What Next?

[PeterJ]

It's now been a few weeks since the final batch of Spectrum Next machines reached their backers.

I'm interested in if you have used it as much as you thought you would, and what you are using it for.

[MtM]

It's now been a few weeks since the final batch of Spectrum Next machines reached their backers.

I'm interested in if you have used it as much as you thought you would, and what you are using it for.

I have had mine for over a month now. Every night I use it, after checking all the various Next
sites to try and keep up to date. This is one area that could be improved I think, just having
one location to round everything up.

I am using it for a bit of basic programming, gaming, just tinkering with really. Good fun.

Long term it would be good if they do a second KS and get as many units out there as possible,
that can only be a good thing for the Next. I would like to see them on sale permanently if that
were possible.

I suppose I have used it as much as I thought at the moment, whether that will continue in the long
term depends I guess. I am enjoying it at the moment, but there are advantages to gaming using emulators,
the obvious ones being a) better tzx support b) being able to re-wind mistakes instead of making lots
of snapshots to save progress.

Good games for the Next itself are a bit thin at the moment. I have bought quite a few to try and support
the developers; hopefully they stick at it. People are doing it for the love of the Spectrum and not making
any money at it, whether that is sustainable in the medium to long term depends on their goodwill and
our support. It is important to support the people on itch.io as well for all that they contribute. With it all
still being fairly new the actual hardware it still has considerable novelty value. Novelty does wear off
though. It is fortunate that the people involved who have brought it to fruition seem to have an endless
passion for it at least at the moment, so long may that continue. If m$ updated their os as much as the
Next ... It is good when you can ask a question and one of the people who have actually helped create
the Next answers it, that can't happen too often in life. Perhaps its greatest strength is the community
at the moment. Hopefully that lasts too.

[MatGubbins]

Although I don't have a Next machine, I can guess that for the first few days/weeks it would've been used, updated, had a blast of Sabre Wulf, Bomb Munchies and Gravibots. I too would've had the HDMI problems and smashed things with hammers to try and make it work.
It would now probably be sitting on the desk, stuffed behind the +2, gathering a layer of dust as I return to the trusty old creaky laptop to play emulated Spectrum games. I'd be the same if someone plonked a PC with the fastest processor, all singing and dancing graphic card and 20tb hard drives.... all I need is XP on an Atom, Picture Publisher, EmuZWin, Melbourne Draw and Mat's a happy bunny.
[Jack Dee mode off]

[MtM]

Although I don't have a Next machine, I can guess that for the first few days/weeks it would've been used, updated, had a blast of Sabre Wulf, Bomb Munchies and Gravibots. I too would've had the HDMI problems and smashed things with hammers to try and make it work.
It would now probably be sitting on the desk, stuffed behind the +2, gathering a layer of dust as I return to the trusty old creaky laptop to play emulated Spectrum games. I'd be the same if someone plonked a PC with the fastest processor, all singing and dancing graphic card and 20tb hard drives.... all I need is XP on an Atom, Picture Publisher, EmuZWin, Melbourne Draw and Mat's a happy bunny.
[Jack Dee mode off]

Nice to see someone else who still uses EmuZWin, I thought it was only me

[smurphboy]

I've used mine most weekends and many weeknights when I've got the time.

My mix of time has been about 10% setting up and configuring, 40% playing old classics, 30% going though the manual and playing with the examples on the SD card, 20% playing new games. Got myself a nice gamepad and the 8Bit do retro adapter so I have a nice d-pad instead of an old school joystick.

I've used it far more than I thought and I've been avidly reading all the documentation and forums for tips on development. I might even port some of my old games to the Next. Although the last games I wrote in BASIC were in OPL for the Psion 5a!

I've been very impressed with the capabilities of the Next itself as well as the ability to play old Speccy titles (timing issues notwithstanding), and a bit like Pico-8 in that the restrictions are where half the fun in development lies... For me at least

[PeterJ]

all I need is XP

I'm a bit of a wanting to have the latest technology type of person, but got fed up with Windows 10 and all the advertising and junk-ware built in, so use Linux probably around 60% of the time. However I have been using XP again on a Virtual Machine for a while because I needed a specific piece of software and I really do feel what a wonderful OS it is. Obviously no good for full time use anymore as it is not being updated. But if you have a machine with it on not connected to the internet it's just great!

Ohh, and back to the topic. After an initial few weeks of excitement, my Next is sitting under a protective tea towel (National Trust Greenway). I'm glad others are making such good use.

