Sinclair Miscellaneous - World of Spectrum

Complete Spectrum ROM Disassembly copyright

SkoolKid — Mon, 30 May 2016 16:20:51 +0000

Apologies if the answer to this question lies somewhere in the bowels of this forum, but I couldn't find any information on it.

It's impossible to throw a stone around here without hitting a PDF of the The Complete Spectrum ROM Disassembly (by Logan and O'Hara), which was copied from the original text by members of this very forum (and perhaps others). What I'm wondering is from whom (if anyone) permission was granted to copy and distribute a digital version of the book. Do any of the transcribers who still visit this place know and remember?

The reason I ask is that I'm considering doing a SkoolKit job on the Spectrum ROM and publishing the result. Being able to use the original annotations by Logan and O'Hara would make the task a lot easier.

Recreated ZX Spectrum thoughts

Tucker — Fri, 06 Nov 2015 19:50:07 +0000

I have a recreated ZX Spectrum (and a Vega and a 48K with SMART) and while I know it is not well regarded I actually quite like it. The app is "ok" and the games play very well on iPad. I also have AirPlay working and plays great on TV (with no need for composite video fiddling).

I have also been playing with the new Apple TV 4. I have it with the Nimbus controllers for some gaming and a few UI issues aside the ATV 4 is an amazing device.

I have been playing with the ATV4 in Xcode and free provisioning now makes it easy to load apps onto the ATV (or iOS devices) using a personal team developer (free). All that is needed is a little configuration with setups and a USB-C lead. I ran a few of my own apps including am emulator (basic) and it all worked well. ATV4 provides a very neat platform - fast CPU, decent storage and memory, wifi, network, HDMI etc. all backed up with an excellent App Store, payment platform etc. It intrigues me. I have never been that fussed about touch for gaming but the ATV4 on TV with proper controllers suddenly feels a lot different and inspires me to play games on it and also to have a fiddle with some of my own apps.

I built Provenance and installed it. Awesome SNES, MegaDrive, GameBoy etc. emulation that is virtually flawless. I have tried some of the challenging SNES games especially with FX chip and they all run. I have the SNES and ATV4 side by side and I can't see a lot different (apart from the video on the ATV is a lot more vibrant and sharp). If you haven't seen Provenance it is worth a look "". (I quoted the link as I couldn't get it to play when embedded) The full source is available for a look at how it works https://github.com/jasarien/Provenance. This is based on OpenEMU which is a brilliant emulation platform for OS X. All of these make emulation plug and play and the tvOS and iOS on Provenance even have a built in web server to load ROMs.

So what has all this to do with Spectrum? Well I did wonder if the recreated ZX Spectrum being Bluetooth could work with the ATV4. If it does then suddenly there is a platform to run an emulator for Spectrum that works on TV with HDMI, has a proper (full size) keyboard and is online and available for "in app" purchases or even and "in app" Spectrum game store. The Vega shows that emulation could work and the ATV4 is far faster and more capable than the SoC in the Vega. Apps such as Spectaculator already exist and given the similarity between iOS and tvOS a port would not be a massive job. It could be interesting and if license deals for games could be worked it could address a lot of concerns.

I am not yet sure if the recreated Spectrum will connect to the ATV4 as a lot of BT profiles have been changed (keyboards now don't connect for example). I had a look around inside the recreated Spectrum and I can see a board and micro controller so I suppose the system could be updated to support an MFI controller protocol to work with ATV. I plan to have a quick look at the Bluetooth connection from the keyboard using either Arduino with BT or the debugger running on iOS.

Just some random thinking and wondered what anyone else would think?

Art style with A.I.

endi — Sat, 28 May 2016 19:42:46 +0000

I have found this very cool web page, where you can convert an image to the style of an other image.
https://deepart.io/latest/
I think this is incredible!

