Alright, now for the good news. The new machine has a software package that comes as standard that not even a Windows PC owner has available without spending loads of money. The software includes:-

• Spreadsheet
• Word Processor
• Address Book
• Diary
• Alarms
• Calculator
• File Manager

The front end (above) is highly graphical not unlike a modern PC with windows, menus, scrollbars etc. The desktop that loads when the computer is first switched on displays large friendly icons that can be accessed using either the mouse (yes the PCW16 has a mouse!) or the keyboard. There is also a built-in help. Date and time is maintained by a battery just like a normal PC. It even has a standard PC keyboard albeit in pretty colours. The display is still mono but is a very sharp black and white. There is still no hard drive (possibly something in its favour) but has a fast 1.44Mb floppy drive which can be read easily on a PC as it is in PC/MSDOS format.

You may by now be getting the feeling that maybe this new PCW isn't half bad. But how on earth are you going to do without Locoscript? All is not gloom and doom though. The new Word Processor, though possibly not quite as good as Locoscript, is good enough for most PCW users. On the face of it, getting files across could be difficult. If you are lucky enough to have all your files on 3.5 inch disk either because you had a thrid party drive on your old PCW or because you previously used one of the newer models that had a 3.5 inch drive, there is still the problem of how to read them with the PCW16 particularly as it no longer runs CP/M. Luckily, the new software can read CP/M format disks and provides the user with a list of files to choose from. The PCW16's Word Processor can also read and load Locoscript version 1, 2 or 3 files but it cannot save them in Locoscript format or write them back to the CP/M format disk. The only other way to get files across is to use Locolink which can be purchased from Locoscript (formerly Locomotive) Software. The PCW16 has part of Locolink builtin so the software running on your old PCW should recognise the PCW16 as being just another PCW and will happily transfer the files. Of course you could use a standard cable and CP/M to do this but the PCW16 can't run CP/M (or can it? Read on...).

So lets dip a little deeper into the PCW16. The case is designed to look a little like the PCW9512 series with the monitor above and the motherboard in a box below with all the connections round the back. There is an on/off switch, the 3.5 inch floppy drive and brightness and contrast controls. Connections include a standard PS/2 style keyboard connector, a 9 pin serial mouse connection, another 9 pin serial port and a 25 way parallel port connector for a printer. The keyboard is a standard PC affair but is colour coded to make using the on board software a little easier. Function keys 9-12 are coloured and can be pressed in response to on-screen prompts. Green generally means OK and Red cancel. The ALT keys are coloured dark red as are the other function keys. These again can be used in tandem to access the onboard software modules. The mouse seems to be a standard PC one but all the PC serial mice I have tried won't work with it so there must be a slight difference. I haven't tried a PC1512/1640 though. The spare serial port is for file transfer only. Amstrad rather missed a trick here as i could easily have been used to attach to a modem and software incorporated in the PCW16's formware to allow access to email but sadly this was never incorporated into the design. Of course, if it ran CP/M then it might...blah...blah...yes it's coming...

Inside the box is a Z80 8 bit processor like the older PCW's but this one zips along at 16Mhz (hence PCW16...geddit?) and runs approximately 4 times faster than a standard PCW. Some of this speed is lost because it is running a graphical frontend that soaks up all the speed but CP/M (if it was running...wait for it...) would certainly benefit. Onboard RAM is restricted to 1Mb - more can be added but it would have to soldered to the board by a competent engineer. The Operating System and software package is loaded from 1Mb of Flash RAM giving a very fast boot time. Some of it is also left over for the user to use for documents. Being Flash, data is retained even when the machine is switched off and unplugged much like a laptop. If the main switch on the front is pressed (the function can also be obtained from software using the menu's) then the PCW16 is put into standby mode and can be left like this consuming very little power again much like a laptop does. Pressing the button again will bring you back to where you last left off. It is also essential to leave it in standby mode so that the alarms in the diary will sound.

So quite a useable machine even by today's standards. The address book allows email addresses (but not web sites) to be entered. A nice display with a good solid user interface. Support for printers such as the Canon BJ series. Comes with two fonts although there is no room for adding extra ones as it is stored in FlashRAM. Has a good Word Processor although maybe not as good as Locoscript and can import Locoscript files and export to RTF. Spreadsheet functionality is basic but can export to DIF and CSV. PIM functions are also basic but nonetheless very useful. And can read and write MSDOS format 1.44 Mb disks. All in all, a good solid PC (Personal Computer). Now if only it could run CP/M... Oooohhh...hold on...

Amstrad didn't seem to think that CP/M was really all that important. After all, when the PCW16 was released (1996) CP/M had virtually disappeared. Luckily, somone else thought CP/M was important and decided to write an emulator that would allow CP/M to run on the PCW16 thus allowing a good little computer to become a great little computer. But it is far too big a subject to go into here. See the article from the last menu here...