Sinclair Miscellaneous - World of Spectrum

Random Smiley Faces

Takashi64 — Wed, 01 Jan 2003 14:39:00 +0000

As promised, here's the Syntax:

;Startup

5 CLS
7 PAPER 0: BORDER 0

;Graphics

10 FOR n=0 to 7
20 READ row: POKE USR "P"+n,row
30 NEXT n
31 DATA BIN 00000000
32 DATA BIN 01100110
33 DATA BIN 01100110
34 DATA BIN 00000000
35 DATA BIN 01000010
36 DATA BIN 01100110
37 DATA BIN 00111100
38 DATA BIN 00000000

; Random Numbers

40 LET INKY = 1+INT ( RND* 7)
50 LET X = 1+INT ( RND* 30)
60 LET Y = 1+INT ( RND* 20)

; Printout!
; String in line 71 is Graphics

70 INK INKY
71 PRINT AT Y,X; "P"
72 GO TO 40

I believe this is correct.
Blame Amstrad if it's wrong as this is taken from the ZX Spectrum +2A manual...
Feel free touse this in any way you want, just mention me will ya? :)

Happy New Year (in many languages...)

Alessandro Grussu — Wed, 01 Jan 2003 13:17:00 +0000

Happy 2003 to all the good folks of the WoS Forums!!! :D

And now, some greetings in various languages follow:

Felice anno nuovo (Italian)
Bon annu (Sicilian)
Feliz a?o nuevo (Spanish)
Gutes Neujahr (German)
Boldog ?j?vet (Hungarian)
Shinnen omedetoo (Japanese)

Would anyone like to add New Year greetings in other languages?

Publ;ic Apology

Takashi64 — Wed, 01 Jan 2003 13:18:00 +0000

Umm... there was a bit of trouble over the past months and it was due to me (Nathan Graves) and Freddy (David Samnell).
Just wanted to say i'm sorry for the inconvinience. :(
I won't do it again.

I just bought a 'JAMMA' cabinet

thx1138 — Tue, 31 Dec 2002 17:46:00 +0000

:)

It's got KONAMI Hyper Sports in it, which seems almost identical to Daley Thompson's Decathlon. I had never played Hyper Sports before today, I thought it was Track & Field before I went to view it.

Anyway, I shall ring in the new year with some mates, and we shall all have a laugh playing it.

HAPPY NEW YEAR. :)

#1 on Xmas eve...

Arjun — Tue, 24 Dec 2002 07:07:00 +0000

erm.. a bit of egoistic post this. But I couldn't pass it up! :)

Right, a quick check on the member list will reveal that we have a new #1 poster. namely moi (thank u! thank u!)!

Partly b'cos Cyborg seems to have let up a bit and so has Alessandro T. Guys, have u found something more useful to do or wot? :)

a couple of questions

thomas3120 — Mon, 30 Dec 2002 22:28:00 +0000

Hello,
Just wondering if anyone has or knows about this 'vga box' that enables you to use a pc monitor with the spectrum. I have a speccy 128k+ and this seemed pretty cool to me and the price isn't that bad either.
http://www.sintech-shop.de/shop.htm?main.htm

Also I was looking for a good pc disk interface(either 3.5" floppy or hdd) for a spectrum that works good and isn't too expensive. I've seen a few around, but don't know to much about them i.e. disciple, sintecs mb02, and a few others.
thanks

t

Obituary

madmekon — Tue, 24 Dec 2002 09:25:00 +0000

Yesterday my spectrum died :(
Over 7 years of faithful service its finally gone to Silicon heaven.

