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Re: OT: 30th anniversary of ZX Spectrum!

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  Re: OT: 30th anniversary of ZX Spectrum! Froot Bat <me@privacy.net> - 2012-04-23 01:56 +0000
    Re: OT: 30th anniversary of ZX Spectrum! Gerard Sweeney <gerardNO.Spamsweeney@ntlworld.com> - 2012-04-23 06:48 +0100
      Re: OT: 30th anniversary of ZX Spectrum! Froot Bat <me@privacy.net> - 2012-04-23 20:33 +0000
      Re: OT: 30th anniversary of ZX Spectrum! rogerjowett <rogerjowett@gmail.com> - 2012-05-18 05:12 -0700
    Re: OT: 30th anniversary of ZX Spectrum! Dry Gulch Pete <pacifico@btopenworld.com> - 2012-04-22 23:09 -0700
    Re: OT: 30th anniversary of ZX Spectrum! "GordonD" <g.davie@btinternet.com> - 2012-04-23 10:16 +0100
      Re: OT: 30th anniversary of ZX Spectrum! Froot Bat <me@privacy.net> - 2012-04-23 20:36 +0000
      Re: OT: 30th anniversary of ZX Spectrum! G Daeb <sipston_777@my-deja.com> - 2012-04-27 12:46 -0700
    Re: OT: 30th anniversary of ZX Spectrum! "Paul E Collins" <equi+web@cl4.invalid> - 2012-04-23 10:34 +0100
      Re: OT: 30th anniversary of ZX Spectrum! Gerard Sweeney <gerardNO.Spamsweeney@ntlworld.com> - 2012-04-23 21:11 +0100
        Re: OT: 30th anniversary of ZX Spectrum! G Daeb <sipston_777@my-deja.com> - 2012-04-27 12:48 -0700
    Re: OT: 30th anniversary of ZX Spectrum! G Daeb <sipston_777@my-deja.com> - 2012-04-27 12:42 -0700

#861 — Re: OT: 30th anniversary of ZX Spectrum!

On Sun, 22 Apr 2012 17:02:32 -0700 (PDT), Dry Gulch Pete
<pacifico@btopenworld.com> wrote:

>https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ZX+Spectrum&ct=stgeorge12-hp&oi=ddle&psj=1

Nice of them to finally mark a genuinely important and revolutionary
historical event (along with some bloke on a horse). But given the
effort they put in for rubbish like Pac Man they could have at least
changed their logo to an emulator, or some levels of Manic Miner.

>OMG my nephew had one. You could get 32K or 64K. 

16k or 48k. I still have my (16k) Spectrum, heavily used, worn rubber
keys and taped-up adapter but still working, and a (non-working, I
think) Spectrum 128k.

Just threw out tons and tons and tons (a lot) of games a month or two
ago actually, since there's no likelyhood of playing them again,
especially not with emulators. Pity really, because a lot of pocket
money was spent on them, they were in good nick and some of them were
nicely boxed, with booklets/novellas and such.

A booklet I still have is the 'ZX Spectrum Introduction' that came
with the computer. Page 17, "Simple programming":

10 LET b$="What is your age? "
20 LET a$="Your age is "
30 INPUT (b$);age
40 PRINT a$;age

30! The Speccy, not me.

Still have the thicker, ring bound "BASIC programming" book too.
Anyone know of a Spectrum emulator that isn't a pain in the arse to
type with using a PC keyboard, in case I ever get the urge to PLOT and
DRAW stuff one day?

comp.sys.sinclair added.

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#863

Getting down with the 82 crew On 23/04/2012 02:56, Froot Bat wrote:

> Just threw out tons and tons and tons (a lot) of games a month or two
> ago actually, since there's no likelyhood of playing them again,
> especially not with emulators. Pity really, because a lot of pocket
> money was spent on them, they were in good nick and some of them were
> nicely boxed, with booklets/novellas and such.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ([THWACK!] Ed) ... You could have 
donated them to the Tape Preservation chaps at WoS.

> Anyone know of a Spectrum emulator that isn't a pain in the arse to
> type with using a PC keyboard, in case I ever get the urge to PLOT and
> DRAW stuff one day?

ZX SPIN should do nicely. Or you could use BASin which is designed 
specifically for folk wanting to do programming with handy things like 
copy/paste.

> comp.sys.sinclair added.


