Who still uses original hardware

[Crafty88]

Alternate between 48K with composite mod and a Grey +2.
may get original 48k repaired as that died before I got my 128K+

Threw out my old Tandy plotter a few years ago that I made printer cable up for 128K+ as thought could no longer get the pens for it. Found out the other week pens are still available. Doh!

Next year got a Next arriving

[payty]

I prefer using the real hardware for vintage games (except for arcade machines where I use MAME -> I would not afford spending the money and space to buy the real machine ).


Most of the time I use a ZX Spectrum 128k Toastrack, but my collection includes a ZX80, several ZX81, ZX Spectrum and Spectrum+, 128k Toastracks, microdrives and interfaces.


A ZX81 is waiting for the modern ULA replacement for more often usage.

I also have some ZX Spectrum clones but do not use them anymore.

[PeterJ]

and so bought the Spektra RGB interface.

Where did you buy your Spektra RGB interface from [mention]akeley[/mention]

[zx64]

I still have and use my original 48k one. With composite out mod and nothing else.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

and so bought the Spektra RGB interface.

Where did you buy your Spektra RGB interface from @akeley

I haven't heard of it before and it seems another interesting option.

[cha05e90]

Here a ZX Spectrum+ 128K and a ZX Spectrum Next Acc. are fully operational and on stand-by. Maybe I'm a little bit strange, but using a ZX Spectrum emulator is not really convenient:

1. Clean up the desk
2. Roll over to the cupboard, where my Windows 10 laptop collects dust
3. Carry it over to the desk, connect it to the mains
4. Boot into Windows 10 (dumdidum)
5. Start Fuse/Spectaculator/...

It's way faster to just switch on the ZXs.

But - of course - I use emulation for my Z80-C-experiments using Microsofts VSCode and z88dk.

[akeley]

[mention]PeterJ[/mention] , [mention]Juan F. Ramirez[/mention] Sorry, it's actually called "Spectra". It's a bit pricey (~70GBP) but far as I know the only way to get RGB out of the humble Rubber One. It also has some other functions but they are way over my head.

http://www.fruitcake.plus.com/Sinclair/ ... erface.htm

[ianace]

I still use a lot, a rubber key, +3 and and grey+2 at home. As well as a vega 1 and the recreated ZX Spectrum . At work in my classroom at have a black +2 Spectrum (for after school clubs)and a ZX81 hooked up to a Timed 2040 printer to print name labels on! Much to the amazement of my pupils!

[Morkin]

Nice..!

I'm guessing you didn't go for a ZX Printer in case it set the fire alarms off..

[Hedge1970]

@PeterJ , @Juan F. Ramirez Sorry, it's actually called "Spectra". It's a bit pricey (~70GBP) but far as I know the only way to get RGB out of the humble Rubber One. It also has some other functions but they are way over my head.

http://www.fruitcake.plus.com/Sinclair/ ... erface.htm

I use this as well the colours are rock solid plus it does a whole lot more than just output Scart. Its a Reset Switch, Kempston Joystick, Serial Port, ROM drive and Expansion port all in a nice 3D printed case. There are full and solid instructions and it just works

[Hedge1970]

..Timex 2040 printer...

A couple of years ago I wrote a game in Basic and used my Timex extensively to print out and debug the code. I felt like the kid I was never able to be as we did not have a printer. It was great fun though.

[1024MAK]

Yes, I do (far more often than an emulator).

Hint:


A ZX Spectrum+ gets the most use (with a 6A issue board). Although it competes with a Next, an Acorn Electron, an Acorn Master 128, an Acorn Master Compact and an Atari STE for my time. Leaving aside my non-Sinclair computers, I also have a ZX80, more than one ZX81, multiple ZX Spectrum rubber keys (both 16K and 48K), multiple ZX Spectrum+ machines, a +2 grey, a +2A, a +2B, some +3 machines (including a +3B), a Next, some QLs and some Z88 ‘laptops’. I also have some ‘clones’ and compatibles of ZX81s and a Harlequin.

I also have a ZX Spectrum 128 toastrack but that is still awaiting for me to repair it (when I find it again, it’s in storage).

At the moment only the ZX Spectrum+, Acorn Master 128, and Acorn Master Compact are “permanently” set-up.

Mark

[PeterJ]

Apologies if I've told this story before, but when I was a computer technician in the early 90s in an FE College, we ripped out our BBC Econet network. There must have been over 300 BBCs that all went into the skip! We did the same with a huge number of Commodore Pets.

[777]

i used to have a +2a with a 32 gb hdd (an 8 bit +3e interface which i built myself). and numerous spectrums. also a sam coupe. also an atari 130xl, a c16 (64k) and a c64. ive just bought a texas ti99

[uglifruit]

Apologies if I've told this story before, but when I was a computer technician in the early 90s in an FE College, we ripped out our BBC Econet network. There must have been over 300 BBCs that all went into the skip! We did the same with a huge number of Commodore Pets.

