The Horizons Software Starter Pack.
I've had this cassette knocking around for years.
Being the tape bundled with new ZX Spectrums from their launch in 1982, it's evidently
the first tape I, and many other Spectrum owners got their hands on.
But, here's the thing, I've never even attempted to load it up, and I bet many other Speccy
owners are exactly the same.
Our first Spectrum, was the 48k model.
One of the minor revisions with the blue rubber keys rather than the grey of the initial run,
but with that machine we also received a selection of games, such as Trans-am and Jetpac, so
this tape, I guess just got pushed further and further down the pile and remained redundant.
If I ever pick up a 2nd hand bundle, this tape, just like Ian Botham's cricket, is usually
somewhere in the midst, and I guess if anyone bought a second hand Speccy in the 80s or
90s, they probably had this tape as well, but likely with a bundle of other games, and
so again, just didn't bother firing it up.
So, I'm going to change that right now and find out just what is on the Horizons Software
Starter Pack.
Psion - the same Psion who would later create the Psion Organiser - was one of the first
developers to create software for the Speccy under distribution of Sinclair Research, having
created titles such as Flight Simulation for the ZX81 and Hungry Horace, also in 1982,
for the Spectrum.
Being the starter tape, the insert gives us detailed setup and loading instructions before
providing an introductory blurb;
"Horizons is a large introductory software cassette which contains many programs.
It has been designed to introduce you to the Spectrum, to describe some of the hardware
and systems features of the Spectrum, etc.
Side A includes a simple interactive description of the Spectrum and side B contains a range
of interactive programs, and as we can see we have 6 programs on side A and 8 on B.
So Side A, and first up we have the Introduction and hardware description.
This program simply guides us through the various parts which form your Spectrum setup,
but clearly with a technical slant.
Giving a brief rundown of components such as the CPU and ULA before hitting us with
a delightful loudspeaker example.
We're then thrust straight into keyboard training.
Starting with the basics.
Touching keys, before ramping up to understanding the single key-press command entry of the
Speccy and working out just how to activate the multiple functions assigned to each key.
This is pretty essential stuff if you haven't used a Spectrum before and we end with a keyword
dictionary.
Just in case you somehow find it easier to load and run this program every time you want
to know what a command means, rather than flicking through the manual.
Still, I'm sure a younger me would have been captivated by this for a good while.
However, Side B is where the fun really starts.
Initially we're presented with a menu, allowing us to skip to one of the 8 programs on this
side.
But of course, I'm starting with THRO' THE WALL.
Titled with a rather gritty patois, perhaps heard from the streets of New York.
As the blurb says, The classic game using bat and ball, try and knock the coloured bricks
out of the wall to gain maximum points.
This is a very simple game written exclusively in BASIC, but for a breakout clone, it's actually
very playable and is a good way to begin this side of the cassette.
The next program, Bubblesort, feels rather abstract, and it's here where it becomes clear
that this was a tape assembled by engineers, trying to show you, just what the strengths
of a computer are.
It's very Sinclair, very lab coat-ish.
We're shown how the Spectrum can sort a randomly ordered array of objects, in this instance,
a bridge hand of 13 playing cards.
The program simply considers pairs of cards at a time to gradually order by number and
suit.
It's not the most riveting watch.
But at least you get an idea of the binary logic at the heart of the computer.
We're then thrust into the evolution of Foxes and Rabbits, and it seems thrusting is exactly
what these rabbits are up to.
This program is designed to demonstrate the differential equation capability of the Spectrum,
and it does this by asking for the number of foxes and rabbits you would like in your
eco-system, before plotting out graphics depicting how quickly they breed vs. how quickly they're
eaten by foxes.
At the end, we get a nice graph and a horrifying realisation of the death involved in what
we've just witnessed.
Thankfully then the next program is about LIFE.
It is LIFE.
A machine code iteration of the game of life...
no, not that one.
This is actually a pretty good implementation of John Conway's cellular automation, and
coupled with the ability to change colours and lay out your cells, this could have kept
me occupied for weeks in the 80s.
But I was too busy playing Dynamite Dan, so probably not.
Program 5 is draw, and it allows you to plot and draw things.
Program 6 is given the suitably glamorous name of Monte Carlo and demonstrates stochastic
events.
Showing us a bar chart of dice rolls and their outcome, which it compares to the predicted
outcome.
Something you could leave running overnight and then look at with glee in the morning
before school, before realising that there had in fact been a power cut in the night,
and not only was your program gone, but your alarm clock failed and you were now late for
school.
Ahhhh, the 1980s.
In at 7 is a character generator which allows you to create character graphics for your
programming needs.
Lovely jubbly.
And last, but by no means least, is WAVES.
Described at demonstrating the phenomena of "beating" in music and elsewhere.
I think they probably ran out of space in the inlay to describe this properly, but it
allows you to create two waves, which it then combines and sometimes you get a pretty pattern,
like this.
Kinda neat.
And that's it.
That is the Horizons cassette.
It's an interesting bag, which I think is summed up best by a reviewer by the tag of
dandyboy on World of Spectrum.
Horizons was the first tape I ever run into a Spectrum ZX so my memories about it are
magical . I was 7 then and my grandpa presented me this tape as a gift . I had never seen
anything resembling a computer before so I was mesmerized .
It was love at first sight when I first stared at those flashing colors and heard those 8-bit
beeping sounds .
The loading screen with the sun under the rainbow is quite memorable and an invitation
to dream .
Horizons was a strange tape though . Many of the programs included were weird applications
. I never got used to them .
I loved The Wall game though . I prefer it to Arkanoid , actually . : )
I give it a 4 for the memories .
Ps - Being a Psion production is a plus . I´m in love with Psion in a computational way
.
Couldn't have put it better myself Dandy.
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