Erm - "liked". Or something. As it should be :)

Toodle-pip!
Gerard


-- 
Gerard Sweeney
Hackers Anonymous/Team Amiga
http://fly.to/ha3 and http://www.the-tipshop.co.uk

This week I mapped and gapped the requirements to consolidate
everything into a program of work to maximize synergy capture
and optimize our resource utilization. If any of that sounded
like work, I'll do some more of it next week.
(Wally, dilbert.com, 11 June 07)

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#891

On Mon, 23 Apr 2012 06:48:48 +0100, Gerard Sweeney
<gerardNO.Spamsweeney@ntlworld.com> wrote:

>Getting down with the 82 crew On 23/04/2012 02:56, Froot Bat wrote:
>
>> Just threw out tons and tons and tons (a lot) of games a month or two
>> ago actually, since there's no likelyhood of playing them again,
>> especially not with emulators. Pity really, because a lot of pocket
>> money was spent on them, they were in good nick and some of them were
>> nicely boxed, with booklets/novellas and such.
>
>Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ([THWACK!] Ed) ... You could have 
>donated them to the Tape Preservation chaps at WoS.

Sorry, didn't know anywhere that takes old taps. AFAICS though, they
just want TZX files from the tapes (too much hassle, TBH) and scans. I
don't have a scanner, but have a DSLR so I could/should have maybe
taken shots of the boxes for posterity, since some of the inlays/
boxes were pretty good/interesting.

Oh well. I doubt I had anything they don't already have there anyway.
I don't know if WoS is always slow, or if it's just the inevitable
traffic spike today, or just my ISP, which has been useless lately,
but pages are crawling or failing to load for me.

>> Anyone know of a Spectrum emulator that isn't a pain in the arse to
>> type with using a PC keyboard, in case I ever get the urge to PLOT and
>> DRAW stuff one day?
>
>ZX SPIN should do nicely. Or you could use BASin which is designed 
>specifically for folk wanting to do programming with handy things like 
>copy/paste.

Thanks. Couldn't download it from WoS, but found SpecBAS by the same
author, which may be a newer/updated version. Not so interested in C&P
as just having characters in the same place on the keyboard.

Any pointers on (Windows or Linux) programs people use to write games
or other software for the Spectrum/emulators?

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#1019

On Apr 23, 6:48 am, Gerard Sweeney <gerardNO.Spamswee...@ntlworld.com>
wrote:
> Getting down with the 82 crew On 23/04/2012 02:56, Froot Bat wrote:
>
> > Just threw out tons and tons and tons (a lot) of games a month or two
> > ago actually, since there's no likelyhood of playing them again,
> > especially not with emulators. Pity really, because a lot of pocket
> > money was spent on them, they were in good nick and some of them were
> > nicely boxed, with booklets/novellas and such.
>
> Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ([THWACK!] Ed) ... You could have
> donated them to the Tape Preservation chaps at WoS.
>
> > Anyone know of a Spectrum emulator that isn't a pain in the arse to
> > type with using a PC keyboard, in case I ever get the urge to PLOT and
> > DRAW stuff one day?
>
> ZX SPIN should do nicely. Or you could use BASin which is designed
> specifically for folk wanting to do programming with handy things like
> copy/paste.
>
> > comp.sys.sinclair added.
>
> Erm - "liked". Or something. As it should be :)
>
> Toodle-pip!
> Gerard
>
> --
> Gerard Sweeney
> Hackers Anonymous/Team Amigahttp://fly.to/ha3andhttp://www.the-tipshop.co.uk
>
> This week I mapped and gapped the requirements to consolidate
> everything into a program of work to maximize synergy capture
> and optimize our resource utilization. If any of that sounded
> like work, I'll do some more of it next week.
> (Wally, dilbert.com, 11 June 07)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc4Xoz75yHI

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#864

On Apr 23, 2:56 am, Froot Bat <m...@privacy.net> wrote:
> On Sun, 22 Apr 2012 17:02:32 -0700 (PDT), Dry Gulch Pete
>
> <pacif...@btopenworld.com> wrote:
> >https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ZX+Spectrum&ct=stgeorge12-hp&oi=ddl...
>
> Nice of them to finally mark a genuinely important and revolutionary
> historical event (along with some bloke on a horse). But given the
> effort they put in for rubbish like Pac Man they could have at least
> changed their logo to an emulator, or some levels of Manic Miner.
>
> >OMG my nephew had one. You could get 32K or 64K.
>
> 16k or 48k. I still have my (16k) Spectrum, heavily used, worn rubber
> keys and taped-up adapter but still working, and a (non-working, I
> think) Spectrum 128k.
>
> Just threw out tons and tons and tons (a lot) of games a month or two
> ago actually, since there's no likelyhood of playing them again,
> especially not with emulators.

