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Amstrad CPC: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Amstrad CPC
Alan Sugar, the founder of Amstrad, refused to let his new computer look like a toy. In the mid-1980s, the home computer market was dominated by machines like the ZX Spectrum and the Commodore 64, which relied on users connecting their computers to existing television sets and separate tape recorders. Sugar wanted something different. He envisioned a machine that resembled a real computer, similar to what someone would see being used to check them in at the airport for their holidays. The result was the Amstrad CPC 464, introduced in June 1984, which combined the computer, keyboard, and data storage device into a single unit. It was sold with its own dedicated display monitor, eliminating the need for a separate television set. This all-in-one concept was not entirely new, having been seen before on business-oriented machines and the Commodore PET, but Amstrad brought it to the consumer market with a vengeance. The CPC 464 featured 64 kilobytes of RAM and an internal cassette deck, and it was introduced in the United Kingdom with an initial suggested retail price of £249.00 with a green screen. The machine was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market, and it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and the German-speaking parts of Europe, as well as Canada. The philosophy behind the CPC series was twofold, and the all-in-one concept was a key part of that philosophy. The CPC 464 was one of the most successful computers in Europe and sold more than two million units. The machine's design was a direct response to the limitations of its competitors, and it was a bold move that set the stage for the future of home computing.
The Business And The Gamer
The Amstrad CPC series was pitched against other home computers primarily used to play video games, and it enjoyed a strong supply of game software. However, the system was also attractive for business users, which was reflected by a wide selection of application software. The CPC 6128, released on the 13th of June 1985, was the first Amstrad product to be sold in the United States, a market that at the time was traditionally hostile towards European computer manufacturers. The CPC 6128 featured 128 kilobytes of RAM and an internal 3-inch floppy disk drive, and it was compatible with the CP/M+ operating system. This compatibility rendered the system attractive for business uses, and it was a key factor in the machine's success. The CPC 664, introduced on the 25th of April 1985, was the lowest-cost disk system and even the lowest-cost CP/M 2.2 machine. The CPC 664 was only produced for approximately six months, and in late 1985, when the CPC 6128 was introduced in Europe, Amstrad decided not to keep three models in the line-up, and production of the CPC 664 was discontinued. The CPC series was designed to be a complete package, and the machine's hardware was based on the Zilog Z80A CPU, complemented with either 64 or 128 kilobytes of RAM. The main units were only sold bundled with either a colour, green-screen or monochrome monitor that doubles as the main unit's power supply. The CPC series was a commercial success, and during its lifetime, the CPC series sold approximately three million units. The machine's success was a testament to Amstrad's ability to create a product that met the needs of both gamers and business users.
When was the Amstrad CPC 464 introduced and what was its initial price?
The Amstrad CPC 464 was introduced in June 1984 with an initial suggested retail price of £249.00. This all-in-one computer combined the machine, keyboard, and data storage device into a single unit sold with a dedicated monitor.
What are the key hardware specifications of the Amstrad CPC 6128 released in 1985?
The Amstrad CPC 6128 released on the 13th of June 1985 features 128 kilobytes of RAM and an internal 3-inch floppy disk drive. It is compatible with the CP/M+ operating system and was the first Amstrad product sold in the United States.
Why did the Amstrad CPC Plus range fail in 1990 despite hardware enhancements?
The Amstrad CPC Plus range failed commercially because many viewed it as outdated despite enhancements like 16 hardware sprites and a 4096 colour palette. The system was based on an 8-bit CPU and failed to attract customers moving towards systems such as the Amiga and Mega Drive.
How did the Amstrad CPC 472 circumvent the Spanish import tax in 1985?
The Amstrad CPC 472 circumvented the Spanish import tax by adding an 8 kilobyte memory chip to increase total memory to 72 kilobytes. This modification allowed the machine to avoid the 15 000 pesetas tax applied to computers with 64 kilobytes or less of RAM.
What is the effective clock rate of the Amstrad CPC series based on the Zilog Z80 processor?
The Amstrad CPC series uses a Zilog Z80 processor clocked at 4 megahertz with an effective clock rate of approximately 3.3 megahertz. This reduction occurs because CPU memory access is constrained to occur on microsecond boundaries to prevent video corruption.
Who was the Roland character in Amstrad games named after and what was its purpose?
