is the same in eac ...
facilities. In all other respects the 9512's facilities were the same as the 8512's.
In 1991 the 9512 was replaced by the PCW 9256 and 9512+, both equipped with a single
3½-inch disk drive that could access 720 KB. The 9512+ had 512 KB of RAM,
and two printer options, the Amstrad daisy-wheel unit and a series of considerably more expensive
Canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western can ...
inkjet printer
Inkjet printing is a type of computer printing that recreates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper and plastic substrates. Inkjet printers were the most commonly used type of printer in 2008, and range from small inexpensi ...
s: initially the BJ10e, later the BJ10ex and finally the BJ10sx.
The 9256 had 256 KB of RAM and the same dot matrix printer as the 8256 and 8512, as well as the older Locoscript version 1.
PCW 10
This was a PCW 9256 with 512 KB of RAM, a parallel printer port, and Locoscript 1.5 instead of Locoscript 1. The PCW 10 was not a success, and few were produced. By this time other systems offered much better print quality, and the PCW was a poor choice as a general-purpose computer, because of its slow
CPU
A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, and ...
and incompatibility with
MS-DOS
MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...
systems.
PcW16
This model, whose display labelled it "PcW16", was introduced in 1995 at a price of £299.
Despite its name it was totally incompatible with all previous PCW systems.
Instead of having two operating environments,
Locoscript
LocoScript is a word processing software package created by Locomotive Software and first released with the Amstrad PCW, a personal computer launched in 1985. Early versions of LocoScript were noted for combining a wide range of facilities with o ...
for word processing and
CP/M
CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/ 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initial ...
for other uses, it had its own
GUI
The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
, known as "Rosanne".
This could only run one application at a time, and starting another application made the previous one save all the files it had changed and then close.
The bundled word processor was produced by Creative Technology, and could read
Locoscript
LocoScript is a word processing software package created by Locomotive Software and first released with the Amstrad PCW, a personal computer launched in 1985. Early versions of LocoScript were noted for combining a wide range of facilities with o ...
files but saved them in its own format.
The package also included a spreadsheet, address book, diary, calculator and file manager.
Amstrad never provided other applications, and very little third-party software was written for the machine.
The display unit, which also contained the processor, motherboard and RAM, was the standard 640×480 pixels in size and worked in
VGA
Video Graphics Array (VGA) is a video display controller and accompanying de facto graphics standard, first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, which became ubiquitous in the PC industry within three years. The term can now ...
mode.
The PcW16 included a standard 1.4
MB floppy drive.
While competitors included
hard disk
A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magnet ...
drives with capacities of a few hundred MB to a few
GB, the PcW16 used a 1 MB
flash memory
Flash memory is an electronic non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for the NOR and NAND logic gates. Both us ...
to store the programs and user files.
Like previous PCW models, the PcW16 used the
8-bit
In computer architecture, 8-bit Integer (computer science), integers or other Data (computing), data units are those that are 8 bits wide (1 octet (computing), octet). Also, 8-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) arc ...
Zilog Z80
The Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor introduced by Zilog as the startup company's first product. The Z80 was conceived by Federico Faggin in late 1974 and developed by him and his 11 employees starting in early 1975. The first working samples wer ...
CPU
A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, and ...
,
which first appeared in 1976, while other personal computers used
16-bit
16-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 16-bit microprocessors.
A 16-bit register can store 216 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two mos ...
CPUs or the more recent
32-bit
In computer architecture, 32-bit computing refers to computer systems with a processor, memory, and other major system components that operate on data in 32-bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform large calculation ...
CPUs.
The price included a mouse for use with the GUI,
but did not include a printer.
In the magazine ''PCW Plus''
Dave Langford
David Rowland Langford (born 10 April 1953) is a British author, editor, and critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science fiction fanzine and newsletter ''Ansible'', and holds the all-time record for most ...
expressed a series of concerns about the PcW16: the operating system could not run the many CP/M programs available for previous PCW models; the flash RAM was too small for a large collection of programs, but programs could not be run from the floppy disk, which was designed for backing up files; and a second-hand IBM PC with Locoscript Pro looked like a more sensible upgrade path for users of earlier PCWs. Few PcW16s were sold.
