Who still uses original hardware

[Hedge1970]

I often wonder how many people have access to the real thing? I’ve spent a few years collecting a working set up and while I don’t use it daily it sits on my desk set up and ready to go when the urge hits. Anyone else?

[+3code]

I have a few real computers (one +3, one +2A, a 48k with Saga keyboard, one MSX, etc) but really I use only emulators.

[PeterJ]

I've slimmed down my hardware collection over recent years, but still occasionally get tempted. My Sinclair collection is a rubber key 48K, two toastracks,+3 and a Next. Most of the time I use an emulator though. It's just more convenient.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

I still have my Spectrum plus. After many years stored, last year I decided to replace the keyboard membrane and bought a DivMMC lite card, something I strongly reccomend. Now I'm trying to solve the 'visual' issue (unstable image in modern TVs...). As composite mod is a scaring thing to me ( like operating on your own pet, I'd make a big damage!!!), I'm looking for a second-hand old TV, 7'' or so. More modern TFT-LCD colour TVs or even PC monitors seem a good/cheap option, but I read somewhere than you need to make some changes, add interface, etc

But I usually choose playing on PC or on a 10' Android tablet and a USB keyboard, the easiest options.

[PeterJ]

They are expensive, but you could use one of these [mention]Juan F. Ramirez[/mention]:

https://www.bytedelight.com/?product=zx ... mplete-set

You wouldn't then need to do the composite modification.

[Morkin]

I have a couple of Speccies stashed away in my cupboard. The TV is all set up though, so it takes me <5 minutes to get the stuff out and connect it up.

I only ever use it when I fancy an 'authentic' experience though, and load original games from tape, no DivMMC or anything, so it doesn't get used very often, maybe once a month. The hardest thing is finding the game I want to play, as I've got all my tapes stored in a big box...

[Ast A. Moore]

I have a Toastrack and a +2B hooked up to a 14″ CRT TV for testing my games. No fast-load adaptors, so everything is pretty much as real and old-style as it gets, aside from the fact that the Speccies are connected via RGB, rather than the RF modulator.

[stupidget]

I've got a +2 that I bought 20 years ago off eBay for £10 and I managed to get a boxed, mint condition rubber keyed 48k beauty off Gumtree a few years ago for £20 complete with orginal manual, polystyrene surrounds and horizon tape

I've got a DivMMC plugged into the +2 but the 48k stays in the box.

Not used either for a while as the tv packed up and I've not bothered raplacing it yet.

[catmeows]

Well, define the real thing. I have Didaktik Gama and Didaktik M (slovak clones). They are 99% compatible (multicolor timing Is different on Didaktik M), both have fixed NMI and maybe few other quirks.

[PeterJ]

That counts as the real thing [mention]catmeows[/mention].

[Juan F. Ramirez]

They are expensive, but you could use one of these @Juan F. Ramirez:

https://www.bytedelight.com/?product=zx ... mplete-set

You wouldn't then need to do the composite modification.

Yes, I've always considered an option, a bit expensive, though (even I need the rasperry-pi set version, which raises the price)

[uglifruit]

I'm Omni 128HQ-ing quite a bit. Does that count? (I don't think it does).

If I do another performance of my music though (not that it's likely to happen any time soon), I'll be using my original 48K ones again.

[p13z]

Me.
Use a Plus 3 - with CRT. Never feels like a real old computer without CRT.
Using Spectranet, it is pretty much as convenient / easy as using emulation.

[5MinuteRetro]

I often wonder how many people have access to the real thing?

I have all the bits for a half-decent hardware Speccy setup -- including a 128K toastrack -- and actually some spare room in my office, but I've just never got around to bothering, despite best intentions. I guess emulation is just too convenient.

I feel particularly ashamed that the toastrack is sitting in its box, in a box, under a bunch of other old hardware. I keep thinking I should sell it on to someone that might actually make use of it, not least because toastracks seem to go for a small fortune, but I have too much of an emotional attachment to it -- it was my first and only Spectrum, and I wanted it sooooo bad. My old mum, who was a single parent on a very limited income as a cleaner, surprised me with it at Christmas, having got it on the 'never never'. Best present ever.

