Spectrum Computing

Mmm, my version of macOS comes with Python 2.7.16. Will have to install version 3 to test your editor.

Along with @Ast A. Moore , you are a bastion of hardware knowledge @1024MAK and fully excused from hoarding. No case to answer! Aw, thank you, [mention]PeterJ[/mention]! You’re too kind. To stay on topic, currently, I only have a +2B and a Toastrack. Oddly enough, when I returned to the scene a few...

Nether Earth actually loads its code twice in a single block just to thwart some copiers. I even made a thinned-down version for myself so as not to waste time.

patters wrote: ↑Fri Feb 26, 2021 10:37 pm

Ast A. Moore wrote: ↑Wed Feb 24, 2021 9:05 pm Uh, it’s not so much that it’s that it’s water down, than that it is denatured (i.e. made undrinkable via various additives). And it’s usually cheaper, too.

So, are we saying that you can drink IPA then, without being poisoned to death? Asking for a friend.

Name your poison!

Does that mean a new membrane? I’d start by carefully cleaning the existing one. Just don’t use any alcohol, or alcohol-based solutions. Only a slightly damped rag. It’s rare for a membrane to develop a short like this, though. this might be a stupid question but I do have a +3 can i use the keyboa...

PeterJ wrote: ↑Wed Feb 24, 2021 6:47 pm I understand that Rubbing Alcohol is slightly watered down Isopropyl

Uh, it’s not so much that it’s that it’s water down, than that it is denatured (i.e. made undrinkable via various additives). And it’s usually cheaper, too.

Oh, yeah. Much, much better now. The controls feel super responsive, compared to the initial version. Esthetically, I’d freeze the game for a short while after you die (no longer than a second), right before the Game Over screen appears. Otherwise it feels a little too abrupt. Possibly add a dying s...

Jbizzel wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:45 pm I’ve fixed the issue - although it has created some new bugs I need to work through.

Welcome to the club, man.

Perhaps you should move the controls polling routine up before the delay, or have them read independently. (Again, not sure how the latter can be implemented in BASIC.) Failing all that, yes, it’s best to implement the delay in a different manner. For example, instead of a timer, you could add a non...

This looks great, and the tunes work just fine. My only complaint is the controls; they feel sluggish and I can’t make quick sharp turns. Probably not something you can fix, since it’s compiled BASIC. Other than that, the game is very presentable. Oh, and definitely addictive! P.S. The font is very ...

Does it still show the test screen if you power the machine on without the keyboard attached?

I have been running test 2 for quite a few minutes and there is just a colour cycling attribute square above the filename. The test 2 is still running now, cycling colours on one square. No apparent crash. Good. Thank you. The original version of Kendo Warrior crashes to 48K BASIC immediately after...

Thanks so much for running the tests! Test 1: Spectacular crash. Snow filled the top 2/3rds of the screen and quickly crashed back to the start menu. The snow was still on the screen post crash rendering the start menu very corrupted. I pressed reset to continue. Curious. This is with the I register...

Hmm. This argument reminds me of the issue I take with text-to-speech software. It’s gotten unbelievably good over the years (and I’ve been following it for more than two decades). Nevertheless, it always feels like if it’s not 100 percent accurate, it’s no good at all. Emulation (hardware, software...

Good point, [mention]AndyC[/mention]! When I ran the tests on my Toastrack, it did produce the snow when the I register was being written to, but, naturally, it didn’t crash. [mention]MonkZy[/mention], could you run a few tests on your +2 for me please? 1. ULA Crash Test 2. ULA Crash Test 3.1 3. A Y...

I stand corrected then. I found a picture of a Z70700 Issue 1 board and indeed it has a soldered NEC Z80. https://www.tomdalby.com/retro/images/+2_inside.jpg I just ran z80full.tap on both of my machines, and both passed all the tests. Both have a Zilog Z80 CPU. From Patrik’s own description: Each o...

Actually, as far as I know, Patrik’s test was designed specifically with the NEC’s Z80 in mind and targeted 48K Speccies. That said, I didn’t know there were +2s with anything but a Z80 from Zilog. Frankly, I was convinced that any Spectrum starting from the Toastrack shipped with a Zilog. I’m going...

Agent X II?

Just buzz out either pin (2 or 4) of the connector to pin 35 on the ULA and you’ll get your MIC, which is pin 2.

Huzzah! I know I’m late to the party, but I finally got off Hill 1.

mrcook wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 10:00 pm I had to suffer using Wine (on macOS) to run it, but it was worth it.

I use WineBottle (just the Wine part). Runs perfectly and requires no setup. Excellent for many Windows-based Speccy-related tools.

I used to bend the leaf contacts for the top button(s) so they were a little closer together and easier to trigger on a regular basis. The bottom dome buttons always felt a little weird; don’t remember using them much. I still have the Cheetah and even took it out recently (when I was adjusting the ...

I recall I used to shout in frustration at my Cheetah joystick when its suckers would move just at a critical part of Flying Shark for instance. Amen, brother! I had the exact same experience with the exact same joystick in . . . Flying Shark (just about the only game that I felt required a joystic...

Joefish wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 4:53 pm But they are brilliant.

Interesting. How loud is the clicking? (Are they clicky?)

So, for multiple tracks you save the first track with the beepola player included and then other tracks I assume you save a song data only? Then load them a one code block. You can save each song individually and then combine them into a single code block. I don’t remember if it’s possible to save ...