COMPLIMENTing the SPECTRUM?

SAGA SYSTEMS are well known for their attempts to change your meagre little Spectrum PCB into something that looks twice the price and feels three times as important - now SAGA have leapt into the Spectrum marketplace with a new batch of goodies for the more serious user: The SAGA Compliment.

SAGA have collected what they think is the best hardware from all over the Spectrum world, found some complimenting software and bundled it all together. When added to a Spectrum PCB and TV/monitor, this becomes the complete executive package for those who want something more than a games machine.

DOMINIC HANDY, our resident word-processor reviewer, takes a look at the collection of equipment and software available for £343.85 including VAT.

THE BRAINS...

The heart of any computer system is the controlling software - it must be easy to use, yet powerful enough to push the hardware to its limits. The Compliment system
does its best to fulfil both of these requirements. Once you've connected all your hardware together, all you have to do is turn on, insert the system disk and press
RUN (oh, and ENTER). That's it, you are now in the Compliment Operating Environment (COE): you never need know how your computer works. This makes the Compliment System perfect for anyone that wants the power of a computer without the hassles of programming. In the COE you are presented with a series of menus and sub-menus from which the disk utilities and software provided with the system may be accessed. The three main programs involved are The Last Word, Masterfile and Omnicalc 2.

THE WORD PROCESSOR...

The Last Word for TLW as SAGA like to call it), is SAGA's contribution to the software. I looked at TLW in issue 31, but I'll give a short resume of its contents and
performance for those of you who are too lazy to search out the full review...

TLWs main attraction is, that if you have a 80 column printer, the screen can display the exact format of your printed text. You have a choice of four character widths
from the most legible, 40 columns to a clever (but eye-straining) 80 columns. TLW is not as powerful as other word processors on the market - it lacks a sophisticated
find/replace option, and has complicated and limited block text handling - but where TLW rules supreme is in the area of compatibility with its surrounding peripherals.

TLW's printer handling is second to none, and the OPUS disk drive is catered for in every way. Other TLW extras include a calculator and the ability to include BASIC
variables and data from Masterfile directly into a TLW text file. An extra program has been added to the original TLW for Compliment and allows the user to define
odd-looking letters and symbols to appear on the screen. This makes it completely compatible with the Compliment printer, which can print international characters from eight different countries.

THE DATABASE

SAGA went for the best they could get, and the best is CAMPBELL SYSTEMS' Masterfile. This database is almost totally menu-driven, and although it takes a while to get used to setting up files, it is relatively quick and powerful, and can use up to 32K for data storage in the 48K machine. After data has been entered, you can play
about with the on the screen presentationusing boxes, lines, and different text sizes and colours to enhance the presentation of the file.

The file search is very powerful, and includes facilities to total up and average numeric data. Masterfile results can be printed out or saved onto disk via the
addition of a new OPUS disk option, and may be used in conjunction with TLW to give a very powerful letter-writing combination.

THE SPREADSHEET

Good spreadsheets are scarce on the Spectrum, so it is not surprising that Omnicalc 2 was chosen to fill this slot. It was originally written and released in 1984 by those nice people at MICROSPHERE.

Spreadsheets are used to store and collate mathematical data. By applying formulae you can (amongst other things) work out VAT returns or forecast profits and losses
for a period of time. When the results have been calculated, they can be plotted on a histogram. Unfortunately, although I could get a print-out of the results table,
I couldn't manage to get a hard copy of the histogram. Omnicalc is arguably the best spreadsheet on the Spectrum, but I feel that the program is out on a limb in the
Compliment system, as once you've got your results you can't transfer them to any of the other programs.

Unfortunately, all the software seems to have been grabbed from the respective software houses, made compatible with the disk system and the printer and then left
alone. If Compliment is supposed to be a fully-independent system, then the manuals should have been re-written and the programs altered to exploit the hardware to the
ffull. As it is, the package seems a little disjointed, leaving Masterfile and Omnicalc looking dangerously dated.

..AND THE BRAIN

Now on to the expensive part of your £343.85. SAGA are amongst the top producers of Spectrum hardware, and they haven't skimped on the Compliment system. The hardware
consists of three basic components - the keyboard, the disk drive, and the printer. The keyboard would normally cost you about £50, the disk drive around £100, and the
printer a cool £200.

