Spectrum Computing

I had something very similar to this and it was due to the power supply I was using

Thanks Mark, that makes sense. I assume that the fact that the Interface 2 is using the expansion port avoids this problem?

Here's an odd problem (of my own making) which I am after some advice on. I found this interesting article (http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jg27paw4/yr05/yr05_72.htm) from a magazine in 1984 which describes a method of creating a permanent joystick interface connected to keys 6,7,8,9 & 0, so e...

Anyone who buys that will be very disappointed!

I bought one of these - they are a bit fiddly to setup and I found that they didn't work so well on the larger keys on the edges. But the biggest problem I had was that if you regularly lift the lid to get at the board then the wire "ribbons" can snap off, so mine has been removed pending ...

What you have there (a 128K Toastrack and an issue 1 motherboard) are both worth serious money, so don’t pass them on to someone without checking the value first. I suspect the Spanish numeric keypad is also worth something. The fact that the issue 1 board is not in its original case will mean that ...

Brilliant! I really enjoyed reading about that and the way that you have worked through it, especially given your lack of prior experience.

If the case has not been opened, how do you know it is an issue 1 board? I suspect the serial number starts with 001, but that does not make it an issue 1, more likely to be an issue 2 board.

Just replace tr4 and tr5, no need to start removing RAM chips at this stage.

The only problem with that is that it won’t test 4116 DRAM, which make up half a 48K speccy’s RAM chips.

Assuming you want to get rid of the Interface 1 and microdrive (as opposed to using them with another Spectrum) I would definitely sell them separately. There will be plenty of people who want those, and plenty of people who would like an issue 1. In the event that anyone wants both they can bid on ...

I believe that volume is important too, and that many mobile devices aren't loud enough. I read somewhere that the height of the horizontal coloured bars in the border needs to be the same. If one colour is higher than the other that suggests that the volume is too low. Whether that's true or not I ...

Try loading a 16K game and see if that works - e.g. Pssst, Harrier Attack, Horace goes Skiing - see if that works. My first 48K would only load 16K games as one of the upper RAM chips had failed.

I hope you didn't pay too much for it - Toastracks normally go for more than £150!

That appears to be a 48K issue 3 board that presumably was upgraded from a rubber key case to the Spectrum+ case.

Did you take the heatsink off, because I notice there isn't one and the voltage regulator will die pretty quickly without it?

Love my Smart Card v2 and am debating whether to get the v3 version due to its new capability - although having only recently bought a 128K Spectrum I have yet to really try out any 128K games on it so don't know how many I would play.

Hi all My Spectrum 48K issue 2 required a new membrane and since then the metal faceplate won't stay on. I'm using some Unibond double-sided tape which seems to work fine for a bit, but after a while it gives up and the facplate lifts off (usually around the heatsink so I suspect it is related to th...

Yeah, the membrane has needed to be replaced on every + I have seen recently.

The Sinclair power supplies are 9V, not 12V. I doubt it will make much difference but thought I should point that out.

Nice work - out of interest, how have you connected your Spectrum to your Monitor? I'm looking to do something similar. I'm assuming that the monitor doesn't have a composite input.

Hi Nick I'm not sure whether it is common for the jack's soldering to become a problem, but what I have seen happen is the wire from the original Sinclair PSUs can fail around the point where they enter the plug - I've had to replace a couple of plugs for this reason. Also, it could be that the inna...