Page 1 of 2

Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2022 11:30 am
by Alessandro
Hi everybody,

it is with great pleasure that I annonunce you the release of the new Spectrumpedia in its second edition, revised and enhanced in every part. It is now divided into two volumes.

Please note that at present it is available in Italian only, but a translation is underway. Although my spare time has noticeably decreased these days (maybe you noticed that I pretty much disappeared from this forum lately), I managed to translate half of the first volume so far, and I plan to have it available as a free sample before the Spectrum's 40th anniversary. Hopefully the second volume will be ready within the first half of May.

As it was with the first edition in 2012, in fact, a free of charge digital edition in PDF format for consultation purposes on PCs and mobile devices can be downloaded from my website. It is distributed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-NC International 4.0 license. Even if you do not understand Italian, I suggest you to take a look at it so that you can get an idea of the work's scope and depth. There are so many corrections and enhancements it would just be too long to mention.

The Italian printed edition is already for sale. It is possible that once completed, the English translation will also be published on paper.

Link: https://www.alessandrogrussu.it/sp.html

Re: Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2022 12:23 pm
by Andre Leao
Oh, wonderful, I would like to buy the english version :)

Re: Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2022 1:35 pm
by Alessandro
First of all I have to finish the translation, and it's a huge effort :mrgreen:

By the way, I see you announced the "second volume". It's not like that - the first volume is in fact not the same as the 2012 edition. It is the whole work that has been splitted into two volumes. Could you please correct it?

Re: Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2022 5:57 pm
by ionut76
Wow !! Fantastic work ! The first volume includes the Romanian computers ! Thank you !

Re: Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2022 9:13 pm
by Alessandro
@ionut76: Thanks! :D And Romanian clones, yes - they are so interesting, the Cobra in particular!

Re: Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2022 9:23 pm
by PeterJ
Fantastic work @Alessandro. Congratulations.

Re: Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2022 8:29 am
by Alessandro
Thank you @PeterJ :D News about the English translation will be spread on my website and on this thread, so stay tuned ;)

I would like to add the two PDF Italian files to the archive, do I have to use the same interface for adding new software entries?

Re: Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2022 8:40 am
by PeterJ
@Alessandro,

Yes, you can add via the interface, but please don't upload the files. I will email you.

Re: Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2022 3:41 pm
by bobs
@Alessandro from a quick read there’s an error with one of my game titles? It’s “Farmer Jack and the Hedge Monkeys”, not “…Edge Monkeys”

Re: Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2022 7:14 pm
by Alessandro
@bobs Sorry Bob, I guess there is no way of correcting it right now that the book is in print. I will take it into account for the translation though.

Re: Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2022 4:45 pm
by Alessandro
Hi everyone,

I translated the first volume of the book to English. You can download it from the address in the first post.

I shall try to translate the second in time for next 23rd of April, but I am not sure about it. Too much to do these days :?

Just one little note: I am not an English native speaker, and although I cared to make my translation as accurate as possible, there could be some imperfections in it - grammar, spelling etc. If you believe you found some, please write me at alessandrogrussu (at) gmail (dot) com and I will look into it.

I wish you a good reading :)

Re: Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2022 6:13 pm
by hitm4n
I've just grabbed the English Pt 1 PDF of this and its amazing. This is a book i could sit and read (and i don't read books). I love the in-depth history, the hardware section, then the software section and clones. Really nicely done. Feels like the ultimate Speccy Bible, needs to sit on my retro bookshelf with my Fusion, John Kavanagh (and many other) publications.

Please please get that second part translated, i need the PDF in my life at least.
But if you ever publish this in English in physical form, i'll buy it for sure.

Re: Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2022 9:35 pm
by PeterJ
Brilliant @Alessandro. I look forward to reading. Thank you very much.

Re: Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2022 10:15 pm
by Alessandro
Thank you folks :D

A small update to Volume 1 (English): Some style corrections (mainly quotation marks) were made.

Re: Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2022 11:22 pm
by Manu128k
Impressive work Alessandro, you wrote hundreds of pages full of interesting facts. Thank you very much for this huge effort.