Software
This section covers the PCW 8xxx, 9xxx and 10 series; software for the PcW16 is described above.
Bundled
Locoscript word processor
The
word processing
A word is a basic element of language that carries an objective or practical meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consen ...
software
Locoscript
LocoScript is a word processing software package created by Locomotive Software and first released with the Amstrad PCW, a personal computer launched in 1985. Early versions of LocoScript were noted for combining a wide range of facilities with o ...
was included in the price of the hardware. The manual provided both a reference and a tutorial that could enable users to start work within 20 minutes, and some users found the tutorial provided as much information as they ever needed.
The program enabled users to divide documents into groups, display the groups on a disk and then the documents in the selected group, and set up a
template
Template may refer to:
Tools
* Die (manufacturing), used to cut or shape material
* Mold, in a molding process
* Stencil, a pattern or overlay used in graphic arts (drawing, painting, etc.) and sewing to replicate letters, shapes or designs
Co ...
for each group.
The "
limbo
In Catholic theology, Limbo (Latin '' limbus'', edge or boundary, referring to the edge of Hell) is the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the Damned. Medieval theologians of Western Euro ...
file" facility enabled users to recover accidentally deleted documents until the disk ran out of space, when the software would permanently delete files to make room for new ones.
Layout facilities included setting and using
tab stop
A tab stop on a typewriter is a location where the carriage movement is halted by an adjustable end stop. Tab stops are set manually, and pressing the tab key causes the carriage to go to the next tab stop. In text editors on a computer, the sam ...
s,
production of page headers and footers, with automated page numbering; typographical effects including proportional spacing, a range of font sizes, and bold, italic and underline effects.
The
cut, copy and paste
In human–computer interaction and user interface design, cut, copy, and paste are related commands that offer an interprocess communication technique for transferring data through a computer's user interface. The ''cut'' command removes the ...
facility provided 10 paste buffers, each designated by a number, and these could be saved to a disk.
The menu system had two layouts, one for beginners and the other for experienced users.
Locoscript supported 150 characters and, if used with the dot matrix printer, could print European letters including Greek and
Cyrillic
, bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця
, fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs
, fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic
, fam3 = Phoenician
, fam4 = G ...
, as well as mathematical and technical symbols.
The program allowed the user to work on one document while printing another, so that the relative slowness of the basic printer seldom caused difficulties.
Locoscript did not run under the control of a standard
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
but booted directly from a floppy disk.
[ ] Users had to
reboot
In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...
if they wanted to switch between Locoscript and a CP/M application, unless they used a utility called "Flipper", which could allocate separate areas of RAM to Locoscript and CP/M.
Locoscript version 1, which was bundled with the PCW 8256 and 8512, had no
spell checker In software, a spell checker (or spelling checker or spell check) is a software feature that checks for misspellings in a text. Spell-checking features are often embedded in software or services, such as a word processor, email client, electronic di ...
or
mail merge Mail merge consists of combining mail and letters and pre-addressed envelopes or mailing labels for mass mailings from a form letter.
This feature is usually employed in a word processing document which contains fixed text (which is the same in eac ...
facilities.
Version 2, which was bundled with the PCW 9512, included a spellchecker and could provide mail merge by interfacing to other products from
Locomotive Software Locomotive Software was a small British software house that did most of its development for Amstrad's home and small business computers of the 1980s. It was founded by Richard Clayton and Chris Hall on 14 February 1983.
It wrote or contributed sign ...
, such as LocoMail and LocoFile.
Locoscript 2 also expanded the character set to 400.
CP/M operating system and applications
The PCW included a version of
CP/M
CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/ 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initial ...
known as "
CP/M Plus
CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/ 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initially ...
".
This provided a range of facilities comparable to those of
MS-DOS
MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...
