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Groups > comp.sys.sinclair > #4179

Re: Reliability and clongevity?

From Volker Bartheld <news2016@bartheld.net>
Newsgroups comp.sys.sinclair
Subject Re: Reliability and clongevity?
Date 2016-06-01 07:58 +0200
Organization bartheld.net
Message-ID <1s5bgmkbhuor7.dlg@news.bartheld.net> (permalink)
References <nijhur$gi3$1@dont-email.me>

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Hi!

On Tue, 31 May 2016 09:28:10 +0100, Brian Gaff wrote:
> I was just wondering what people are finding with real Speccies as per
> the degeneration of chips and other specific components. are there any 
> problems which will, in the end mean no real machines will still be
> working. 

In the end, nothing will be working anymore. Concretely, my original Speccy
(Issue 2) works fine, I've replaced the memory chips to get 2x32k, upped
the voltage regulator with a L78S05CV and some larger capacitors and added
a FBAS/Composite out, similar to
http://www.retrogamescollector.com/simple-zx-spectrum-composite-mod/
, but without deactivating the modulator.

No shot CPU, no fried ULA, no dried caps, no rotten memory

> Obviously there is the keyboard membranes

Ah keyboards. No problem with the LoProfile Professional I bought:
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=1000235
Seems to hold up better then most of the Chinese crap sold nowadays.

> I was thinking about ulas, 
> modulators and components made obsolete by time?

No probs. Microdrive felt foams disintegrated and the BASF tape suffered
from print through. The former can be fixed by using standard adhesive foam
tape and the original felt thingie, the latter only by reformatting (=data
loss) or rocket science/low level forensic analysis.

The ULA could be replaced by a CPLD, check out
http://opencores.org/project,zx_ula
http://www.zxdesign.info/harlequin.shtml
, this would be your only choice if you can't source some antique Ferranti
stock.

> I suppose in the end tvs with analogue tuners will be gone, and then we 
> have issues with either modifying to use other inputs or hacking the output 
> in some way.

http://www.retrogamescollector.com/simple-zx-spectrum-composite-mod/
worked well for me. Yeah, it's a hack and people who want their device 100%
stock will already start hyperventilating.

> Also how do modern tvs cope with the new wide screen systems?

They all have a 4:3 letterbox mode, adding some black stripes to both
sides.

Greets,
Volker

-- 
@:  W E B 2 0 1 6 at B A R T H E L D dot N E T
3W: www.bartheld.net

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Thread

Reliability and clongevity? "Brian Gaff" <briang1@blueyonder.co.uk> - 2016-05-31 09:28 +0100
  Re: Reliability and clongevity? Guesser <alistair@zxnet.co.uk> - 2016-05-31 12:21 +0100
    Re: Reliability and clongevity? "Brian Gaff" <briang1@blueyonder.co.uk> - 2016-06-01 09:42 +0100
    Re: Reliability and clongevity? Duncan Snowden <duncan_s@talktalk.net> - 2016-06-01 16:51 +0100
      Re: Reliability and clongevity? Guesser <alistair@zxnet.co.uk> - 2016-06-01 17:14 +0100
      Re: Reliability and clongevity? "Chris" <chris.usenet@mail-filter.com> - 2016-06-02 00:59 +0100
  Re: Reliability and clongevity? Volker Bartheld <news2016@bartheld.net> - 2016-06-01 07:58 +0200
    Re: Reliability and clongevity? "Brian Gaff" <briang1@blueyonder.co.uk> - 2016-06-02 19:43 +0100
  Re: Reliability and clongevity? lee.jtcltd@gmail.com - 2016-08-02 07:38 -0700

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