Of course, Speccys are all great. But I remember being in the playground aged 8 or thereabouts, discussing with my pals the merits of the +2. One line that really stood out was: "Yeah, all very well, but what if the tape deck goes? What happens with it then?"
I only quote that, because I can't really imagine todays eight year olds stringing such a sentence together!
Also, Re: Sheds.. I think the whole shed/surrealism concept originally owed quite a bit to Viz comics. However, YS's "hatstand" is a hard one to beat and still survives.
On 2005-07-07 00:36, karingal wrote:
Erm, no. There is a bit of history regarding sheds on WOS, got something to do with Gamestage...
Erm, no. If I remember rightly, it all started when some Atari tosspot tried to wind us all up with some hyperbole and then LeeT started talking about sheds and the rest is history.
On 2005-06-12 23:07, Geoff wrote:
My most expensive Speccy is made out of glass and I'm guessing Sir Clive has one too.
When Timex produced their millionth computer at Dundee (ZX81 + Spectrum) they commissioned a Caithness Glass (Oban) paperweight in the form of a Sinclair ZX Spectrum in a silk lined presentation case for the executives involved.
It is engraved "Timex 1000000 Computers DEC 83". One of them must have preferred the money and I bought mine from a Dundee antique shop.
Nice, how about posting some pix of it for us...may I ask what you paid for it?
WOWeeee Like to see that.
I've thought about making a Spectrum out of a solid block of Titanium* alloy.Would look superb but the machining costs would be horrendous.I will probably keep that one on the shelf 'till I win the stupidity tax.
*Its my favorite metal, yes I have a favorite metal ho hum
[ This Message was edited by: JimDiGrizLovesAngelina on 2005-07-07 20:33 ]
> Nice, how about posting some pix of it for us...may I ask what you paid for it?
Yes - give me a week or two. Caithness Glass is highly collectible and often colourful but this paperweight is just plain glass with 40 raised keys and the engraved 'sinclair' logo. It would look nice with coloured lighting.
It's engraved with No.20 from a limited edition of 50 so there should be others. I first offered ?129.99 but raised this by ?20.
I'd definitely like one, especially now my original 128K is kaput, but mailing the TC2068 over to Poland and back to Australia for the mods is a big expense, and I am also hesitant to take the risk that timings would be changed for emulator development purposes. At the moment I am more likely to try and get hold of an Amstrad +2 at some point.
On 2005-07-07 00:36, karingal wrote:
Erm, no. There is a bit of history regarding sheds on WOS, got something to do with Gamestage...
Erm, no. If I remember rightly, it all started when some Atari tosspot tried to wind us all up with some hyperbole and then LeeT started talking about sheds and the rest is history.
I'm curious about the Se too, but I can't find an up to date FAQ for the layman that explains exactly what it can do and what practical purpose it can have.
The original speccies were poor in terms of suviving faults. The internal switching supplies were poorly designed and prone to failure. The expansion slot was poorly laid out and prone to killing chips and aforementioned PS. Severe noise on the main supply would also knock out those supplies and/or memory chips (Who used to reset theirs by unplugging the power lead?!!!). The memory chips were horrendously fragile. The 5V regulator and heatsink was poorly ventilated. The membrane keyboard was ... wank.
The Sinclair 128 and Amstrad +2s were a bit better.
The amstrad +2As/+3s were of a far better design and less prone to failure. But of course, they weren't original speccies....!
Comments
I only quote that, because I can't really imagine todays eight year olds stringing such a sentence together!
Also, Re: Sheds.. I think the whole shed/surrealism concept originally owed quite a bit to Viz comics. However, YS's "hatstand" is a hard one to beat and still survives.
Neil
Neil
Erm, no. If I remember rightly, it all started when some Atari tosspot tried to wind us all up with some hyperbole and then LeeT started talking about sheds and the rest is history.
Bytes:Chuntey - Spectrum tech blog.
Nice, how about posting some pix of it for us...may I ask what you paid for it?
I've thought about making a Spectrum out of a solid block of Titanium* alloy.Would look superb but the machining costs would be horrendous.I will probably keep that one on the shelf 'till I win the stupidity tax.
*Its my favorite metal, yes I have a favorite metal ho hum
[ This Message was edited by: JimDiGrizLovesAngelina on 2005-07-07 20:33 ]
Yes - give me a week or two. Caithness Glass is highly collectible and often colourful but this paperweight is just plain glass with 40 raised keys and the engraved 'sinclair' logo. It would look nice with coloured lighting.
It's engraved with No.20 from a limited edition of 50 so there should be others. I first offered ?129.99 but raised this by ?20.
Chicken == Hardware, Egg == Software.
'nuff said.
I'd definitely like one, especially now my original 128K is kaput, but mailing the TC2068 over to Poland and back to Australia for the mods is a big expense, and I am also hesitant to take the risk that timings would be changed for emulator development purposes. At the moment I am more likely to try and get hold of an Amstrad +2 at some point.
IIRC I asked Yarek about this several years ago, and that wasn't a possibility then, but maybe things have changed since then.
https://discordapp.com/invite/cZt59EQ
The Sinclair 128 and Amstrad +2s were a bit better.
The amstrad +2As/+3s were of a far better design and less prone to failure. But of course, they weren't original speccies....!