Franco Frey gets out his SHUGARTS, wonders why ALAN SUGAR hasn't produced a disk system for the Spectrum, and gets to grips with the DISCIPLE - the best thing in terms of disk interfaces since the (now unavailable) OPUS DISCOVERY.

PURE GOSPEL

With the demise of the OPUS Discovery, the Spectrum world has slipped back into a dark and diskless existence. Any hope of upgrading the current cassette-based games market with a user-friendly diskbase format, is quashed by the lack of a standard disk operating system for the Spectrum - or at least one that's properly supported by the original manufacturer. Sir Clive himself originally drove a nail into the Spectrum's coffin by introducing an unsuccessful upgrade in the form of the Microdrive - this time it's good old Alan Sugar who's slipped up, by not providing a disk system with the Spectrum 128K Plus 2. Plans may be afoot, but alas, they're far too late.

Along comes Alan Miles from MILES GORDON TECHNOLOGY to show the big boys what ought to be done, by introducing the Disciple - which takes off where the Interface One fell short. Could this be the beginning of the New Testament?

The Disciple is everything the Interface One should have been - and more. The multi-purpose interface provides a disk interface for any two SHUGART (SA400) compatible 3 inch, 3.5 inch or 5.25 inch disk drives, a fully supported Centronics printer interface, two joystick ports and a local network system. In fact, most of the things any serious or games playing Spectrum user would love.

PHYSICAL

The Disciple could be mistaken for an over-large Interface One. It plugs into the interface edge connection of the Spectrum and acts as a wedge-shaped support for the keyboard.

DISK HERE, DISK THERE

Any single or double disk drive may be connected to the Disciple - as long as it meets with the SHUGART standard 34-way bus. Digging around in the office produced a CUMANA double disk drive for the BBC which worked a treat. The operating system can be configured with the help of a utility provided on cassette. This program enables the user to give all the details of the system, including all the parameters relating to the disk drives including the number of drives, tracks, sides, and the stepping rate in milliseconds. It then goes on to ask about the printer and the networking configuration. Once satisfied, it formats a disk (in single or double-density format) and saves the system with the new settings. Boot-up from then on is simple.

On booting-up the Spectrum, RUN is performed and the system file is loaded from disk. Ready! The utility may be saved to disk for any future upgrades to the system, and with this done the boring cassette work can be forgotten.

SYNTAX

The operating system is an extension of Sinclair BASIC. To direct the commands to the disk drive. the BASIC command must be followed by a Syntax Operator, which is either D1, D2 or D*, the latter accessing the last drive in use. Typing a capital D ensures an automatic display of the catalogue after the command has been performed, otherwise a lower case d will suffice. A normal file access could read like this:

LOAD D1 "SAMPLEFILE"

Ex-Microdrive users with the knack for convoluted commands, will be pleased to know that they can continue to use the Microdrive syntax. Apart from the usual LOAD, SAVE and VERIFY, the cassette-based user will have to include such instructions as FORMAT, CAT, ERASE and COPY into their repertoire. FORMAT D1 formats the disk in drive 1 in double-density format, FORMAT SD1 in single-density format. CAT 1 displays a directory of the contents of disk drive 1 in extended form, giving such details as program number (generated by the disk operating system), the filename (up to ten characters long), the number of disk sectors used, the type of file (BASIC, Code, Snapshot, Screen, Microdrive file, Specials, data array or character array) and finally the starting address of the file and the number of bytes used. CAT1! calls up an abbreviated version of the directory.

To save keyboard work, a file can be loaded using the program number designator generated by the directory system. If the 'simple' CODE was number 5, the file can be loaded with a LOAD p5 command.

As with any respectable DOS the Disciple recognises wild-card filenames. These can contain ? symbols representing any character and * symbols representing any quantity of characters in the name. ERASE D1 "DEL" erases any files starting with DEL Such as "DELTITLE" or "DEL". ERASE D1 "filename" deletes the file from the disk directory of drive 1. ERASE D1 "name1" "TO "name2" renames a file "namel" to "name2", COPY D1 "name1" "TO D2 "name2" copies a file from drive 1 to drive 2 and renames it "name2".

The Disciple has an auto-load file feature. When booting up the disk system with an initial RUN command, Disciple searches on the system disk for a file with the name "Auto-load" and loads and executes it automatically. All that is required is to rename the designated file "Auto-load".

PRETTY PRINTER

The Centronics parallel printer interface on the Disciple provides the Spectrum with the choice of dot matrix or daisy-wheel printers - the printer port is fully supported by the system software, and initial configuration is affected via the Utility program. The Spectrum's normal printer channel (ZX printer or ALPHACOM) may be used, or the Centronics port brought into play. The number of line feeds, as well as the number of line spaces before the left hand margin and the graphic characters to be printed for £ and ? all have to be specified.