THE KEYBOARD

Need you ask? Of course SAGA include one of their own keyboards - not however one of their best! They've decided that the SAGA 2+ is good enough for the job - and
they're almost right. The unusual layout of the keys is hard to get used to. If you fancy a quick session programming, there are no keyword legends on the keys - you
have to look at the keyword layout at the top of keyboard for guidance. The SAGA 2+ looks much better than any of the Sinclair efforts, and is a necessity for the keen
word-processor user.

THE DISK DRIVE

No surprises here either! SAGA have opted for the (almost) industry standard OPUS Discovery 1 disk drive. To my mind, pound for pound, this is the best Spectrum disk drive available. As well as getting a 3.5 inch single-sided, 256K (179K formatted) drive, you also get a parallel printer interface, Kempston joystick port, composite
video port, and an on/off switch. The OPUS is compatible with Microdrive BASIC commands (although you don't have to use that long-winded method - OPUS have their own
shortened commands).

The Discovery 1 is capable of renaming files or copying from one disk to another. It can even copy whole disks at a time (all by using one drive, although you can
upgrade to two). It also offers the added bonus of random access files - which make the Discovery quicker all round. ROMANTIC ROBOT's Trans-Express program is
included, and can transfer very simple programs from tape to disk, or any type of program from disk to disk.

THE PRINTER

The printer chosen is the Polo if LQ. It's a dot-matrix EPSON-compatible printer, and as I said earlier it normally sells for £200 (and SAGA are the sole
distributors). They must be out of their heads selling it at that price - it's worth much more (but I won't tell them if you don't). The Polo is claimed to hit a top
speed of 150 characters per second in draft mode - I'll take their word for it - although normal speed is 120cps and this gives out very good quality output. But if
you want a real surprise, look at the 25cps Letter Quality mode. At this speed you would expect very good quality printing - but to tell you the truth it is very hard
to see the difference between output from this and from a daisywheel printer that would cost you about £500!

You also have the full flexibility of a dot-matrix printer, allowing screen dumps and output in lots of different styles. I did find however, that once you were in LQ
mode you were a bit restricted as to what style you printed - for instance LQ italics are out of the question. As with all the hardware in the Compliment system, the
Polo Mk if printer is one of the best in its class.

SUMMARY

After having a good look at the Compliment system, I am left with the feeling that it is a bit too expensive to lash out on all at once. As TLW has just been released
it doesn't seem out of place, but Masterfile and Omnicalc (although good in their time) show how dated they are if put through some rigorous tests. I would much rather
have seen MYRMIDON SOFTWARE (the designers of TLW) design a whole new set of software packages. On the hardware side SAGA can't go wrong - they have picked the best of
all worlds. SAGA also realise that around £350 is quite a lot for a Spectrum owner, and they say that they are willing to supply you with the equipment that suits your
needs (and financial means).

Despite the my niggles about the software, SAGA have come out with a respectable challenger for Uncle Alan Sugar's PCW: to my mind, they've beaten him on all counts -
after all, his software leaves a lot to be desired...

IS SAGA'S 'ULTIMATE' ADD-ON WORTH IT?

The Saga Systems' Compliment purports to be a complete system. The 'ultimate' add-on that will turn your mere mortal of a Spectrum into a personal computer worthy of the title 'PC', equipped with a disc drive, quality keyboard, printer and integrated software suite.

It costs £299.99 plus VAT, which for those of us without an accountant works out at £344.95. and you certainly get a lot for your money. Some of the components of the system - like its badge engineered Opus drive - are already highly respected pieces of hardware.

Saga's strategy is that the total price of the package will be good value for money, saving around 15 per cent on the combined cost of the parts if bought separately - and any interfacing problems encountered with a piecemeal system will be avoided completely.

So the real question is: How well has Saga chosen the components of the system?

The keyboard is the Saga 2+, a considerable improvement over any of the standard keyboards. Some six inches wider than a Spectrum, you simply remove the top half of your computer and bolt it to the underside of the Saga. Many additional keys are provided - a numeric keypad, Extended Mode, Caps Lock. One problem occurs if you are unfamiliar with the standard Spectrum keyboard and wish to program in Basic as none of the keyword legends are marked.