And I use a specy image as stlye to convert. :)

The result: https://deepart.io/img/KaefEtCa/
The original: https://deepart-io.s3.amazonaws.com/content/OBhxCYNiAZnobTHLrctdKVjJq.jpg
The style image (a loading screen of a specy game): https://deepart-io.s3.amazonaws.com/style/LICqKsHBibXFQGmMhRWpyAvDE.png

Infoseek as a web service

mheide — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:00:22 +0000

Following up from this thread, what sort of abilities would emulator and other application authors be looking for?
Depending on the proposed use, I might be able to provide it (time permitting, etc., so not right away but at some point).

Spectrum Search - Alpha One Release

jonesypeter — Thu, 26 May 2016 17:57:24 +0000

I would like to announce Spectrum Search. This uses the JSON feed from http://search.kolbeck.dk, and the files are taken from the WoS mirror.

This is a very early alpha release. All the code is Open Source. I have placed it for the short term on my work server, but the joy is you can install it on your home PC or Laptop as it is all client side.

All the magazine links work (Yippee - I know a lot of users want that back)

The pages are not styled in any way, but of course you can do that if you wish. The main page is built with Bootstrap so can be responsive if required.

For now you need to add the InfoSeek 7 Digit ID to the end of the URL like this example below.

This won't be for all, but I wanted something which gave me the magazines back without needing to run scripts on top of WoS, and that I could run on my own machine.

http://misconsultancy.co.uk/search/index.html?id=0004177

We have just pulled through everything from the feed for now, obviously you can adjust this to your own tastes.

Note, if you just get the egg timer then hit refresh.

The coding is done with Jquery and was developed by a friend of mine last Saturday.

Contact me via messages with any questions.

It goes without saying that when the WoS team finish development of the new site with the new API feeds, this will be withdrawn.

As I say, it won't be for everyone, but if you like it then please use it and enjoy.

The next release will include a game search engine. Credit to kolbeck and the WoS mirror will be added shortly.

Sinclair Research Limited - An Alternate Reality.

Scottie_uk — Tue, 17 May 2016 15:27:34 +0000

So, we all know that Sinclair Research went down the tubes because of a lack of focus on the core product, computers. We know that Clive wasted it on projects such as the Sinclair C5 but what if.....

What if in an alternate reality Clive did just what those at Appple did, and invested the money in nothing but making batter, sexier and more versatile and powerful computers? What if the QL did not end up being a commercial failure but soothing that could give the Amiga and ST a good beating. Could Sinclair Research be where apple is now? If it were it would probably be Britain's biggest export.

I'd love it know if Sinclair were making Black Clam-shell laptops like the MacBook Pro, sexy UHD monitors, desktops and tablets.

Having said that Clive is/was no Steve Jobs was he?

Yerz ZX Spectrum gig in "Polikultura" festival, May 2016, Krakow

Yerzmyey — Sun, 22 May 2016 14:49:51 +0000

Hi,

there was my tiny chiptune concert in Krakow, 20 May 2016, within the Festival of Culture and Media "Polikultura" organized by Jagiellonian University.

A fragment on video: https://youtu.be/vLLihIwdC7o

The photos: http://yerzmyey.i-demo.pl/RetroSpectrum-Polikultura_YERZMYEY_Chiptune-Concert_05-2016_Krakow.zip

My setup this time was:

For sequences
- Speccy 2010
- Raspberry Pi 2

For the main part / leading instruments
- Novation Mininova
- Yamaha PSS-51

For special effects
- Korg Monotron Delay
- Casio SA-47

Plus the usual additional stuff like the Behringer mixer and the Zoom FX module.

THE SNAKES' NEST ;)

PAW assistance required

Gilby — Sun, 22 May 2016 08:07:00 +0000

Hi,

I'm after some assistance in relation to an adventure that was written using PAW.

Is there anyone out there who's experienced in using PAW and maybe has knowledge of PAW from a technical perspective who can drop me a line to possibly offer assistance?

Cheers, Steve
Gilby6@btinternet.com

ZX-Wheelie Bin

R-Tape — Sun, 15 May 2016 20:28:22 +0000

Anyone know a good place I can print off some durable ZX based stickers I can put on my wheelie bin? I have a couple of designs in mind (yep trashman) but google has failed me.

