The only IP left on the design is probably the trademarks. All the patents relating to the design have expired.
I agree - although there is of course copyright in the original drawings - I wonder if they have used those rather than reverse engineering everything?
I agree - although there is of course copyright in the original drawings - I wonder if they have used those rather than reverse engineering everything?
Doubt it very much.
It's not a complicated thing to design from the external aspect and internally will be different anyway
I have recently faced to the similar keyboard firmware problem. I decided to put a Raspberry PI into an empty ZX Spectrum box (Not really suitable for that... but it could be done) and make from the ZX Spectrum a standalone USB keyboard for the PC and for the Raspberry (with a loopback cable) as well. http://gigant.chem.elte.hu/ZXSpectrum/RaspiSpectrum/
First I have created a "PC keyboard emulation mode", which sends the Spectrum key combinations as HID keyboard keystrokes like SYMB+P -> ". It leads to complex mapping tables, since most of the key combinations used for Linux should be "emulated" (Esc, F1, F2, CTRL+..., ALT+... etc.).
For the FUSE emulator on Raspberry (and on PC) it did not worked! That's why I implemented a "Spectrum mode" into the firmware which simply sends the basic keystrokes for all the pressed keys. This emulator keyboard mode is much-much simpler than the full USB keyboard support. No ghosting "emulation" is necessary, it is done by the "hardware". :-)
USB and Bluetooth HID keyboard protocol are practically the same. Six simultaneous keypresses could be handled + modifier keys (shift, alt, ctrl etc.). In most cases it is more than enough for gaming. I have tested it yesterday by playing games in FUSE emulator. I have the same experience with the USB keyboard as with a real spectrum. :D (Typing on the rubber keyboard under Linux was not so exciting... but it worked well)
I think the interesting challenge is that how the HID keyboard layout could be matched with the national keyboard layouts. If my "Spectrum USB keyboard" used with Hungarian Windows I should switch the keyboard layout to English(US) before using it. Since the firmware using the US HID keyboard layout for generating keycodes. Otherwise I would have problems with e.g. the Z<->Y and 0<->? keys...
The other challenge can be that the different emulators are using different keys for the different Spectrum keystrokes. E.g. Fuse and ZX Spin uses RIGHT CTRL or RIGHT ALT for Symbol shift, Eighty One and Unreal Speccy Portable uses only RIGHT CTRL.
I agree - although there is of course copyright in the original drawings - I wonder if they have used those rather than reverse engineering everything?
I doubt they have used drawings as they came round my house and bought a case off me (AGES ago!)
I agree - although there is of course copyright in the original drawings - I wonder if they have used those rather than reverse engineering everything?
From an article on yahoo news (with some glaring inaccuracies) :
The ZX Spectrum?s relaunch is no half-hearted cash-in - the team worked with the cult computer?s original designer, directly from his CAD blueprints, to ensure rubbery authenticity. It was the first keyboard with a single 'mat' of rubber instead of moving keys - a design that is still imitated today.
From an article on yahoo news (with some glaring inaccuracies) :
The ZX Spectrum?s relaunch is no half-hearted cash-in - the team worked with the cult computer?s original designer, directly from his CAD blueprints, to ensure rubbery authenticity. It was the first keyboard with a single 'mat' of rubber instead of moving keys - a design that is still imitated today.
This information is contradicted in their Kickstarter page. It says the original designer didn't work with them, his "role" was solely to design the original keyboard in 1982:
The tiny team of people that?s working together to try to make this possible includes:
Steve W - co-founder and Elite?s Director for the last 29 years. Role in the launch of the Bluetooth ZX Spectrum: general factotum.
Matt H - Elite?s Producer for the last 7 years. Role in the launch of the Bluetooth ZX Spectrum: production of the Bluetooth ZX Spectrum apps and associated marketing assets.
James M - Elite?s Engineer for the last 4 years. Role in the launch of the Bluetooth ZX Spectrum: development of the Bluetooth ZX Spectrum apps and the software for the functional prototype.
Charlie H - our UK Manufacturing partners? Engineer. Role in the launch of the Bluetooth ZX Spectrum: development of the firmware for the functional prototype.
Paul D - Elite?s Webmaster for the last 10 years. Role in the launch of the Bluetooth ZX Spectrum: development and maintenance of the http://BluetoothZXSpectrum.com online presence.
Our special thanks goes to:
Matthew Smith (Manic Miner), Nigel Alderton (Chuckie Egg) and many others too numerous to mention. Role in the launch of the Bluetooth ZX Spectrum: designed and developed the most influential ZX Spectrum games in the 1980s and permitted us to re-publish them as part of the catalogue of Bluetooth ZX Spectrum apps.