Rest in peace spectrum 48k+
Born sometime in 1986
Died 23rd December 2002
Always be remembered

Parents

Swamptrash — Mon, 30 Dec 2002 20:19:00 +0000

Some of my mates who had Spectrums used to get all sorts of hassle from their parents to get them to stop playing games and go to bed/tidy rooms/do washing up/save world etc., but it was the other way round for me - my parents would keep me awake by playing on my Spectrum in my bedroom until 2am. I wouldn't have minded this, but they used to play (what I would call) rubbish - my mum couldn't stop playing Ms Pacman, my dad (even in 1989) would sit and play Thro the Wall, and my sister had a thing for aaaaargh grrrrrr Luna Crabs. And they complained when I spent hours playing something worthwhile like Elite or Lords of Midnight. My sister (now 32) bought my mum a new PC last year...she uses it to play Jetpac on..

RamPrint with Ramwrite interface

Pollster — Sat, 28 Dec 2002 19:16:00 +0000

I recently find the above for my speccy but am unable to get it working. Does any one have a scan of the instructions that they could send me. Many thanks

Emulation feature in Computeractive

LeeT — Tue, 24 Dec 2002 13:40:00 +0000

Just to let everyone know there is a five page emulation feature in the latest issue of Computeractive (Issue 127).
Its quite good and covers the basics of emulation and explains about downlaoding games. On the Spectrum side, the Z80 emulator is covered with the URL of WOS to download it from!

Also in the feature there is info about MAME, CCS64, MESS and some other systems are covered. Worth a look!

Happy Xmas to all the spectrum community!

Ian Hamilton — Wed, 25 Dec 2002 00:08:00 +0000

It's Christmas Day. Happy Christmas everyone.

Drinks aplenty.

Necros!

ZX PC Interface : The manual, schematics and more info...

Dr BEEP — Tue, 24 Dec 2002 08:07:00 +0000

ZX <-> PC Interface

Contents

1) The ZX <-> PC Interface
1.1) What is it?
1.2) What does it do?

2) Installation
2.1) The software for the PC
2.2) The hardware for the ZX Spectrum and PC-cable
2.3) Commands
2.4) Syntax checking

3) Technical info
3.1) Schematics
3.2) Altered ROM-routines
3.3) PC-Software

4) Copyright / Patent of the interface / Distribution
4.1) ROM
4.2) Interface

5) Info
5.1) Questions

1) The ZX <-> PC Interface

1.1) What is it?

The ZX <-> PC Interface is designed for the ZX Spectrum to communicate
with any PC.

1.2) What does it do?

Through a serverprogram run on your PC the Spectrum can load and save
directly on ANY media available on your PC. The format of files it will
load and save from will be a universal .TAP-file which can load and
save on almost every Spectrum-emulator for the PC. Later the serverprogram
will make it possible to load .Z80 as .TAP directly to the ZX Spectrum.
The speed of loading will be at least 30 times faster than tape.

2) Installation

2.1) The software for the PC.

On your PC you need to run a serverprogram. This serverprogram
will determine how to implement to commands sent by the ZX Spectrum.
After starting your PC you need to activate this program.
This program will by default choose COM1, but can be chosen at will
by adding the number of the port after the command
Syntax : PC-ZX [n] where n is the number of your com-port.

2.2) The hardware for the ZX Spectrum and PC-cable.

Connect the interface on your ZX Spectrum like any other interface
designed for the ZX Spectrum. Connect a cable in the COM-port
of your choice. The other end in the connector on your Spectrum.
To select the ZX Spectrum ROM or the EPROM you change the switchsetting.

2.3) Commands

The following commands are available on the ZX Spectrum.
The normal tapecommands like LOAD "" and SAVE "NAME" will point to
the PC, making fast load and save possible without altering the software.

PRINT USR 14500;D
This will give you a DIR of all .TAP-files in the current directory.
PRINT USR 14500;D;"*.*"
This will give you a DIR of all files in the current directory.
You may choose any string. This option is added in the ROM for
future load-options like loading from .Z80-files.

PRINT USR 14500;O;"NAME.TAP"
This command will either select an already existing file as active file
or will open a new file as active file. You need to activate a file
to load or save from (hard)disk. This is your equivalent of inserting
a tape in your cassetterecorder. After activating a file you will
get the name of this file INVERTED in a PRINT USR 14500;D to indicate
that this is the active file. Saving of data will always be done at the
end of the current active file.