That makes me so sad.

[777]

Apologies if I've told this story before, but when I was a computer technician in the early 90s in an FE College, we ripped out our BBC Econet network. There must have been over 300 BBCs that all went into the skip! We did the same with a huge number of Commodore Pets.

That makes me so sad.

i bet someone pillaged a few. i also threw away a sam coupe 20 years ago, which is probably punishable by death in this forum

[1024MAK]

I also threw away a sam coupe 20 years ago, which is probably punishable by death in this forum

A quick death would be far too lenient...

Mark

[ianace]

Nice..!

I'm guessing you didn't go for a ZX Printer in case it set the fire alarms off..

Very true, they did smell great, bit like old model railways

[flatduckrecords]

I think I lost my +2 in a house move long ago, or perhaps lent it to a friend and forgot, but I spent the last 20 or so years sure it would turn up eventually so I held off buying a replacement. Thankfully I'd kept my modest collection of games and accessories in the intevening years, and I was I finally able to enjoy them again when I gave in around February this year and picked up a +2B on eBay. I used it almost every day until realising what I really wanted was a Toastrack!

Since then, it's been wonderful catching up on 20 years of hardware innovations like Spectranet and DivMMC, as well as old hardware like the venerable Alphacom printer, and even re-created hardware such as the ProjectSPECCY Multiface clone, and the Harlequin.

Maybe it's just nostalgia (it's definitely just nostalgia) but I get a lot of enjoyment from coaxing those old cassettes and players into working. I've learned so much about azimuths and pinch-rollers and the importance of IPA these last few months! Sure, I can instantly load practically any Spectrum game ever realeased from an SD card (or TNFS server!) and I do so when I acutally want to play a game; but discovering a long-lost BASIC type-in (that I had known nothing about) saved by the previous owner of a tape I've now had in my posession for 30 years really felt like re-connecting with my childhood. Pure magic!

I'm also really enjoying going through covertapes (although they seem to be particulary finicky in comparison to commercial tapes). I never had access to the magazines as a kid, but reading Jon North's gossip column in Practical Pokes certainly gives a "flavour" of those times! And yeah, the TZXs are available online, but if it wasn't for the real cassette tapes, I'd never have found Rodney's letters to Tiff about school exams and Nottingham bus station that were recorded onto side B of this particular copy of Play For Your Life!

Fortunately I've got enough space to have my +2B hooked up to a 14" CRT TV set, while the Toastrack has pride of place under the Big Telly (via ZX-HD). I'd been using a WH Smith CPD-8300 to load games, but it's not working reliably now so I recently aquired a Sony TCM-818 which is faring very well. I also have a 48K that I like to think of as my travel Spectrum that I bundle with ZX-HD and DivMMC, you know, for on-the-go microcomputing .

[777]

I also threw away a sam coupe 20 years ago, which is probably punishable by death in this forum

A quick death would be far too lenient...

Mark

actually more like 15 years ago

[Ast A. Moore]

I also have a ZX Spectrum 128 toastrack but that is still awaiting for me to repair it (when I find it again, it’s in storage).

Oh, I looked in there and didn’t find it. You must have moved it elsewhere. Gosh, is that the time? I must be going now. Bye.

[PeterJ]

[I bet someone pillaged a few.

No, no-one was interested back then. Not sure if it's still a thing, but they went to a company who removed the gold from the PCBs.

[clebin]

I recently rescued my old grey +2 from my parents' garage and hooked it up to the living room TV with a SCART adapter. The PSU was shot so I got a new switching power supply. The clicking/crunching noise of the tape recorder has got worse since I last used it, although it doesn't seem to affect loading. I should sort it out though.

I had quite a good collection of tapes already but I've added quite a lot more in the past year or so and a wish list that never seems to get smaller. I definitely think there's something special about the experience of loading games from cassette. The forced change in pace and the ritual aspect of it - it's like a Japanese tea ceremony. I've got a Spectrum Next in my spare room/home office, and I'm finding myself using a tape deck more and more with that too.

[akeley]

I definitely think there's something special about the experience of loading games from cassette. The forced change in pace and the ritual aspect of it - it's like a Japanese tea ceremony.

Right on. It sounds silly, and before I had got into it I thought I will never bother, but it really is fun. The thing about ZX tape loading is that it just ticks so many right boxes: the <5 min timing is perfect, just enough to do a small chore or a cup of tea, the scr$ art is amazing or crap; which is also amazing, you get the funky sounds and bars, and then there's that little "but will it load?" gambling angle.
It also provides a mix of anticipation/appreciation for the game itself I don't get from the insta-DIV loading.

Other micros' tape loading is rather dull compared to ours, and I'm not into it, even though I have some CPC/C64 tapes.

[PeterJ]

[mention]clebin[/mention] and [mention]akeley[/mention]. Do you think loading a game from tape and waiting, makes you think more about which game you choose to load and how long you play it for?

I don't own many tapes, but do the same thing via .wav files.