I've got a Commodore-64 Web.it from 1999 with an emulator and I still
can't get Robin Hood out of the dungeon!

> Pity really, because a lot of pocket
> money was spent on them, they were in good nick and some of them were
> nicely boxed, with booklets/novellas and such.
>
> A booklet I still have is the 'ZX Spectrum Introduction' that came
> with the computer. Page 17, "Simple programming":
>
> 10 LET b$="What is your age? "
> 20 LET a$="Your age is "
> 30 INPUT (b$);age
> 40 PRINT a$;age
>
> 30! The Speccy, not me.

At work I made a clock in BASIC that chimed, lol - I was supposed to
be programming other stuff.

> Still have the thicker, ring bound "BASIC programming" book too.
> Anyone know of a Spectrum emulator that isn't a pain in the arse to
> type with using a PC keyboard, in case I ever get the urge to PLOT and
> DRAW stuff one day?
>
> comp.sys.sinclair added.

Interesting.

--
DGP

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#867

"Froot Bat" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message 
news:4f94b6e9$0$29259$8a667849@news.ak47.org...
> On Sun, 22 Apr 2012 17:02:32 -0700 (PDT), Dry Gulch Pete
> <pacifico@btopenworld.com> wrote:
>
>>https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ZX+Spectrum&ct=stgeorge12-hp&oi=ddle&psj=1
>
> Nice of them to finally mark a genuinely important and revolutionary
> historical event (along with some bloke on a horse). But given the
> effort they put in for rubbish like Pac Man they could have at least
> changed their logo to an emulator, or some levels of Manic Miner.
>
>>OMG my nephew had one. You could get 32K or 64K.
>
> 16k or 48k. I still have my (16k) Spectrum, heavily used, worn rubber
> keys and taped-up adapter but still working, and a (non-working, I
> think) Spectrum 128k.


I remember one of the Speccy mags printed an article which explained that 
all Spectrum computers (deliberately phrased that way to avoid having to 
decide what the plural is!) were identical inside but the ones marketed as 
16k had part of the memory disabled. But they printed a lengthy machine code 
program which they said would temporarily unlock that section of RAM. I did 
have a 48k machine but was bored one day so typed in the program. And when I 
ran it, it displayed "April Fool!" in huge letters!
-- 
Gordon Davie
Edinburgh, Scotland

"Slipped the surly bonds of Earth...to touch the face of God." 

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#892

On Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:16:25 +0100, "GordonD" <g.davie@btinternet.com>
wrote:

>"Froot Bat" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message 
>news:4f94b6e9$0$29259$8a667849@news.ak47.org...
>> I still have my (16k) Spectrum, heavily used, worn rubber
>> keys and taped-up adapter but still working, and a (non-working, I
>> think) Spectrum 128k.
>
>I remember one of the Speccy mags printed an article which explained that 
>all Spectrum computers (deliberately phrased that way to avoid having to 
>decide what the plural is!) were identical inside but the ones marketed as 
>16k had part of the memory disabled. But they printed a lengthy machine code 
>program which they said would temporarily unlock that section of RAM. I did 
>have a 48k machine but was bored one day so typed in the program. And when I 
>ran it, it displayed "April Fool!" in huge letters!

That's a good one. :D I never saw that (otherwise I'd have definitely
tried it), but to this day I'm still annoyed that just a few days
after I bought my 16k Spectrum, the price of the 48k dropped from £175
to the old price of the 16k. Bastards (John Menzies) must have known
it was about to be reduced, too.

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#938

On Apr 23, 10:16 am, "GordonD" <g.da...@btinternet.com> wrote:
> "Froot Bat" <m...@privacy.net> wrote in message
>
> news:4f94b6e9$0$29259$8a667849@news.ak47.org...
>
> > On Sun, 22 Apr 2012 17:02:32 -0700 (PDT), Dry Gulch Pete
> > <pacif...@btopenworld.com> wrote:
>
> >>https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ZX+Spectrum&ct=stgeorge12-hp&oi=ddl...
>
> > Nice of them to finally mark a genuinely important and revolutionary
> > historical event (along with some bloke on a horse). But given the
> > effort they put in for rubbish like Pac Man they could have at least
> > changed their logo to an emulator, or some levels of Manic Miner.
>
> >>OMG my nephew had one. You could get 32K or 64K.

Could you expand the the Vic20 - whose brains shuffled
off this mortal coil the other week to 32K? And then the
Commodore 64 came along, with sprites?

DRAGONS - made in Wales - were 32K and, later, 64K
and could be used to make crude audio samples among
other things.