PRINT USR 14500;E;"NAME.TAP"
This command will ERASE the file "NAME.TAP" from (hard)disk.

PRINT USR 14500;C;"CD A:"
This command will change to the directory given in the string.
If only a stationletter is given then that station will be activated.
PRINT USR 14500;C;"MD NEWDIR"
This command makes the directory NEWDIR in the current directory.
PRINT USR 14500;C;"RD NEWDIR"
This command will remove the directory NEWDIR in the current directory.

PRINT USR 14500;X
This command will end the serverprogram on the PC.

2.4) Syntax checking

The ROM will do syntaxchecking for the PRINT-instruction.
However after USR 14500 some command are obliged where there is
no checking. The commandline will be accepted but fail to run in a program.
After the E,O and C a string is needed!

3) Technical info

3.1) Schematics

This is not a real schematic, but the connections on every IC
is displayed. Just connect al equal named points to get the interface.
P0 to P5 are D0 to D5 on the parallelportconnector

   +--+-+--+           +--+-+--+           +--+-+--+           +--+-+--+
0v |  +-+  | 5v      R |  +-+  | 5v     A4 |  +-+  | 5v     A7 |  +-+  | 5v
ERR|       |        P0 |       | R      A5 |   7   | A6      H |   7   | /RD
D0 |   7   |           |   7   | D0    /WR |   4   | E       X |   4   | /MREQ
D1 |   4   |        P1 |   4   |         X |   L   | X      A15|   L   | B
SEL|   L   |           |   L   | D1    /IO |   S   | /IO    A14|   S   | B
BSY|   S   |        P2 |   S   |         W |   2   | /RD     C |   3   | C
D4 |   3   |           |   2   | D2     0v |   7   | M      0v |   2   | P
D2 |   7   | D3     P3 |   4   |           +-------+           +-------+
PE |   3   | ACK    D4 |   4   | D3
0v |       | W      0v |       | P4
   +-------+           +-------+
                               A        A     A
                         5  5  1  A  A  1     1     D  D  D  D  D
                         v  v  3  8  9  1  P  0  Q  7  6  5  4  3
   +--+-+--+           +-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-+
 E |  +-+  | 5v        |                                          +
 H |   7   |           |                                          |
 S |   4   |           |--+                                       |
 Q |   L   |           |  |       27 128                          |
 M |   S   |           |--+                                       |
 R |   0   |           |                                          |
0v |   4   |           |                                          |
   +-------+           +-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-+
                         5  A  A  A  A  A  A  A  A  A  D  D  D  0
                         v  1  7  6  5  4  3  2  1  0  0  1  2  v
                            2

3.2) Altered ROM-routines

The blockload and blocksave routines at #556 and #4C2 are altered.
However the result of loading/saving are the same as from the
original ROM, which makes headerless loading still possible.
As long as your own routines are calling #556 or #4C2 the results will
be the same as saving to tape. Extra commands are added in a not used
part of the ZX ROM.

RST 8 is also altered, but will work in a normal way.
The alteration is made to make a new ZX81 Emulator run faster than
the one from 1997. You can make RST 8 to call to your own routines
by poking 23659,0 and 23728 and 23729 to your own startadres.

3.3) PC-software

The software of the PC is written in Turbo Pascal. The source-code
is freeware. You can add your own routines in the software under the
C-choice. The info sent int the string can be used as your own commands.

4) Copyright / Patent of the interface / Distribution

4.1) ROM

The copyright of the ZX ROM belongs to Amstrad. The EPROM may therefore NOT
be sold.

4.2) Interface

The interface may be built freely. There are no rights on this interface.

