Does anyone still have the same speccie?

mickmog · March 2013

The survey into the Games of the Year - and the question about what system you were playing 20 years ago - got me thinking.

Has anyone on the forum used their originally speccie every year since 1982? Or, have we all gone away and come back?

just wondered :-o

Dr BEEP · March 2013

mickmog wrote: »

The survey into the Games of the Year - and the question about what system you were playing 20 years ago - got me thinking.

Has anyone on the forum used their originally speccie every year since 1982? Or, have we all gone away and come back?

just wondered :-o

I have had a ZX Spectrum all the time, although broken examples have been replaced.

Coltch · March 2013

My original Speccy packed up in 84 and was replaced by a C64 (my sister got a speccy +).

Have always dabbled with emulation on Amiga/PC so the speccy in some form has been used ever since I got one in 82/3

Battle Bunny · March 2013

I didn't buy a Spectrum until 1984, but I'm still using the 48k Spectrum which I bought back then, also the 128k which I bought in 1986, most recently sometime last month.

retromad · March 2013

My rubber key broked back in the day- I got a Spectrum + as that was out at the time - I blew it up (pulled out the interface !) and waited a while for the 128k toast rack which is still going strong - sitting on my coffee table looking down his nose at the PS2 , dreamcast and WII under the TV set.

Ivanzx · March 2013

I still have my original +2A at my house, although it has a problem with the RAM memory causing crashes in many games, so I stopped using it around 2007, but got 2 new ones and still using them for more than 5 years!

BiNMaN · March 2013

my dad smashed up my first speccy, thankfully he was too dense to realise I'd changed the case from a rubber key to a 48k+, the board was ok so I put it in the old case and carried on

sold my entire collection of speccy stuff (and 64 stuff) to buy a pc engine and some games, which I got rid of 2 weeks later

I still feel sick to the stomach to this day everytime I think about it (25 years on)

joefish · March 2013

Still got the board (now malfunctioning) and the Speccy+ keyboard we transferred it to. But I bought another rubber Speccy with a damaged case and put that board in the + case with a new membrane.

So, bits of it are around but not all working.

My brother turned the original rubber keyboard into a clock, but I don't know what became of that.

Arjun · March 2013

I have my original speccy but after it broke down in 1995 or so, I haven't got around to using it. I do have another rubber keyed one though that works off and on.

Korinel · March 2013

I still have my original ZX Spectrum from 1983 and still use it, I did have to replace they keyboard membrane twice though.

I did wander off to the Amiga/PC/N64/GC/Wii/PS3 though so didn't use the Spectrum each year, only came back about two years ago....

Captain Offensive · March 2013

My original 48k Rubber Key (from 84) is still working but in the loft.

My 128k toast rack (from 86/87 - can't quite recall when I got it but think it was still 86) is sitting on top of the Blu-ray player and plugged into the Samsung smart TV in the sitting room - these days with the addition of the Divide plugged into the back and it is now on its third membrane; but still going strong

Vampyre · March 2013

BiNMaN wrote: »

I still feel sick to the stomach to this day everytime I think about it (25 years on)

I have exactly the same feeling when I think of the day I binned my entire Speccy mag collection. Oh god! Here comes that wave of nausea again!

On topic: nope, got rid of my Speccy long ago although I have a +2 I got from a carboot in the loft. Recently got back in touch on Facebook with the guy who bought my old toast rack in about 1990 (he was a neighbour). Apparently his dad cleared the loft and binned the lot at the start of the year! He's furious!

GreenCard · March 2013

My brother still (as far as I know) has our second Speccy, a 48K+. Our first died before we got that one - we took it to Boots to be repaired, when we got it back it looked as though someone had stamped on it! My dad kicked up a stink and they gave us the 48K+ after discovering they had no rubber-keyed Speccys left.

