Best Spectrum model to get?

[Dan C]

I wonder what you think is the best Spectrum model to get?
I was thinking on a +3, to be able to hook up a 3.5" PC floppydrive, but is a +3 backward 100% compatible with a Spectrum 48?

[worcestersource]

I’d love a 128k toast rack. I think it’s got the best design and the benefit of 128k. Alas, I don’t have one.

[Wall_Axe]

The +3 has a port for a 3.5 inch drive?

I'm just getting a rubber keyed one for nostalgia value.
Can't be bothered with 128k games ,I can just emulate them

[Jbizzel]

grey +2 is the only correct answer.

[Swainy]

I’d say that the grey +2 is the one to go for. Most compatible, it’s basically the 128+ in an ugly grey case with a built in tape deck.

[Mad Fritz]

The +3 has a port for a 3.5 inch drive?

It has a Port for a disk drive. Could be 3, 3.5 or even 5.25 inch AFAIK.

[PeterJ]

Although I had a 48k model as a youngster, my pride and joy now is the Toastrack. However, although I don't like the Amstrad models (They aren't really Sinclair machines in my eyes - nothing against Lord Sugar), the +3 is the machine I use everyday. Excellent keyboard, and the option to add a Gotek. Much cheaper than the Toastrack too! Another benefit is no worries about having to replace membranes.

@Alessandro has many fixes for games when using the black +2 and +3.

https://www.alessandrogrussu.it/plus2A-en.html

[Dan C]

the +3 is the machine I use everyday. Excellent keyboard, and the option to add a Gotek. Much cheaper than the Toastrack too! Another benefit is no worries about having to replace membranes.

Great! Is the +3 able to run Spectrum 48 games and software in your experience?

[PeterJ]

@Dan C,

Please see the link in my above post. I edited the post, so it probably wasn't there when you replied.

[Jbizzel]

Is the +3 able to run Spectrum 48 games and software in your experience?

the grey +2 is the most compatible computer. It has a great keyboard, and integrated tape make things easy.

+3 if you want a disk drive cos there cool - which they are.

[p13z]

The +3 is a great, robust and interesting machine. Not the greatest in terms of general compatibility though, and the sound quality on it is somewhat ropey.
You'll find patched versions of most popular incompatible games, if you'd want to.
I think, ultimately, it depends on what gives you the most nostalgia. All variations of the Speccy have their pros and cons, quirks and features.
Not sure I'd be keen on playing with different disk drives, might just end up being another layer of faff and incompatibility.
For nostalgia, I prefer original media (3" disks or tapes). For convenience / real use, you can't beat something like a Spectranet interface. Somewhere in the middle of these options you have things like the DivIDE interfaces.
I have a 48k rubber key and a +3 and love them both. Something like a grey +2 though may be the most practical compromise as an all rounder.

[8BitSC]

Back in the day, I went from a rubber-keyed 48k spectrum to a Grey +2, before moving on to 16 bits.

These are the models I have most nostalgia for and I own both now, but I wouldn’t part with my 128k toast-rack, which I never originally owned back then. (Though, I HAVE owned this for some 15 years or more).

I don’t remember any incompatibility with the Grey +2 in the 80s, though I definitely prefer the Grey Amstrad’s “proper” keyboard over the Sinclair Plus’s sharp Black LEGO-like corners and keys which stick and bind when pressed.

I don’t think I’d ever buy a Black Amstrad +2 but I’ve been eyeing up +3s on eBay just recently, if only to drop a Gotek into it.

Would that be classed as sacrilege?

Having built both 48k and 128k harlequin boards, I think they rank 2nd and 3rd behind the toast-rack in my list of favourites; if only for the fact they both worked flawlessly from the first power-on. There’s a lot of personal pride in getting things right first time with so much time and soldering involved.

[zx64]

Toastrack. If you can get it for a reasonable price.

[1024MAK]

In case you haven’t noticed, there are as many opinions as there are Speccy models.

In terms of compatibility, only a 48K/+ is fully 100% compatible with a 48K/+

Unless you try running a game designed for an issue one (16K or 48K with the internal upgrade) or issue two board where the programmer is relying on the state of the ULA port. Sinclair changed it for all later versions…

Having said that, the 128K machines included the Amstrad models are not far off being compatible with vast numbers of games.

Of the Amstrad models, the +2 grey is the most compatible, as it’s a repackaged 128 Toastrack.

Mark

[Knobby]

The rubber keyed original still looks like a fantastic bit of design to me, much better than the plus and the toastrack, which haven't aged so well. The Amstrad ones look too big to me nowadays, though I quite fancy modding one by chopping off the tape player, though that does feel a bit sacrilegious with old hardware.

[1024MAK]

The Amstrad ones look too big to me nowadays, though I quite fancy modding one by chopping off the tape player, though that does feel a bit sacrilegious with old hardware.

Some have already done this, there be photos on the internet somewhere…

Mark

[8BitSC]

Some have already done this, there be photos on the internet somewhere…

You mean this? http://oldmachinery.blogspot.com/2012/0 ... -mini.html

[Dan C]

You mean this? http://oldmachinery.blogspot.com/2012/0 ... -mini.html

That looks real cool!! I guess you can fix separate MIC and EAR connections when you remove the tapedeck?

[Joefish]

It already has an audio out socket, equivalent to MIC. If you want to add an EAR socket for input from tape you'll need to replicate a bit of the input circuitry from the toastrack. You can't simply plug in to the ear pin in the header where the tape player connects.

Also note that the end result isn't as neatly symmetrical as that first picture; you still need a bit more room on the right for the heatsink, after bending it around the last screw pillar. This doesn't work with a black +2A as the motherboard in those extends right under the tape deck.

If you really want to go all-out, you can disconnect the joystick ports then re-wire them back to standard. But it's a fiddly job; I haven't attempted it on mine yet.

[Dan C]

I got exited to do the same operation on a +3!
Modify the case to get rid of the 3" floppy.
And then use an external 3.5" PC floppy or Gotek drive.

[PeterJ]

@Dan C,

I use an external Gotek, and configure that to drive A.

viewtopic.php?p=124112#p124112

Do read the warning from Guesser a few posts below mine.

[Dan C]

@Dan C,

I use an external Gotek, and configure that to drive A.

viewtopic.php?p=124112#p124112

Do read the warning from Guesser a few posts below mine.

Great! Then you really don't need the 3" drive.

[PeterJ]

Correct @Dan C,

I tried fitting an internal Gotek but didn't really like how it looked. The internal drive is still there, but I don't use it

[1024MAK]

Before you get too carried away, look carefully at these photos of the rear of a ZX Spectrum +2 (grey), a ZX Spectrum +2B and a ZX Spectrum +3.

Notice where the printer and disk B drive edge-connectors are. Both these are part of the main PCB…




Mark

[zx64]

You mean this? http://oldmachinery.blogspot.com/2012/0 ... -mini.html

LOL