5) Info

5.1) Questions

For questions conceirning the interface, sent a Private Message to
Dr Beep on [url="http://www.WORLDOFSPECTRUM.ORG."]www.WORLDOFSPECTRUM.ORG.[/url]

Updated SGD Files

HoraceLeavesAMessage — Mon, 23 Dec 2002 18:37:00 +0000

Does anyone have a complete updated version of the sgd databases or know where i could get one? Its just that i'm too lazy to write up all my 14000+ spectrum files!

Thanks in advance
Paul!

Merry Chrysanthenum

thx1138 — Mon, 23 Dec 2002 00:43:00 +0000

THE COMPUTERS FIRST
CHRISTMAS CARD

jollymerry
hollyberry
jollyberry
merryholly
happyholly
jollyjelly
jellybelly
bellymerry
hollyheppy
jollyMerry
marryJerry
merryHarry
hoppyBarry
heppyJarry
bobbyheppy
berryjorry
jorryjolly
moppyjelly
Mullymerry
Jerryjolly
bellyboppy
jorryhoppy
hollymoppy
Barrymerry
Jarryhappy
happyboppy
boppyjolly
jollymerry
merrymerry
merrymerry
merryChris
ammerryasa
Chrismerry
asMERRYCHR
YSANTHEMUM

what should i do with ZX81 tapes?

pigdog — Wed, 18 Dec 2002 17:13:00 +0000

Hi people,

So I have a few rare ZX81 tapes (DK Tronics mainly) and none of them are available on the web as .p files. There must be other people who use these forums that are in the same position, with nice collections of unarchived ZX81 tapes.

Now I'm no expert, is there any need for these to be archived in any other way (i.e. as VOCs, TZX, CSW)? Can ZX81 tapes be archived in these forms? What exactly is a .p file in relation to the recording as it appears on the orignal tape? Is there an emulator that can handle ZX81 tapes saved as raw files (I can't find one)?

The Spectrum SDP/STP/MIA project is running fantastically well thanks to the hard work of Andy and Steve in conjuction with tape loaners/dumpers.

It concerns me that for these even older tapes (and lets face it, for the majority, rarer tapes), there seems to be no equivalent project or system for dumping these tapes.

Maybe I'm just missing the relevant web page(s)....your thoughts are appreciated...

regards

Paul

[ This Message was edited by: millys-pigdog on 2002-12-18 18:15 ]

Spectrum Graphics Artists Wanted

jonathan — Sat, 21 Dec 2002 17:25:00 +0000

Does anybody fancy designing some graphics for a new horizontally scrolling Spectrum shoot-em-up?

ZXF issue three is published

woodcock88 — Tue, 17 Dec 2002 21:14:00 +0000

Hello everyone,

A festive issue three of ZXF is now awaiting your downloading at [url="http://www.zxf.cjb.net."]www.zxf.cjb.net.[/url] The actual PDF files themselves are now hosted at WoS (and linked to from the URL above) so downloading should now be a little faster and more reliable than for previous issues.

In case you've not yet experienced it, ZXF is a free, paper-based magazine on current events in the Spectrum world. It is available in PDF format for you to print off.

This issue boasts 40 pages - 4 more than last issue - and includes:

* Seven pages of Spectrum news
* Interviews with Martijn van der Heide and Andrew Owen
* Part Two of 'Back to the Spectrum' - the guide for those returning to the Spectrum scene
* Articles by Shaun Bebbington, Equinox Tetrachloride, and Samir Ribic and Zeljko Juric
* Spectrum puzzles to keep you out of trouble over the Christmas period (thanks again to Equinox Tetrachloride for helping me out there)

Please make sure you leave feedback if you download and read ZXF, either in reply to this post or via the feedback form on the download page. No feedback will result in no future issues of ZXF - it's that simple; so please play your part.

The help I've received in putting together this issue has been tremendous - the highest degree of collaboration so far. Let's make ZXF04 even better - a true community mag. Don't forget - as well as articles, your letters are always very welcome (I had plenty to fill up a letters page this issue - thank you very much); if there's anything you'd like to say on any of the issues raised in the magazine please don't hesitate to drop me a line at mail(at)cwoodcock.co.uk with 'ZXF letter' in the subject line.

