Introduce yourself!

Introduce yourself. Pimp your website, competition, event or other activity here, as long as it's Spectrum related.
akeley
Dynamite Dan
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by akeley »

Hi folks,

I grew up with ZX Spectrum behind the Iron Curtain back in the Eighties. Well, what I actually owned - after many years of begging & scraping funds - was a Timex 2048, but it was all about Sinclair Spirit of course.

Then I moved on to other machines and when emulation kicked in I actually avoided the ZX because nostalgia was too strong...I didn't think I could handle that emotional load :) Only came back to this a few years ago and now I even have a real one - finally a *real* Spectrum, ha! - sitting on the desk next to me.

I'm a gamer at heart, first and foremost, and love playing and researching the old titles, especially the really obscure ones. There aren't many places to discuss this hobby these days outside social media (which I don't use), and this site looks reasonably sane ;) so I thought I'll join in...
MarcusJ
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by MarcusJ »

Hi All

I'm an 8-bit computer collector... which began when my ZX81 arrived at the age of 12ish... and then a steady stream of spectrums Atoms and Beebs crowned with an Amiga500 before ending up with PCs for work and gaming...

PC gaming is great but it doesn't quite have the 'press play' and go make your tea depth to it :D

Marcus
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R-Tape
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by R-Tape »

Welcome Akeley and Marcus!
MarcusJ wrote: Mon Feb 10, 2020 5:24 pm PC gaming is great but it doesn't quite have the 'press play' and go make your tea depth to it :D
For the average Speccy game, at best I'd be able to make toast or a pot noodle—and that would be legging it!
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WhatHoSnorkers
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by WhatHoSnorkers »

With my PS3, if I have a new game to play at lunchtime, there's usually enough time to put it in, go to the shops, buy a pizza, come back, heat the oven, cook pizza and eat it before I get to play... what with the system update, restart, game update, install and then the unskippable menus :)
I have a little YouTube channel of nonsense
https://www.youtube.com/c/JamesOGradyWhatHoSnorkers
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RWAC
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by RWAC »

Yes it's amazing how we went from long loading times with the spectrum to zero loading times with cartridge based consoles and now we've got mega loading times!
Robel67
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by Robel67 »

Hi all,

Just got my first 48k spectrum. Had a zx80 back in the day, then an 81, cudnt afford the spectrum, finally got one :).

Goin to mainly rediscover the games I played at my mates house on his spectrum - Timegate- Arcadia - espionage island and the hobbit.

Got to find myself a cassette player first tho.
DarwinNE
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by DarwinNE »

Hello from France!

I first saw a rubber key ZX Spectrum back in 1980 and something visiting a friend. I was intrigued!
I got my first Spectrum 48K a few years ago and sometimes I like writing software for it in my spare time.
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R-Tape
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by R-Tape »

Welcome fellas!
Robel67 wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2020 3:32 pm Had a zx80 back in the day, then an 81, cudnt afford the spectrum
I hope you kept it—the resale price these days would give you enough to buy a SpectrumNext!
Robel67
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by Robel67 »

R-Tape wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2020 5:02 pm Welcome fellas!
Robel67 wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2020 3:32 pm Had a zx80 back in the day, then an 81, cudnt afford the spectrum
I hope you kept it—the resale price these days would give you enough to buy a SpectrumNext!
Kept the 81, sold the 80 for £10, yep I know :|
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R-Tape
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by R-Tape »

Robel67 wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2020 7:38 pm Kept the 81, sold the 80 for £10, yep I know :|
Ahhhh bad luck. It's a shame that 81s are as good as worthless these days. Tell you what, I'm feeling generous: I'll give you £9.99 for it. Eh? Eh?
Robel67
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by Robel67 »

R-Tape wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2020 8:41 pm
Robel67 wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2020 7:38 pm Kept the 81, sold the 80 for £10, yep I know :|
Ahhhh bad luck. It's a shame that 81s are as good as worthless these days. Tell you what, I'm feeling generous: I'll give you £9.99 for it. Eh? Eh?
Haha, 16k ram pack too, gotta be worth £20, actually think I’ve got the Sinclair printer somewhere too, no doubt equally worthless :D :D
Bolador
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by Bolador »

Hi. I have my original CZ1000, an argentinian rebranded TS1000 and a CZ2000, an Argentinian Spectrum clone with an ISSUE 6A board and a TS1500 like black case.. I have completely refurbished and is working great so far..
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TMD2003
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by TMD2003 »

Hi! I'm (not) Troy McClure. You may know me from such RZX Archive entries as Blood & Guts, Quetzalcoatl, and Dominetris.