Rick Dickinson - Sinclair's industrial designer. Role in the launch of the Bluetooth ZX Spectrum: designed and developed the outward appearance of the 48K Sinclair ZX Spectrum in 1982.
It's somewhat curious that nobody involved in this new keyboard have a full name, but everybody else does.
And I have noticed something else weird about Elite's Kickstarter page. It contains a section called "A Bit About Us", that starts as follows:
Incorporated in England in 1984, Elite was originally a leading developer and publisher of groundbreaking games [...] You can read about the first 26 of our 29 years here. For the last 3 years Elite has been the world’s leading publisher of ZX Spectrum games [...]
It's as if they were unable to update their own site since 2010, so everything they did in the last 3+ years they were forced to explain separately. WTF?
It's as if someone is applying for a job, and writes an email saying "My attached resume describes my experience for the first 26 of my 29 years professional career. For the last 3 years I have been working on..."
I've seen situations like this where a third party is paid to host a website. After setting it up, or after an initial service contract runs out, they then charge a ludicrous sum of money every time the customer wants to make a change to it. Given the track record of payments we're seeing, it's a wonder it even appears in the first place.
Comments
I agree - although there is of course copyright in the original drawings - I wonder if they have used those rather than reverse engineering everything?
www.rwapsoftware.co.uk
www.sellmyretro.com
Doubt it very much.
It's not a complicated thing to design from the external aspect and internally will be different anyway
http://gigant.chem.elte.hu/ZXSpectrum/RaspiSpectrum/
First I have created a "PC keyboard emulation mode", which sends the Spectrum key combinations as HID keyboard keystrokes like SYMB+P -> ". It leads to complex mapping tables, since most of the key combinations used for Linux should be "emulated" (Esc, F1, F2, CTRL+..., ALT+... etc.).
For the FUSE emulator on Raspberry (and on PC) it did not worked! That's why I implemented a "Spectrum mode" into the firmware which simply sends the basic keystrokes for all the pressed keys. This emulator keyboard mode is much-much simpler than the full USB keyboard support. No ghosting "emulation" is necessary, it is done by the "hardware". :-)
USB and Bluetooth HID keyboard protocol are practically the same. Six simultaneous keypresses could be handled + modifier keys (shift, alt, ctrl etc.). In most cases it is more than enough for gaming. I have tested it yesterday by playing games in FUSE emulator. I have the same experience with the USB keyboard as with a real spectrum. :D (Typing on the rubber keyboard under Linux was not so exciting... but it worked well)
I think the interesting challenge is that how the HID keyboard layout could be matched with the national keyboard layouts. If my "Spectrum USB keyboard" used with Hungarian Windows I should switch the keyboard layout to English(US) before using it. Since the firmware using the US HID keyboard layout for generating keycodes. Otherwise I would have problems with e.g. the Z<->Y and 0<->? keys...
The other challenge can be that the different emulators are using different keys for the different Spectrum keystrokes. E.g. Fuse and ZX Spin uses RIGHT CTRL or RIGHT ALT for Symbol shift, Eighty One and Unreal Speccy Portable uses only RIGHT CTRL.
I doubt they have used drawings as they came round my house and bought a case off me (AGES ago!)
From an article on yahoo news (with some glaring inaccuracies) : yahoo news story
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/forums/showpost.php?p=575246&postcount=4
Edit: Should have reread the thread first, eh Macc :)
B
zx-diagnostics - Fixing ZX Spectrums in the 21st Century (wiki)
Sinclair FAQ Wiki
This information is contradicted in their Kickstarter page. It says the original designer didn't work with them, his "role" was solely to design the original keyboard in 1982:
It's somewhat curious that nobody involved in this new keyboard have a full name, but everybody else does.
It's probably because it IS a half-hearted cash-in by talentless hacks.
My games for the Spectrum: Dingo, The Speccies, The Speccies 2, Vallation, SQIJ.
Twitter: Sokurah
Hehe, fair enough, at least i got ?20 out of em for an empty case!
I thought it was smelling funny, but I wasn't expecting this:
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/forums/showthread.php?t=46365
It's as if they were unable to update their own site since 2010, so everything they did in the last 3+ years they were forced to explain separately. WTF?
It's as if someone is applying for a job, and writes an email saying "My attached resume describes my experience for the first 26 of my 29 years professional career. For the last 3 years I have been working on..."
- IONIAN-GAMES.com -