This mini forum is intended to provide a simple means of discussion about the Sinclair  ZX SPECTRUM computer. If you want to share your own experience or memories, or add relevant information about this system: post a message!

I think the Spectrum really was the computer that sparked the revolution. The C64 was out of reach of most people, but almost anyone could afford a Spectrum. It had high ( 256x192 ) resolution graphics and enough memory to make some serious games. Because it was cheap enough, it drove the games market more than any other computer, and it''s only recently that the number of PC games has caught up with the number of Spectrum games. Back then, being a geek was very uncool, and programming computers was for nerds, and being a nerd meant being in the untouchable group socially. It''s amazing to see how much the world has moved on from there, and now everyone wants to think they are a geek. Working with the ZX Spectrum taught me to design Z80 based hardware, which got me my first job in a R$D factory designing computers to control video game payment systems.

Mon expérience sur ZX Spectrum https://riri-linventeur.wixsite.com/les-debrouillards/zx-spectrum

Hi! I''ve stumbled across a couple of real beauties online, an Issue One 16K Spectrum which looks like its in a condition I''ve never seen as good as before. The same seller seems to have unearthed a couple of real gems in terms of collectability value, including original Sinclair literature which I''ve not come across before. Take a look , see wht you think :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/223084601634?ssPageName$STRK:MESELX:IT$_trksid$p3984.m1558.l2649

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/223079077190

Hello - my first ZX Spectrum was a self-made which means, all of the functions of the ULA were substituted with logic chips from the 74-series. The first version didn''t have a coloured version, just black/white. Later, a piggy-back board was made. After reunification of Germany, I bought a used ZX Spectrum and added the following modules
- Betadisc Interface, 2 Floppy Disk Drives attached
- Printer Interface
- Kempston Joystick Interface
To attach all these modules at once, I also had to make a bus extender with industrial connectors.
The power was supplied by an PC power module, so I had enough 5V / 12V / -12V . It was a quite funny system and I was surprised how you can easily program with that machine even all key have multiple meanings depends on situation and keys pressed.

Hello!
Does anyone know where I can get games and apps for this computer? Because on google a results are about emulated games and apps. But I need a copy of cassette sound.
Please help! Thank you!

I had a spectrum +2 when I was a kid, however I bought a zx spectrum 48K last week off an auction site. I seem to be able to get better reliablity with loading using an old tape player on the 48k than I ever did on my +2. I''m impressed that even being over 30 years old it still works.

nel caso fossero ancora disponibili mi interessa

ciao Gianni sono interessato i gioiellini sono ancora disponibili? :)

regalo a chi ne farà richiesta zx Spectrum 48 con alimentatore originale più zx Spectrum + con tasti rigidi ed in oltre varie cassette con programmi.
PS. spedizioni a carico destinatario.

My first computer was soviet-build clone of Spectrum 48K. I remember a lots of pirate audio-cassetes with cracked games from Poland (most popular string in loader was "Cracked by Bill Gilbert") 15-20 games on each. Whats a wonderful time!

lol I remember the awful keyboard with the shift-control-stand on head combinations, I had the 16k version with a 32k expansion pack sat in the back ! ... I wrote a load of games in assembler $ basic for the spectrum which were published, fun days !

I hope nobody will be against posting a link to my little project here, as I''m sure it can be really interesting to many ZX-Spectrum fans.
http://zx.maros.pri.ee/eng/ - this is a ZX-Art, a largest collection of ZX-Spectrum classic games loading screens and modern demoscene art.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v$zsjTpFR0oYQ

please can anyone help lcd add hmpr bit 5$6 mode 3 interlaced with intra frame compression think gassman and naxtcross might be the only ones with a clue

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v$EmwW_6kUdHw

please post this link to youtube
hope yu can find your way to the real great sam sites on the net

TZX files store each and every pulse of a tape, so an audio can be built from it quit easily.

Hi. ....

Has anyone put the speccy onto a FPGA chip or made a single chip modern spectrum ??

The Amstrad CPC been done, they can run at 24MHz plus !!! so why not the spectrum ??

I''m looking for a software database with SPECTRUM games and stuff in their original AUDIO format , so I can transfer them to 3" Disc. Most old software has been turned into digital files like TZX for emulators. Please leave comment if you can help !!

Tasword is a good Spectrum word processor.

I want one! Going to buy one from eBay!

Never had a spectrum. Got a powerbook 150 (apple). My dad had the original one. I have my powerbook for old games, but my Dadonly has his Core2 Duo Dull Dell.

Might get one for me too!

Any advise?
Can you get programmes e.g Word Processing Software??

Jamie

The Spectrum had a wonderful feel to it, almost organic imho. I spent for too much of my youth tapping away at this little gem.

I had the original rubber key 48K, the + and the +2, but my heart will always be with that little rubber keyed masterpiece.

