Background Information - The first five years

This file aims to give a brief timeline of events in the history of the Sam. It has been recovered from an old archive when I first set up these pages. The last entry is dated October 1994. This means it roughly covers the first five years of Sam's History.

• December 1989 - Sam Coupe Released.
• March 1990 - Known bugs reported in free handout.
• 11th June 1990 - MGT plc goes into receivership.
• June 1990 (?) - Defenders of the Earth released (first commercial game)!
• 6th August 1990 - Sam Computers Ltd start up.
• October 1990 - Price cut, Sam with Drive now costs less than 200quid.
• October 1990 - VoiceBox released, first 3rd party add on.
• December 1990 - 1meg Upgrade, Sam Bus (with clock) and MasterDOS released.
• 9 March 1991 - Sam Shop Opens.
• April 1991 - Sound Sampler, Sam Sequencer (MIDI) released.
• May 1991 - Messenger released.
• Summer 1991 -
  • Some people are working on a WIMP package. Quote - 'as easy to use as the Macintosh system, as fast as the Archimedes Desktop, as nice to look at as Windows 3, and as customisable and multitaskable as Amiga Workbench 2' - Alas, never happened.
  • Prince of Persia planned for July Launch.
  • F16 - Combat Fighter planned for July Launch, Never released.
  • MasterBASIC released.
  • Work is taking place on Mouse.
• October 1991 - Prince of Persia Released.
• December 1991 - Launch of Sound Machine, Pro-DOS (cp/m).
• January 1992 - Launch of NewsDisk, SCADS Released.
• March 1992 - Hardware Kit released (includes the ill-fated 32768 colour upgrade).
• Summer 1992 - Release of GamesMaster.
• 15th July 1992 - SamCo goes into Liquidation.
• August 1992 - Parallax, and SpellMaster released.
• October 1992 - The Secretary released.
• December 1992 - Blue Alpha revived.
• January 1993 - First Westcoast Mailshot.
• February 1993 - E-Tracker released.
• Summer 1993 - WestCoast report they are developing a modem, "The Communicator" with Blue Alpha - it never appeared.
• October 1993 - New SamBUS released (no clock, LED, 2 slots).
• November 1993 - First Sam & Spectrum Gloucster Show. Driver released.
• January 1994 - Sampaint & Lemmings released.
• February 1994 - Colin (of Fred fame) writes a Sam article in Computer Trade Weekly.
• April 1994 - 2nd Sam & Spectrum Gloucster Show. I went to this one! Met loads of people!
• October 1994 - 3rd Sam & Spectrum Gloucster Show. 'Oh No More Lemmings' launched.

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