For various reasons I chose to live in an area where one has to fight like a wild beast to keep the local hyenas from stealing it, personalisation helps

Hi-res graphics mode in the ZX81?

Ivanzx — Fri, 06 May 2016 09:36:04 +0000

Hi all, I am starting to discover this interesting machine :)
I have a question for those experts in the ZX81: The Hi-res mode was an option available back in the day in the 80s or wa some sort of enhancement that was added in this Homebrew era?

Thanks!

Issue 5 Speccy

Will Woodvine — Wed, 11 May 2016 21:56:53 +0000

It looks like someone just picked up an Issue 5 Speccy on one of the Facebook groups for damn good price!

Only massively gutted I missed out! :D

What Speccy Game Would You Most Like To See As A Movie?

usspeccyfan — Mon, 16 May 2005 14:08:00 +0000

My choice is Skool Daze. or Thanatos

Kickstarter for The Fantasy Art of Oliver Frey (Extended Edition)

mjwilson — Mon, 02 May 2016 15:25:21 +0000

For fans of Oli Frey's artwork in CRASH and other magazines, I just found this Kickstarter for an "extended edition" of "The Fantasy Art of Oliver Frey". Looks great to me (but as a CRASH fan I'm biased I suppose).

It's at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/47744432/the-fantasy-art-of-oliver-frey

New clone?

DavidB — Sat, 30 Apr 2016 13:36:36 +0000

http://www.specnext.com/

As mentioned by Hewson

SUC-Session magazine is back, get it here for free

Speccyman — Sat, 26 Dec 2015 21:29:12 +0000

Hello friends of the Spectrum,

based on the results of our voting, we have created our new magazine and we invite you to download this issue:

German: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxqmldUD2tdTUDU0b1dWak9neDg/view?usp=sharing
English: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxqmldUD2tdTU01JTlhSc3kyQ1E/view?usp=sharing

We are just at the start of our way and at the end should be a great international magazine. We have gone away from the usual A5 fanzine format and therfore choosen a real magazine format. All who want can subscribe to the real printed coloured issue, all others still have the PDF and can print in whatever format they want (or read on the screen).

The readers decide about the content of the mag, we cannot fill it alone. In order to motivate more people to send us their articles, we worked out a concept that makes it possible that everyone who supports us can get the magazine for free. There is no duty in this, who supports us gets points and can use this points to buy the next issue. If you don´t send in articles, you will just get no points,but can still buy the magazine.

I want to point out that wether Mirko nor me are taking any profit from the magazine. It is important for us that you know that we are making this work for free, just for the Spectrum.

Here are the prices:
Package 1: SUC-Session printed with SCENE+ disc magazin (MB02/Opus/+D) or tape, ready in your postbox: 26,00 Euro for 3 issues (planned number for one year)
Package 2: SUC-Session printed with SCENE+ disc magazin as Tap-Download: 20,00 Euro for 3 issues
Package 3: SUC-Session as PDF download with Scene+ disc magazin as Tap download: 6 Euro for 3 issues
Package 4: SUC-Sesson as PDF download and Scene+ disc magazin on (MB02/Opus/+D) or tape send by mail: 12,00 Euro for 3 issues

Instead of Euro you can also pay in SUC-coins. 1 SUC-coin is worth 1 Euro. You can get SUC-coins for the following work:
1) Send in an article, 2 coins when we print it
2) Send in own programs, previously unreleased. 8 coins when we release it on Scene+
3) Translate articles, german-english or english-german: 1 coin
4) Hack or convert a program to Opus/+D: 2 coins
5) No coins so far for small readers letters, but if we make an article out of your readers letters, you will get 1 coin

This means, if you send in just one article per issue, you would get SUC-Session and SCENE+ as download totally free of charge. Who wants the printed issue with disk have to do more work, but with sending in a own written program or writing 3 articles and make 2 translations you can even get this. So everyone has the possibility to get all our offered packages totally for free.

You don´t have to be already a subscriber to earn coins. You can just send in articles and you get the coins. If you are interested to help us with conversions or translations, contact me and I surely have some work to give you. The so earned coins you can use and buy one of our magazine packages.

