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Your Computer September 1982 page 18
Black and white £90 Jupiter Ace
goes far faster with forth
Jupiter Ace

EX-SINCLAIR ENGINEERS Richard Altwasser and Stephen Vickers are launching a new high-resolution black and white computer for £89.95.

The Jupiter Ace will come with 3K RAM and be based around the 3MHz Z-80A. The real surprise though is that the new machine will not use Basic. "We feel that there are many drawbacks to Basic," says Altwasser, "which is why we are using Forth - the language of the future."

Altwasser claims that Forth is easy to learn yet executes far faster than

Basic and at the same time encourages a modular approach to programming. This may make the Jupiter Ace particularly appealing to schools, colleges and scientific establishments.

Unlike many recently released machines the Ace will not have colour but sound has been incorporated.

Although the keyboard lacks a full-size space bar Altwasser describes it as a "full-size moving key" and criticises some of his rivals for producing "keyboards that feel like dead flesh - ours will be more positive."

A 1,500-bit per second data-transfer rate should make loading programs from cassette quick and easy. Additional RAM and a printer interface will soon be available as well as a micro floppy drive.

Altwasser claims that the Jupiter can avoid the production delays which have plagued the microcomputer industry by choosing suppliers carefully: "We are not trying to make everything for three farthings." The Jupiter Ace is available by mail order only from Jupiter Cantab, [address removed].