Spectrum Computing

That's is good and no worries please ask away, glad there is interest.

TomD

First of all, @dfzx and @TomD, thank you so much for your hard work on this! It never ceases to amaze me what can be done with a modern microcontroller! I decided to build a https://github.com/TomDDG/ZXPicoIF2Lite board for my 48K Speccy, as I think it will be the perfect upgrade. I downloaded the ...

ZX81 emulation also works well



TomD

Going a bit off topic but how fast is a microdrive? Do you get raster lines during the process? Very fast, well for an 8bit computer anyway. The quoted speed is 15kB/s so if the sectors are defragmented/optimised (i.e. in sequence) you can easily load a 48k game in 3-4 seconds, 128k longer obviousl...

Just thought I would post on my experience with one of the new(ish) and inexpensive R36S handhelds which are ubiquitous at the moment, in case anybody is looking for a very cheap handheld for some Spectrum gaming on the go. I know there are loads of videos on it already so this is focused purely on ...

Also although not the same game this is how TranzAm from Ultimate was transferred to Cartridge back in the day. Assume a similar approach could be taken for JetPac. https://scontent.flba1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.18169-9/21617698_1677724235593492_5794928763791624511_n.jpg?_nc_cat=107&ccb=1-7&_nc...

I understand about 25% of that 🤣 Looks like I need lessons.... To complicate things I am using a VDriveZX rather than a traditional microdrive If you are using a vDriveZX then you can use my Z80onMDR utility to create a microdrive cartridge with JetPac on which will do the conversion for you and re...

LunarWilly wrote: ↑Tue Apr 16, 2024 9:04 pm Fixed! I had to set the c++ compiler standard flag using

Code: Select all

./configure CXXFLAGS=-stdc++17

Cheers for your help

I had the same issue so thanks for posting as this also solved it for me. One small change is you've missed the = after std.

Thanks for sharing the code was a fun compo. If anybody is remotely interested this was my best effort with a "good" editor and a frame iteration counter, a whopping 217bytes :-) TomD ; -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ; Game of L...

I fancy trying one of the new budget handhelds, good video on them here



The R36S uses ArkOS which has a Spectrum emulator, the others probably do as well but not checked.

TomD

Ah right, I realised why I never bothered with Kempston, if no Kempston is present IN31 automatically reads it as fire being pressed. That means the game starts automatically with Kempston controls even though no Kempston is connected. Following code from JetSet Willy checks if Kempston is connecte...

Easiest way to implement is: then check which bit is set in a

fire is bit 4
up is bit 3
down is bit 2
left is bit 1
right is bit 0
Some joysticks can have a second and even third fire button but they are rare.

TomD

WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!! This is a short announcement first. I am working on a full reply but..... The response was low..... 2 entries in the contest. TOM DALBY is the winner with a version in 166 bytes Peter Featherstone is second with a version in 333 bytes , so double the size. Tom's version comes ...

Got a few requests for a larger OLED as the normal 0.96" is too small to read for some. Good news is the much larger SSD1309s work fine, the 4 pin I2C versions, tested with 1.54" and the even larger 2.42". 1.54" shown in case below. I'm popping a few on eBay later if you are inte...

Sadly, these weren’t the solutions. Turns out that .szx files are default. As are the joystick settings for snapshots. I’ll keep fiddling with it, but in case anyone else has some suggestions, I’m all ears. I believe this was fixed in the new v1.6.0 version as it has this in the release note Fix ac...

Yes the best way is to force 48k ROM with paging enabled, I've also found that writing a custom loader helps. You can still use the ROM routines so it works with the SD Card devices but it does help prevent these issues. For more info take a look at a utility I created which does this (https://tomda...

Sold elsewhere

Now with the Sinclair Logo



TomD

That's a really nice piece of work, Tom, great job. I was thinking about making something similar to house my recreated ZX Spectrum Expansion System project, but there was a problem I couldn't see an easy answer to: the PCB for a project which is housed in such a case obviously needs an edge connec...

I've made a replacement case for the Interface 1 for a project. Fits the PCB fine with all holes etc... in the same place.

https://makerworld.com/en/models/197062 ... eId-217607

TomD

For Sale ZXPicoMD Microdrive hardware emulator. Fully made up & tested including Pico flashed with latest v1.6 firmware and 3D printed case (see photo) which includes OLED screen & rubber feet which raise the case to the correct level if you want to attach a real h/w Microdrive. £50 inc. p&a...

I'll double check it today, but as far as I remember both snapshots were working just fine on grey +2 with DivMMC Future. Not sure if it's relevant, but those 128k snapshots definitely work fine on Next and Sifiz-512. Neither one has "real" DivMMC, though. Looks like we need someone with ...

Fairlight 1 and 2 (128k versions) load and run on emulators but not on real hardware. Fairlight 1 just corrupts the screen and restarts the AY tune. Fairlight 2 doesn’t respond to a keypress after loading, so the game cannot begin. The 48k versions seem to load okay. I've just tested both (created ...

I've updated my replacement case model introducing a curved edge as I found the edges a little sharp for prolonged use. I've also added some extra supports for the keyboard to stop it flexing and tweaked the colours (prefer the red logo). https://scontent.flba3-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/41457030...

Ok I'll admit to being a big SID chip fan :-) In my opinion Cybernoid 2 is probably one of the greatest 8bit tunes ever, Jeroen Tel again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv5_LsRaPrY and no C64 music list can be complete without the amazing Rambo First Blood Part 2 Ocean Loader: https://www.youtube....