Didaktik M

Summary

The Didaktik M is a Czechoslovak copy of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, introduced in 1990 by Didaktik in Skalica as the successor to the Didaktik Gama. It is more reliable than its predecessor and has a more modern case with dedicated arrow keys.

Instead of the original ULA, a custom chip from Soviet manufacturer Angstrem produces a square image; different timings prevent some demo effects from working. Two joystick connectors, Kempston and Sinclair, are built in, but their edge connectors do not accept standard Atari joysticks, so many owners made adapters. In 1992, the D40 (5.25-inch) and D80 (3.5-inch) floppy drives followed, with a “Snapshot” button on the D40 for saving memory contents to disk. The successor in 1992 was the Didaktik Kompakt, a Didaktik M with a built-in 3.5-inch drive, printer port and RGB output. As 16-bit computers and PCs became cheaper, demand fell, and Didaktik ended production in 1994.