People complain that SPECTRUMs took ages to load
games, but gamers I work with complain they never have
time to roll a smoke with the consoles they use.

> > 16k or 48k. I still have my (16k) Spectrum, heavily used, worn rubber
> > keys and taped-up adapter but still working, and a (non-working, I
> > think) Spectrum 128k.
>
> I remember one of the Speccy mags printed an article which explained that
> all Spectrum computers (deliberately phrased that way to avoid having to
> decide what the plural is!) were identical inside but the ones marketed as
> 16k had part of the memory disabled. But they printed a lengthy machine code
> program which they said would temporarily unlock that section of RAM. I did
> have a 48k machine but was bored one day so typed in the program. And when I
> ran it, it displayed "April Fool!" in huge letters!
> --
> Gordon Davie
> Edinburgh, Scotland
>
> "Slipped the surly bonds of Earth...to touch the face of God."

G DAEB
COPYRIGHT (C) 2012 SIPSTON
--

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#869

On Mon, 23 Apr 2012 02:56:59 +0100, Froot Bat <me@privacy.net> wrote:

> Nice of them to finally mark a genuinely important and revolutionary
> historical event (along with some bloke on a horse).

Is he slaying a Dragon 32?

Eq.

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#889

As part of his interview for "Speccy: On the road again" (Coming soon to 
Living TV), On 23/04/2012 10:34, Paul E Collins wrote:
> Is he slaying a Dragon 32?

Zing!

(What a worthwhile contribution. Ed)

Toodle-pip!
Gerard

-- 
Gerard Sweeney
Hackers Anonymous/Team Amiga
http://fly.to/ha3 and http://www.the-tipshop.co.uk

AJ: Whatever did we do before digital cameras?
Mike: Probably only took sensible photos.
(userfriendly.org, 08/12/04)

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#939

On Apr 23, 9:11 pm, Gerard Sweeney <gerardNO.Spamswee...@ntlworld.com>
wrote:
> As part of his interview for "Speccy: On the road again" (Coming soon to
> Living TV), On 23/04/2012 10:34, Paul E Collins wrote:
>
> > Is he slaying a Dragon 32?
>
> Zing!

Or was that the sound of a C5 being crushed under hooves?

> (What a worthwhile contribution. Ed)
>
> Toodle-pip!
> Gerard
>
> --
> Gerard Sweeney
> Hackers Anonymous/Team Amigahttp://fly.to/ha3andhttp://www.the-tipshop.co.uk
>
> AJ: Whatever did we do before digital cameras?
> Mike: Probably only took sensible photos.
> (userfriendly.org, 08/12/04)

G DAEB
COPYRIGHT (C) 2012 SIPSTON
--

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#937

On Apr 23, 2:56 am, Froot Bat <m...@privacy.net> wrote:
> On Sun, 22 Apr 2012 17:02:32 -0700 (PDT), Dry Gulch Pete
>
> <pacif...@btopenworld.com> wrote:
> >https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ZX+Spectrum&ct=stgeorge12-hp&oi=ddl...
>
> Nice of them to finally mark a genuinely important and revolutionary
> historical event (along with some bloke on a horse). But given the
> effort they put in for rubbish like Pac Man they could have at least
> changed their logo to an emulator, or some levels of Manic Miner.
>
> >OMG my nephew had one. You could get 32K or 64K.
>
> 16k or 48k. I still have my (16k) Spectrum, heavily used, worn rubber
> keys and taped-up adapter but still working, and a (non-working, I
> think) Spectrum 128k.
>
> Just threw out tons and tons and tons (a lot) of games a month or two
> ago actually, since there's no likelyhood of playing them again,
> especially not with emulators. Pity really, because a lot of pocket
> money was spent on them, they were in good nick and some of them were
> nicely boxed, with booklets/novellas and such.
>
> A booklet I still have is the 'ZX Spectrum Introduction' that came
> with the computer. Page 17, "Simple programming":
>
> 10 LET b$="What is your age? "
> 20 LET a$="Your age is "
> 30 INPUT (b$);age
> 40 PRINT a$;age
>
> 30! The Speccy, not me.
>
> Still have the thicker, ring bound "BASIC programming" book too.
> Anyone know of a Spectrum emulator that isn't a pain in the arse to
> type with using a PC keyboard, in case I ever get the urge to PLOT and
> DRAW stuff one day?
>
> comp.sys.sinclair added.

Is it possible that any emulators wirtten in AppleScript
can be extended to use the iPad screen along with the
original syntax texts added to the keys (maybe a floating
template would work).

G DAEB
COPYRIGHT (C) 2012 SIPSTON
--

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