Danforth · March 2013

My 48k rubberkeys worked from 1983 right up until last year, where it finally died. Luckily Macc sold me another. I still have the first one... thinking of getting it framed. Or repaired :)

zx1 · March 2013

I still have my +2 that i got for xmas 1987, it still works but the tape deck can be temperamental:sad:

zx1 · March 2013

Vampyre wrote: »

I have exactly the same feeling when I think of the day I binned my entire Speccy mag collection. Oh god! Here comes that wave of nausea again!

On topic: nope, got rid of my Speccy long ago although I have a +2 I got from a carboot in the loft. Recently got back in touch on Facebook with the guy who bought my old toast rack in about 1990 (he was a neighbour). Apparently his dad cleared the loft and binned the lot at the start of the year! He's furious!

You binned your entire speccy mag collection??????
Burn the heretic!:smile:
*goes to vampyre's house with a crowd with burning torches*

deadpan666 · March 2013

I have a 128k +2 I bought in about 1998 to replace my old +2A when it's tape deck died, and still use it at least a couple of times a year...I still have my original one packed away in a cupboard though! :)

Graz · March 2013

I've used Speccies every year since 1983. Not always the same Speccy though.

VincentAC · March 2013

I sold my original 48k to buy a grey +2. Still got the +2 even though the tape deck chews up tapes and goes out of alignment a lot.

Still got a lot of my original tapes aswell.

-edit-
one of the tapes I still have is one by MacMillan(?) that I submitted here as tzx.

Wookiee · March 2013

I have (ish) my first Speccy at the parents place, last time I fired it up though the disk drive was toast and accidents mashed the tape input so it was harder than normal to load tapes on so no idea if it's functioning now the best part of 10 years on

But Mrs Wookiee got me a "new" one for xmass and both will be set up in the man cave when we finally move into the new place with a little luck

Maroc's Astral Projection · March 2013

Sadly my first rubber key went kaput in a plume of smoke. I got a replacement and an additional one (from a car boot sale) and sadly those have become lost in the mists of time.

It's emulation for me these days.

sirclive1 · March 2013

Still got the same one that I got in 83 , I did get a 128k in 1990 , used that for 5 years , but set up my original again after the ( new ) one packed in , I still use my first speccy every week or so.

Grunaki · March 2013

Went into it quite recently here.

I did have my original Speccy (in a Fuller keyboard) until we cleared out my folks' attic in 2010 and binned everything.. My ST and all the games for that too.. :-(

ASM · March 2013

Sadly no... My +3 died around 2003, I lent out my +2 to somebody in the games industry in 1993, I binned three tatty 48K rubber key models in 1994 as I had moved onto the Atari ST and Amiga platforms and a ex girlfriend chucked my 48K+ out of a window back in 1997 ....

So all I have is my original broken +3 but at least I recently bought a toast rack and restored it and also a +2 and a +3 in fantastic condition. I also bought a 48K rubber key from ebay but it was in bad condition and tbh, I have very little time for 48K Spectrums since the launch of the Amstrad models so I gave it to my best school friend for his 40th birthday (we were massive Speccy fans back in the day so he was very happy).

My first ever ZX Spectrum, one of the last sold 48K rubber key models did short out thanks to the badly designed Sinclair printer and was fixed in Birmingham (UK) at some well advertised place I forget the name of... it was still working when I binned it so it died with dignity!!! I'm over it - honestly... my +3 was my pride and joy!!!!!!!!!! It's a great feeling to know it's in a box even though it will never function again.............. R.I.P :)

I welcomed my replacement +3 back in 2010 with open arms and we have had many happy hours together although the power supply exploded so I am using my original 1988 PSU to run it!!! :p

I do have all my original programming books (AMAZING THAT I KEPT THESE), Quickshot II / Sinclair joysticks and a couple of games plus my Multiface 3 and all my 3" disks. I lost my Kempston mouse (GUTTED), I binned my micro-drive and printer (NOT GUTTED) and I sold most of my games (I KEPT THE IMPORTANT SOFTWARE)... I am pissed that I binned my mags (including Amiga Action, The One, Escort & Razzle... lolz) but at least I have scans from the WOS archive (BIG THUMBS UP LADS) !!! btw, did anyone else keep their porn mags mixed in with their computer mags??? I can't believe I did that without my anyone noticing haha

