Lmst

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The first version of Retrospecs was released in the App Store eleven years ago today.

To celebrate the anniversary, you can unlock the full version for $0.99 / £0.99 / €0.99 for the next week. 🥳

Feel free to spread the word.

https://8bitartwork.co.uk

A heavily dithered and pixelated image of a purple balloon against a yellow background.

flatduckrecords boosted:

I probably should mention that there is currently no blog post on the RC2014 Mini II Picasso kits. There will be, and it will reveal a lot of the secret and super secret nerdy easter eggs in there. But that won't be published until after they are all sold.

So, lucky for you, there are still a few left! https://z80kits.com/shop/rc2014-mini-ii-picasso/

flatduckrecords boosted:

🚨 New Release - SAA1099P Soundchip Interface for RC2014 and compatibles.

The SAM Coupe has been my computer of choice for the last 32 years so bringing its sound chip, the Philips SAA1099P, over to the RC2014 and compatible ecosystem is a no brainer, especially following a request asking if it was possible, so here it is!

The SAA1099P can considered to be similar to using two AY sound chips: It provides 6 sound generators (31Hz to 7.81KHz). 2 noise generators and 2 envelope controllers. Separate volume for left and right volumes of each channel. On the interface the I/O port used can be selected with jumpers to avoid clashes with other hardware you have, as well as for using multiple cards in the same system.

More information / purchase:
https://2014.samcoupe.com

In the video the music playing is from the 'Lyra 3' megademo on the SAM Coupe, by the legendary chiptune musician Ziutek from the E.S.I. demogroup.

#soundchip #chiptune #rc2014 #synth #electronics #indiedev #samcoupe

flatduckrecords boosted:

A text showing the word PRIDEMONTH that eventually fades and reveals IDE, an old standard for internally connecting storage devices, optical drives and some other devices like a Zip Disk Drive.

Shown below is the picture of a female 40 pin cable (not quite IDE, sorry!) in rainbow colors vaguely resembling an IDE cable.

flatduckrecords boosted:

Well I'm enjoying myself!

@jimblimey ooh. Jim-is-working-on-a-Bluesky-bridge dot pee aitch pee?

@electron_greg I love his work, a master of his craft!

Good morning!
(It’s Snorkin’ Time!) ☕️🎩

Photograph, outdoors, garden. In the foreground a WhatHoSnorkers coffee mug with an Aeropress atop, such that it looks like Snorkers is wearing a top-hat. (Well sort of). The mug is on a little table and is next to a Cambridge Computer Z88 portable computer. The sun is rising in the background. It is evidently Snorking Time™️.

I just finished building my new PC!
#RC2014 #RomWBW #Z80 #CP/M

Photograph of a little blue box with switches lights and small LCD screen.

Computer with the lid removed. Inside are blue modular circuit boards and several wires connecting them here and there.

Photograph of the assembly process. The main backplane is pictured with a few modules connected, and the front panel is propped up nearby being tested. Multimeter and soldering iron in the background.

@mattround it certainly gave me a challenge when I was trying to get the colour mapping just right. (LED vs CRT further complicating things of course!)

Photograph of two computers and two screen. On the left, ZX Spectrum Next with a flatscreen monitor. On the right SAM Coupé with a portable television set. Both screens show the same “Vitruvian SAM” image.

@mattround It’s a great pic! There’s quite a few MODE 4 pics on ZXArt.ee (links to each in the alt text). That one is indeed credited to you! I think that’s where I found it, or maybe in FRED actually. So the artwork was from an MGT poster originally? I don’t think I’ve seen that.

flatduckrecords boosted:

So many dolphins between Scotland and Ireland

I have made a ZX Spectrum Next dot-command called “SSX” that allows you to view SAM Coupé screens.

(I have also submitted it for consideration in a programming contest …the top prize a gleaming white Spectrum Next!)

Do let me know if you check SSX out and let me know what you think:

https://robertmorrison.me/spectrum/next/samscreen/

#SamCoupé #ZxSpectrum #asm #esxDOS

Photograph of a flatscreen monitor displaying a multi-coloured advert for Enceladus disk magazine. The image uses more than the maximum 16 colours allowed in a SAM Coupé screen by doing line-interrupt palette changes. The display is being generated by a ZX Spectrum Next (out of shot).

SAM Coupé screen grab. Artwork by HEXdidn't... colourful alien illustration. text reads "Aliens vs. Predator". See https://zxart.ee/eng/authors/h/hexdidnt/avp-loading-screen-sam-v2/

SAM Coupé screen grab. Art by Les Doughty. Realistic picture of a combat pilot. Text reads "F-16 Combat Pilot by Digital Integration". See https://zxart.ee/eng/authors/l/les-doughty/f-16-combat-pilot1/

SAM Coupé screen grab. Artwork by Matt Round. Illustration of SAM (the mascot) in the style of The Vitruvian Man. Text reads "SAM - the revelation" See https://zxart.ee/eng/authors/m/matt-round/sam---the-revelation/

Quick update to 3.5.0. The ROM (actually EEPROM) is rewritable of course but I had a spare anyway so I used that (just in case!)