The 3.5 Mhz CPU speed was quite fair for 3D games, which run more smootly on the Spectrum than on a C64 for example with 1Mhz (or 1.6Mhz?) CPU (there was one where you had to deploy towers on a space station and another one where you had to run through a egyptian tomb, I forgot the names$ does anybody remember VU3D from Psion btw.? :)))). No VIC or SID chips unfortunatelly :(
However it''s a 8bit CPU, the Z80 has instruments for 16bit operations and plenty of registers (A,B,C,D,E,H,L which are the 8 bit ones and BC, DE, HL which are the 16bit ones!), which were really great to work with that time!
I still had the guy in one of the boxes somewhere in the basement :) :(

There should be important additional info in description at site about graphics of Zpectrum:

Each 8x8 pixel block have: 3 bit foreground color, 3 bit background color, 1 bit brightness, and 1 bit flashing.

http://wapedia. mobi/en/Attribute_clash

A little known feature of the Spectrum was that you could redirect the error handling to run your own custom process in ram.

The practical upshot of this was that was you could write your own commands and add them seamlessly to the Sinclair Basic set

How? Simple, write the ‘command’ in machine code and redirect the error handler to it’s address by changing a system variable.

Then when you type your command in, the command line interpreter doesn’t recognise it, and calls your custom error handler, which then
Runs your custom command!

I remember I used this technique to add a few missing functions to the Microdrives, such as the capability to re-open an existing file for writing.

Sinclair originally hoped the Spectrum would sell well to schools as an educational tool, and as a result the user manual that came with the machine was utterly superb. Not only did it have a complete and very easy to follow BASIC tutorial, but it explained a lot about how the machine worked, and even introduced Z80 machine code. Thanks to this amazing little machine (and the ZX81) I’ve now been a professional programmer for over 25 years.

The 16K Issue One Spectrum is undoubtedly the rarest of them all. I was once offered £400 for my boxed unit (which has been with us since 1983) despite it being broken.

The Issue One shows its Sinclair kit machine heritage ... it has rough hand-drawn tracks on the PCB and no silk screen. In addition the ULA chip (the only custom chip on the board - basically a complex logic chip) had a bug in it. This led to Sinclair adding the 'spider' to correct the problem. This was just another standard logic chip added to the board with thick wire so that it rises above the board.

Happy birthday, old friend.

My first ever computer ! in xmas 83 (I was 9) and a whole new world openned up......That horizons tape (naff!) and Trans am (Ultimate) and Pogo (Ocean - q-bert clone) were the first games I got.......sniff,sniff......

The 48k Speccy was my first computer which I got for Christmas in '82 or possibly '83 and I remember playing Chequered Flag and competing for lap times with my mum! It did get pretty battered and beaten over the years and I amassed a huge collection of games for it too, my favourite of which had to be Ant Attack. After a couple of years, the connector where the power cable plugged in became loose and somtimes it would turn itself off. My parents very kindly sent it off for a keyboard upgrade to the Saga 1 Emperor which kind of looked like a basic PC keyboard, but also gave me the reset switch I desperately needed (instead of taping the cable to the desk to stop it from moving). The only downside to this was that the keyboard didnt have all of the commands onthe keys like the old rubber one but also, the stickers after much bashing, came off! Those were the days.....

the spectrum was a brilliant piece of hardware, although technically better home computers were available at the time this one was extremely affordable and usable. got me introduced to my current line of work in computers. thanks sinclair and not at least zilog.

My first computer...just seeing pictures of it brings tears to my eyes! Sir Clive, thank you and God bless you!

does anyone here use the zeus assembler?
i am trying to use it on a spectrum +3, in 128k mode. Each time i exit using the Q command, it resets the machine. Therefore i cannot save my source code to disk.

If anyone here does use it, is there any way around this? I really want to use it in 128k mode so that i can utilize the disk drive.

Still the best computer ever made!

I had one of the original spectrums in January 1982. My father knew a guy who worked for Sinclair (we lived near Cambridge) and we obtained one of the machines before its official release. As you know, a lot of people learned programming on a Spectrum (or Speccy as we used to call it) but did you know that a lot of people like myself started out by debugging other peoples code. There was a magazine called "Sinclair Programs" which would publish BASIC listings for small programs that users had written. Unfortunately the magazine had typos in quite a few listings and in order to make the programs work we spent many evenings debugging them.

Keys like dead flesh

The biggest problem I had was the AC adapter, it was supposed to convert from 220VAC to 12VDC, but it was converting to 17VAC instead. The poor Spectrum's case was so hot I could use it to cook eggs. A friend of mine (Gianka) help me modifying the diods bridge inside the adapter. If I remeber correctly we installed on the bridge a 7812 chip.

Nice one, thanks oliver

Of course it is possible. You should find here (http://www.worldofspectrum.org/utilities.html) tools to do so. The idea is to convert .TAP files for example into .WAV files and load them diretly into the Speccy. MP3s won't work that much as there are compressed files, and so all frequencies are not present as in the original...

hey, does anyone know of a way of downloading roms for the spectrum, and then loading then playing them on a real one?, maybe if they were as sound , in mp3 format?,

The ZX Spectrum was manufactured in Argentina by Czerweny, a electric motor company! Two models were made: the CZ Spectrum, identical to the ZX except for 2 DIN connectors for Sinclair Joysticks and a useful reset button ;-D ; and the CZ Spectrum+, identical to the ZX Spectrum+.