, but imposed a significant limitation: it could not address more than 64 KB of RAM. Since CP/M took 3 KB of this, the most that CP/M applications could use was 61 KB. The rest of the RAM was used as a
RAM disk
Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to:
Animals
* A male sheep
* Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish
People
* Ram (given name)
* Ram (surname)
* Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director
* RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch
* Ra ...
(exposed under the drive letter "M:" for "memory"), which was much faster than a floppy disk but lost all its data when the machine was powered off.
On the other hand, the
standalone Standalone or Stand-alone may refer to:
*Stand-alone DSL, a digital subscriber line without analog telephone service; also known as ''naked DSL''
* Stand-alone expansion pack, an expansion pack which does not require the original game in order to u ...
Locoscript word processor program was able to use 154 KB as normal memory, and the rest as a RAM disk.
Mallard BASIC
Mallard BASIC is a BASIC interpreter for CP/M produced by Locomotive Software and supplied with the Amstrad PCW range of small business computers, the ZX Spectrum +3 version of CP/M#CP/M Plus, CP/M Plus, and the Acorn Computers, Acorn BBC Micro's Z ...
, like LocoScript, was a Locomotive Software product, but ran under CP/M. This version of
BASIC
BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages designed for ease of use. The original version was created by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College ...
lacked built-in graphics facilities,
but included JetSAM, an implementation of
ISAM
ISAM (an acronym for indexed sequential access method) is a method for creating, maintaining, and manipulating computer files of data so that records can be retrieved sequentially or randomly by one or more keys. Indexes of key fields are mainta ...
that supported multiple indexes per file, so that programs could access records directly by specifying values of key fields. The CP/M software bundle also included the
Digital Research
Digital Research, Inc. (DR or DRI) was a company created by Gary Kildall to market and develop his CP/M operating system and related 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit systems like MP/M, Concurrent DOS, FlexOS, Multiuser DOS, DOS Plus, DR DOS and ...
implementation of
Seymour Papert
Seymour Aubrey Papert (; 29 February 1928 – 31 July 2016) was a South African-born American mathematician, computer scientist, and educator, who spent most of his career teaching and researching at MIT. He was one of the pioneers of artificial ...
's
LOGO programming language
Logo is an educational programming language, designed in 1967 by Wally Feurzeig, Seymour Papert, and Cynthia Solomon. ''Logo'' is not an acronym: the name was coined by Feurzeig while he was at Bolt, Beranek and Newman, and derives from the Greek ...
and a graphics program that could produce
pie chart
A pie chart (or a circle chart) is a circular Statistical graphics, statistical graphic, which is divided into slices to illustrate numerical proportion. In a pie chart, the arc length of each slice (and consequently its central angle and are ...
s and
bar chart
A bar chart or bar graph is a chart or graph that presents categorical data with rectangular bars with heights or lengths proportional to the values that they represent. The bars can be plotted vertically or horizontally. A vertical bar chart is ...
s.
Sold separately
Many software vendors supplied versions of their products to run with
CP/M Plus
CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/ 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initially ...
, making a wide range of software available for the PCW, often very cheaply:
*Alternative word processors included
Superwriter and
WordStar
WordStar is a word processor application for microcomputers. It was published by MicroPro International and originally written for the CP/M-80 operating system, and later written also for MS-DOS and other 16-bit PC OSes. Rob Barnaby was the sol ...
.
*Several
spreadsheet
A spreadsheet is a computer application for computation, organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets were developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data entered in cel ...
programs became available, including
SuperCalc
SuperCalc is a CP/M-80 spreadsheet application published by Sorcim in 1980.
History
VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet program but its release for the CP/M operating system ran only on the HP-125, Sharp MZ80, and the Sony SMC-70. SuperCalc was ...
II and
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
's
Multiplan
Multiplan is spreadsheet program developed by Microsoft and introduced in 1982 as a competitor to VisiCalc.
Multiplan was released first for computers running CP/M; it was developed using a Microsoft proprietary p-code machine, p-code C compil ...
.
