The SAM Coupé was an 8-bit British home computer that was first released in late 1989. It was an evolved clone of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer, originally manufactured by Miles Gordon Technology, plc (MGT).
The SAM Coupé bootup screen
The machine was based around a Z80B CPU clocked at 6 MHz, and contained an ASIC that was compatible with the Spectrum's ULA. The basic model had 256KB of RAM, (upgradable to 512KB and later 4.5MB), and used tapes for storage. It had 4 graphical modes - including a Spectrum-compatible mode, a 512×192×4 mode, and a 256×192×16 mode. Unfortunately the machine was underpowered and simply couldn't blit the screen around fast enough for multicolour scrolling graphics.
MGT went into receivership in June 1990, and the assets were mainly bought by a new company founded by Miles and Gordon called Sam Computers Ltd. The price of the SAM with floppy disk drive was brought down to under £200200 and new games and hardware were released. SamCo survived until 1992, and the remaining assets then were purchased by West Coast Computers.
Several famous computer games were ported to the Sam, notably Prince of Persia, and Lemmings.
The SAM is still supported by a small number of dedicated users - with new hardware such as a SID chip music player and more dedicated hardware - from *Quazar
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