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New ZX Spectrum announced

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  New ZX Spectrum announced Andrew Owen <aowen10@mail.bbk.ac.uk> - 2014-12-01 20:01 +0000
    Re: New ZX Spectrum announced "Brian Gaff" <brian1gaff@gmail.com> - 2014-12-02 08:36 +0000
      Re: New ZX Spectrum announced Geoff Wearmouth <gwearmouth@gmail.com> - 2014-12-02 01:20 -0800
        Re: New ZX Spectrum announced "Brian Gaff" <brian1gaff@gmail.com> - 2014-12-02 15:17 +0000
      Re: New ZX Spectrum announced Andrew Owen <aowen10@mail.bbk.ac.uk> - 2014-12-02 14:18 +0000
        Re: New ZX Spectrum announced "James Harris" <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2014-12-02 15:26 +0000
          Re: New ZX Spectrum announced "James Harris" <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2014-12-02 15:27 +0000
          Re: New ZX Spectrum announced "James Harris" <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2014-12-03 10:54 +0000
        Re: New ZX Spectrum announced "Chris Young" <chris.usenet@mail-filter.com> - 2014-12-02 18:52 +0000
          Re: New ZX Spectrum announced Duncan Snowden <duncan_s@talktalk.net> - 2014-12-03 15:49 +0000
            Re: New ZX Spectrum announced "Chris Young" <chris.usenet@mail-filter.com> - 2014-12-03 17:49 +0000
              Re: New ZX Spectrum announced Guesser <alistair@alistairsserver.no-ip.org> - 2014-12-03 19:34 +0000
                Re: New ZX Spectrum announced "Chris Young" <chris.usenet@mail-filter.com> - 2014-12-03 23:22 +0000
          Re: New ZX Spectrum announced Andrew Owen <aowen10@mail.bbk.ac.uk> - 2014-12-07 10:30 +0000
            Re: New ZX Spectrum announced Duncan Snowden <duncan_s@talktalk.net> - 2014-12-07 18:20 +0000
              Re: New ZX Spectrum announced Andrew Owen <aowen10@mail.bbk.ac.uk> - 2014-12-08 18:23 +0000
    Re: New ZX Spectrum announced AndyW <Andy@nojunqmail.com> - 2014-12-03 08:09 +0000
      Re: New ZX Spectrum announced "Daniel Mandic" <daniel_mandic@hotmail.com> - 2014-12-03 11:17 +0000
        Re: New ZX Spectrum announcedr Geoff Wearmouth <gwearmouth@gmail.com> - 2014-12-03 05:39 -0800
    Re: New ZX Spectrum announced Selwyn Froggitt <markrobertwills@yahoo.co.uk> - 2014-12-17 04:55 -0800
      Re: New ZX Spectrum announced Andrew Owen <aowen10@mail.bbk.ac.uk> - 2014-12-17 22:09 +0000

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#3283 — New ZX Spectrum announced

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/sinclair-zx-spectrum-vega

It's endorsed by Sir Clive, and licensed by BSkyB.

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#3284

Hmm, not run the videos, but I thought there were now loads of Spectrum 
emulators for everything from smart phones to desktops, all for notheing, 
and of course lots of games on line already.
 I just wonder if these people have  done their homework. I'd hate the idea 
to fail to raise money for charity, but knowing human nature as I do, I'd 
imagine most have  one or more emulators already.

It does not say, but is this a device with no way to connect a keyboard and 
write and save ones own programs?
 Id have thought that the schoolboy in many might love to have one of these 
if that were possible.
 Brian

-- 
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is  active
"Andrew Owen" <aowen10@mail.bbk.ac.uk> wrote in message 
news:m5ihf0$hjl$1@speranza.aioe.org...
> https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/sinclair-zx-spectrum-vega
>
> It's endorsed by Sir Clive, and licensed by BSkyB. 

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#3285

Well it does implement all the Sinclair and Amstrad models. It has features like ULAPlus so I'll have to rewrite "my" Flag program which achieved orange with vertical stripes.
Back in 2005 DavidLevy popped into World of Spectrum Forums enquiring about hardware using the ZX Spectrum ROM so it has been a while hatching. Back then he and Sir Clive were directors of a hardware company. David assisted in the design of the original ZX Spectrum. His company also developed the Enterprise Flan so they both have a track record.