Enjoy!

sna files on a real speccy

Mr.Museum/Unlimited — Fri, 20 Dec 2002 01:22:00 +0000

Hi,

i have buyed a fine Spectrum +3 and now my question: can i copy *.sna files on 3" disk and run it on the real machine, or is a converting procedure recomended ?

sorry my very humply english, i hope you can understand my question...

I want Speccy-Friends in Germany !

Crash scans

Arjun — Fri, 13 Dec 2002 07:14:00 +0000

Despite the excellent Crash Viewer, I'm having a hard time viewing the page. Page takes ages to download.

Wot sizes are these pages scanned in? Is it possible to have them in a smaller size to make it easy for download and zoom them up using Crash Viewer or something else?

wouldn't it be easier to have it on a web page isn't of FTP? It surely would be easier to access.

Retro Mag!

Mort! — Thu, 12 Dec 2002 21:56:00 +0000

In the uk, a special edge magazine has come out called Retro, it has a very interesting behind the scenes look back at zzap64 with the ex staffers Rignall, Penn, Liddon and many other excellent features including an Ultimate software interview and other speccy stuff

Keep you eyes peeled

Online play using Kaillera

Spector — Fri, 22 Nov 2002 23:21:00 +0000

KAILLERA is an application that is integrated into emulators so that games can be played online. It has been discussed by Atari 2600 gamers, and there has been talk of playing "Combat" using the PCAE emulator which supports Kaillera. Obviously it makes me wonder about the potential for doing the same with the Spectrum. Why not? There are so many emulators out there, surely one could be adapted to work with this program, and online "Xeno" may not be impossible after all. Lagtime would not be as big an issue here as it is with Atari, because most Speccy players are from Europe (sorry Arjun).
The potential for this is so great that I would love to see someone have a go at integrating it into an existing emulator. Imagine "Match Day" with this if it worked!
If only I had the know-how to put it into practice...

spectrum in united states

Anonymous — Sat, 16 Nov 2002 21:19:00 +0000

Is there any way to use a Spectrum in the United States? I notice all the ones I have seen on ebay have a power plug very different from the kind used here. If there is some kind of adapter that is safe to use or a special kind of Spectrum designed for use in the US, I would like to know about it.

how much is an issue 1 16k 'worth'

GP — Wed, 11 Dec 2002 21:38:00 +0000

in your opinions ?

I may be able to get one, but it's not cheap (for what it is). I would like it, for the collectability aspect, but don't want to pay more than the odds.

yeah I know it's 'how much do you want it' - but nevertheless.

what do they change hands for ? any ideas ?

AY RIDERS - new project for Speccy

Yerz — Wed, 11 Dec 2002 07:41:00 +0000

Just in case You don't know 'bout it yet.
here is the text:

Do You like chiptunes?
Do You like Speccy?
Do You like AY?????????
So take a look HERE:
http://www.ayriders.prv.pl

New project of the best Speccy musicians will satisfy You. I invited many great composers from
various countires and I am really honoured they agreed.

AY RIDERS is a music project organized by YERZMYEY/HOOY-PROGRAM in 2002 year. Our
purpose is to give maximal pleasure to all chiptune-maniax. AY RIDERS is a brother-project of YM
ROCKERZ; they compose their songs on YM soundchip, using ATARI ST computers, and we compose our
stuff on YM and AY (twin-brother of YM) using ZX SPECTRUM and many its clones.

We are fans of extremly synthetic sound and chiptune-aesthetic. We love our computer
and its soundchip. We want to approach Speccy music-scene to all of You; also to people outside of
zx-scene. ZX SPECTRUM is still alive and kickin’, my friends.

Today we are proud to present You our first album which cotains 20 songs (it gives You
about 73 minutes of music). Take a look to DOWNLOADS section of our site. You can even convert the
files into WAVs and burn on a CD-R. You can also find there a cover-art ready to print.