The Roland character in Amstrad games was named after Roland Perry, one of the lead designers of the original CPC range. The character served as a mascot for games published by Amsoft, though the design varied immensely across different titles.
In 1990, confronted with a changing home computer market, Amstrad decided to refresh the CPC model range by introducing a new range variantly labelled plus or PLUS, 1990, or CPC+ range. The main goals were numerous enhancements to the existing CPC hardware platform, to restyle the casework to provide a contemporary appearance, and to add native support of cartridge media. The new model palette includes three variants, the 464plus and 6128plus computers and the GX4000 video game console. The redesign significantly enhanced the CPC hardware, mainly to rectify its previous shortcomings as a gaming platform. The redesigned video hardware allows for 16 hardware sprites and soft scrolling, with a colour palette extended from a maximum of 16 colours at one time from a choice of 27, increased to a maximum of 31 out of 4096. The enhanced sound hardware offers automatic DMA transfer, allowing more complex sound effects with a significantly reduced processor overhead. Despite the significant hardware enhancements, many viewed it as outdated, being based on an 8-bit CPU, and it failed to attract both customers and software producers who were moving towards systems such as the Amiga and Mega Drive which was launched a few short months after the plus range. The plus range was a commercial failure, and production was discontinued shortly after its introduction in 1990. The 464 plus and 6128 plus models were intended as more sophisticated and stylish replacements of the CPC 464 and CPC 6128, but they were not successful. The plus range is not equipped with an on-board ROM, and thus the 464 plus and the 6128 plus do not contain a firmware. Instead, Amstrad provided the firmware for both models via the ROM extension facility, contained on the included Burnin' Rubber and Locomotive BASIC cartridge. The plus range was a commercial failure, and the machine's legacy was one of missed opportunities and a failure to adapt to the changing market.
The European Clones And Variants
During the August holidays of 1985, Spain briefly introduced an import tax of 15 000 pesetas on computers containing 64 kilobytes or less of RAM, and a new law mandated that all computers sold in Spain must have a Spanish keyboard. To circumvent this, Amstrad's Spanish distributor Indescomp created and distributed the CPC 472, a modified version of the CPC 464. Its main differences are a small additional daughter board containing a CPC 664 ROM chip and an 8 kilobyte memory chip, and a keyboard with a n key. The sole purpose of the 8 kilobyte memory chip is to increase the machine's total memory specs to 72 kilobytes in order to circumvent the import tax. Some months later, Spain joined the European Communities by the Treaty of Accession 1985 and the import tax was suppressed, so Amstrad added the n key for the 464 and production of the CPC 472 was discontinued. In East Germany, the Kleincomputer KC compact was a clone of the Amstrad CPC built by East Germany's, part of, in October 1989. The machine included various substitutes and emulations of an Amstrad CPC's hardware, and the machine is largely compatible with Amstrad CPC software. It is equipped with 64 kilobytes of memory and a CPC 6128's firmware customized to the modified hardware. The KC compact is the last 8-bit computer introduced in East Germany. Due to the German reunification happening at the time of the release, only a very small number of systems were sold. In 1993, Omsk, Russia based company Patisonic released the Aleste 520EX, a computer highly compatible with the Amstrad CPC 6128. It could also be switched into an MSX mode. An expansion board named Magic Sound allowed to play Scream Tracker files. These variants and clones were a testament to the CPC's popularity and its influence on the home computer market.
