Spectrum Computing

A very curious auction appeared on Ebay:
https://www.ebay.it/itm/173110721390?ul_noapp=true

What could it be? It looks like some frankenstein machine made of Zx Spectrum and tape player + some dedicated software for it

Anybody heard about it? How could it work?

A quick bit of google fu uncovered the Anglotutor console, which appears to have been an Italian tape-based English course:



The Spectrum keyboard looks likes it has been hacked on.

Here is an image of the same model as in your original image.

Laboratorio Linguistico Anglotutor Britannica

https://www.kijiji.it/anglotutor/

https://www.ebay.it/itm/Laboratorio-Lin ... rmvSB=true

https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED039531

it leads to
Encyclopaedia Britannica !!!

one more stating 1983, its a official release off hardware
https://www.ebay.it/itm/AT-Computer-Sys ... rmvSB=true

I know somebody who has one, the same person who donated 300€ for the ZX Dev Conversions

so the answer is
its an

AT Computer System clone Sinclair ZX Spectrum 1983

AT Computer System clone Sinclair ZX Spectrum 1983

Thanks. Let me sum it up if I understand it correctly.

There is some Italian "console" which is in fact a specialised tape player, sold together with some tapes as English learning course "set".

The cassettes contain English lessons as spoken human voice, not Zx Spectrum programs

Someone "hacked" this set and built Zx Spectrum 48 into the console, creating Spectrum with tape player, just like Zx Spectrum +2,+2A or +3 only a few years earlier.

Is it right?

Now my question is, was it an "official" mod made in bigger quantities and sold in shops ? Or was it created by some fan of electronics in his garage?

By the way - here's another link to this curiosity: https://picclick.it/AT-Computer-System- ... 24400.html

This is not a clone but a custom case for an ordinary 48K Spectrum, made to be used as an educational aid with the tape furnished with it, and was definitely not "garage made" as it was assembled with reasonable care and completed with serial number, at least judging by the photos in this other auction.

How many of them were manufactured and/or sold is anybody's guess, but I do not think there could have been many units around.

I seem to remember somebody from a Spectrum-related mailing list purchased one of these machines in recent years, but it was a rather long time ago and I cannot be sure about this.

Now that mystery is solved: Thread Hijack! Perhaps this could become the thread to discuss all odd items of an electrical nature.

Saw https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PM-INDUSTRIE ... 7675.l2557 on ebay a few weeks ago, what on earth would it be used for? A radio cassette with a built-in pocket calculator and a shoulder bag. I assume it's specialist equipment for an industry, but why would you want a calculator incorporated into a radio