The Sinclair QL, Sir Clive's Quantum Leap of sorts, was supposed to be the powerful yet affordable professional PC that would replicate the ZX Spectrum's success and cement Sinclair's dominance in the UK. Unfortunately this rather magnificent machine failed and probably signaled the beginning of Sinclair's end. A sad story, a great machine and you can find out more over at Wikipedia, Old-Computers or Planet Sinclair. For a fine QL emulator (Win/Mac) try this link.Now, even though the average Sinclair QL isn't too rare to find, this immensely expanded (boxed) Sinclair QL that just hit eBay is a truly rare gem. Seller ships worldwide and I would expect prices to rise.
Provided you make the winning bid, you will be getting your hands on a mint condition Sinclair QL in its original complete box, complete with manual, additional software suite (on microdrive cartridges), cables and power supply. What's more, the computer comes with a twin floppy disk drive, 768k of extra RAM and Eidersoft's amazing ICE GUI.
Ah, I used to work for Eidersoft back in the mid 80's and i clearly remember making ICE cartridges, manuals and putting the whole lot in the polystyrene boxes. Great products, years ahead of their time.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, indeed oh anonymous friend. Also, I have a feeling that working for Eidersoft must have been, well, as brilliant as working for anyone can be...
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping in :)
The QL was a pain in the back-side, and completely oversold! Touted as a 32bit monster when in fact it was nothing but a slow 16bit pretender! And don't get me started on MicroDrives! URGH! At least with a C64 or the ultimately much better Amiga, you knew where you stood (and they made great sounds!)
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