[Swainy]

Still using mine most days although I haven’t used it for coding much as I would like but during lockdown My 7 year old son has virtually been my shadow so he gets a bit bored watching me trying to remember basic.

I’m still very impressed with it, there’s some amazing things being worked on at the moment. I downloaded a beta version of Bubble Bobble last night and it’s pretty much arcade perfect.

[4thRock]

How about Windows 95 ?


It's possible to go online with it

Sorry for the OT but couldn't resist to do it
Windows within windows within windows....

[Alessandro]

Didn't have much time to experiment with it as I have been literally sucked by real life necessities in the last few weeks (work etc.)

First impressions were quite positive: the Next is simply sleek - a great testament to the late Rick Dickinson's skills - and the ability to "turn" into several machines without emulating them is amazing enough for me to be indistinguishable from magic (to quote Arthur C. Clarke). The ability to take advantage of my DivIDE-friendly files without the need for other interfaces is also great.

The Next hosts so many new features - the different graphic modes, the three AY chips, the enhanced BASIC and so on - that it will take a long time for me even to get a global picture in my mind of it all.

However, I was a bit baffled with the VGA output. None of my monitors can achieve a wholly satisfactory result, only one can display Mode 0 at 50 Hz which seems the only one fully compatible with the Spectrum, i.e. without issues with multicolor and/or changes in speed and sound pitch. However only with the 48K I managed to restrain the picture to the correct aspect ratio of 4:3 with black bars at the sides. With the 128Ks the aspect ratio will change to 16:9 like the monitor itself and this means an ugly "squashed" picture. Unfortunately an old 4:3 LCD monitor I got for free last year is unable to display a frequency lower than 60 Hz so it's practically unusable to me.

I also seem to understand that in order to make use of the Pi Accelerator inside the machine I have to actually open it and insert a SD card in it with the firmware, and repeat the procedure every time the firmware has been updated. This does not seem very user-friendly to me. I wonder why a less awkward method, for instance a simple hole in the case and a different place for the Accelerator, wasn't implemented.

[PeterJ]

I also seem to understand that in order to make use of the Pi Accelerator inside the machine I have to actually open it and insert a SD card in it with the firmware, and repeat the procedure every time the firmware has been updated. This does not seem very user-friendly to me. I wonder why a less awkward method, for instance a simple hole in the case and a different place for the Accelerator, wasn't implemented.

Hi [mention]Alessandro[/mention],

I raised the same issue with [mention]Seven.FFF[/mention]. He explained that there would not be a need to access the Raspberry Pi, and the plan was allow updating the Pi from the Next.

I also asked why the Pi ZeroW was not used. He explained the supply issues with PiZero (which is indeed an issue. You can normally only buy one at a time). It would have been nice to access the internet from Pi using via the terminal software.

[Alessandro]

I raised the same issue with @Seven.FFF. He explained that there would not be a need to access the Raspberry Pi, and the plan was allow updating the Pi from the Next.

Does this mean there is a way to activate and update the Pi without the need of opening the Next and inserting a SD card in the Pi?

[PeterJ]

That is my understanding of how it will be. The Pi image included is the latest update which is September 2019 so there is nothing to do yet.

[Seven.FFF]

Yes. Small updates will be done by running a program on the Next. Larger updates will be done by plugging in a USB memory stick to the Pi Micro USB port on the back of the Next. No need to open the case with either method.

[PeterJ]

Thanks [mention]Seven.FFF[/mention]. Maybe the FAQ could make that clearer.

Whilst its a bit off topic, I'm glad we can have these discussions. Its all good stuff.

[Dark]

I never did really get into the Spectrum much beyond playing games, and so I pretty much bought this machine for that reason. Nice to have it sitting as stand alone, away from the internet and something I turn on just to revisit my childhood. So I am using it once or twice a week, to play games I’ve downloaded on to the memory card.

Though, I’m probably using it slightly less than I anticipated, probably due to the fact that I can’t get it to load games from tape, no matter how many different leads and jacks I purchase and try. Have got a bundle of games on tape, particularly Code Master ones that I’d love to revisit.

[redballoon]

[mention]Dark[/mention] I have 2 cassette players, 1 from back in the day and a newer Sony one I bought from Argos about 10 years ago or something.

