Introduce yourself!
Re: Introduce yourself!
Hello all.
Last week I discovered a message on FB Messenger that I had missed for a few months from 8BitAG on here asking if I was responsible for a game called Dragnet. I was surprised to find it had found its way onto a Spectrum archive. Back in the late 80s I lived half my life on Spectrums. My parents were deeply opposed to home computers, my mum thought they were a waste of time and my dad thought they were a waste of money. Neither thought there was any future in them (try getting them off their iPads today )
As a result, while all my friends got Spectrums I had to make do with a ZX81 which I bought secondhand for fourteen pounds at a car boot sale. Eventually, I saved enough paper round money to by a rubber key spectrum from a secondhand shop in Brighton. At some point I got my hands on a huge colour TV that was being thrown out from a Ladbrokes. When the keyboard membrane wore out on the 48K on that I moved on to a Spectrum 128 by the time that died I had finished school and everything ended up in the loft. By this time I had started work and soon was learning to drive the world of Spectrums got left behind.
At age 20 I moved to HongKong and shared a flat with a friend who was into PC's which began the next stage of my computer journey. During this time away from home most of my Spectrum components disappeared from my parent's loft. All that was left was a box of tapes and a joystick. Both computers, printers and other peripherals had gone along with all my Your Sinclair magazines. What was left moved into my loft.
Going back to the 80s I had a friend Robert who was quite into computers between us we decided to set up a software company Taskmaster software. The Dragnet Case (Robert's title) was to be our first game. By this time I had bought PAW and GAC. Robert provided an outline of the game idea and a hand-drawn picture of the office that appears in the game. After many months of labouring with PAW we had something close to finished and I asked for playtesters in Your Sinclair. A few people responded and I sent the game out including to someone in the next road to me. They came back with a heap of bugs and spelling errors. These were corrected but by this time Robert moved away from my area and school was making demands. Also the 128 died and that was the end of Taskmaster Software.
Somehow it seems some copies made their way into the archives. One version is a playtest version, the other I have no idea how it escaped, either from Robert's copies or maybe it was in with my missing Spectrums.
Since the versions of the game in the archive are unfinished and have bugs that prevent the game from being finished. I have uploaded the final version of the game which was still in my box of tapes. It only took 34 years to be released but it is finally out. I also have databases for part of the prequel so one day it might see the light of day. The GAC based tapes have all vanished
I doubt I am going to be buying a vintage Spectrum, but I'm currently enjoying using the ZEsarUX emulator. Maybe one day I'll look into a modern Spectrum clone. In the meantime, I have a vintage Joystick and a collection of games (all of which appear on here as TZX files) if anyone is interested in them.
Last week I discovered a message on FB Messenger that I had missed for a few months from 8BitAG on here asking if I was responsible for a game called Dragnet. I was surprised to find it had found its way onto a Spectrum archive. Back in the late 80s I lived half my life on Spectrums. My parents were deeply opposed to home computers, my mum thought they were a waste of time and my dad thought they were a waste of money. Neither thought there was any future in them (try getting them off their iPads today )
As a result, while all my friends got Spectrums I had to make do with a ZX81 which I bought secondhand for fourteen pounds at a car boot sale. Eventually, I saved enough paper round money to by a rubber key spectrum from a secondhand shop in Brighton. At some point I got my hands on a huge colour TV that was being thrown out from a Ladbrokes. When the keyboard membrane wore out on the 48K on that I moved on to a Spectrum 128 by the time that died I had finished school and everything ended up in the loft. By this time I had started work and soon was learning to drive the world of Spectrums got left behind.
At age 20 I moved to HongKong and shared a flat with a friend who was into PC's which began the next stage of my computer journey. During this time away from home most of my Spectrum components disappeared from my parent's loft. All that was left was a box of tapes and a joystick. Both computers, printers and other peripherals had gone along with all my Your Sinclair magazines. What was left moved into my loft.
Going back to the 80s I had a friend Robert who was quite into computers between us we decided to set up a software company Taskmaster software. The Dragnet Case (Robert's title) was to be our first game. By this time I had bought PAW and GAC. Robert provided an outline of the game idea and a hand-drawn picture of the office that appears in the game. After many months of labouring with PAW we had something close to finished and I asked for playtesters in Your Sinclair. A few people responded and I sent the game out including to someone in the next road to me. They came back with a heap of bugs and spelling errors. These were corrected but by this time Robert moved away from my area and school was making demands. Also the 128 died and that was the end of Taskmaster Software.
