Spectravideo is gearing up for two launches.

One is intended to be a portable, competing in the Tandy Model 100 market, while the other is liable to be a revamped 328 - one that actually is an MSX machine (Issue 50). Currently the only way you'll be able to get an MSX Spectravideo SV-328 is by waiting for the adaptor, which for around £30 is intended to bring the machine up to MSX standard.

But so far, even the UK distributors haven't seen the adaptor - it's expected in April or May - and no-one seems able to explain how you produce a cartridge adaptor and a ROM rewrite for £30.

Spectravideo UK has little information about the portable, which will be named the SV-818, apart from saying it will have better specifications than the Tandy 100.

However, a source close to Spectravideo's shredder in the US allows us to reveal exclusively the specifications of the 818, as projected last autumn. It was then intended to be an LCD portable, Z80A running at 3.6MHz, 36K RAM standard, 32k RAMpack, 40K Basic, 40K Multiplan WP and applications software built in, 80K ROM cartridge, 80 x 16 character LCD screen, RS232 with a baud rate up to 19200, built-in modem and MSX Basic with a stringy floppy built in, too.

Our information agrees with us that this sounds very like the machine Spectravideo would like to build.