*
Database
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases sp ...
programs adapted for the PCW included
Sage Database,
Cardbox and
dBase
dBase (also stylized dBASE) was one of the first database management systems for microcomputers and the most successful in its day. The dBase system includes the core database engine, a query system, a forms engine, and a programming language ...
II.
*The ''MicroDesign'', ''Desk Top Publisher'', ''Newsdesk'' and ''Stop Press''
desktop publishing
Desktop publishing (DTP) is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal ("desktop") computer. It was first used almost exclusively for print publications, but now it also assists in the creation of various forms of online c ...
packages were used by groups of authors for newsletters.
*
The Sage Group
The Sage Group plc, commonly known as Sage, is a British multinational enterprise software company based in North Tyneside, England. As of 2017, it is the UK's second largest technology company, the world's third-largest supplier of enterpri ...
's Popular Accounts and Payroll,
and the Camsoft payroll and accounting software.
*Other programming languages, including
C.
*Many
games
A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ...
for the PCW. Most were text adventures but there were also graphical games like ''
Batman
Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...
'', ''
Bounder'' and ''
Head over Heels''.
Free software
Many free packages could run under CP/M but required careful setting of options to run on the PCW series, although a significant number had installer programs that made this task easier. Programs that were already configured for the PCW covered a broad range of requirements including word processors, databases, graphics, personal accounts, programming languages, games, utilities and a full-featured
bulletin board system
A bulletin board system (BBS), also called computer bulletin board service (CBBS), is a computer server running software that allows users to connect to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, the user can perform functions such as ...
. Many of these were at least as good as similar commercial offerings, but most had poor documentation.
Technical design
All PCW models, including the PcW16, used the
Zilog Z80
The Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor introduced by Zilog as the startup company's first product. The Z80 was conceived by Federico Faggin in late 1974 and developed by him and his 11 employees starting in early 1975. The first working samples wer ...
range of
CPU
A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, and ...
s. A 4 MHz Z80A was used in the 8256, 8512, 9512, 9256, 9512+ and PCW10;
and a 16 MHz Z80 in the PCW16.
The Z80 could only access 64
KB of
RAM
Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to:
Animals
* A male sheep
* Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish
People
* Ram (given name)
* Ram (surname)
* Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director
* RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch
* Ra ...
at a time. Software could work around this by
bank switching
Bank switching is a technique used in computer design to increase the amount of usable memory beyond the amount directly addressable by the processor instructions. It can be used to configure a system differently at different times; for example ...
, accessing different banks of memory at different times but this made programming more complex and slowed the system down. The PCW divided the Z80 memory map into four 16 KB banks. In
CP/M
CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/ 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initial ...
, the memory used for the display was switched out while programs were running, giving more than 60 KB of usable RAM. While the Joyce architecture was designed with configurations of 128 KB and 256 KB of RAM in mind, no PCW was ever sold with 128 KB of RAM.
Each PCW's
CP/M
CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/ 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initial ...
application could not use more than 64 KB so the system used the rest of the RAM for a
RAM drive
Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to:
Animals
* A male sheep
* Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish
People
* Ram (given name)
* Ram (surname)
* Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director
* RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch
* Ra ...
.
On the other hand, the
standalone Standalone or Stand-alone may refer to:
*Stand-alone DSL, a digital subscriber line without analog telephone service; also known as ''naked DSL''
* Stand-alone expansion pack, an expansion pack which does not require the original game in order to u ...
Locoscript
LocoScript is a word processing software package created by Locomotive Software and first released with the Amstrad PCW, a personal computer launched in 1985. Early versions of LocoScript were noted for combining a wide range of facilities with o ...
word processor program was reported as using up to 154 KB as normal memory and the rest as a RAM disk.
Unusually, the Z80 CPU in the PCW 8256, 8512, 9512, 9256 and 9512+ had no directly connected
ROM
Rom, or ROM may refer to:
Biomechanics and medicine
* Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient
* Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac
* R ...
, which most computers used to start the
boot process
In computing, booting is the process of starting a computer as initiated via hardware such as a button or by a software command. After it is switched on, a computer's central processing unit (CPU) has no software in its main memory, so so ...
