Spectrum Computing

I noticed in my recent spate of cassette tape testing that the 128k version of Desert Rats (on the B-side of Desert Rats) has two variants. https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/1 ... esert_Rats

On the entry page for it, it shows a binoculars picture for the 128k version, which is correct. There's also a (perhaps earlier) variant that's identical to the 48k loading screen, but with the text 128k appearing on it just under the "RATS".

This variant title is one I've sold this week, I haven't packaged it up to send. If the loading screen does need to be preserved, how?

How would I get this loading screen off the cassette tape and into an scr format? I have standalone cassette players, mono earphone cables... and a Mac. (I could probably rig up a windows XP box at a push). What's the process for transferring it? (I know that Retro Virtual Machine on OSX does funky "emulate a CRT television" so I doubt that's useful for capturing an SCR)

Record the whole tape as a wav, and then let someone make a tap/tzx

That entry also highlights another issue - those scr files have a black border, and so are not being displayed with integer scaling, either in the main 2x image, or amongst the list of images further down the page supposedly at 1x.

Pobulous wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2020 4:52 pm That entry also highlights another issue - those scr files have a black border, and so are not being displayed with integer scaling, either in the main 2x image, or amongst the list of images further down the page supposedly at 1x.

Looks like they are from really old days - feel free to capture new ones and submit here

/Thomas

kolbeck wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2020 5:30 pm

Pobulous wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2020 4:52 pm That entry also highlights another issue - those scr files have a black border, and so are not being displayed with integer scaling, either in the main 2x image, or amongst the list of images further down the page supposedly at 1x.

Looks like they are from really old days - feel free to capture new ones and submit here

/Thomas

I'm pretty sure there's nothing wrong with the .scr files and will refer you to this that I found whilst trying to check how they're displayed on the site:
viewtopic.php?p=796#p796

I just created a couple from my own tape and they match the ones already in the archive. Obviously, however, that 128k variant is missing still.

Mike, if you can sample both sides (because if one side is definitely a variant then the other may well be too, even if it's not obvious) and upload somewhere then it'll be a doddle to convert to TZX and get the .scr done too.

You are totally right, I even participated in that thread and could just have checked my own site... bugger me

Hi, just wondering if Mike was able to capture that WAV file of the 128k version.