Editing Sinclair QL (section)

=== Development ===
The QL was conceived in 1981 under the code name ''ZX83'', as a [[portable computer]] for business users, with a built-in ultra-thin flat-screen [[CRT display]] similar to the later [[TV80]] pocket TV, printer and [[modem]]. As development progressed it eventually became clear that the portability features were over-ambitious and the specification was reduced to a conventional desktop configuration.<ref name="sunrise">{{cite web|url=http://www.nvg.ntnu.no/sinclair/computers/ql/ql_sst.htm|title=The Quantum Leap - to where?|work=Sinclair and the 'Sunrise' Technology|first1=Ian|last1=Adamson|first2=Richard |last2=Kennedy |access-date=2006-12-15}}</ref><ref name="dickinson-ql">{{ cite web | url = https://www.flickr.com/photos/9574086@N02/sets/72157600854938578/ | title = QL and Beyond | work = Flickr | first = Rick | last = Dickinson | date = 2007-07-16 | access-date = 2008-04-21 }}</ref> 

The electronics were primarily designed by David Karlin, who joined Sinclair Research in summer 1982. The [[industrial design]] was done by [[Rick Dickinson]], who already designed the [[ZX81]] and ZX Spectrum range of products.

The QL was designed to be more powerful than the [[IBM Personal Computer]], and comparable to Apple's [[Macintosh 128K|Macintosh]];<ref name="nytimes British race">{{cite news |author=Feder, Barnaby J. |date=February 27, 1984 |title=British race is on in microcomputers |work=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/02/27/business/british-race-is-on-in-microcomputers.html |url-access=limited |access-date=December 12, 2011 |quote=The QL is designed to be more powerful than the current bestseller, the International Business Machines Corporation's Personal Computer - comparable, in fact, to Apple Computer's new Macintosh.}}</ref> observers thought that Sinclair announced it a week before Macintosh to divert attention away from the new Apple product.{{r|pountain198409}} While the CPU [[clock speed]] is comparable to that of the Macintosh, and the later [[Atari ST]] and [[Amiga]], the 8-bit [[Bus (computing)|databus]] and [[cycle stealing]] of the [[ZX8301]] [[gate array]] limit the QL's performance.

Sinclair had commissioned [[GST Computer Systems]] to produce the [[operating system]] for the machine, but switched to [[Domesdos]], developed by [[Tony Tebby]] as an in-house alternative, before launch. GST's OS, designed by Tim Ward, was later made available as [[68K/OS]], in the form of an add-on ROM card.<ref>{{cite journal | url = http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jg27paw4/yr07/yr07_05.htm | title = QL Affairs | first = Leon | last = Heller | journal = [[Your Spectrum]] | issue = 7 | date = September 1984 | access-date = 2008-04-21 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Graham |first=Adrian |title=Sinclair QL |url=http://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/Museum/Sinclair/ql/ |access-date=2008-04-21 |work=Binary Dinosaurs}}</ref> The tools developed by GST for the QL would later be used on the Atari ST, where GST object format became standard.