The Hardware And The Software
The entire CPC series is based on the Zilog Z80, a processor, clocked at 4 megahertz. In order to avoid the CPU and the video logic simultaneously accessing the shared main memory and causing video corruption, CPU memory access is constrained to occur on microsecond boundaries. This effectively pads every machine cycle to four clock cycles, causing a minor loss of processing power and resulting in what Amstrad estimated to be an effective clock rate of approximately 3.3 megahertz. Amstrad CPCs are equipped with either 64 or 128 kilobytes of RAM, and this base memory can be extended by up to 512 kilobytes using memory expansions sold by third-party manufacturers. The CPC uses the General Instrument AY-3-8912 sound chip, providing three channels, each configurable to generate square waves, white noise or both. Output is provided in mono by a small 4 centimeter built-in loudspeaker with volume control, driven by an internal amplifier. Stereo output is provided through a 3.5 millimeter headphones jack. It is possible to play back digital sound samples at a resolution of approximately 5-bit by sending a stream of values to the sound chip. This technique is very processor-intensive and hard to combine with any other processing. The later Plus models incorporated a DMA engine in order to offload this processing. The CPC 6128s later in production as well as the models from the plus range integrate both the CRTC and the gate array's functions with the system's ASIC. The original CPC video hardware supports a colour palette of 27 colours, generated from RGB colour space with each colour component assigned as either off, half on, or on. The plus range extended the palette to 4096 colours, also generated from RGB with 4 bits each for red, green and blue. The CPC series was a technical marvel, and its hardware was designed to be a complete package. The machine's software was equally impressive, and the CPC had its OS and a BASIC interpreter built in as ROM. It uses Locomotive BASIC, an improved version of Locomotive Software's Z80 BASIC for the BBC Micro co-processor board. It is particularly notable for providing easy access to the machine's video and audio resources in contrast to the POKE commands required on generic Microsoft implementations. The CPC series was a technical and software success, and it was a testament to Amstrad's ability to create a product that met the needs of both gamers and business users.
The Roland Mascot And The Community
In an attempt to give the CPC a recognisable mascot, a number of games by Amstrad's in-house software publisher Amsoft have been tagged with the Roland name. However, as the games had not been designed around the Roland character and only had the branding added later, the character design varies immensely, from a spiky-haired blonde teenager to a white cube with legs or a mutant flea. The only two games with similar gameplay and main character design are Roland in Time and its sequel Roland in Space. The Roland character was named after Roland Perry, one of the lead designers of the original CPC range. The Amstrad CPC enjoyed a strong and long lifetime, mainly due to the machines use for businesses as well as gaming. Dedicated programmers continued working on the CPC range, even producing graphical user interface operating systems such as SymbOS. Internet sites devoted to the CPC have appeared from around the world featuring forums, news, hardware, software, programming and games. CPC Magazines appeared during the 1980s including publications in countries such as Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Australia, and Greece. Titles included the official Amstrad Computer User publication, as well as independent titles like Amstrad Action, Amtix!, Computing with the Amstrad CPC, CPC Attack, Australia's The Amstrad User, France's Amstrad Cent Pour Cent and Amstar. Following the CPC's end of production, Amstrad gave permission for the CPC ROMs to be distributed freely as long as the copyright message is not changed and that it is acknowledged that Amstrad still holds copyright, giving emulator authors the possibility to ship the CPC firmware with their programs. The community was a testament to the CPC's popularity and its influence on the home computer market. The machine's legacy was one of a strong and dedicated community that continued to support the CPC long after its production had ended.
The Legacy And The Influence
Amstrad followed their success with the CPC 464 by launching the Amstrad PCW word-processor range, another Z80-based machine with a 3-inch disk drive and software by Locomotive Software. The PCW was originally developed to be partly compatible with an improved version of the CPC, but Amstrad decided to focus on the PCW, and the ANT project never came to market. On the 7th of April 1986, Amstrad announced it had bought from Sinclair Research the worldwide rights to sell and manufacture all existing and future Sinclair computers and computer products, together with the Sinclair brand name and those intellectual property rights where they relate to computers and computer-related products, for 5 million pounds. This included Sinclair's unsold stock of Sinclair QLs and Spectrums. Amstrad made more than 5 million pounds on selling these surplus machines alone. Amstrad launched two new variants of the Spectrum: the ZX Spectrum +2, based on the ZX Spectrum 128, with a built-in tape drive, and, the following year, the ZX Spectrum +3, with a built-in floppy disk drive, taking the 3-inch discs that Amstrad CPC machines used. The CPC series was a commercial success, and during its lifetime, the CPC series sold approximately three million units. The machine's success was a testament to Amstrad's ability to create a product that met the needs of both gamers and business users. The CPC series was a technical and software success, and it was a testament to Amstrad's ability to create a product that met the needs of both gamers and business users. The machine's legacy was one of a strong and dedicated community that continued to support the CPC long after its production had ended. The CPC series was a commercial success, and it was a testament to Amstrad's ability to create a product that met the needs of both gamers and business users. The machine's legacy was one of a strong and dedicated community that continued to support the CPC long after its production had ended.