In reality: I'm Dr. Jim, I'm also known as The Mighty Dopethrone on t'other forum (registered in 2003 when all I was listening to was Electric Wizard), I reached my 40s last summer, and I'm... an occasional Spectrum community visitor, with a habit of disappearing for long periods of time. It's what I do, I come, I go when I have other projects to prioritise. With the world on hold at the moment, I find there's no better way to fill the far too much time I already have than by throwing myself back towards Sinclair projects - with several type-ins completed towards the end of March, and three submissions to this year's CSSCGC which will be publicised in due course. And due to one of those CSSCGC entries in particular, I'm bracing myself for a lengthy involvement in the Spectrum-world this time, so I've registered here as well.
Spectribution: Dr. Jim's Sinclair computing pages.
Features my own programs, modified type-ins, RZXs, character sets & UDGs, and QL type-ins... so far!
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R-Tape
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by R-Tape »

Dopethone! Great to see you here! (and what's the avatar?)
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TMD2003
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by TMD2003 »

It's a heavily-edited screenshot from Wibstars, another game you may know my RZXing capabilities for. It seems there were two people on this planet who liked that game: me, and someone who commented on the video on YouTube.

I suppose what I could have done is - and this is not me attempting to curry favour with the site admin here - included a screenshot of one of the between-levels bonus items from Shuttlebug!. A spare +3 drive belt, maybe? No, not that one. Nor would it be the huge amounts of cash, bonus points, nice cup of tea (got plenty of those... for now) or the "Zen Wisdom My Son". It would be...

"WHO WOULD COLLECT TAPS??!!"

Two question marks, two exclamation marks, because it's so incredibly bizarre that anyone would do that.

And yet, that was me, aged about six or seven.

Your question is answered, after eight years.
Spectribution: Dr. Jim's Sinclair computing pages.
Features my own programs, modified type-ins, RZXs, character sets & UDGs, and QL type-ins... so far!
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Ast A. Moore
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by Ast A. Moore »

Hey, [mention]TMD2003[/mention] Fancy seeing you here! Come on in, the water is fine.
Every man should plant a tree, build a house, and write a ZX Spectrum game.

Author of A Yankee in Iraq, a 50 fps shoot-’em-up—the first game to utilize the floating bus on the +2A/+3,
and zasm Z80 Assembler syntax highlighter.
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Alessandro
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by Alessandro »

TMD2003 wrote: Fri Apr 10, 2020 10:53 am It's a heavily-edited screenshot from Wibstars, another game you may know my RZXing capabilities for. It seems there were two people on this planet who liked that game: me, and someone who commented on the video on YouTube.
Count me in as well, I liked Wibstars for its novelty value although in the end it got rather repetitive.

Glad to see you here :)
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saucysarah
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by saucysarah »

Greetings from England! Still in lockdown which is getting boring now but it has given me the chance to relive my Speccy days. I've been looking through a lot of @pavero 's "remastered" inlay scans which has taken me right back to my childhood. Back when you'd spend ages in the shop just looking at the front and back of the cassettes trying to make a good purchase with your pocket money. I'm starting to feel depressed now! :D
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gabriele amore
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by gabriele amore »

Hi there from Palermo-Italy!