Re: Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2022 11:33 pm
by Nitrowing
hitm4n wrote: Sat Apr 09, 2022 6:13 pm if you ever publish this in English in physical form, i'll buy it for sure.
Same here

Re: Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2022 8:58 am
by cha05e90
What a wonderful work of art and love! So if there's any chance to have both editions in English and printed - count me in!!!

Re: Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 3:46 pm
by Alessandro
Thank you all :D

A smallish update: I am currently translating Volume 2, but I doubt I will have it ready for 23 April - next week I will be busy with work matters, and on that date I will be present at the VIGAMUS in Rome for a special event.

Meanwhile, I integrated the bibliography for English Volume 1 with Alexander Cline's really interesting doctorate thesis about the Spectrum.

Re: Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2022 12:42 pm
by desUBIKado
This is the most impressive and complete book about everything surrounding the Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer. The 2012 version was already impressive and this 2022 version is even more so. Thank you very much @Alessandro , are you planning to make a Spanish translation?

Re: Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2022 1:22 pm
by Alessandro
Thank you so much @desUBIKado :D

I hope you will appreciate the work in its entirety as well, i.e. when the second volume will be translated - although if you are a native Spanish speaker, I believe you can understand at least some Italian.

Unfortunately my grasp of that language is not comparable to that of English. The current translation is already an arduous and time-consuming task for me, and I am not sure it is could be sent to press as it is now. My attempt at a Spanish translation would be even more difficult and the result would surely need much more proof-reading from native speakers than the English one (although nobody sent me any feedback in this sense so far).

I do not exclude it completely, but I would definitely need some voluntary help for it...

Re: Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2022 4:33 pm
by Alessandro
Update for Volume 1 (English): Several typos and untranslated words were corrected.

Thanks to @jimmy for pointing most of them out.

Re: Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2022 1:51 pm
by Alessandro
Hi everyone!

After a long hiatus due to real life necessities - family, work etc. - and, to be honest, a certain drop of interest in retro stuff - I have been taking part in it for the last 25 years after all - I resumed work on the English edition of the Spectrumpedia.

Chapter 1 (New Frontiers) has been completely translated, and now I am working on Chapter 2 (Emulation).

Also, Volume 1 has been newly revised, with some style adjustments. As usual, it is recommended to download the most recent version. The link is always the same, in the first post of this topic :)

Re: Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 1:58 pm
by Alessandro
Now the second chapter of the second volume has been translated. To do next:

- inserting the newly found information about Rodolfo Edison Guerra's new ROMs for the 16/48/128/+2/+2A/+3 and the Microdigital TK90X in the first chapter of the volume (thanks to @PeterJ);
- translating the rest of the volume: Chapter 3 "The Spectrum in Italy" and Chapter 4 "Sources And More".

Stay tuned! :)

Re: Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 2:31 pm
by Alessandro
I am happy to announce you that the second volume of the Spectrumpedia has been translated into English.

This edition has been updated from the original Italian with a couple of new articles about the DivTIESUS interface and Rodolfo Guerra's new ROMs. Also, there is a picture of a T-shirt given in 1987 with the Special Playgames tape magazine which is not present there.

All information about emulators has been updated to last August.

The first volume has been updated as well, with a new photo of the HiLow Data Drive, courtesy of Rodolfo Guerra, some modifications in the text and the rearrangement of Soviet/Former USSR clones alphabetical order due to differences between transliteration conventions from Cyrillic into Latin in Italian and in English. Many images have also been put again in their places at a higher resolution.

A note: I am thinking about a printed edition of the whole work, but before that I would like to get it proofread by English native speakers who also are Spectrum or generally retrocomputing/retrogaming enthusiasts. I established some contact for this, but should anyone find some spelling/grammar mistakes or some difficult to understand parts, please report it to my email address alessandro (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll look into the issue.

Download and enjoy :)

Edit: The license for the Spectrumpedia freely consultable digital edition has been changed to CC BY-NC-ND (the whole text is here). This substitutes the previous CC BY-NC license.

Re: Spectrumpedia second edition - it's here!

Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 6:18 pm
by Jbizzel
Excellent stuff. Actually mind blowing encyclopedia of spectrum. Staggering love letter to the greatest 8 bit computer of all time!