. Instead, at startup, the
ASIC
An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC ) is an integrated circuit (IC) chip customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use, such as a chip designed to run in a digital voice recorder or a high-efficien ...
(customised circuit) at the heart of the PCW provided access to part of the 1k ROM within the
Intel 8041 microcontroller used to drive the printer. The Z80 would copy 256 bytes via the ASIC into RAM, providing sufficient instructions to load the first
sector
Sector may refer to:
Places
* Sector, West Virginia, U.S.
Geometry
* Circular sector, the portion of a disc enclosed by two radii and a circular arc
* Hyperbolic sector, a region enclosed by two radii and a hyperbolic arc
* Spherical sector, a po ...
from a floppy.
The ROM-based code cannot display text, being too small to support character generation; instead, it displays a bright screen which is progressively filled by black stripes as the code is loaded from the floppy.
To make the
printer
Printer may refer to:
Technology
* Printer (publishing), a person or a company
* Printer (computing), a hardware device
* Optical printer for motion picture films
People
* Nariman Printer ( fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist
* Jame ...
cheap enough to be included with every PCW, Amstrad placed the majority of its drive electronics inside the PCW cabinet. The printer case contained only electromechanical components and high-current driver electronics; its power was supplied via a
coaxial power connector
A coaxial power connector is an electrical power connector used for attaching extra-low voltage devices such as consumer electronics to external electricity. Also known as barrel connectors, concentric barrel connectors or tip connectors, these ...
socket on the monitor casing, and rather than using a traditional
parallel interface
In computing, a parallel port is a type of interface found on early computers (personal and otherwise) for connecting peripherals. The name refers to the way the data is sent; parallel ports send multiple bits of data at once (parallel c ...
, pin and motor signals were connected directly by a 34-wire
ribbon cable
A ribbon cable (also known as multi-wire planar cable) is a cable with many conducting wires running parallel to each other on the same flat plane. As a result, the cable is wide and flat. Its name comes from its resemblance to a piece of ribb ...
to an 8041
microcontroller
A microcontroller (MCU for ''microcontroller unit'', often also MC, UC, or μC) is a small computer on a single VLSI integrated circuit (IC) chip. A microcontroller contains one or more CPUs (processor cores) along with memory and programmable i ...
on the PCW's
mainboard
A motherboard (also called mainboard, main circuit board, mb, mboard, backplane board, base board, system board, logic board (only in Apple computers) or mobo) is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expand ...
.
Most models of PCW were bundled with a 9-pin
dot matrix printer
A dot matrix printer is an impact printer that prints using a fixed number of pins or wires. Typically the pins or wires are arranged in one or several vertical columns. The pins strike an ink-coated ribbon and force contact between the ribbon ...
mechanism, with the later 9512 and 9512+ models using a
daisywheel (with a different cable; the printers were not interchangeable with the dot matrix models). These PCW printers could not, of course, be used on other computers, and the original PCW lacked a then-standard
Centronics
Centronics Data Computer Corporation was an American manufacturer of computer printers, now remembered primarily for the parallel interface that bears its name, the Centronics connector.
History
Foundations
Centronics began as a division o ...
printer port. Instead, the
Z80
The Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor introduced by Zilog as the startup company's first product. The Z80 was conceived by Federico Faggin in late 1974 and developed by him and his 11 employees starting in early 1975. The first working samples were ...
bus and video signals were brought to an
edge connector
An edge connector is the portion of a printed circuit board (PCB) consisting of traces leading to the edge of the board that are intended to plug into a matching socket. The edge connector is a money-saving device because it only requires a sing ...
socket at the back of the cabinet. Many accessories including
parallel
Parallel is a geometric term of location which may refer to:
Computing
* Parallel algorithm
* Parallel computing
* Parallel metaheuristic
* Parallel (software), a UNIX utility for running programs in parallel
* Parallel Sysplex, a cluster of IBM ...
and
serial ports were produced for this interface. Some of the later models included a built-in
parallel port
In computing, a parallel port is a type of interface found on early computers (personal and otherwise) for connecting peripherals. The name refers to the way the data is sent; parallel ports send multiple bits of data at once ( parallel ...