Everybody can decide himself, how much support he can give us and what he want to get for it. Welcome are of course also those who will not earn coins but pay for their subscription. Also this financial support is important because finally we have of course costs to cover.

We are glad about any comment, let us know your feedback and send in your ideas. We hope that you will allow us to continue and produce fine magazines for you. But therefore please support us.

Contact us via PM here, or use the contact form on our website www.speccy-scene.de

All we wish you a merry christmas.

Best regards

Mirko + Thomas

Hacker needed (Opus Discovery)

Speccyman — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 07:50:34 +0000

Hello, I once was in contact with a guy who converted some games to Opus format. The contact was via the PM function here on WOS, but after the WOS-update, all old mails are lost and so I lost this contact.

I hope to get in contact again.

Our magazine needs support. We convert games for several disc systems. Although we just converted METAL MAN to +D/Disciple, we failed to do this for Opus as well. The loading routines are in machine code, so this is nothing we can solve with Basic.

I hope any expert who is familiar with MC-loading routines of the Opus will write me.

Regards

Thomas

Retro Gamer 154

jdanddiet — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 09:20:58 +0000

Just plugging the current issue as I wrote two Speccy-orientated articles for it on Starstrike and Cobra, two of my fave games.

THE DISTRIBUTION - Word is out!

QLvsJAGUAR — Fri, 15 May 2015 17:41:32 +0000

As the Forum was not available for a while, there wasn't a good possibility to post the news to the WoS community. Here it is:

Lucerne, Apr 29th 2015 Urs König of COWO Enterprises LLC proudly releases
QL IS 30 2014 - THE DISTRIBUTION for public download. This distribution is
the successor to the QL Today 2013 The Final DVD which was sent out to
subscribers in September 2013 with The Final Issue of the QL Today magazine.
The new version holds everything which was on the DVD, but has been
carefully updated and supplemented with new material - Urs has been able to
add some real long lost gems and an exclusive new release of a formerly
commercial package, QDT the ultimate QL desktop - created or preserved
during the last few months. Altogether there are 4.7 GB of QL related
documents, software and pictures on this distribution. Preconfigured QL
emulators for use under Windows, Mac OS and even Linux make it easy to bring
the QL (back) to your desk. Great ways to (re-)start programming for the QL
or using QL programs. QL IS 30 2014 - THE DISTRIBUTION is free which means
it can be downloaded, used and given to friends by anyone at no cost. QL
forever!
http://www.sinclairql.net/

Cheers,

Urs

30 years ago today, launch of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum!

QLvsJAGUAR — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:54:41 +0000

Friday, April 23th 1982 - At a press conference at the Churchill Hotel, Clive Sinclair revealed to the world his new personal computer, the ZX Spectrum. The rest is history!

Happy 30th birthday anniversary, Speccy!

My birthday present is a video (follow link) for you guys to enjoy!
http://youtu.be/Kh4hkIyjdNE

Sinclair ZX Spectrum
30th Birthday Anniversary 2012
The Movie

Please have a look to the video description for more information including a *News Ticker* plus a download link to the exclusive "Media Kit".

Feel free to share/spread/use this as you like.

Cheers, Urs

Probe Software and Fergus McGovern

merman — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 16:22:34 +0000

In memory of the late Fergus McGovern, Retro Gamer is putting together a history of Probe Software.

I'm looking to contact people who worked with Fergus and Probe over the years, to get their memories of the company.

Today 30 years ago it all ended, at least officially...

QLvsJAGUAR — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 19:30:31 +0000

Today 30 years ago what was announced to the press resulted in a new start for almost the entire crew of Sinclair Research Ltd.

At 20 seconds there's a short scene of how work in the Sinclair offices was.

Wally is out there

Luny — Sun, 10 Apr 2016 17:57:43 +0000

Was doing some mindless search today and come across this

https://www.facebook.com/WallysAutoRepairVT/?ref=nf

Has anyone else come across 'real life' speccy characters?