AY RIDERS are:

YERZMYEY – THE ORGANIZER
NATIONALITY – POLISH

FACTOR 6
NATIONALITY – CZECH

GASMAN
NATIONALITY – ENGLISH

MEGUS
NATIONALITY – RUSSIAN

TDM
NATIONALITY – CZECH

X-AGON
NATIONALITY – CZECH

Kind regards,
YerzmyeyH-PRG^AY-R

ZX-2-PC Interface : Is it dead ???

Dr BEEP — Fri, 27 Sep 2002 12:55:00 +0000

Certainly not, but I had some problems getting the EPROM-reader constant. In my former threat I stated that it worked, well, it read ROM-values but never the same by any second/third attempt. Now I have two working EPROM-readers and some help from someone to program the EPROM. At this moment I'm combining the standard IO-interface with the EPROM-reader. When ready, only the programmed EPROM must be added to have the first complete working interface.

Also added to the rewritten ROM is a routine that, combined with a new ZX81-emulator, will run your ZX81 programs (up to 8K) at almost full speed by rewriting the code after loading on the Spectrum.

Another interface with RAM instead of ROM can make a 16K ZX81-emulator.

Urban Upstart

brhodes303 — Fri, 06 Dec 2002 13:44:00 +0000

Anyone remember this one? I was crap at it but enjoyed it. I got stuck in the building site. On a slightly related note, I am still interested to see what the Hamsptead Authors are up to now (if anything computer or comedy realted).

Bri

+off topic+ WARNING! My hotmail account has been hacked

thx1138 — Sun, 08 Dec 2002 17:29:00 +0000

Some of you chat to me on msn.

I have lost control of the account;

thxoneonethreeeight@hotmail.com

the password has been changed.

Please ignore any insulting messages you may recieve and block the user i.d.

thankyou.

Wouldn't it be great if...?

Arjun — Fri, 06 Dec 2002 07:29:00 +0000

I was just wondering... wouldn't it be great if the Speccy was relaunched?

I mean, a souped up Speccy of course. Fully compatible with the old Speccy of course. Tape option of course (just for speccy fanatics!).

Amiga is making a comeback (albiet in a limited manner), so y not the Speccy?

Sir Clive or Sugar should have a glance at this forum to realise just wot kinda potential the Speccy brandname will have. There will be hundreds of blokes lining up to buy the system! Maybe it could even rival the Mac (if sufficiently powered!). Cool black looks and integrated everything with TV output (monitor should be standard!).

man! that would be some day! and pigs would fly...

Micro Mart - Spectrum article due this thursday

woodcock88 — Tue, 12 Nov 2002 22:10:00 +0000

Posted this on css and got absolutely zero response - perhaps I'll do better here.

Right then chaps - listen up.

You'll all recall that Spectrum v all other computers post a while back -
many of you were happy to comment there but not to actually volunteer for
the task itself. So the job of defending the Speccy in 300 words - and in
this case against the Oric Atmos - has come to me, and the two articles
(mine and my opponent's) will be published in Micro Mart this Thursday.

The job of deciding who goes through to the next round will depend soley on
reader voting - the precise mechanism for which has yet to be announced. I
hope it needs not to be said that I am relying on you all for your support
in this field of battle. Remember this: it will not just be the Oric owners
voting against us - oh no. The Commies - I have no doubt at all - will have
no interest in our noble machine making it through to future rounds and
therefore a possible conflict - because we all know what the outcome of that
one would be. Don't let them extinguish our flame before the real battle has
even begun.

So I call upon you all to stand up and be counted! Stake your claim on the
prize that deservedly is ours! Vote with your hearts! Vote for the truth!
Vote Spectrum!

Colin

Crash CD's

pigdog — Thu, 31 Oct 2002 13:20:00 +0000

hi guys,

any of u received the Crash CD's yet?

about to order them and wondered what they were like..

regards