; these could be bundled with either the dedicated Amstrad printer or a
Canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western can ...
Bubblejet
Inkjet printing is a type of computer printing that recreates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper and plastic substrates. Inkjet printers were the most commonly used type of printer in 2008, and range from small inexpensi ...
model.
The PCWs were not designed to play
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s, although some software authors considered this a minor detail, releasing games like ''
Batman
Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...
'', ''
Head Over Heels'', and ''
Bounder''. The PCW video system was not at all suited to games. In order that it be able to display a full 80-column page plus margins, the display's addressable area was 90 columns and the display had 32 lines. The display was
monochrome
A monochrome or monochromatic image, object or palette is composed of one color (or values of one color). Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale (typically digital) or black-and-white (typically analog). In physics, monochrom ...
and
bitmapped
upright=1, The Smiley, smiley face in the top left corner is a raster image. When enlarged, individual pixels appear as squares. Enlarging further, each pixel can be analyzed, with their colors constructed through combination of the values for ...
with a resolution of 720 by 256 pixels. At 1 bit per pixel, this occupied 23 KB of RAM which was far too large for the Z80 CPU to
scroll
A scroll (from the Old French ''escroe'' or ''escroue''), also known as a roll, is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper containing writing.
Structure
A scroll is usually partitioned into pages, which are sometimes separate sheets of papyrus ...
in software without ripple and tearing of the display. Instead, the PCW implemented a
Roller RAM consisting of a 512-byte area of RAM that held the address of each line of display data. The screen could now be scrolled either by changing the Roller RAM contents or by writing to an I/O port that set the starting point in Roller RAM for the screen data. This allowed for very rapid scrolling. The video system also fetched data in a special order designed so that plotting a character eight scan lines high would touch eight
contiguous
Contiguity or contiguous may refer to:
*Contiguous data storage, in computer science
*Contiguity (probability theory)
*Contiguity (psychology)
*Contiguous distribution of species, in biogeography
*Geographic contiguity of territorial land
*Contigu ...
addresses. This meant that the
Z80
The Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor introduced by Zilog as the startup company's first product. The Z80 was conceived by Federico Faggin in late 1974 and developed by him and his 11 employees starting in early 1975. The first working samples were ...
's concise block copy instructions, such as
LDIR, could be used. Unfortunately, it also meant that drawing lines and other shapes could be very complicated.
The PcW16 does not share any hardware with the original PCW series, other than the Z80 CPU, and should be considered to be a completely different machine.
See also
*
Amstrad CP/M Plus character set
*
Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sin ...
*
SymbOS
SYmbiosis Multitasking Based Operating System (SymbOS) is a multitasking operating system for Zilog Z80-based 8-bit computer systems.
Contrary to early 8-bit operating systems it is based on a microkernel, which provides preemptive and prior ...
*
List of Amstrad PCW games
The following is a list of Amstrad PCW games organised alphabetically by name.
0–9
*''3D Clock Chess''
*''500 c.c. Championship''
A
B
C
D-E
F
G
H
I-J-K
L
M-N-O
P
Q-R
S
T
U-V
W-X-Y-Z
External linksAmstrad PCW at Adventurela ...
*
IBM Displaywriter System
The IBM 6580 Displaywriter System is a 16-bit microcomputer that was marketed and sold by IBM's Office Products Division primarily as a word processor. Announced in June 1980 and effectively withdrawn from marketing in July 1986, the system was s ...
References
External links
Amstrad PCW 16 page at www.old-computers.comAmstrad PCW 8256/8512 at www.old-computers.comPCW Joyce Computer ClubPCW nostalgia. BBC Web page.PCW Emulator CP/M Box
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amstrad PCW
Computer-related introductions in 1985
Z80-based home computers
Personal computers
Computers designed in the United Kingdom
Amstrad