If the printer recognises EPSON type command codes, the system doesn't have to be configured any further, as the operating system uses default values. Otherwise all the necessary printer control codes can be input for printer initialisation, character pitch, line width as number of characters, n/72 inch line spacing, normal line text line spacing, bit image character mode for user defined screen graphics, and any other extra control codes for the printer used. The operating system recognises all the usual Spectrum print commands such as LPRINT (including TAB and AT syntax), LLIST and COPY SCREEN$. Experiments with a CANON PW-1156A printer proved immediately successful - to be able to print out a screen dump without messing about with printer control codes was little short of a miracle?

TO SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE

Two network connectors allow Spectrums equipped with Disciple to communicate with each other. There are basically two modes available: the Shared Access Network that allows up to 62 users to access the printer and disk drives of the master machine, and the Independent Station Network which provides file access to individual users each equipped with their own disk drives and printer. In each case the system file has to be configured so that the system can recognise whether a station is the master machine, and what the station number of each machine on the network is. If a Shared Access Network is set up, the users only need to input their station number with a FORMAT N9 (for station number 9) command. Sending a file "TEST" to station 9 involves loading it from disk with a LOAD D1 "TEST" command and transmitting it with a SAVE N9 command. N0 specifies a general broadcast, which can be picked up by any station using a LOAD N0 command.

JOYSTICK

Two Atari-compatible joystick ports are available on the Disciple. The right-hand port is used for single-player events. If a commercially-produced program asks the user to select Kempston or Sinclair mode, either option may be chosen. The left hand port supports only the Sinclair mode for two player games. The joystick ports do not have to be configured prior to use.

CHEESE PLEASE!

The SNAPSHOT button enables a 'photograph' to be made of the entire Spectrum 48K memory so that the memory contents may be saved to disk. The main use of this facility is the conversion of cassette-based games to disk for 'instant' load. To avoid pirating, a barrier has been set up in the operating system which prevents SNAPSHOT files being copied. At any given point in the game, pressing the button pauses the program and transfers the contents of the memory to disk in a SNAPSHOT file, which may be renamed at a later date. A further function is provided: by pressing CAP SHIFT and the SNAPSHOT button the current screen is dumped to the active printer port - excellent for mapping games!

NO INHIBITIONS

To avoid serious clashes with other peripherals the Disciple provides an INHIBIT button which deactivates the operating system and shuts down the disk drives. The system can also be turned off with an OUT 31,0 command, and stays off until an OUT 31,16 command is received. In all cases the printer and joystick ports remain active.

A point to note is that should the Spectrum be reset with the computer's RESET button, the Disciple retains the operating system in its memory. So rather than reload the system file from disk, a simple OUT 123,0 reinitiates the operating system.

CAN I HAVE ONE!

The Disciple is excellent value for money. It not only offers an extremely versatile disk and printer option for the Spectrum, but also includes the facility to transfer commercial cassette-based software to disk. The manual is concise and informative. The fact that everything works first time (including the dreaded business of dumping screens to the printer) shows that this is a well worked out design. Well done Miles Gordon!

Producer: Rockfort Products, 81 Church Road, London NW4 4DP
Price: £89.95 inc VAT
Tel: 01 203 0191

DISCIPLE WITH THE RIGHT CONNECTIONS

Say halo to the Disciple - a holy wonderful interface.

The breakup of Sinclair Research has produced a swarm of peripherals from ex-employees with an intimate knowledge of the Spectrum and a mortgage to feed. The latest add-on from the exclusive ex-Sinclair club is the subtly-named Disciple disc/printer/joystick/network unit.

Canonised in September. at the same time as the 128K+2, it's already into the second version, and this is the one reviewed here.

The Disciple resembles nothing so much as an overgrown Interface 1. It fits in the same way, with a couple of screws bolting it to the underside of Spectrum 48Ks and it's compatible with both 128Ks and 128K+2s. The connectors used to hook up to the unreasonably large number of accessories that it supports are mostly BBC micro type, thus assuring lots of leads available immediately. See, the Beeb is good for something...

Briefly, you can use any disc drive, any parallel printer, any standard joystick, and network to any other Disciple or Interface 1 that you happen to have lying around. It's also got the obligatory Magic Button, for putting desirable data on to disc by divine intervention.

The first time you use your Disciple, you have to configure it to your specifications. This is done by a short and explicit program loaded from cassette. You get asked various questions about your disc drive, your printer and exactly how you want to use the network. The program is logical, painless and well explained in the manual. Once that's done, a disc is formatted by the program and your personalised system is saved. That disc is used in future for starting everything up but, if you find that you've got something wrong or you buy a new printer, you can always configure it again. It only took me about three minutes, including looking things up in my printer handbook.

