On Friday, 15 January 2016 00:10:52 UTC, Your Name  wrote:   
   > In article <87vb6v241c.fsf@usenet.ankman.de>, Andreas Kohlbach   
   >  wrote:   
   > > Your Name wrote on 13. January 2016:   
   > > > In article <87ziw95b4b.fsf@usenet.ankman.de>, Andreas Kohlbach   
   > > >  wrote:   
   > > >>    
   > > >> Wasn't there a certain key to press that it would print the key you   
   > > >> actually type on the screen?   
   > > >   
   > > > Possibly - I really couldn't be bothered playing with the crappy things   
   > > > long enough to find out / remember. The commands were printed on the   
   > > > "keys" themselves though.   
   > >    
   > > Yep, I once saw it. I was amazed when I visited the UK in 1986 with other   
   > > students and saw the kids of the host family had one. Had no idea why   
   > > words are printed on the keys.   
   >    
   >    
   > Yep. It wasn't possible to simply type "I" and "F" for the IF   
   > statement, you were *forced* to press Shift-Function-M (or whatever the   
   > key combination was). That silliness and the ridiculously bad   
   > "keyboards" (flat membrane keyboards on the ZX80 and ZX81, and small   
   > rubberised keys on the Spectrum) made trying to program the toys a task   
   > in futility and stupidity.   
      
   The keywords system made a kind of sense on the ZX80. As the series went on   
   and the number of keywords increased it made less and less sense until finally   
   in 1985  Sinclair put out a version of BASIC that works the way every other   
   BASIC does. And yes, it    
   wasn't until Amstrad bought the company in 1986 that there was a Spectrum with   
   anything resembling a usable keyboard. And although Timex put out a licensed   
   clone with an AY chip in it in 1983, the main series didn't get a dedicated   
   sound chip until 1985.    
   And no, it wasn't a patch on the SID. And the lack of a single standard disk   
   system meant the Spectrum pretty much missed out on whole genres of games like   
   the Ultima series. However, if you take the time to appreciate it, it has its   
   own charm. In many    
   respects the Spectrum is the British equivalent of the original Apple][. It's   
   also what I grew up with so it's what I program. But I have a lot of time for   
   the C64 and I'm following developments on Lawless Legends with interest.   
   http://www.lawlesslegends.   
   com/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)