Spectrum Computing

Uh - this was my first one:

Frenzy (the Spectrum Games variant!)*

...and, boy, I was disappointed. The next titles were Jetpac and TransAm - faaar better games...

*) I think I spotted an error on that DB entry: The first Crash magazine entry is *not* this Frenzy but the Quicksilva's one!

Yep, I have one, too. It's indeed a little pricey, but it's a "professional" piece of hardware with a proper produced housing. AFAIK it has all the (software) features of the other DivMMC variants and a rather nice out-sensing of the attached hardware (= Speccy ).

Pegaz wrote: ↑Tue Apr 21, 2020 4:48 pm

PeterJ wrote: ↑Tue Apr 21, 2020 4:07 pm It's been a tough day, and I don't understand. Could you explain? Sorry.

He doesn't ship to Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Japan and half the EU, but he sends to the countries I mentioned.
I hope it's some mistake...

No, no, Lebanon is excluded, too! I just double-checked!

Congratulations! Mine arrived yesterday - I'm just admiring the perfect Rick design up to now. I'll fire it up this weekend. But first things first: I altered my signature!

Apparently I liked it so much, that I did a own loading screen for it (which is btw. muuuch nicer the the one that came with the sold version). :-) Why don't you upload it to ZX-Art ? At least I digged out my ZX Microdrive cartridge with the bugfixed version of the type-in, including my own loading...

I'll put this down to both 'Commodore' and 'Schneider' being Germanic words! I mean, they can't all have this terrible taste in computing... Regarding the second one: "Schneider" is a rather common German name (like "Taylor" in the U.K, I assume). And it's the name of a (once!) ...

Yes, Germany was "Commodore-Land". Especially where I live, 'cos the local Commodore factory was only a few kilom...er...miles away. Nevertheless the Sinclair ZX Spectrum was 2nd place quite some time and were only pushed to the 3rd place after the official release of the "Schneider C...

Juan F. Ramirez wrote: ↑Fri Nov 15, 2019 5:06 pm Sometimes it's really scary when I read:

Registered Users: Bing [bot], Juan F. Ramirez, Google [bot]

Then I feel like I'm alone here with those weird bots!

Registered users: cha05e90, Juan F. Ramirez

Me, too.

Ok, regarding the thread title: Yeah, I had similar thoughts as well. I started my computing career with a ZX81 (1K) in 1982 - followed by a ZX Spectrum (16K) in 1983. Me and my working class family did not have the money to invest in the "German standard 8-bit home computer": the Commodor...

There are some more suggestions from J.G. Hartson I tested Jonathan's rather short Sinclair BASIC variant - indeed a test in the system variable area: 10 CLOSE#0:LET inf1=(PEEK 23734<>244) 20 IF inf1 THEN PRINT "ZX Interface 1 detected." If I put that in the beginning of the BASIC program...

Wow, it doesn't seem that easy to retrieve that information from your Speccy..:-) I'm still trying to make a test with pure Sinclair BASIC - maybe something from all your suggestions can be used. If that's really impossible, I'll give this or that method using some assembler a try - but that will be...

Ah, thanks for the hints. The use case is to check for a attached Interface 1 from inside a running BASIC program. So I might try (or alter...) the NMIADD stuff from Andrew. AFAIK the system variable area is different for a ZX Spectrum 48/128 with and without an Interface 1, so I thought there might...

My rather naive idea is to PEEK some system variable(s) to find out if there's a ZX Interface 1 attached or not. Is there any reliable candidate for such a test?

... makes it difficult to write a BASIC program which uses the extra memory and runs on all machines. Oh, yes, seems so! Up to now I can determine whether there is a silicon disk or not with: 1000 LET sys48=1: REM 48K as default, no silicon disk 1010 IF PEEK 2899=159 AND PEEK 23611=221 THEN LET sys...

Oh dear, they changed syntax from 128/+2 to +3/+2x?

I only know the first 128 (Toastrack) and assumed using the silicon disk is the same syntax with all 128K ZX Spectrums...

Some years ago I asked the same to Einar. He suggested me this method, which I have been employing ever since: PRINT PEEK 2899 Returns 165 for a 48K, 159 for a 128K/+2 (under 128 as well as 48 BASIC) and 126 for a +2A/+2B/+3 (ditto). Hm, another one. I must admit my first (simple) idea was to disti...

Ast A. Moore wrote: ↑Mon Jul 29, 2019 2:01 pm PRINT PEEK 23611. Returns 221 for 128 BASIC and 204 for 48K.

Oh, thank you very much. That should do it!

Ast A. Moore wrote: ↑Mon Jul 29, 2019 2:01 pmP.S. And it’s officially called Sinclair BASIC, not ZX BASIC.

Whaaaaaaat? Ok, I'll try to internalize that - I used that "ZX BASIC" term for >30 years ...

Hello, is there any way I can test from standard ZX BASIC whether I'm running on a 48K or 128K machine? For example by PEEKing a special system variable or the like? (I found some tips for this but all of them use some kind of additional assembler routine or are somewhat "destructive".) Re...

I had some spare time last night ... :-) and rumbled through the sys vars section of the ZX Spectrum manuals and clicked through the Richards Online ROM disassembly ( https://skoolkid.github.io/rom/ ). To my own surprise this channel redirection pokery works well with a standard 48K and 128K ZX Spec...

Hi folks! By pure chance I found this very interesting and informative web page: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jg27paw4/pourri/0-surc-contents.htm While scanning through the hints, tips and magic of (often) ZX BASIC mircales I stumbled across this little gem for the ZX Spectrum +3: CAT2String.BA...

Morkin wrote: ↑Sun Jun 30, 2019 5:13 pm 1. Atic Atac
2. Jetpac
3. Knight Lore

dito

PeterJ wrote: ↑Mon May 06, 2019 10:32 pm I appreciate that many of these members may only visit very occasionally, ...

Maybe - on the other hand: I'm f.ex. here (almost) every day - but only log in every now and then...

I have both and used both. Of course the dk'tronics keyboard is the better keyboard - especially the later version(s) with a full Space bar. But: it's ugly! :D (at least regarding my taste). I have the first version which is not compatible with an Interface 1 setup, so I re-merged my ZX Spectrum bac...

I don't know why, but my most played and liked ZX BASIC game is the type-in from C,V&G: The Wizard of Tallyron. https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.php?cat=96&id=17442 Apparently I liked it so much, that I did a own loading screen for it (which is btw. muuuch nicer the the one that came wi...

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