I got my 48kb rubberkey spectrum back in 1984 and kept it working to these days

I never understood codng and still don't (i don't get all those peek, poke etc stuff) BUT in 2013 i discovered Jonathan Cauldwell's AGD (thanks to some wonderful tutorials made by Paul Jenkinson) and i started playing with it since then (lately I have been enjoying Allan Turveys mods such as AGDx and AGDx mini)

I still don't know (nor understand) real coding but I have lots of fun exploring the possibilities offered by AGD (for some time i also experimented with CGD by Dave Hughes) and I enjoy sharing my little discoveries (i always try something new when i write a game with AGD) even though my games are often incomplete or very hard to play
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PeterJ
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by PeterJ »

Welcome [mention]gabriele amore[/mention],

You have a very impressive library of titles. My favourite is C is for Crabby!

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... el_id=5141
shred
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by shred »

Hi there!

I got a ZX81 as starter drug back in the 1980s, and then made the usual career of a computer nerd: ZX Spectrum, Amiga 500, Amiga 4000, Linux on a PC. I've learned BASIC and assembler on my good old Speccy. Today I earn my living as a software developer, so I made my hobby my profession. But I never forgot my roots.

I am the author of tzxtools. With that tool, I could recover my old Spectrum tapes, restore my very first demo, and my two Cracker tools. 8-)

Since a few days I'm the proud owner of a ZX Spectrum Next. I'm going to write some assembler programs for this artwork, of course. I just don't know what yet, maybe a cool demo that finally makes me famous in the Speccy demo scene. :lol:

I'm looking forward for being a part of the Spectrum Computing Forum community! Let's have fun together.
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Ivanzx
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by Ivanzx »

shred wrote: Mon May 04, 2020 4:07 pm Hi there!

I got a ZX81 as starter drug back in the 1980s, and then made the usual career of a computer nerd: ZX Spectrum, Amiga 500, Amiga 4000, Linux on a PC. I've learned BASIC and assembler on my good old Speccy. Today I earn my living as a software developer, so I made my hobby my profession. But I never forgot my roots.

I am the author of tzxtools. With that tool, I could recover my old Spectrum tapes, restore my very first demo, and my two Cracker tools. 8-)

Since a few days I'm the proud owner of a ZX Spectrum Next. I'm going to write some assembler programs for this artwork, of course. I just don't know what yet, maybe a cool demo that finally makes me famous in the Speccy demo scene. :lol:

I'm looking forward for being a part of the Spectrum Computing Forum community! Let's have fun together.
Wilkommen! Du kommst aus Köln, oder? Ich wohne in Frankfurt aber ich bin Spanier.

Not a lot of germans here, so bitte feel welcome :)
Patrik Rak
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by Patrik Rak »

Hmm, I never did an "introduce yourself" post back on WoS, so I may as well rectify that now.

I am a guy from Prague who obviously got stuck in the 80's regarding his love for the ZX Spectrum.
Initially, I just wrote few Spectrum games and utilities back then.
Later on I couldn't help myself to move on so I created an AY player for Amiga, which laid the foundation for the .ay music rips.
Still being stuck in the past even later, I created the ZXDS emulator for Nintendo DS, which recently saw a 3DS release.
Sometime along the way I started frequenting WoS forums, which spurred some other things, like the PZX format, random number generators, or couple of Z80, timing and contention tests.

It's nice to see this forum which gives me the vibes of the WoS of the past. I have a feeling I might be coming by from time to time. ;)

Patrik
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PeterJ
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by PeterJ »

Patrik Rak wrote: Mon May 04, 2020 5:13 pm It's nice to see this forum which gives me the vibes of the WoS of the past.
Excellent, that has always been one of our aims.
avlixa
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by avlixa »

Hi,
I'm Antonio from Spain.
I started with my spectrum 16k at about 1984 wich I upgrade to 48k.
Since my father bought me a PC, and I left the spectrum out until a few years ago that I heard a podcast and I resume to the spectrum world.

I'm the author of ZX Connection, a game that I rescue from an old tape and I could finish recently, and it is already added to spectrum computing.

I'm interesting in helping with preservation. I already sent an spanish version of Androids, and I have ZX81 Investronica tapes that someday I'd like to preserve.
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