Somehow it seems some copies made their way into the archives. One version is a playtest version, the other I have no idea how it escaped, either from Robert's copies or maybe it was in with my missing Spectrums.
Since the versions of the game in the archive are unfinished and have bugs that prevent the game from being finished. I have uploaded the final version of the game which was still in my box of tapes. It only took 34 years to be released but it is finally out. I also have databases for part of the prequel so one day it might see the light of day. The GAC based tapes have all vanished
I doubt I am going to be buying a vintage Spectrum, but I'm currently enjoying using the ZEsarUX emulator. Maybe one day I'll look into a modern Spectrum clone. In the meantime, I have a vintage Joystick and a collection of games (all of which appear on here as TZX files) if anyone is interested in them.
Re: Introduce yourself!
Hi, I'm Alun, here's my Sinclair history:
My neighbour got a ZX-80, and I helped him use it, because he's a lawyer.
My brother got a ZX-81 for good exam results, and I was the one who spent most of the time using it. We got a 16K RAM pack for it, too. I learned how to do machine code on it, using type-in programs in magazines, and the ASCII table in the back of the manual.
I didn't get good enough exam results, so I had to stuff endless newspapers through letterboxes to pay for my ZX Spectrum, and I was definitely always going to go with the 48K model.
Most of what I did at the time was trying to reverse engineer the speed-loaders, so I could dig through some of the graphics and code in the games that were around, and also wrote some interesting bits of code that nobody ever used - including a functioning two-tone "music" program.
I live in the US, near Seattle, right now, and on my last trip to the UK, I packed up my Spectrum and all my old tapes, and brought them back with me. Would love to resurrect those tapes, especially the cassettes with my own code on them, and maybe even get the Microdrives working again (I gather the secret is in the felt?)
The display on the ZX Spectrum was a bit of a challenge to get working in the US, but here's what I used: - it has exactly the right connector to just plug the Spectrum in, and while the quality isn't great, maybe it echoes that "not using the best TV in the house to play silly zap games" feeling.
My neighbour got a ZX-80, and I helped him use it, because he's a lawyer.
My brother got a ZX-81 for good exam results, and I was the one who spent most of the time using it. We got a 16K RAM pack for it, too. I learned how to do machine code on it, using type-in programs in magazines, and the ASCII table in the back of the manual.
I didn't get good enough exam results, so I had to stuff endless newspapers through letterboxes to pay for my ZX Spectrum, and I was definitely always going to go with the 48K model.
Most of what I did at the time was trying to reverse engineer the speed-loaders, so I could dig through some of the graphics and code in the games that were around, and also wrote some interesting bits of code that nobody ever used - including a functioning two-tone "music" program.
I live in the US, near Seattle, right now, and on my last trip to the UK, I packed up my Spectrum and all my old tapes, and brought them back with me. Would love to resurrect those tapes, especially the cassettes with my own code on them, and maybe even get the Microdrives working again (I gather the secret is in the felt?)
The display on the ZX Spectrum was a bit of a challenge to get working in the US, but here's what I used: - it has exactly the right connector to just plug the Spectrum in, and while the quality isn't great, maybe it echoes that "not using the best TV in the house to play silly zap games" feeling.
Re: Introduce yourself!
Hello from Madrid,
I really don't know why I have not registered before in this forum due to I past long time looking for spectrum information about games programming, etc. My first computer was a ZX Spectrum 48 Kb back in 1985. With the years I have got a small collection of Sinclair material: ZX 48 Kb, Spectrum +3, ZX-81, Z88 and the newest one is a ZX-UNO. In the past I even had a Sinclair PC but I sold it four years ago.
Although I had never had one, I also enjoy programming for the Dragon computer. these days I work porting some Spectrum type-in list to this computer.
I really don't know why I have not registered before in this forum due to I past long time looking for spectrum information about games programming, etc. My first computer was a ZX Spectrum 48 Kb back in 1985. With the years I have got a small collection of Sinclair material: ZX 48 Kb, Spectrum +3, ZX-81, Z88 and the newest one is a ZX-UNO. In the past I even had a Sinclair PC but I sold it four years ago.
Although I had never had one, I also enjoy programming for the Dragon computer. these days I work porting some Spectrum type-in list to this computer.
Re: Introduce yourself!
Hi @EdToo , welcome to the forums!
Also, can we have your permission to add this story to the game entry? I think worth to have it preserved.
Thanks again.
