YOU'LL BELIEVE A KEYBOARD CAN FLY

Ever since the launch of the Spectrum, people have complained about its keyboard. Not surprisingly the add-on keyboard market boomed to such an extent that even Sinclair joined in and brought out the Spectrum Plus, simply a rubber-key Spectrum in a 'better' box.

Now Saga, that doyen of keyboard manufacturers, has released its latest - and possibly its greatest - keyboard.

The Saga 2001 keyboard can only be described as completely over the top. Forty seven centimeters long, 99 printed keys and if that isn't enough, it connects to the Spectrum via an infra-red link. You can type away at the keyboard and have the TV so far away that you can't even read it.

Saga has attempted to produce, and arguably succeeded, the ultimate word processing keyboard. And to press home the point it even supplies a copy of it's word-pro package The Last Word with it.

Even without the infra-red gimmick, the 2001 is a good keyboard for typing. The main block of 49 keys is laid out with all the punctuation keys on the right - like a typewriter - with a separate numeric pad to the right of this and a row of 20 function keys along the top.

The confusion starts, though, when you try to program using it. The 2001 hasn't got a Symbol Shift key, let alone an E mode key. Although many of the Symbol Shifted keys are available as single keys, many more, and nearly all the E Mode keys, are put on to twenty function keys at the top.

To get it all on, each function key has four functions, reached by a combination of just pressing the key, using Caps Shift, or pressing the left-most function key first and then the key. None of the key sequences required appear to match the original Sinclair keyboard. Do you remember how long it took you to remember where all the functions were when you first got your Spectrum? It's like learning them all over again.

This lack of an E Mode key also creates difficulties with some programs. In Tasword II for example, where you use E Mode to reach the alternate functions, without such a key you have to trick the keyboard into thinking you've pressed it by using one of the E Mode punctuation keys first. These keys also have to be pressed twice - once to get the character, and once more to get out of E Mode.

Load up a game and you have another problem. The keyboard works by registering a key press and translating it into the necessary sequence of key presses to simulate it. For example press Function Key 20 and you get the keyword Usr. This one press has to be translated into the sequence: hold Symbol Shift, press Caps Shift, release both, press L.

When the infra-red receiver is plugged in, the Spectrum's keyboard is automatically disabled so you can't even use that as a back-up.

This receiver, a largish white and grey box, sits comfortably on top of the Spectrum. On the first production run of 2001s it connects to the Spectrum via a cable and box which goes into the edge connector. This fouls the power socket and so will be replaced on subsequent models.

On the model I received this box was dead-ended, that is, there was no through connector for other add-ons. This may change on the later models, if not you will need a two-way adapter if you want to plug in a printer interface. Most mass storage devices, though, such as Interface One or the Technology Research Beta disc interface, have through connectors so they can be fitted without additions. Both, incidentally, work happily with the 2001.

The keyboard itself and infra-red link is battery powered, using a rechargeable battery. For recharging a lead is supplied which connects to the receiver, the power coming from the Spectrum.

A version of the 2001 for the 128K Spectrum is also planned.

So what's it like to use? Very good, once you've got used to it. The keys are a little heavy compared to other Spectrum add-on keyboards, but very positive and the best I've used to date. For word processing the layout is as close to a normal typewriter as you'll find and, after all, 99 per cent of the time you use the letter/punctuation keys rather than the function keys.

For programming and arcade games - adventure games are largely text entry - the keyboard does leave a little to be desired, largely because of the E Mode problem.

The keyboard is definitely aimed at the dedicated, serious user who is just as likely to own a program such as Beta Basic, which allows keywords to be typed out in full.

All you have to do now is scrape together the £119.95 to pay for it.

The one thing it isn't is cheap.

Saga Systems, 2 Eve Road, Woking. Surrey GU21 4JT. Tel: 04862 22977.

2001 - KEYBOARD OF THE FUTURE?

Saga Systems
£119.95

Saga are currently putting the finishing touches to the latest in their range of add-on keyboards for the Spectrum - the infrared controlled 2001.

What's an infrared controlled keyboard? Well, for a start, it's one that doesn't require you to take your beloved Speccy apart and install it inside the body of the new keyboard. Work is still being done on the infrared link, but the prototype that we've been playing with gives a good idea of how the finished version should work, and it's impressive because of more than just the hi-tech infrared business.

The 2001 keyboard is a complete unit in itself and requires no fiddling with screwdrivers to connect it to your Spectrum as it connects via an interface that plugs into the Spectrum's peripheral port like any other type of interface. The interface goes into the Spectrum and the keyboard is linked to the interface by infrared (just like some TV remote control units).

What this means is that not only are you spared the bother of taking your Spectrum apart (which is a business that always worries me, not being very technically minded) and also voiding your guarantee, but you can also dispense with that miserable tangle of wires that clutters up your desk and makes life so awkward for Spectrum owners whenever they want to connect the machine to anything. You just set up your Spectrum as you would normally, and then, with the 2001 interface in place, you just shove it - wires, power supply, and all - onto a shelf somewhere and then settle down to work with your nice, tidy 2001 keyboard.

Then, when you actually start to use the keyboard, you'll start to realise that there's more to the 2001 than just a load of infrared rays. Saga haven't just produced a unit with better quality keys and a few extra keys for numbers and punctuation, which is what most add-on units amount to. With the 2001 they've virtually redesigned the entire keyboard layout and entry system. The single letter and keyword entry system remains the same, but Saga have more or less done away with extended mode, and altered the fiddly symbol shift/shift plus extended mode system.

