Spectrum Computing

It is amazing that even years later stuff like this is coming out. It makes you wonder how many other techniques are just waiting to be rediscovered/discovered. I guess that is why its important for there to be a true fpga implementation of a spectrum for stuff like this in the future. Otherwise you...

The reason I didn't go for it was I looked at the cost of the fully featured zx next. Then I figured a emulator that got directly booted by a single board computer paired with a mechanical keyboard with custom keycaps would be cheaper. Ok You won't have a cool looking case but beyond that what reall...

Why was it not understood so well until your research? I just assumed that the system was understood completely.

That's a big part of the reason I was so blown away by Karl's program.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=457&hilit=source

True, but still the percentage of users that would go to that extent are going to be small. I always saw it as a way to stop the majority of peasants getting the IP

Always figured by the time someone gets the disassembler out its all over.

Yea the invalid character trick - the pamphlet talks about that. I think the way that got nixed is advance to the end of the line, if the cursor goes invisible it confirms this technique is being used then you delete until the invalid characters are erased. I been going through trade secret trying t...

So in 48k basic the following works, but in +3 it fails.
You should get the whole of line 10 to be concealed... but in +3 mode you are still left with the A = 0

Thank you, that post is very interesting.

Today was spent tiding up the 'spiritual successor' to trade secrets :lol: Now at the stage adding in screen shots - something the original never had. This is where the original text was kinda confusing. Unless you were sat in front of the spectrum with an active project to test these little snippet...

Senor Pixel, you are thinking of the ROM cartridge. 2,4,8,16k Look at the Combat cartridge. http://www.atariage.com/2600/archives/combat_asm/index.html As Dunny says the 2600 had a tiny amount of RAM. There is an excellent book about the 2600... https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/racing-beam I think you...

Excellent. I've never read this, and would love to see your version! I am just fixing the formatting :lol: should be done by end of the day. Geoff A. Bobker did a ton of work but seems to have been a bit of a fringe figure, none of his stuff get's much exposure either back in the day or now. It see...

https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1981-08/1981_08_BYTE_06-08_Smalltalk#page/n37/mode/1up This magazine is from the period, take a look at how much a micro computer would cost, in the USA. In the UK despite the exchange rate due to shady business practices and shipping the cost would have in ...

Limericks



Ok I admit it I tried 3 different times and I still can't get a good ditty I am just salty.

I would imagine some of the computer chess machines would have had a code base smaller than 1k, odds are it would have implemented the full rule set also (people being far more critical of a dedicated chess computer not implementing the complete rule set properly vs a micro-computer). Under the hood...

Hey Spectrum people, I got frustrated with the Trade Secrets archive zip, its non-starch friendly scan layout was a confusing mess for non-Vulcans to use. Something needed to be done. I had two choices, 1. Cry to the internet about the problems and injustice in a sped rage. 2. Do something about it....

:?: Your plan is to create a optimized version of BASIC for a machine with ~3k or free memory (stock). Sure you have the whole Jack T biz deal to explain why commodore basic sucked so bad but you got to ask yourself 'what benefit would years of work revising vic-20 basic get me?) A custom rom proje...

That is what I thought. :lol: But I wouldn't be surprised if there is a interesting reason for this. On review the trade secrets 'book' is just delicious, it lives up to every assumption you would make about a mail order information product from a computer magazine. :lol: Some of these tricks are co...

Agree with the guys here Senor Pixel. Whatever you decide to do, Game editor, Basic, or Assembly. Think about doing a development log - that way you can write about your progress and questions on a regular basis. It will help you stick to your stated goals and keep you motivated. No shame in using t...

Weird.. Sorry being a potato - realised I didn't explain in the text what it was actually doing. :lol: Ok this is using pokes to replicate the BASIC INK 7 : PAPER 7 The extremely cheesy first level of source protection. :lol: 10 LET A = 0 So you have 4 spaces between the 10 and the LET Then you use ...

So following a thread on here I got round to reading through the rather wonderful Spectrum Trade Secrets. Check this out.. Spectrum +3 BASIC... https://s9.postimg.org/gqfwtc9y3/TS05l_L1.png https://s9.postimg.org/kmt8pbn7v/TS05l_L2.png Spectrum 48k BASIC... https://s9.postimg.org/api7w97wb/48_TS05l_...

Yea that Abu Simbel Profanation is really something.

Chris Crawford is the author. I *think* he released the source to Gossip. Like he did with Eastern Front. The Game and instructions https://www.atariarchives.org/APX/showinfo.php?cat=unknown_gos I know he talked about Gossip in his book, he also talked about it in his discussions at conferences and ...

Yea I remember Farmville was probably the first online one I felt was diabolical in that regard. I had colleagues and friends begging me to get a facebook just so they could add me in this Skinner box app :lol: Whenever I would see these type of applications at first I think the reaction is disgust ...

She was an expert in database design on early micros. This is reflected in the overall design of the parser/tokenizer & how the text printing is handled. That is why you don't see any fan translations of the hobbit. It's not just a case of swapping out strings. Like Einar says the Hobbit is asse...