EDIT: BTW, we have a Robert Powell in base (https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/list?label_id=12419) he was an active developer from 1985 to 1987, and seems he was specialized on companion software. He worked for both AMX and Cheetah.
Thanks for this! I'm filling up the missing information on the game entry. Do you remember roughly the year you completed the final version?Going back to the 80s I had a friend Robert who was quite into computers between us we decided to set up a software company Taskmaster software. The Dragnet Case (Robert's title) was to be our first game. By this time I had bought PAW and GAC. Robert provided an outline of the game idea and a hand-drawn picture of the office that appears in the game. After many months of labouring with PAW we had something close to finished and I asked for playtesters in Your Sinclair. A few people responded and I sent the game out including to someone in the next road to me. They came back with a heap of bugs and spelling errors. These were corrected but by this time Robert moved away from my area and school was making demands. Also the 128 died and that was the end of Taskmaster Software.
Also, can we have your permission to add this story to the game entry? I think worth to have it preserved.
Thanks again.
EDIT: BTW, we have a Robert Powell in base (https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/list?label_id=12419) he was an active developer from 1985 to 1987, and seems he was specialized on companion software. He worked for both AMX and Cheetah.
Re: Introduce yourself!
Hello, I'm Paul, an active ZX80 and ZX81 user and member of the German ZX-Team.
I'm currently using my spectrums a little more than before, not very experienced.
I have a vdriveZX that's only checked that it works and the Oqtadrive which brought me back to the Spectrum.
I'm diving into MD usage and read about ZXPicoMD which brought me here.
Happy new year to everyone
Paul
I'm currently using my spectrums a little more than before, not very experienced.
I have a vdriveZX that's only checked that it works and the Oqtadrive which brought me back to the Spectrum.
I'm diving into MD usage and read about ZXPicoMD which brought me here.
Happy new year to everyone
Paul
Re: Introduce yourself!
Hi!
I subscribed to the Spectrum Computing exactly one year ago, I think this is a good time to introduce myself.
I live in Brazil and my first computer was a CP200, a Brazilian clone of ZX-81. At that time, Brazilians were prohibited from importing computer products.
My next computer was TK90X, a Brazilian clone of ZX Spectrum. This is the computer I love the most, I still own it today.
These are some of toys I own nowadays:
I subscribed to the Spectrum Computing exactly one year ago, I think this is a good time to introduce myself.
I live in Brazil and my first computer was a CP200, a Brazilian clone of ZX-81. At that time, Brazilians were prohibited from importing computer products.
My next computer was TK90X, a Brazilian clone of ZX Spectrum. This is the computer I love the most, I still own it today.
These are some of toys I own nowadays:
Re: Introduce yourself!
Hi @tkfan,
Thanks for the photo. Can I ask what the 'TK Explorer' is?
Peter
Thanks for the photo. Can I ask what the 'TK Explorer' is?
Peter
Re: Introduce yourself!
I have to ask - what does the Magic Button do?
Re: Introduce yourself!
Welcome, a very exciting setup on display.
Re: Introduce yourself!
Almost sure is a NMI allowing snapshots.
Re: Introduce yourself!
The Magic Button saves a program snapshot to a floppy disk. That interface is a Brazilian clone of Technology Research Beta 48 disk interface made by Synchron. It is not a clone of Beta 128 interface that was very popular in Eastern Europe.
Re: Introduce yourself!
Microdigital cloned ZX Spectrum 16/48 in 1985 and modified the ROM to support Portuguese and Spanish languages. The error messages are translated and some characters with diacritics are available as UDG characters. TK90X was very popular among Brazilian and Latin American users.
In 1986, TK95 was released. It uses the same board of TK90X in a better case and keyboard (see photo below).
No 128K models of Spectrum were cloned by Microdigital.
Re: Introduce yourself!
Greetings!
I didn't find this thread before, so sorry for arriving late at it.(and sorry for my non native english).
I'm spanish and I was grown up with the spanish gray +2A. My first game was Zorro and I'm grateful for that and for all that came later. I was the owner of an Amstrad cpc464 later, so my heart is divided between those two!.
I'm not a programmer even though I was always attracted to basic languages but It wasn't my thing.
That is why I've always been between drawing and creating music/synth stuff. You can have a look at my creations at the graphics section.
I'm a professional 2d/3d designer and animator.
I really like spectrum games and in general 8/16 bit stuff that is why I don't play recent games, except the ocasional indy game.
Cheers!
I didn't find this thread before, so sorry for arriving late at it.(and sorry for my non native english).