The network is better than the old Interface 1, as one station can always talk to another, even if the other is busy. Perfect for schools with lots of Spectrums, especially since all stations can use one disc drive, and a station designated Master can look at the screen of any of the pupils on the net.

The joystick can be either Kempston or Sinclair type, which covers just about every game ever written. They work, too.

As the software inside the Disciple doesn't use any of Spectrum's Ram, it will work with most commercial games and stuff. I took a peek inside, and was suitably impressed with the quality of construction. Just a couple of wire links... better than the Interface 1.

All these facilities are available from Basic in much the same way as Interface 1 did it (like Load *"M", 1, "Kalisti), or by friendlier syntax (Load D1 "Hoopla") or by selecting a program from the catalogue listing (Load P3 loads the third program on the catalogue).

The snapshot button works well, too. A bonus over other similar products is that if you press Cap Shift before pressing the snapshot button, you get a copy of the screen on your printer. Very useful to prove to your friends that you really have got to the end of Zappem. And if you have a game or peripheral that objects to the Disciple, there's an Off button. There's a full edge connector brought out to the back, in fact it's even got some extra signals, to do with the disc drive.

And it all works luverly. The manual's good, clear and with a few helpful hints that might even stop people writing to Sinclair Surgery. Techies will like the list of port addresses (but there's not much more heavy info), and I hear tell of a hook-code compatible version on the cards.

I'm impressed. With peripherals like this, the Spectrum can walk on water. This interface saint bad (that's enough religious jokes - Ed).

JOHN WASE PLUGS IN A NEW MULTI-PURPOSE INTERFACE.

Rockford Products
£73.70 (+ VAT)

For several weeks I had been anticipating its arrival. At last a cryptic message came - "a disciple will shortly arrive at your house". It was on its way.

My delay in receiving this interface was due to a technical problem: the NEC ROM version of the Spectrum gave trouble with their first issue, and the ROM in the Disciple had to be rewritten. Advantage was therefore taken of this to incorporate several improvements into the system, and it is this version, version 2, which I tested. Disciple comes complete with instruction manual, guarantee and a cassette. As the picture shows, the interface itself is a long, flat plastic box on which your Spectrum sits, a bit Interlace One-ish in shape, with an edge connector on top to connect the Spectrum and the customary through-port on the back. To the right of this are the joystick port and network connector, with the printer interface on the end of the box. To the left are a standard BEEB-type disc interface connector, a second joystick port and network connector, and on the left-hand end, the inhibit and snapshot buttons.

I approached the system with some trepidation, being prejudiced through long familiarity with the Opus system. So at first I didn't like the rather creaky plastic box; a 128K Spectrum+2 overhung this rather a lot, and I was glad I had left on the big feet which I need with the Discovery, for they just supported in the right places the overhang from the Disciple. A standard 48K Spectrum was less lucky and needed a cassette temporarily wedged in front of it. The first two Disciples had rough handling in the mail and the snapshot switch was damaged in each case; Rockfort tell me that more robust switches are now being used, and that the packaging is being modified. Whilst none of this improved my confidence, as I used it and gradually got used to it, I began to like it and appreciate its many virtues.

HOOKED

The manual contains a lot of useful basic information, but lacks anything detailed on machine code, although it mentions that the hook codes are the same as those for microdrives. I am told that by the time you read this, there will be a new, ring-bound version of the instructions which will have provision for containing comprehensive information on machine code. The first operation is to connect everything up and load the utilities program supplied on cassette. After answering various prompts, you are ready to format a disc. Two surprises: firstly the disc is not named; you have to name it on the label; secondly a small code program called "systems" is also saved on the disc at the same time. A cold start involves switching on computer, inserting disc and typing RUN, when the systems program is loaded. This can be a bit irritating but does ensure that the system can be updated to cope with alterations in other systems. There is provision for one further auto-running program on any one disc.

Disciple comes with a truly comprehensive array of commands. LOAD D1"program", for instance, works, as well as microdrive commands. So does SAVE d1"program". SAVE D1-"program" saves and then also gives you the short directory or catalogue, which numbers each file, tells you what it is and the start address and length if it is code. This allows you to use the very short syntax LOAD p6, when number 6 in the list is loaded from the last disc in use. All the commands one would expect are there, including wild card files (to ERASE numbersl, numbers2, numbers 3 etc., enter ERASE D1"n*"). A well thought out system.

In addition to the disc interface itself, one or two other little gizmos are incorporated. Clearly aimed at the games player is a snapshot button; this takes a copy of what is in memory, and, in this case, saves it direct to disc as a "snapshot file". This is the only type of file which will not copy from one disc to another on a two disc system; thus piracy is minimised. The two joystick ports can be configured either as Sinclair or (left hand only) as Kempston.