Thanks for the support!!

rich_chandler — Sat, 09 Apr 2016 10:53:35 +0000

There's been a bit of (unwanted and unprovoked) negative commentary made by an ex-WoSser on Twitter and FB recently and the support for WoS from the two main Spectrum FB pages (WOS & Spectrum4Ever) is most gratifying and reassuring.

We have known for some time that support and interest for the Spectrum would dwindle as the years roll on (in fact it's something that has been mentioned and discussed on WoS on a semi-regular basis for more than 10 years), we all get older, get different interests with real life also rearing it's ugly head and sadly some of us start to pass away (morbid isn't it!!) but I have to say that we are still getting a steady flow of applicants joining this site. Some take active participation in the forums whilst others just prefer to lurk and take advantage of the vast archive.
It's really is quite humbling and satisfying to know that since the recent upheavals WoS is slowly (actually not so slowly) growing bigger and stronger again, the forums are getting more lively and the discussions are more Spectrum based than they have been for some time.
Once Lee has managed to get all the behind the scenes work done (and he is getting there!!) we will be in a very nice comfortable position.
We are never going to be the place we were back ion 2003-2005, we're all 10 + years older and I've mentioned a number other factors earlier but this still is the place to come to for your Speccy fix. There are other sites whether they be FB, Twitter or websites but to be quite honest none can really hold a candle to WoS whatever the site owners might think or say.

Long live ZX Spectrum. Long live WoS!!!!

ZX-TEAM Meeting 2016 Mahlerts, Germany

QLvsJAGUAR — Sun, 13 Mar 2016 09:40:47 +0000

The meeting is over, at least for me. The hardcore members are still tinkering and will bring the event to a good end at noon.

Not that anybody will tell we Sinclair people are only looking backwards and feel enthusiastic about old fashioned technology, there’s the proof (see pictures) that we’re more than just up to date.

Videos, pictures and software to follow. First hand some 30 pictures of yesterday's Meeting in action, see:
https://plus.google.com/104042128125238901905/posts/hUXyn7QTDJf

Sinclair ZX technology rules!

Urs

2 new 1k hires games for the ZX81

Dr BEEP — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 18:11:34 +0000

I finished 2 new hires games in 1k in march.

A 3d view racer, based on my game Grandpr1x for the ZX Spectrum

And....

2D Monster maze. Monster maze in 1K. Same thrill as the original, but in 1 K.

http://sinclairzxworld.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=552&start=58

Does WINTZX work on Windows 10?

ZEUS — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 15:26:11 +0000

Hi, I still may freely update to Windows 10 from my current Windows (Windows 7 I'm very happy with) but can anyone tell me if Wintzx 0.9 tape loader ap AND SpecEmu (both downloaded form WOS) works on Windows 10?!
I don't want to end up regretting the free update if these 2 progs don't work on the new windows system, I have 1 month left to decide as my laptop keeps reminding me to upgrade,...I'm just a little worried these won't work if I go ahead with it.
Cheers, Zeus.

3D printed mini-BLOB (Starquake)

Dave_C — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 19:32:44 +0000

My latest 3D printed model, BLOB from Starquake:

:D

ROM checksum utility

guesser — Sat, 26 Mar 2016 22:36:33 +0000

This has been sitting on the hard disk 99% finished for months so I've spent this evening getting it into a hopefully release-worthy state, but more importantly creating the associated web page for it.

A download link to the .tap, and endless tables of mind numbingly boring data that some poor sod had to type up and sort available here

Everyone is encouraged to run it on as many Spectrums and clones as possible ;)

Sad news

jdanddiet — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 12:47:54 +0000

Sad news, I heard last night that David Marshall, co-founder of Digital Integration and the man responsible for Spectrum classics Fighter Pilot and Tomahawk has passed away at the age of just 62.

I interviewed him for Retro Gamer and he was a lovely guy, really into his flight simulations, as you might expect.

I writ a thing

equinox — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 03:03:16 +0000

Hi cuties
I wrote my dissertation on Spectrum demo scrollers.
http://CL4.org/_dissert.pdf
P.S. Can we fix WoS so that the permission slips are visible again? Come on. jesus. christ. omg