Brand: Amstrad Consumer Plc. / Matisco Trading & Inv. Co.
Model: ZX Spectrum +3
Country of origin: Egypt
Made in: Taiwan
First year of production: 1987 (Arabic ROM 1988)
Dimensions: 438 × 174 × 50 mm (feet adds 2 mm)
Weight: 1728 g
ZX Spectrum +3 with Arabic characters on the keyboard, an Arabic ROM.
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This is an official ZX Spectrum licensed by Amstrad.
The machine was developed by Matisco Trading & Inv. Co. (شركة ماتيسكو للتجارة والاستثمار) of Cairo, also known as Sinclair Egypt (سنكلير مصر). The ROM was developed by Dr. Nabil Nazmi of the University of Cairo.
Unlike the other Arabic ZX Spectrums (+, 128, +2 and +2A) which run in 48K mode only when switched to the Arabic language, the +3 has both a fully translated 128K ROM as well as a translated 48K mode ROM.
Interestingly whereas the English 48K mode of this +3 boots up with the familiar “© 1982 Amstrad”, the Arabic 48K mode of this +3 says “© 1987 Sinclair Egypt” instead.
The Arabic boot screen reads:
اختيارات
لغة إنجليزية
لغة عربية
سنكلير مصر
meaning:
Choices
English language
Arabic language
Sinclair Egypt
There is a small daugtherboard installed which handles the language selection.
The language can also be selected from witin BASIC: if the computer is in English mode, typing OUT 65503,255 will switch it to Arabic without rebooting. OUT 65503,254 (keys OVNZ 30556,452 to spell out خروج) will switch back to English.
The Arabic copyright reads:
© ١٩٨۷، ١٩٨٨ سنكلير مصر
تقديم: شركة ماتسكو
وكلاء سنكلير وأمستراد مصر
اعداد: د. نبيل نظمي
الوحدتان أ: و ذ: متاحة .
meaning:
© 1987, 1988 Sinclair Egypt
Presented by: Matsco Corporation
Dealer of Sinclair and Amstrad in Egypt
Prepared by: Dr. Nabil Nazmi
Drives A: and M: are available.
Thank you Mohammed Habib for your 10 years of research on this subject.