ZX Spectrum+ II project

[Mattingly]

Hello !!

I've join this forum to post some pictures of my (crazy) projet : a ZX Spectrum+ inside an Apple IIe case
I was dreaming about that when i was young and now i try to make ot real.

So here are the first steps of the projet :

1 - Get an Apple II case


2 - Cut off the keyboard from the ZX Spectrum case and adjust it in the Apple case (that fits almost perfectly but some minor adjustments have to be made)




3 - Paint everything black




That is just the beginning, i'll post some more pictures as soon as i get new parts.
The aim is to fit sd card reader in disk drives and more.

Hope you like it !

[TMD2003]

That should upset the Apple cart.

[Mattingly]

Look nice with the monitor

[Mattingly]

Today i received my "microswith keyboard" from Ginger Electronic : https://www.ginger-electronic.com/en/re ... ly_mounted



So i replaced the old keyboard membrane







That gives a very nice "click effect"

[Mattingly]

Now, it is time to add power switch, composite mod, interface connection, etc...

There is enough room to fit everything

[TMD2003]

You can really tell that the Apple II is as 'MURICAN as... apple pie.

Now that you've all finished groaning, it's because it makes sense that the case is so YUGE because it comes from a country where a 20-foot-long "family sedan" doesn't look out of place. I know there was plenty of room for upgrades and all that, but the size seems excessive, especially with the Spectrum+ fitting neatly into its keyboard area. The Atari 800 is a chunky machine as well.

At a recent visit to the Centre for Computing History, I saw a Japanese-spec Famicom for the first time. It's about a third of the volume of its Nintendo Of 'MURICA counterpart (the one we're used to). Even though everything Japanese needs to be small, it was still a surprise.

[spider]

Looks good to me so far.

I did at one time have an empty Dragon 32/64 case, it did have the keyboard PCB but otherwise it was empty. I considered putting a ZX81 or something inside but never got around to it and gave the empty case away as a 'bonus' item with some non-Speccy sales I had at that time.

[Mattingly]

.. the case is so YUGE because it comes from a country where a 20-foot-long "family sedan" doesn't look out of place.

No, that's just because it is good for air cooling

[Mattingly]

Composite video MOD works fine

[Mattingly]

New side reset button

[Mattingly]

With modern small TFT screen

[worcestersource]

You can really tell that the Apple II is as 'MURICAN as... apple pie.

Now that you've all finished groaning, it's because it makes sense that the case is so YUGE because it comes from a country where a 20-foot-long "family sedan" doesn't look out of place. I know there was plenty of room for upgrades and all that, but the size seems excessive, especially with the Spectrum+ fitting neatly into its keyboard area. The Atari 800 is a chunky machine as well.

At a recent visit to the Centre for Computing History, I saw a Japanese-spec Famicom for the first time. It's about a third of the volume of its Nintendo Of 'MURICA counterpart (the one we're used to). Even though everything Japanese needs to be small, it was still a surprise.

I can somewhat help with the size thing as my dad bought a Europlus in 1980. Basically, to do anything useful with it, you needed to buy cards. The base computer didn’t have much memory and I think ours was a 48k model. We had a card for the disk drive, another to output to an electric typewriter and another was the word processor. Yes, the word processor was on a card of its own and had its own monitor cable! It made the disk drive sound eerily different.

The motherboard and the cards were rammed with chips. Makes sense with it being largely 1970s technology.

Still, we had a few games for it, which is all that mattered to four year old me!

[Mattingly]

I've received my DivMMC today !

Time to celebrate with Manic Miner

[1024MAK]

Mark

[Mattingly]

I've added some joystick connectors on sides

[TMD2003]

So is it Kempston one side and Sinclair port 1 on the other? Or is one of them cursor-AGF-Protek?

[Mattingly]

It is configurable.
Depending on the DIP swithes, it can be :

1) Port 1 : Kempston - Port 2 : Cursor
2) Port 1 : Sinclair 1 - Port 2 : Sinclair 2
3) Port 1 : Kempston - Port 2 : Fuller

[Mattingly]

Welded 2 side buttons to DivMMC and added scart interface

[Mattingly]

Playing Bugaboo on Dual screen : Scart on TV and RCA on TFT monitor

[Mattingly]

Close to the end !
Inside view with everything connected




I've added 2 jack connectors on side for tape recorder

[Mattingly]

Time to play Manic Manier on big screen