There is talk of an onscreen keyboard.
At least people won't be using it on the bus.

--
Geoff

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#3287

On screen keyboard. Any chance of the uspeach?
 Brian

-- 
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is  active
"Geoff Wearmouth" <gwearmouth@gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:502c3a2a-1a52-40ac-a176-1dde0ae42b8c@googlegroups.com...
Well it does implement all the Sinclair and Amstrad models. It has features 
like ULAPlus so I'll have to rewrite "my" Flag program which achieved orange 
with vertical stripes.
Back in 2005 DavidLevy popped into World of Spectrum Forums enquiring about 
hardware using the ZX Spectrum ROM so it has been a while hatching. Back 
then he and Sir Clive were directors of a hardware company. David assisted 
in the design of the original ZX Spectrum. His company also developed the 
Enterprise Flan so they both have a track record.

There is talk of an onscreen keyboard.
At least people won't be using it on the bus.

--
Geoff 

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#3286

It's definitely aimed at gamers. There's an SD card slot but I don't 
know if it supports saving. There's no trivial way to add a keyboard 
although I expect someone will hack something together. On the other 
hand it's managed to get 20% funded in less than 24 hours. Probably 
helps that it's an officially sanctioned machine.

On 02/12/2014 08:36, Brian Gaff wrote:
> Hmm, not run the videos, but I thought there were now loads of Spectrum
> emulators for everything from smart phones to desktops, all for notheing,
> and of course lots of games on line already.
>   I just wonder if these people have  done their homework. I'd hate the idea
> to fail to raise money for charity, but knowing human nature as I do, I'd
> imagine most have  one or more emulators already.
>
> It does not say, but is this a device with no way to connect a keyboard and
> write and save ones own programs?
>   Id have thought that the schoolboy in many might love to have one of these
> if that were possible.
>   Brian
>

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#3288

"Andrew Owen" <aowen10@mail.bbk.ac.uk> wrote in message 
news:m5khmo$7ab$1@speranza.aioe.org...
> It's definitely aimed at gamers. There's an SD card slot but I don't know 
> if it supports saving. There's no trivial way to add a keyboard although I 
> expect someone will hack something together. On the other hand it's 
> managed to get 20% funded in less than 24 hours.

Yes, it's 25% funded now. They have given it 6- days but at this rate it'll 
be fully funded in less than a week.

The machine seems to be an ARM-based Z80 and machine emulator. Pity about 
the lack of keyboard.

More important, perhaps, why did they not add an integrated screen? Then it 
could be a hand-held unit. The graphics resolution is never going to require 
an expensive LCD panel.

James

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#3289

"James Harris" <james.harris.1@gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:m5klmf$em4$1@dont-email.me...

...

> ... They have given it 6- days ...

Correction: 60 days.

James

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#3292

"James Harris" <james.harris.1@gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:m5klmf$em4$1@dont-email.me...

...

> ... at this rate it'll be fully funded in less than a week.

Fully funded already. While the goal was 100k it currently shows as Ł107,000 
raised and the number continues to increase. After they allowed two months 
the funding reached the target in less than three days!

James

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#3290

On Tue, 02 Dec 2014 14:18:05 +0000 da kidz on comp.sys.sinclair were rappin'
to MC Andrew Owen:

> It's definitely aimed at gamers. There's an SD card slot but I don't 
> know if it supports saving. There's no trivial way to add a keyboard 
> although I expect someone will hack something together.

Reading the comments on Eurogamer today, I agree with a lot of the
points raised.  The main one is that it needs a proper (ie. one
without most of the keys missing) keyboard, as there are quite a
number of games that rely on lots and lots of different keys.

Another point was that it should have HDMI out and joystick ports. 
I'd stratch the joystick ports - just give it some USB ports and get
it to support generic HID joysticks/joypads.  USB would solve the
keyboard problem too.

I'm curious as to whether the D-pad is re-programmable.  I suppose it
must be.  Playing Spectrum games on something akin to a joypad seems
wrong though.

Chris


-- 
+-------------------------------------------+
| Unsatisfactory Software - "because it is" |
|  http://www.unsatisfactorysoftware.co.uk  |
| Your Sinclair: A Celebration              |
+- http://www.yoursinclair.co.uk -----------+

DISCLAIMER: I may be making all this stuff up again.