On original Spectrums both load games with the original ear/mic leads, though some will load using one and not on the other, The newer Sony will load the vast majority of the games but sometimes require to use the volume control to get some games to load.

I bought the Next Retro Computer Shack tape leads to load games from tape into my Next. The newer Sony will not load any games at all, even at full volume. I can hear the game loading but nothing happens on screen other than the border flashing red/cyan. The older cassette player does load games just fine, however. The only possible issue is that the volume is up at max. I’ve had to turn the volume down to get a couple of games to load, but it is only slightly. I may dig out the original Spectrum tape leads and try them to see how it affects the loading of games so I’ll update here how that goes.

[Seven.FFF]

Typical Next cassette wiring issues:

The Next uses +3 wiring for its tape socket, like this:



Normal use of a +3 lead is with the stereo end plugged into the Next, and the two mono EAR and MIC ends somehow connected to the player.

Tape recorders fall into three types:

1) Mono player with mono EAR and MIC sockets, like most shoebox players from the 80s. A +3 lead will work perfectly here. I presume the RCS lead is one of these, since Phil knows what he is doing and waited for his Next to arrive before listing any Next items.

2) Stereo player with stereo headphone socket like most Walkmans, boom boxes or hifi. The stereo socket must be converted to mono first using a readymade made stereo (plug) to mono (socket) adaptor. If making your own adaptor or cable, you should use low value summing resistors to merge the two stereo channels rather than shifting them together. If you don’t you risk one channel back driving the other channel and damaging the player (if it doesn’t have integral summing resistors, which many don’t). Read more about summing resistors here:

https://www.instructables.com/id/Simple ... o-to-Mono/

Once you have the adaptor you can plug it into the player, and fit the mono EAR plug of the +3 cable into the adaptor.

3) A mono player wired with a stereo socket socket with the left and right channels shorted together. This is a modern monstrosity, presumably done to reduce component costs. Many modern players do this, including some of the shoebox players sold by Argos. Although this scheme works ok with stereo or mono headphones, it plays havoc with the Next because it shorts EAR to MIC. For this type of player you will either have to wire a special cable or convince a cable seller to list one or do a special order. Or open up your player and cut the ring (right chsnnel) wire to the socket.

[redballoon]

Ah that’s interesting, thanks! It really did leave me scratching my head why the newer one wasn’t working with the Next.

[Seven.FFF]

I wrote this just after I woke up, and melted my brain in the process. I think you can treat (3) the same as (2) and use the stereo to mono adaptor or summing resistors with (3) too.

[Alessandro]

Good news I solved the VGA issue by connecting the Next to the monitors through the HD 9800 RGB-to-VGA adapter card I use for my +2As. Mode 0 at 50Hz was picked immediately; aspect ratio is correct on both monitors, with the usual black bars surrounding the image on the 16:9 one. Image quality is very good, practically indistinguishable from "pure" VGA, i.e. VGA direct output from the Next:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1infjD ... AyJUYxdcq0

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1imHjS ... 54CklzP4Sf

Speed, sound pitch for both beeper and AY are, to my memory, same as the old hardware. Multicolor will also be correctly displayed; here is an example taken from the excellent Gandalf Deluxe:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ixJh5 ... yS7tcIG2xr

Here is a close-up of the card:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1j-2Uh ... _Hu6vkQ4tl

The only (slight) nag is hard to describe... the "active" part of the screen, for instance the cyan bars in the menus, or a sprite walking upon a platform, seem to "wobble" for a while, or the top of the platform the sprite walks upon seems to be very slightly distorted. I noticed it with the +2A as well, so it must be something related with the card. However it is barely noticeable and after a while I get used to it, so it's not a real problem to me.

The other issue, activation of the Raspberry Pi accelerator module, will be next (no pun intended). I think I will have to open the machine anyway because I would like to expand the RAM with the two optional memory chips.

[Dark]

Typical Next cassette wiring issues:

3) A mono player wired with a stereo socket socket with the left and right channels shorted together. This is a modern monstrosity, presumably done to reduce component costs. Many modern players do this, including some of the shoebox players sold by Argos. Although this scheme works ok with stereo or mono headphones, it plays havoc with the Next because it shorts EAR to MIC. For this type of player you will either have to wire a special cable or convince a cable seller to list one or do a special order. Or open up your player and cut the ring (right chsnnel) wire to the socket.

Thanks for the info, I assume my tape player, bought this year from Argos, falls into point 3, hence why I am having no luck loading any games.