Loki (computer)

According to an article published in Sinclair User magazine, Loki was to have a 7 MHz Z80H CPU, a minimum of 128 KiB of RAM and two custom chips providing much enhanced video and audio capabilities compared to the ZX Spectrum, but with a compatibility mode.{{Cite news |date=July 1986 |title=Loki: Taking the programmer's view |work=Sinclair User |issue=52 |url=https://sinclairuser.com/052/lokiprg.htm}}{{Cite web |last=Pennycook |date=2012 |title=Sinclair Loki documentation - The proposal for the Sinclair Loki Super-Spectrum computer |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/jpennycook/7965902422/ |website=Flickr}} The video chip, referred to as the Rasterop chip, would have blitter-type functionality and three different modes: 512×256 pixels with 16 colours, 256×212 with 256 colours, or 256×212 with 64 colours and two bits per pixel used for "blitter objects".{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Tony |date=February 19, 2014 |title=Loki, LC3 and Pandora: The great Sinclair might-have-beens |url=https://www.theregister.com/2014/02/19/archaeologic_sinclair_research_might_have_beens/ |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=The Register |language=en}} Comprehensive peripheral support was also claimed, including MIDI, lightpen, joystick and floppy disk. A version of the SuperBASIC language from the Sinclair QL was to be provided in place of the old Sinclair BASIC for the ZX Spectrum and support for the CP/M operating system was also intended. On top of this, the computer would cost as little as £200.{{cite journal | date = June 1986 | title = SuperSpectrum! | journal = Sinclair User | issue = 51 | pages = 24–25 | url = http://www.sincuser.f9.co.uk/051/loki.htm | accessdate = 2007-06-02 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070707111238/http://www.sincuser.f9.co.uk/051/loki.htm | archivedate = 2007-07-07 }}

Another Spectrum magazine, Crash, poured scorn on the report in Sinclair User, dismissing the design as "dreamware" in the opinion of an ex-Sinclair designer they consulted, analysing the implied components and costs, and adding, "It may be fun to dream about Loki, but the fact is that it won't appear, and nor will anything like it." This was the rationale, according to Crash Technical Editor Simon Goodwin:

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| Being blessed with lots of headed typing paper and very little money, the Thinkers at Sinclair were invited to make a big list of trendy computer features. That list, embellished with a few charts and tables but a noticeable lack of circuit diagrams and real detail, finally escaped into the hands of the computer press. Despite six years of agonising experience of the difference between Sinclair specifications and reality they swallowed it whole. Technical know-how has never been a strong point in magazines that still—indeed, the same month—print Commodore 64 screen shots in their Spectrum software preview section.

| {{Cite news |last=Goodwin |first=Simon |date=August 1986 |title=TECH TIPS - LOKI THE JOKI |work=CRASH |issue=31 |url=https://www.crashonline.org.uk/31/loki.htm}}

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In the aftermath of Amstrad buying out Sinclair's computer business in 1986, some confusion arose as to which company had the rights to pursue the project further. Some reports indicated that Amstrad retained such rights, one claiming that "the blueprint is now in Amstrad's hands",{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1986-05-22/page/n4/mode/1up | title=Is Sinclair's Loki fated to stay in Limbo? | magazine=Popular Computing Weekly | date=22 May 1986 | access-date=16 January 2024 | pages=5 }} whereas others asserted that the Amstrad deal had left the rights to products based on newer technology with Sinclair.{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/Sinclair_User_052/page/7/mode/1up | title=Mystery clouds Amstrad deal | magazine=Sinclair User | date=July 1986 | access-date=16 January 2024 | pages=7 }} Such contradictory interpretations were reconciled in an interview with Clive Sinclair himself, indicating that the design remained in Sinclair's hands, but exploitation of the design remained subject to Amstrad's control due to the product's Spectrum compatibility features.{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/Sinclair_User_053/page/54/mode/2up | title=Sir Clive Life After Death? | magazine=Sinclair User | date=August 1986 | access-date=16 January 2024 | last1=Taylor | first1=Graham | pages=54–56 | quote=The Loki papers are still sitting somewhere in the depths of the company, Amstrad has no rights to it because it was a future product but Sinclair cannot do anything with it because being Spectrum compatible it would infringe Amstrad's legal rights. }} Ultimately, the project was cancelled.{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/format_mag/FormatIssue1006/page/n9/mode/1up | title=Loki The Machine That Never Was | magazine=Format | date=February 1997 | access-date=16 January 2024 | last1=Thomas | first1=David | volume=10 | issue=6 | pages=19–21 }}

Martin Brennan and John Mathieson, two Sinclair engineers, took the Loki concept with them and founded Flare Technology. There they worked on the cancelled Konix Multisystem game console, then later worked with Atari Corporation on the Panther (cancelled) and Jaguar systems. According to Jaguar developer Andrew Whittaker, two other Sinclair employees, Bruce Gordon and Alan Miles, who went on to form Miles Gordon Technology, also used some of the designs in the SAM Coupé.{{Cite web |last=Owen |first=Chris |date=2003 |title=Loki, Janus, Pandora - The Unreleased Sinclair Computers |url=https://rk.nvg.ntnu.no/sinclair/computers/loki/loki.htm |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=Planet Sinclair}}

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• [http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sys.sinclair/msg/8e336f2dcd9c7806?dmode=source USENET posting by Rupert Goodwins in comp.sys.sinclair mentioning Loki]

Category:Sinclair computers and derivatives

Category:Cancelled projects

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