I miss my old 80s Walkman but not my cream/purple mono cassette recorder. My original stereo went in a skip but my uncle had the same model so I restored it - an Amstrad TS-46 HI-FI (1985/1986) I used it to load and copy my games and listen to my records and cassettes back in the 80s when I played on my Spectrum. I still have some of the records and tapes from back in the day and I own all of them on CD now... Belinda Carlisle, Kim Wilde, Eighth Wonder, Bomb The Bass etc. (Slightly off topic) I still have my original Technics HI-FI from the 90s. It is currently being used to listen to the output of my Pioneer CDJs - that HI-FI has many stories to tell and has been in the same room as the Oliver Twins and other famous people from the 90s games industry ;) It has witnessed hours and hours of development - how things have changed lolz ...

It was really important for me to preserve these memories by keeping the hardware and collecting as many things as I could.... I plan to have an atic one day with everything setup... I've been collecting old CRT TVS for the event ;) . I learnt to keep things since throwing away those 48Ks and regretting it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have my original Atari 2600 VCS, my first 386 and 486 and Gateway 2000 P-90 and various Amigas from the games industry plus my SNES, Mega-drive CDX, PSX and GameBoy Color plus all my games development systems including PDS v2 Amiga/ST, PSY-Q Mega-drive, GameBoy XChanger, Doctor V64, PSX Datel Action Replay homebrew ROM flash and my homebrew PDS v2 based serial download +3 Devkit :)

All I need now is a an original can of Denim deodorant and that will blast me right back to Christmas 1987 where I did nothing but listen to the Greatest Hits Of 1987 Vinyl and play Ranarama :p

MURDERED 4 - 4 SAVED

***DON'T LET WOMEN THROW YOUR STUFF AWAY BECAUSE THEY WILL GIVEN THE CHANCE***

Swainy · March 2013

I've still got my grey 1987 +2 at my parents house but its up in the loft and hasn't been switched on since about 1993.

I've also got a +2A that a picked up a couple of years ago plus I fitted a new membrane to the toast rack 128 that I picked up for ?15 last week :)

Lee Tonks · March 2013

My original 16k broke down within two weeks of buying it and was replaced with a 48k, so I didn't even make it to the end of the Christmas holidays! :)

Sold the rubber 48 to fund a Plus, sold the Plus to fund a toastrack 128 which is still with me to this day. Replaced the original rubber 48 a few years back for nostalgia's sake, too.

RetroTechie · March 2013

My sister & me heavily used the rubberkey 48K our dad bought, and it died (IIRC) something like a year, year-and-a-half after purchase. Repair was under warranty, and consisted of a replacement 48K. Shortly after, our dad bought another computer so this (barely used :) ) 48K was packed up. A number of years later, I got it from my dad, and still have it.

I forgot which one, but since I only have 1 or 2 good looking 48K's, it's easy to tell since the other Spectrums look worse or even battered to sh*t. :lol:

We also had a Spectrum+ upgrade back then, don't know what happened to the + keyboard. I do have a Spectrum+, but that's another one. Doesn't look too good either.

Jonb_uk · March 2013

I still have my original speccy (issue one) from 1982, pre-ordered from Sinclair back in 1982, was originally a 16k later updated to 48k with internal addon board. I have just recently repaired it fully since it went faulty back in 1986/7 ish, having sent it for repair back then it was returned faulty with a note saying beyond repair!
I still have another speccy (issue three) which I was given from around 1984ish still works (although had a memory repair over the years)
I also had an original 128k speccy (toastrack) but I did sell this to fund my Atari ST purchase, although I have recently purchased a replacement 128k speccy.
:smile:

Does anyone still have the same speccie?

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