There is an overlay but that's not as good as actually having the markings on the keys.

I'm rather wary about making subjective judgements about the tactile qualities of keyboards, but if your tastes are similar to mine then you will like the Saga 2+. The space bar is particularly good in operation, but I would rather the Caps Shift keys were larger.

My final quibble is that unlike the majority of machines the Delete key is on the left. The keyboard normally retails at £59.95.

Disc drive and interfaces are provided in the shape of re-badged Opus Discovery One. This a fairly chunky unit housed in a black metal case. In addition to the 3.5 inch disc drive and controller, it also contains a power supply that feeds the Spectrum as well as itself, a parallel printer interface and joystick port. The Spectrum plugs into the front of the Opus via the expansion bus which is brought through to the side of the box, thereby allowing the use of other peripherals. The only signal not to be carried through is the 'non-maskable' interrupt. Other connectors are a standard Atari-style joystick D-plug and protruding edge connector for the printer cable.

Connecting the Saga keyboard to the Opus Discovery is not as satisfactory as connecting a normal Spectrum because the Saga overhangs the supporting plate considerably. Saga will be providing bolts and hopefully some large rubber feet to cure this problem, but even the review system showed no signs of coming apart - it was just rather wobbly.

For those not familiar with the Discovery One, a brief description is in order. To all intents it behaves very much as an Interface One and Microdrive, but with vastly improved Load and Save speeds and, in my experience, flawless reliability. I am a fan of the 3.5 disc medium, although the Opus version is only capable of storing 178K on a formatted disc. The disc-operating commands are reasonably easy to use, but are restricted somewhat by having to maintain compatibility with Microdrives; the advantage of this, though, is that you will have no trouble converting software to run on disc.

The remaining piece of hardware is a dot-matrix printer, dubbed by Saga as the Compliment LQ, but its original name of Polo lurks underneath a rather temporary looking label. The printer is actually a simplified version of a Triton RQ80, but not many people in the UK will have seen one of those either (so I don't know why I mentioned it!) The Polo is fairly compact with draft, normal and NLQ printing available at a claimed 150, 120 and 25 characters per second, respectively. The LQ is no slouch. It also boosts a good range of print and graphic modes as well as international character sets. Control codes are in abundance and on the whole seem to be Epson compatible. I was particularly impressed with the look of the Near-Letter Quality mode, which is available in both Pica and Elite sizes (30mm wide, 290mm deep and 90mm high.) The usual front panel switches, Select (On Line), Form Feed and Line Feed are provided. To operate the DIP switches that dictate the default print settings necessitates, unfortunately, dismantling the case - although they can be controlled by software. Paper feed can be either tractor-fed fanfold or friction-fed single sheet. Once threaded up the tractor feed works well, but using single sheets is a bit of a pain.

Further evidence of the basic nature of the LQ emerges when you try to fit a ribbon, because the front cover can only be removed by prising the case apart. The ribbon cartridge is easy enough to fit but does not look as if it holds much fabric so running costs may be high, particularly if Saga turns out to be the only importer - they have not set a price for a ribbon but quote £7 to £9.

The complete hardware of the Compliment package fits together well and offers excellent value. Apart from the lack of punctuation symbols on the keyboard and my slight doubts about the printer's suitability for a heavy workload, the package has the potential to be very useful. If you went an aesthetic criticism, the cream keyboard, black disc box and grey printer are not worthy of the name Compliment from a colour co-ordination point of view, so if you are an interior designer or of a very sensitive disposition, beware!

The real icing on the cake of the Compliment system, though, should be the software packages included.

There are three main items included: The Last Word is perhaps the most important as the foremost use of the Compliment is likely to be word processing, but you are also supplied with Campbell's Masterfile database and Omnisphere's Omnicalc spreadsheet. All the software resides on a single disc and is linked by a menu program that is automatically loaded by pressing the Run and Enter keys.