Photograph of my RC2014 with “3.5.0” scrawled prominently on one of the microchips.

Upgrade time! I’ve added a combined 512K ROM / 512K RAM card to my RC2014 which replaces the two respective cards from my old setup and also brings the RomWBW system to explore. I’ve had the upgrade kit since the Retro Computer Festival in November and finally built it tonight!
#Z80 #CPM

RC2014 Pro modular computer. The combined RAM and ROM card has been separated from the backplane.

RC2014 powered-up with green LEDs glowing brightly.

@ireless it’s not very Spectrum-specific. Mostly just why you’d want to get online and goes over BBS, TeleText and Prestel. I suspect the authors did not choose the title as the book has nothing to do with hacking (in any sense) except a few paragraphs explaining that hacking is illegal!

CONTENTS

Chapter 1
Why communicate?
Information retrieval
Messages and mail
Home banking and shopping
Software downloading
Bulletin boards

Section One - Getting connected

Chapter 2
The hardware
The serial interface
Inside the works
Modems
Acoustic couplers
Direct-connect modems
British Telecom policy
Working together
Baud
Parity
Half and full duplex

Chapter 3
Getting your Spectrum on-line
Software has a purpose
The software
Choosing a modem
Non-specific modems
Nightingale
WS2000

Sendata 700B
Telemod 3
Chipchat
MS 21/23
Spectrum-specific modems
Protek 1200
Prism's VTX-5000

Section Two - At your service

Chapter 4
Electronic mail: the postal system of the future
Bulletin board E-mail
Prestel and Micronet E-maill
One-to-One
Telemessaging
Telecom Gold

Chapter 5
Bulletin boards: the CB of the eighties
What's on a bulletin board?
Bulletin board etiquette
Hacking
Bulletin board types
The TBBS system
The CBBS system
The Forum-80 system
Getting on a bulletin board
Numbers

Chapter 6
Teletext: TV's alternative
The technology
The micro user
Information available
Teletext equipment

Chapter 7
Information, please

Prestel
Costs
Using Prestel
Micronet
News
Messages
Software
Homelink
Stocks and shares
Banking services
Verdict

PSS
The Source
CompuServe
Specialist information
BLAISE
DIALOG

Chapter 8
Instant telexing
How it works
Using telex with One-to-One
Using telex with Prestel

Chapter 9
Looking ahead

Chapter 10
Glossary of terms

I love an 80s computing book with completely unhinged technology metaphors.

Photograph of the from cover of “The Hacker’s Handbook” a ZX Spectrum 48K communications guide by Longman publishing. The illustration depicts orbital ZX Spectrums encircling the globe.

A diagram from the book. The concept of duplex send and receive communication lines is, for (presumably) some reason, illustrated as two pairs of handlebars with the brake lines connected such that pulling the right hand brake lever raises a flag on the left hand lever of the other side.

Another illustration and more abject nonsense. A cartoon of a car driving on a winding road that passes over a bridge and ends up at a car park. Along the way a police officer is marshalling traffic. The road is suppose to represent the telephone; the cop is software; the road (“highway”) also represent the cable; the eight lanes (annotated but neither depicted nor explained) lead to the car park with eight spaces that represents the screen.

Biblically-accurate rendering of RS232 from the perspective of the computer. Allegedly. I quite like this one to be honest, I might get it as my next tattoo. We’re back to handlebars but this time with six brakes and umpteen flags. The brake lines are labelled TxD, RxD, CTS, RTS, DTR, DSR, circuit common, and DCD.

What ho, Saturday‽

A photograph of my desk with a book, a notepad, a pencil, a mug of tea and a calculator.

Happy upgrade day, gang!
(I retired my clunky old bodge-wired external IDE interface in favour of a sleek internal fancy one).
#ZXSpectrum #Plus3e

A ZX Spectrum +3e main board in a clear Perspex sandwich (in lieu of its original case). Inside can be seen all the gubbins including a new IDE interface with a bright red LED.

A picture showing the IDE interface in more detail. It has taken the place of the Z80 processor. The adaptor sits in the old DIP socket and extends to the right, where the floppy drive would normally be mounted, but in this system has been removed. A CF card is attached. Instead of the original DIP Z80, this board has a surface mounted QFP variant (which is much smaller). Not quite in shot is one of the two EPROMs which have replaced the original mask ROMs.

Fitting ZX-HD with a new Raspberry Pi Zero. It’s a socket connection which means that normally there’s no need for soldering, but this Pi Zero had no header pins so they needed to be fitted first.

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