Now now, don't cry Specy chums, you haven't been left out because if any of you decide that the Sam Coupe is the machine you've been waiting for, at an affordable price, but can't bear dumping all your Spectrum software, there's a simple solution. Readily available from Samco now is a neat little gizmo that will enable you to save your Spectrum games onto SAM disks and convert them to be playable on the Coupe.

Extensively researched by Samco, the Messenger converted all 48K games tested, although games solely for use on 128K machines will not work. Still most games are both 48K and 128K so there's little problem.

The SAM Messenger: £39.99
Available from SAMCO on 0792 700300

SUPER SAM

REPORTS ON THE MESSENGER

When MGT (now SAM Computers) designed the SAM, they had Spectrum compatibility very much in mind. Though the Coupe is much more advanced than the Speccy, it has an a emulation mode that mimics the Speccy's set-up. The Spectrum ROM, supplied on tape or disk with the Coupe, means that you should be able to run everything you can run on the Spectrum on the SAM.

That's the theory, anyway. Unfortunately it doesn't quite work out that way in practice. The big problem seems to be actually getting the software into the machine in the first place. Games in particular are a problem. Their protection and fast loaders don't help, and only a fraction of games can be successfully loaded in this way.

SAM Computers hope The Messenger will overcome all these problems. It allows the Speccy and SAM to communicate, transferring information between the two machines. It's capable of interrupting the Spectrum at any time, and doing various tricks with the machine's memory. Its best trick is to extract the entire contents of memory and upload it into the SAM. So a game running on the Speccy can be 'grabbed' and saved onto disk and subsequently loaded from the SAM's built-in drive.

The Messenger package is a combination of hardware and software, and looks like this...

- The main Messenger interface. This plugs into the Spectrum's expansion port, and lead connects to the SAM's Midi Out socket. A button on the back of the interface 'freezes' the Speccy's operations, where it awaits commands from the SAM.

- An interface plugs into the back of the SAM. This small, uncased unit fits into the Coupe's expansion port. This is can be used to get into the games once they have been transferred and are up and running on the SAM.

- A disk contains the Messenger software. It 'takes over' the running of the Spectrum, and allows data to be transferred to and fro between the computers.

To use the Messenger you'll need a SAM Coupe, a Speccy and a telly. (Two TVs are better, as you don't need to constantly swap the ariel leads over.) Plug the Messenger in, boot up the software, and you're ready to go!

The Spectrum can be 'possessed' at any time - just tap the button - but it's probably more useful to have a game in the memory to transfer. Options are available to send and receive screens, and save and load them too. You can also perform all these operations with complete programs. In which case the transfer of information is performed on the whole of the Spectrum's memory. Other options are to run the program, and transfer the Spectrum ROM to ensure total compatibility.

Transferring a game from the Speccy takes about half a minute. Once stored safely on disk, you won't need the Speccy or Messenger to load it again. However, the second interface that fits into the back of the SAM can be used to freeze the game at any time. This means you can use re-save the game subsequently - useful for when you eventually make it past the end-of-level guardian for the first time!

The device has an extraordinarily high success rate. SAM Computers do not guarantee that it will work with every program, but say they have yet to find a program that fails to transfer. It does only work with 48K programs, though - it's unable to work with the Spectrum Plus' paged memory. Virtually all programs work on the standard 48K anyway.

The Messenger is essential for any SAM owners who still have their Spectrums and a large selection of software they haven't been able to transfer. In addition, it provides a handy 'cheating' utility, which can be used long after the games have all been transferred.

The Messenger makes the SAM Coupe the natural upgrade for the Speccy owner wanting to move on. They'll still be able to use all their old Spectrum software - with the benefit of high-speed disk loading. In addition, games can modified to make use of some of the additional colours available, you can even add your own POKEs for infinite lives and so on.

The Messenger costs £39.99 and is available from Samco, Lakeside, Phoenix Way, Swansea Enterprise Park, Swansea SA7 9EH. Tel 0792 700300.