SHIFTING KEYS

Along the top of the keyboard (the rear row) is a row of keys for all the extended mode functions: if you want to enter commands like CODE, PEEK, TAB and so on, all you have to do is press the appropriate key - there's no need to press symbol shift/caps shift or anything else. These new keys also carry the various VIDEO and symbol shift functions, but because you only have to use the symbol shift key (sensibly positioned away on the left of this row) to get at these the whole business is much easier than on the Spectrum's normal keyboard (especially with the VIDEO functions which allow you to manipulate the attributes of what you're putting on screen - I've always found using these a horrendous business on the Spectrum, but the 2001 makes it simple). Furthermore, the way these functions are grouped together on the individual keys has been rearranged: normally the key for 'I' would carry that letter, the keyboard INPUT, symbol shifted AT, extended mode CODE and extended mode plus symbol shift would give you IN (and that's an indication of how awkward the Spectrum's entry system really is!). But on the 2001 the 'I' key offers just INPUT and the letter 'I' as usual, and all the other functions normally associated with that key are arranged on other keys on the back row of the unit.

Because of the extent to which all the keys have been rearranged it took me quite a while to get used to the new layout, and I made lots of mistakes when my hand automatically went to press a key that was no longer there or did something totally different to its usual function, but the new arrangement is a definite improvement. Saga have even improved the layout over their own earlier keyboards: most punctuation symbols have their own keys and at last they've put the Delete and Edit keys in sensible positions.

The 'calculator cluster", the group of keys on the right hand side of the board which deal with numbers and maths functions, has been enlarged over Saga's previous efforts: the block graphics characters are labelled on the number keys, all the obvious maths keys are there (/*-+) and separate Delete and Enter keys have been included.

Mind you I would have liked the 2001 to have separate Stop and Break keys, and for one of the punctuation keys to be a little further from the Enter key, as I often found myself typing sets of quotation marks when I was trying to hit the Enter button instead. The keys themselves are noticeably smaller and closer together than on other Saga boards and I found that I often over stretched my fingers when trying to hit keys, but this is really just a matter of time and becoming familiar with the board.

OVERALL

Because you don't have to fit the Spectrum's circuit board inside it the 2001 is very slim and quite flat and looks like a 'real' computer terminal board, especially with that extra row of keys along the back. All in all, the 2001 is an impressive piece of hardware but though the £119.95 price tag isn't unreasonable considering what's gone into it, that is still a lot of money to pay for an add-on to a computer that probably only cost £140 itself. And, with Amstrad apparently ready to launch a 128 Spectrum with a 'proper' keyboard and built-in tape recorder for just £140, existing 48K owners could upgrade to a whole new machine for just another £20.

If you're looking for an add-on keyboard then you couldn't do much better than this (though Saga's Elite 3 is still a strong competitor), but the 2001, for all its admitted excellent features, might very well have priced itself into a very small market.

SAGA 2001
A KEYBOARD ODDITY

Max Phillips tries a new keyboard out. It worked better than he thought. It thrust him backwards to the year 1968. A year when you didn't eve have to sit near your Spectrum to it...

FAX BOX
Package: 2001 Keyboard with The Last Word
Supplier: Saga Systems
Price: £119.95

I'm writing this review on a Spectrum. Big deal, huh? Well, my Speccy is six feet away and facing backwards. If the truth be known. I'm lying back between my big Kef speakers, with my feet up, my hair down, Procul Harum on loud and the lights on low. I'd be wearing shades but it gets difficult to see the screen...

It's done with a Saga 2001 'wireless' infra-red keyboard, the neatest and most laid-back way to feel at one with your magic machine. Yeah I'm six feet away and I'm typing faster and more accurately than I've ever done on a Spectrum.

The 2001 is a positive monolith with 101 keys divided into a proper QWERTY section, 20 Basic function keys and a separate numeric pad with calculator keys. There's also a big box hanging off the back of the Speccy to tune-in to the late night finger broadcasts - that's why you have to turn your machine round!

The ether-level connection is great; easily the most reliable and position tolerant infra-red system I've ever used. When the battery gets flat the 2001 starts doing its own typing - no problem, just hook up the cable and recharge the thing while you work.

And, boy, can you move with this keyboard. The key action and layout are nigh-on perfect - having a proper typewriter bit means you can really hammer those characters in. So fast. In fact, that the clear ol' Spectrum can have trouble keeping up! Fortunately, lots of recent programs have keyboard buffering and will never miss a stroke - anyone feel like coding one up for Basic?

The only big hitch is the fiendish way the shift keys are done. What's great about it is there's no double-shift system at all - you just hit the relevant keyword on the function keys (with Shift and/or a special arrow key) to get extended or symbol-shifted characters. The 2001 sorts out the relevant Speccy shifts and sends them all in one go - you never even see the E mode cursor anymore.

Fast as this is, you're going to slow down when you try working out which keys you press to control any reasonably complicated program. What was Symbol-Shift S for SAVE might now be anything from DEF FN to TRUE VIDEO. Brain ache!

And you're going to find games a bit weird as well - not only are you missing the normal shift keys, but the 200, unlike every other Spectrum keyboard, doesn't register several keypresses at once. Neither does it help when you discover that with the 2001 attached, the Speccy keyboard is as dead as a weekend in Tamworth. Wave goodbye to the made-up key codes like Symbol-Shift and Space while you're at it - you just can't do them on the Saga.

So the 2001 is the ultimate in hip ways to use your machine and a real delight if you're using your Spectrum for word processing, databases. programming or playing vast adventures. But it's a pain that there's no normal CAPS SHIFT and SYMBOL-SHIFT to improve compatibility and it's not much cop for games.

Plus it proves that useful bit of old wisdom; the best things in life may well be free but the good ones are flippin' expensive. So it goes. S'pose I'd better get up, slot another record in and turn the microdrive over.