The Last Word was awarded an SU Classic, and in relation to the Spectrum competition this was quite justified. For myself. I would summarise the program as very powerful, very fast, with some curious omissions and some uniquely excellent features. Above all, its power makes it difficult to get to grips with, but worth the time spent mastering it. The paging of printed documents is a complex procedure, however, and the Help page is so cryptic that is probably quicker to consult the manual. I must admit to using various versions of Tasword for so long now that I am unlikely to change to any WP that doesn't turn a Spectrum into a Mac Plus running Microsoft Word.

Masterfile has been around as long as the aforementioned Tasword and offers a very flexible approach to creating a database. You can design the style of screen display and reports, and the whole program is menu-driven to the extent that you hardly need the manual to get started. Omnicalc is another highly respected utility program. Not such a cinch to get to know, but powerful. Not so many years ago you would have needed to buy an Apple if to benefit from such programs.

The remaining programs available include a screen dump that is used by both Masterfile and Omnicalc for output to the printer and a number of routines for extending and modifying The Last Word.

Really to make the grade as a package, the integration of these programs, along with various commands for disc handling and so on, into one menu-driven program is essential. The Compliment is nearly there, and by the time it is launched I hope that Saga have solved some of the problems that mar the menu program. As it stands, however, I found myself having to pull the plug on a number of occasions, and a computer-naive user is likely to often find themselves lost in the wonderful world of Sinclair Basic.

Of the crashes that occurred, the most fatal was when returning to the menu from the spreadsheet, but two other points irritated me. The first should be sorted out before the launch - The Last Word was not properly configured for the Compliment printer. For example, it does not print a £ sign and selecting the draft mode results in no output at all. The second problem is less likely to be solved quickly and revolves around the use of the Opus Discovery. If you do something daft such as trying to save a file to a non-existent Drive 2 or sending data to an unattached printer, Basic does not have sufficient error trapping to allow a dignified exit.

Even with a cleaner version of the menu program, it would be stretching a point to claim that the Compliment was as suitable for beginners as a real windows/icons/mouse/printer (WIMP) environment, but it should be adequate for anyone with a little understanding and enough confidence to cope with a non-fatal crash.

I dislike writing reviews that come to no firm conclusions. It would be so satisfying to write something along the lines of 'Buy one, or if you can't, steal one' or an equally positive sentence such as 'if it was a house it would be condemned'. With a package like the Saga Compliment, consisting of a number of components of varied quality, the reservations are bound to make any review sound a bit indecisive.

It's a bit of a mixed bag. Good in parts and certainly not bad value for money.

JUST ADD A SPECCY AND...

Brand New: Superb printer, disk drive, new keyboard, word processing, database and spreadsheet software, £299 the lot, will split. Call Saga or read Max Phillips's review for details.

FAX BOX
(Excluding VAT)
Compliment System: £299.00
Compliment Software: £25.95
Compliment Printer: £199.95
Saga Systems: (04862) 22977

Saga's always done its bit for the serious side of the Speccy - new keyboards, new printers, extension leads and so on. But the £300 Compliment system is a different kettle of add-ons altogether.

It's a complete system that lets you use your Speccy as an aid in business or in work. That means it's also almost everything you could want in an expanded Speccy if you're a programmer, artist or just want to be the biggest on your street.

No-one's really claiming it's all new. The Compliment is based on well known bits and pieces - only the printer and the Compliment menu software is really new - but no-one's put it all in one box before.

Neither is it dramatically cheaper than doing it yourself although it's a definite saving. The disk drive costs around £100 and the printer (or a similar one) around 2200. Count the software and keyboard as free and you're onto a bargain.

The nice thing is having everything set up, stored on disk and ready to go when it arrives. The menu software saves you from fiddly commands and provides ways of setting everything up how you like - although all the application programs are different in the way they work. You've still got to plough through the original suppliers' manuals to get everything up and running.

The big reason for buying it whole is as a word processing machine... although you get a database and a spreadsheet they're not really the sort of programs you could run Sinclair Research on. Then again...

The Compliment will work on 48K, 128K and +2 Spectrums (if you remember to say which one you have) and Saga will sell you a better keyboard or leave some of the bits out if you've already got them. If you're lucky enough to have a +2, it's a good way to get the best from it.

Recommended? Yes, with my, compliments.