[PeterJ]

Don't ever get rid of it [mention]5MinuteRetro[/mention]! I wish I had kept my childhood Spectrum.

[MrClump]

Does using a Next count? My 48k doesn't really get any use now other than to use when repairing other 48ks, and my lovely +3 lives in the loft! The Next is just so convenient, and for me still has that real Speccy feel.

[Morkin]

I noticed during the recent high score comp shenanigans a lot of participants using flaunting their shiny new Next.

Would definitely be interested to know if anyone who has one is still using their old hardware.

[jojo]

what is more fun than spending a rainy day behind an old 8-bitter or even an QL .................

got several oldies , and the collection is growing .

[PeterJ]

Would definitely be interested to know if anyone who has one is still using their old hardware.

I've got a Next, but far prefer using my Toastrack when not using an emulator.

[PaulJ]

As you can guess doing the show - I have a load of hardware and use it almost daily. Too much to list really - about 4 x 48k rubber keyed, 3 Plus models, a Plus 2, Plus 3 and toastrack.. I have a few in different keyboards etc.. love using them all. I do have days off from time to time.. but at the moment working from home with Speccies everywhere
Must resist.. must resist...

[PeterJ]

Must resist.. must resist...

I had to put all mine in boxes for the duration of home working!

[akeley]

I only got into real hardware about a year ago. Got a +2A & DIV first, because of RGB capability. Then a bit later decided to buy a 48K, seeing as I have never used this iconic machine before. Fell in love with it, +2A got shelved, but I couldn't bear the composite (I'm a CRT fanatic) and so bought the Spektra RGB interface. Then I got into mild-level tape collecting, and seeing as Spektra does not work with my DIV I bought a tape deck too. So now that 48K is the main fixture on my retro desk - even though I have some other micros too, they only appear as guests on rotation. I try to load a tape a day to keep the ol' boy (girl?) happy. I know it's silly but I do like to think that these old Machines have some sort of a Ghost in them and appreciate being used still

I have a MiSTer as well, and use it for majority of my normal ZX gaming, since it handles roms, gamepads and outputs perfect RGB, with 0 latency. Sometimes I also use emulation to check some things on the QT: my favourite recently is the Retro Virtual Machine, at fist it seemed gimmicky but I must say they did a stellar job of replicating the retro feel, what with the CRT filters, no fuss, and the tape deck sounds & sights.

[5MinuteRetro]

Don't ever get rid of it @5MinuteRetro! I wish I had kept my childhood Spectrum.

Well... I'm not actually sure this one is my original.

I meant more than I have an emotional attachment to the Spectrum 128, rather than this specific physical item, because how much the Spectrum 128 meant to me at the time. I'm 50 now, and my memory is terrible. A part of me believes this is my original unit (and I have a sizeable collection of other stuff, like game tapes and joysticks and so on, that are *definitely* my originals, replete with my teenage scribbles) but a part of me thinks I might've ditched my original Spectrum 128 in the late 80s and then picked this one up at a car-boot sale in the late 1990s (I bought a lot of soon-to-be-retro stuff around about then). I guess I'll never know!

[Hedge1970]

Wow this is great, I mean I check eBay a lot and there is a ton of stuff sold almost daily so I guess someone has to be using it.

I have most of what I want and a few modern bits to help. Just had the urge to do this

[TMD2003]

I noticed during the recent high score comp shenanigans a lot of participants using flaunting their shiny new Next.
Would definitely be interested to know if anyone who has one is still using their old hardware.

Come next August, I will be able to answer that question. I might just have had all the hardware out for a quick photo session, but for the most part it's all living in three huge boxes until I've moved house. That'll be around January/February, I would estimate.

So, provided that doesn't all fall through, and provided I'm still alive (there's never any guarantee of that, though right now the chances of me being run over by a bus are zero, which is a good thing, I suppose...), I'll still use my old equipment when the Next arrives.