A great deal of thought has been given to networking. Disciple has two network ports, each taking inexpensive standard 3.5mm jack plugs and standard cable. In this way, a shared access network can be set up with a master station and pupil stations: the master can transmit programs to the pupils and even call up their screens to check their work; they, in turn can call up programs from a central disc or print on a central printer.

CENTRONICS

The Centronics interface is fairly unremarkable. The answers to the initial utility program involve information about the printer in use if it is not an Epson compatible. The answers are incorporated in the systems program which has to be used to boost up the system; a nuisance if you are using dot matrix for rough copy and daisy wheel for the finished document. LLIST and LPRINT are supported, together with COPY SCREEN$ which copies the screen. Any control codes that you want to send to the printer are preceded by CHR$27, even if you wish to send CHR$27 itself; tortuous but effective. This can, however, be changed (it has to be for Tasword, for instance, for version 2 will transmit only four control codes at any one time).

Now for the meaty bits. I took one of my son's games and converted it onto disc. This consisted of a basic loader, a screen and a piece of machine code 38351 bytes long (virtually a full 48K Spectrum).

Loading this from tape took just short of five minutes. The same thing took a spectacular seven seconds from the Disciple! I loaded the game again and took a snapshot. Taking it took between eight and nine seconds. Reloading took five. When times get as short as this it is impossible to be very accurate: all you can say is that they are impressively fast. Saving is equally fast - I used the SAVE D1 "name" version for the picture and for the code; in each case the bulk of the seven or eight seconds was the time required to display the directory. Indeed, the only operation which took longer was formatting.

Talking of formatting, I found that there were one or two interesting comparisons to be made. Discovery has a directory length (110 files) which is independent of the disc type, and which can be extended if necessary. Disciple allows only 40 entries in single density and 80 in double. The sector length is similarly interesting, Discovery and Disciple (80 track) has 512 byte sectors. Although these bigger sectors and the lack of a compacting facility on Disciple could mean more wasteful use of the disc, this is made up for a larger formatted capacity, although do remember that you have to put the "systems" program on the disc.

My overall impressions and comments? Well, first the bad news. It's going to cost quite a lot for a complete system, for you've got the cost of a drive on top of the £79 odd for Disciple. I felt if was a bit plasticky, a bit flimsy, and I managed to get the disc connector in the wrong way round. Much of this was when, all thumbs, I was trying to connect up and get it going. Having got used to it, well, it's great. There are all sorts of additions: the snapshot, the comprehensive networking, the availability of two Sinclair or one Kempston joystick ports, the ability to run microdrive software and to have it transferred by means of the inhibit button, and above all, the incredible speed of transfer. You know, I rather fancy one myself...

HARD FACTS SPECIAL

Are you having a hard time choosing the right hardware? Hard but Steve Adams has the lowdown on the latest hardware. And it's all under £100.

Rockfort Products
£84.95

If you thought Multiface One was the ultimate Red Button device, think again! The Disciple, or should that be DISCiple, is a neat memory dump/disk interface that does the same jobs, plus a whole lot more besides. You get a disk interface with an eight bit Centronics printer port, Kempston and Sinclair compatible joystick ports, and network sockets, identical to those you'll find on the Interface 1. Also, on the side of the box, are two saucy little buttons. These will, depending on the order you tap them, act as a snapshot, allowing you to copy any program to disk, (very handy since no Spectrum programs actually come out on disk!), or dump a screen to your printer.

The Disciple actually goes quite a long way to look and act like an Interface 1, from those all important hook codes (some anyway!), right down to those two little holes so you can screw it to the bottom of your Spectrum. In fact it's so like the Interface 1 that it's very easy indeed to convert your existing programs to work with disk, as the Disciple uses all the usual microdrive syntax. So you can use it as a development tool for programming too!

In fact the only way it really diverts from the Interface 1 is that it is fast, only taking 3.5 seconds to load 48K! Not only that but you can get 750K of storage on an 80 track double sided disk! On the downside, though, not all the hook codes seem to be supported. A hook code is a call to the Interface 1 ROM. When I tried Hisoft's Devpac with the Disciple I was unable to get it to work.

The operating system is booted from disk when you power up, so it can be totally customised to your own purposes. It could be fun to have your own boot up screen, or a customised Operating system of your very own! As well as the other facilities I've mentioned, it also has an option to handle on external RAM disk, and that really is something!

One small problem I had, was that the Disciple hung up after about half an hour. At first I thought it was overheating that was causing the crashes, but in the end I couldn't decide whether this was the case, or whether it was the Devpac and the problem previously mentioned.

The graphics handling of the printer side of the interface is superb, taking in the printing of graphics characters, or even complete screens using the snapshot button with the caps lock down, to literally any printer. So, if you only buy one new box to plug into your Speccy this year, make it this one.