Spectrum +2 info please :)

[MattSmith]

Hi Folks,

I've decided to get all my old toys out and play with them (as I've found a way of loading up speccy games from my iphone)

Does anyone have info on wiring up a speccy RGB output to scart please, Will make things easier for modern TV plug and play

[Vicboduk]

Hi Matt,
This pdf may help you. Although for the 128 I think it also applies to the +2.

Vic

[MattSmith]

Thank you sir, very helpful indeed.

So who else is a speccy geek still here then ?

[Dave Moll]

I've only looked at the title page so far, but it does claim to be for 128/+2/+2A/+3.

I shall have to study the document and have a go at connecting up my +2.

[SiriusHardware]

Originally Posted by MattSmith

Thank you sir, very helpful indeed.

So who else is a speccy geek still here then ?

Include me I'm afraid: Still have my original 48K Spectrum now back in its original rubber keyed wedge after spending most of its life in a third party keyboard enclosure. I've also got a grey +2 (Amstrad made, and therefore not really a real Spectrum in my rather jaundiced opinion). I've owned that from new as well, but only used it for a short time before moving on to the Atari ST.

The best website resource for all things Spectrum is, appropriately enough, www.worldofspectrum.org. It looks primitive at first sight, but holds many treasures in terms of documentation, diagrams and much more besides.

[MattSmith]

Ah still have my rubber keyed 48k and the grey plus 2 I bought new in 1987
And yes I agree, it's not a proper speccy although the + 2 was at Lear compatible with all 128 and 48 software...... Which the +2a and +3 were not

Anyone got a Sam coupe? I still lust after possibly the ultimate speccy

[DragonForce]

Originally Posted by MattSmith

Thank you sir, very helpful indeed.

So who else is a speccy geek still here then ?

Guilty.

I've probably got at least 20 Spectrums here in various states of repair and literally thousands of programs.

I even host a ZX Spectrum Public Domain software library on my website!

[julie_m]

I was a bit late to the Spectrum fun party, having been spoiled with a BBC Model B -- though once my younger sister graduated to an Amiga 600, I did have some fun with her cast-off Spectrum -- including bodging on an 8255 I/O card originally meant for a ZX81 and using it to run a home-made lighting controller. I even acquired an Interface One, and wrote a Z80 cross-assembler in BASIC on my own Amiga 500. (I added some instructions of my own; e.g. LD BC, HL which was rendered as LD B, H followed by LD C, L.)

Another thing I clearly remember: Shorting A8 and A9 prevents a Spectrum from booting up, but is not actually fatal if caught in time.

[MattSmith]

Guys I think you've all out spectrum'd me

I was still very much just into using existing software or typing in the listings printed in mags etc.

But it's good to know the speccy is still alive (ish) out there - it seems after some googling that the Russians and similar countries still produce plenty of new speccy software, someone's got to I suppose

[Gulliver]

Guilty. I have an issue 2 48K rubber devil Spectrum. It's still used from time to time.

And two ZX81's. One of which is possibly the oldest working example left - the ULA is dated March 1981 and includes the original klutzed ROM.

Both machines have a surprising amount of support with regard to new software and even hardware in this day and age.

[Paul Stenning]

I never had a Spectrum but my first computer was a ZX81 which I learnt BASIC on. I also had the printer and a 3rd party 16K RAM pack, and a larger case with a somewhat better keyboard.

I then had a Commodore 64 for a little while (I didn't get on with it, more of a games machine) followed by a BBC Model B with DFS ROM and single floppy drive, which I kept and used regularly until I got my first PC (a second hand 286) in the late 80's.

[Dave Moll]

I must admit that I never owned a Spectrum (or Sinclair anything) back in their day - my first brush with computer ownership (as opposed to working with those football-pitch-sized things professionally) also being a BBC B, although I started with the basic machine and added luxuries such as DFS and a disc drive later.

Since having got into collecting, I have acquired a ZX81, four Spectrums (Spectra?) - one of which even works, and the afore-mentioned +2.

[Gulliver]

Originally Posted by Paul Stenning

I never had a Spectrum but my first computer was a ZX81 which I learnt BASIC on. I also had the printer and a 3rd party 16K RAM pack, and a larger case with a somewhat better keyboard.

I then had a Commodore 64 for a little while (I didn't get on with it, more of a games machine) followed by a BBC Model B with DFS ROM and single floppy drive, which I kept and used regularly until I got my first PC (a second hand 286) in the late 80's.

A lot of people found that the Sinclair machines were great for programming, whereas the Commodores were games devices. Commodore BASIC was very user unfriendly and I never even tried machine code on a Commodore. Whereas you could start writing simple programs that actually did things quite quickly on ZX81s and Spectrums. I think the R-Pi will be the spiritual successor.

It's been said that the British software industry and prevelance of British programmers internationally is in great part down to the ZX81, Spectrum and BBC Micro lending themselves to programming...whereas the Commodores and Ataris (more popular stateside) were not. We bred a generation of coders. They bred a generation of gamers.

[arjoll]

I had a ZX81 but *really* wanted a Spectrum - one of the reasons it's one of the two items still on my vintage computer "wish list." The other item there is a BBC model B. I may have left my run a bit late on both though - the market is just silly - but I'll wait and see what appears, I seem to have had some weird luck finding small caches of vintage gear!

[MattSmith]

Originally Posted by arjoll

I had a ZX81 but *really* wanted a Spectrum - one of the reasons it's one of the two items still on my vintage computer "wish list." The other item there is a BBC model B. I may have left my run a bit late on both though - the market is just silly - but I'll wait and see what appears, I seem to have had some weird luck finding small caches of vintage gear!

I was thinking exactly the same - but I've got a spectrum, the BBC is still on the wishlist though, handily I've just had some cracking luck on e-bay.

I have a ZX-81 with 16k ram pack and proprietry case with proper keyboard winging its way to me about now.
It's time I learnt to faff about with the Sinclair basic I feel

[SteveCG]

... take care if you are offered an Acorn Electron. I had access to two, both of which died after a few years - not through heavy use - rather through a bespoke chip failure.

[MattSmith]

Originally Posted by SteveCG

... take care if you are offered an Acorn Electron. I had access to two, both of which died after a few years - not through heavy use - rather through a bespoke chip failure.

I haven't even seen an Electron since about 1988 when I was at school still

[Dave Moll]

Here's mine then - or at least as much of it as will fit on my scanner.

[MattSmith]

Excellent, thanks Dave. Now I have seen one haha
Next question...... Is it worth owning one?

[Courtney Louise]

Not really as you are missing some of the video modes. They are not completely BBC compatible.