Where'd the Name "Spectre" Come From?


       When I left Data Pacific, in January 1988, word quickly spread that the Magic Sac was dead, since I was so heavily associated with it.  Subsequent events proved (in my opinion) that this was true.

    While Sandy and I were searching for a name for this new program I was writing, we had the mental image of the Magic Sac 'rising from the dead".  The thesauraus we consulted listed Spectre under that meaning, and we liked it.

     The 128 of course (in "Spectre 128"), comes from the 128 ROMs.

     Long after we decided on the name, we remembered Antic software's "Spectrum 512", a multi-color painting program.  We're sorry if this caused any confusion, but given how very different the functions of the products were, and the different pronounciation, we didn't think of it as a problem.

    I'm going to spinkle some interludes in this manual, just like this one.  They help to break up the pages and pages and PAGES of text, keep you awake, and give me something to think about while describing the Spectre.

     As I write this, a cricket in the next room has been frantically chirping for about three hours, and driving me slowly crazy.  Our weird cat, PyeWacket, is not in a hunting mood (never is when it would do any good).  Sandy has just appeared with a can of RAID.

    Ah.  Blessed silence.  Back to the manual.

        - Dave Small



(From Page 10 of the Spectre 128 Manual)