Sam Coupé
Released
December 1989
Gaming platform
The Sam Coupé was a 8-bit British home computer sold by Miles Gordon Technology (MGT). MGT originally had been a supplier of expansions and upgrades for Sinclair's popular ZX Spectrum and the Sam Coupé was intended to be an upgraded platform that would maintain backwards compatibility with the ZX Spectrum. Unfortunately it came too late in the lifecycle of 8-bit computers and had trouble competing with the increasing demand for faster, more powerful 16-bit computers popular with gamers such as the Amiga and Atari ST.
Like the ZX Spectrum, the Sam Coupé was based on the Zilog Z80, although it used the faster Z80B variant. It also added more powerful graphics, allowing for a 16 color palette being able to be used across the 256x192 screen (the ZX only allowed color changing in regions rather than on a per-pixel basis), and a 512x192 mode with four colors. The Sam Coupé also supported six channels of stereo sound. Unfortunately the higher color modes were very memory intensive and the system only offered modest speed gains in those modes versus games on the ZX. Up to two 3.5" floppy disk drives could be optionally installed in the system or a cassette system could be attached externally.
Compatibility with the ZX Spectrum was not 100% as there were often minor speed differences, and additional software hacks had to be done to support memory configurations over 48K in ZX mode. Additionally the user needed to supply their own copy of the ZX ROM in order to play titles original sold for the older system.
The Sam Coupé was not popular enough to keep MGT afloat (no more than 12,000 units are believed to have been sold) leading to the company going under less than a year after launching the machine. Several employees of MGT kept the machine going after starting Sam Computers Ltd. but they also were forced to close in 1992. Lastly West Coast Computers picked up rights to the Sam Coupé, gave it a memory expansion and rebranded it as the Sam Élite but their closure in 1994 meant the end of production for the Sam Coupé line.
Like the ZX Spectrum, the Sam Coupé was based on the Zilog Z80, although it used the faster Z80B variant. It also added more powerful graphics, allowing for a 16 color palette being able to be used across the 256x192 screen (the ZX only allowed color changing in regions rather than on a per-pixel basis), and a 512x192 mode with four colors. The Sam Coupé also supported six channels of stereo sound. Unfortunately the higher color modes were very memory intensive and the system only offered modest speed gains in those modes versus games on the ZX. Up to two 3.5" floppy disk drives could be optionally installed in the system or a cassette system could be attached externally.
Compatibility with the ZX Spectrum was not 100% as there were often minor speed differences, and additional software hacks had to be done to support memory configurations over 48K in ZX mode. Additionally the user needed to supply their own copy of the ZX ROM in order to play titles original sold for the older system.
The Sam Coupé was not popular enough to keep MGT afloat (no more than 12,000 units are believed to have been sold) leading to the company going under less than a year after launching the machine. Several employees of MGT kept the machine going after starting Sam Computers Ltd. but they also were forced to close in 1992. Lastly West Coast Computers picked up rights to the Sam Coupé, gave it a memory expansion and rebranded it as the Sam Élite but their closure in 1994 meant the end of production for the Sam Coupé line.
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