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#3295

On 2 Dec 2014 18:52:48 +0000
"Chris Young" <chris.usenet@mail-filter.com> wrote:

> Another point was that it should have HDMI out and joystick ports. 
> I'd stratch the joystick ports - just give it some USB ports and get
> it to support generic HID joysticks/joypads.  USB would solve the
> keyboard problem too.

It sounds a lot like the C64-in-a-Joystick thing from a decade or so
ago (although it was an ASIC, not emulation). It got away with
composite video, but these days you definitely need HDMI. And, because
it actually *was* a C64, you could hack a keyboard - or any Commie
peripheral - on to it, and how to do it was well-documented. So yes, in
this case, USB would be handy.

Otherwise... er, no; I still can't muster much enthusiasm, I'm afraid.
But hey, good luck to them. Anything that reminds the world of the
Speccy can't be bad. They've made their funding goal, at least.

-- 
Duncan Snowden.

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#3296

On Wed, 3 Dec 2014 15:49:36 +0000 da kidz on comp.sys.sinclair were rappin'
to MC Duncan Snowden:

> > Another point was that it should have HDMI out and joystick ports. 
> > I'd stratch the joystick ports - just give it some USB ports and get
> > it to support generic HID joysticks/joypads.  USB would solve the
> > keyboard problem too.
> 
> It sounds a lot like the C64-in-a-Joystick thing from a decade or so
> ago (although it was an ASIC, not emulation).

This isn't emulation either.  It's more akin to the MiniMig I think
(I'm more familiar with that than C64-in-a-joystick).

Still no reason why you couldn't do USB or HDMI, with a bit of extra
hardware logic and some software in an expanded ROM.  Didn't somebody
add USB to a ZX81?  Or did I just make that up?

> Otherwise... er, no; I still can't muster much enthusiasm, I'm afraid.
> But hey, good luck to them. Anything that reminds the world of the
> Speccy can't be bad. They've made their funding goal, at least.

Yes, agreed.  I won't won't be buying one for the same reason I've not
bought a MiniMig, or a C64-in-a-joystick, or a SAM Coupé.  But I like
the fact it's officially sanctioned, and I assume the 1000 included
games they will actually have permission to include.

Chris


-- 
+-------------------------------------------+
| Unsatisfactory Software - "because it is" |
|  http://www.unsatisfactorysoftware.co.uk  |
| Your Sinclair: A Celebration              |
+- http://www.yoursinclair.co.uk -----------+

DISCLAIMER: I may be making all this stuff up again.

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#3297

On 03/12/2014 17:49, Chris Young wrote:
> This isn't emulation either.  It's more akin to the MiniMig I think
> (I'm more familiar with that than C64-in-a-joystick).

Do we actually know what this is yet? because the indigogo page 
certainly doesn't go into implementation details and all I've seen is 
lots of speculation based mostly on Chris' previous speccy-in-a-joystick 
project that he couldn't find an interested manufacturer for.

The video where Chris shows the board he says it contains three chips, 
an ARM SoC, memory, and flash. That's the extent of the technical 
details released as far as I can see.

Guesser.

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#3298

On Wed, 03 Dec 2014 19:34:51 +0000 da kidz on comp.sys.sinclair were rappin'
to MC Guesser:

> On 03/12/2014 17:49, Chris Young wrote:
> > This isn't emulation either.  It's more akin to the MiniMig I think
> > (I'm more familiar with that than C64-in-a-joystick).
> 
> Do we actually know what this is yet? because the indigogo page 
> certainly doesn't go into implementation details and all I've seen is 
> lots of speculation based mostly on Chris' previous speccy-in-a-joystick 
> project that he couldn't find an interested manufacturer for.
> 
> The video where Chris shows the board he says it contains three chips, 
> an ARM SoC, memory, and flash. That's the extent of the technical 
> details released as far as I can see.

I thought I'd read that it was ASIC or something, but if it's using an
ARM SoC then it sounds emulated.

I sort of assumed it would be a modern Z80 with an FPGA ULA and some
other logic glue.  It's not as if the Speccy is particularly
complicated.