I'm spanish and I was grown up with the spanish gray +2A. My first game was Zorro and I'm grateful for that and for all that came later. I was the owner of an Amstrad cpc464 later, so my heart is divided between those two!.
I'm not a programmer even though I was always attracted to basic languages but It wasn't my thing.
That is why I've always been between drawing and creating music/synth stuff. You can have a look at my creations at the graphics section.
I'm a professional 2d/3d designer and animator.
I really like spectrum games and in general 8/16 bit stuff that is why I don't play recent games, except the ocasional indy game.
Cheers!
- Lee Bee
- Dynamite Dan
- Posts: 1406
- Joined: Sat Nov 16, 2019 11:01 pm
- Location: Devon, England
- Contact:
Re: Introduce yourself!
It's so great to read testimonies of how the humble British Spectrum has been embraced and adapted in other cultures all around the globe. It truly is a 'Wonderful World Of Speccy'
Re: Introduce yourself!
Hi Everyone - actually joined back in 2019, but can't remember if I introduced myself on here before rudely asking for help in the Tau Ceti Special Edition game
So - started off with a ZX81 way back, then moved onto the good old Speccy , had all the iterations, 16K, 48K, then moved onto the +2, which i still have 35 odd years later.
Interest resparked after clearing out the loft at my old house and finding all my old games again - cant load any of them sadly, as the tape deck on the +2 is knackered - the machine boots fine, but tape deck just doesnt work. I will have a look at fixing it probably, if anyone could point me at anywhere that might help, would be much appreciated.
Anyway, all old games now sit proudly on a shelf behind me - I play games on a regular basis via the Fuse emulator on my desktop, just cant beat gameplay on games like Quazatron, Tau Ceti, and cant beat tunes like that of Marauder
So - started off with a ZX81 way back, then moved onto the good old Speccy , had all the iterations, 16K, 48K, then moved onto the +2, which i still have 35 odd years later.
Interest resparked after clearing out the loft at my old house and finding all my old games again - cant load any of them sadly, as the tape deck on the +2 is knackered - the machine boots fine, but tape deck just doesnt work. I will have a look at fixing it probably, if anyone could point me at anywhere that might help, would be much appreciated.
Anyway, all old games now sit proudly on a shelf behind me - I play games on a regular basis via the Fuse emulator on my desktop, just cant beat gameplay on games like Quazatron, Tau Ceti, and cant beat tunes like that of Marauder
Re: Introduce yourself!
Hi,
Probably it's just the rubber belt of the datacorder, which after ~35 years needs replacing Plenty of videos showing how to do it on YouTube.
One important fact: is your +2 grey or black? The number of belts differ between the two models.
Ciao
Leo
Probably it's just the rubber belt of the datacorder, which after ~35 years needs replacing Plenty of videos showing how to do it on YouTube.
One important fact: is your +2 grey or black? The number of belts differ between the two models.
Ciao
Leo
Re: Introduce yourself!
It's Grey - yeah I been looking online, will probably make a purchase of a new belt and have a good go fixing it soon
Re: Introduce yourself!
Hello!
I spent a bunch of time trying to get my old WOS account reset after a somewhat extended hiatus but never heard back. Then I took a stroll through one or two threads on here and realised why - and realised this is where everyone seems to have migrated to.
I had a two children, now 14 and 11, and jobs increasingly demanding. They're older now (the kids not the jobs) so I have more free time to spend shooting the proverbial breeze.
So . Miss much?
I spent a bunch of time trying to get my old WOS account reset after a somewhat extended hiatus but never heard back. Then I took a stroll through one or two threads on here and realised why - and realised this is where everyone seems to have migrated to.
I had a two children, now 14 and 11, and jobs increasingly demanding. They're older now (the kids not the jobs) so I have more free time to spend shooting the proverbial breeze.
So . Miss much?
Re: Introduce yourself!
Goodness me, Jon North. Our crew of enthusiasts would appreciate your joining the Speccy Discord if you are that way inclined: https://discord.gg/45W4bUB
Hope to see you there.
Hope to see you there.
Re: Introduce yourself!
Don't go trying to tempt away our new members with your new fangled technology @ZXDunny
Re: Introduce yourself!
Hey dunny! Been a while eh?ZXDunny wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 10:48 pm Goodness me, Jon North. Our crew of enthusiasts would appreciate your joining the Speccy Discord if you are that way inclined: https://discord.gg/45W4bUB
Hope to see you there.
Done!