Chris


-- 
+-------------------------------------------+
| Unsatisfactory Software - "because it is" |
|  http://www.unsatisfactorysoftware.co.uk  |
| Your Sinclair: A Celebration              |
+- http://www.yoursinclair.co.uk -----------+

DISCLAIMER: I may be making all this stuff up again.

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#3305

On 02/12/2014 18:52, Chris Young wrote:
> On Tue, 02 Dec 2014 14:18:05 +0000 da kidz on comp.sys.sinclair were rappin'
> to MC Andrew Owen:
>
>> It's definitely aimed at gamers. There's an SD card slot but I don't
>> know if it supports saving. There's no trivial way to add a keyboard
>> although I expect someone will hack something together.
>
> Reading the comments on Eurogamer today, I agree with a lot of the
> points raised.  The main one is that it needs a proper (ie. one
> without most of the keys missing) keyboard, as there are quite a
> number of games that rely on lots and lots of different keys.

Most of the games should be playable with the four direction buttons and 
the other four buttons, all of which are reprogrammable. There's an 
onscreen keyboaord for dealing with things like the hi-score table. Most 
of the target audience won't care about the lack of a keybaord, but the 
company has said it is investigating producing accessories.

> Another point was that it should have HDMI out and joystick ports.

HDMI would have required an 8 layer PCB and increased the cost for 
certification. The Raspberry Pi wouldn't pass consumer certification. It 
gets away with it because it's a hobbyist board.

> I'd stratch the joystick ports - just give it some USB ports and get
> it to support generic HID joysticks/joypads.  USB would solve the
> keyboard problem too.

Well indeed, old style joysticks are hard to find. But if Chris has left 
USB connectors off the device there's probably a good reason for it and 
that reason is probably cost.

> I'm curious as to whether the D-pad is re-programmable.  I suppose it
> must be.  Playing Spectrum games on something akin to a joypad seems
> wrong though.

It is, but I want to know if it can handle shifted keys.

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#3313

On Sun, 07 Dec 2014 10:30:01 +0000
Andrew Owen <aowen10@mail.bbk.ac.uk> wrote:

> HDMI would have required an 8 layer PCB and increased the cost for 
> certification. The Raspberry Pi wouldn't pass consumer certification.
> It gets away with it because it's a hobbyist board.

I'm at a loss for words.

-- 
Duncan Snowden.

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#3316

On 07/12/2014 18:20, Duncan Snowden wrote:
> On Sun, 07 Dec 2014 10:30:01 +0000
> Andrew Owen <aowen10@mail.bbk.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>> HDMI would have required an 8 layer PCB and increased the cost for
>> certification. The Raspberry Pi wouldn't pass consumer certification.
>> It gets away with it because it's a hobbyist board.
>
> I'm at a loss for words.
>
Yeah it's a drag. HDMI would be a lot more convenient.

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#3291

On 01/12/2014 20:01, Andrew Owen wrote:
> https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/sinclair-zx-spectrum-vega
>
> It's endorsed by Sir Clive, and licensed by BSkyB.

It looks interesting but the lack of a keyboard means that the games 
requiring a more complex input than the few buttons provided may prove a 
problem.

I'm guessing that 'The Hobbit', even with a virtual keyboard, would be 
unplayable.

I loiks the Hobbit oi does.
I think that I will stick with Marvin on my android device.

Andy

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#3293

AndyW wrote:

> I'm guessing that 'The Hobbit', even with a virtual keyboard, would
> be unplayable.

Maybe there is a kind of a bios, where you can set up the few keys it
has.

Sure it has an usb keyboard-connector (kind of PC-Keyb to Speccy
interface solution)....
yes?


-- 
Daniel Mandic

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#3294 — Re: New ZX Spectrum announcedr

Chris Smith has tweeted in relation to a keyboard "Expansion has always been a consideration. Still under review."
"Recommended retail price will be less."
However having secured funding for the first thousand, the next three thousand are sold via a £50 option to purchase in June for an additional £100 making £150 plus p+p. 
Close to what I paid back in 1983 :-)
That's proper nostalgia.

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#3326

On Monday, 1 December 2014 20:01:45 UTC, Andrew Owen  wrote:
> https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/sinclair-zx-spectrum-vega
> 
> It's endorsed by Sir Clive, and licensed by BSkyB.

Nah. Screw that. No keyboard. Not interested. I'll stick with me '83 Issue 3, thanks.

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