SPECTRUM thread!!!!

Amiga1992 · 15 September 2002, 08:24

We had CPC, MSX and C64 threads. So what about the Spectrum! A machine usually much hated by us Commodore and MSX fans. However it still has good things!

I find it technically appaling (though its fast Z80 could pull vector games much faster than the C64), but it has many EXCLUSIVE games and, to me, that counts a LOT.

I bought my first Speccy last year. A Lithuanin guy convinced me that the Spectrum is the shit and I bought the thing (same happened to me with the amstrad CPC!).

I got a spanking nice Spectrum 128K +3.

I had to get a PSU for it, for I bought it with none. I found one and brought it home via surface...

When it got here, I tested to see if the machine worked... Booted up, and put it in storage.

Until today, when I decided to play with it! I downloaded TAPER and Manic Miner from the brilliant World of Spectrum site. After some initial problems with TAPER, it finally worked. my Speccy recognized the program!!! Then it showed some jumpy MANIC MINER letters on screen while loading.. I was so fucking excited!!!

Now the game has booted and I'm having lots of fun with it

Here are pics of the machine playing its very first game:

It's appearing in B&W because my TV is PAL-N andthe machine is PAL-B...

Anyway, the Speccy was a very popular machine so lots of people surely have stories about it. Share them with me here! I will keep posting my experiences with other Speccy classics. For now, i'll go back and waste the night with Manic Miner

Fissuras · 15 September 2002, 10:31

Mee dun't lika spackyyyyy. Mee lika ZX81

Antiriad · 15 September 2002, 12:42

Ahhhh the Speccy...cheap and cheerful.

I remember in the schoolground pecking order, the Amstrad CPC owner would look down upon the ZX Spectrum owner :disgusted whilst the Commodore 64 owner would spit on both!

They were the 8bit Trinity

, you would always goto to the back of any cassette tape cover or magazine adverts and compare the three screenshots graphics. And if you were the owner of the former pair you always were glad when you saw the speccy one!

Oh how I miss those days...

Got a 128+, +2 and +3 in my collection, I always thought it was sad how Amstrad killed off the Spectrum "look" with its Amstrad clones the +2 and +3, as the ones before were always so distinctively styled.

I always loved how almost any popular game made it onto the little black box of joy and how they were stripped down to their basics just to make it work. The Spectrum really had its own unique graphical look which at the time i scoffed at, but now i really adore: the basic looking, colour limited, but usually detailed graphics.

This series represented for many their first encounter with the world of computers and will always be special.

Muchos respect to Sir Clive Sinclair. Would have loved to have seen how the QL would have developed but thats another story...

15 September 2002, 12:54

Quote:

Originally posted by Antiriad
Muchos respect to Sir Clive Sinclair. Would have loved to have seen how the QL would have developed but thats another story...

And the C5 !!!

15 September 2002, 14:29

Quote:

Originally posted by Akira
It's appearing in B&W because my TV is PAL-N andthe machine is PAL-B...

Build an RGB cable for your 1084S monitor!!

http://sinclairmania.speccy.cz/euroconector.html

ptrchiappe · 15 September 2002, 14:44

How could i forget the Spectrum ... it was my first computer; i bought it with 16K of memory (WOW how much!) and then expanded to 48K.

I still have it (only a couple of keys don't react anymore) and will never give it away, even if i never turned it on after buying the amiga, it brings me too much memories to separate from it.

Amiga1992 · 15 September 2002, 18:26

Quote:

Originally posted by Uukrul
[B]Build an RGB cable for your 1084S monitor!!

That was the idea but my 1084 is DEAD ;P

I blasted the night away with Manic Miner... I will now proceed to the next step: convert my Minidisc portable player in the most coolest-looking tape drive ever

. It's black and all so it will match! I should find a rainbow stripe decal to place on it

RetroMan · 15 September 2002, 21:13

I must admit, I´m not very impressed by the Spectrum 48, 128, whatever machines ! I once owned a 128 but I gave it away (I wasn´t a collector that days

). The only Sinclait machine I really really like is the ZX81 ! It´s really fantasic what you can do with B&W and only some KB of Ram

Amiga1992 · 15 September 2002, 22:01

Quote:

Originally posted by Fissuras
Mee dun't lika spackyyyyy. Mee lika ZX81

But you lameulate!!! BOOO for you!!!

cv643d · 15 September 2002, 22:26

I would like a Spectrum +3. It is great since you can mount a 3.5 floppy and load games directly with the floppy.

Though, extremely rare here in Sweden

Amiga1992 · 15 September 2002, 22:31

But the 3 1/2 diskdrive needs to be like one of those you need for an Amiga, so it's quite difficult to get :/

Anyway, Spectrum +3s are non-existant here in Argentina, I imported mine from the UK. I bought it for something like 10 UK quid! Go to ebay and look for one, you can find shitloads

I bought mine without PSU though, but I was very lucky to find a seller with a spare +3 PSU to sell!

Shatterhand · 15 September 2002, 22:49

Quote:

I remember in the schoolground pecking order, the Amstrad CPC owner would look down upon the ZX Spectrum owner whilst the Commodore 64 owner would spit on both!

and the MSX user would spit and step over all of them

I used to hate the Speccy because the MSX had lots of direct ports from it, not using the superior MSX power. Because of that, we had a crap version of Double Dragon, a crap version of Toobin, and a crap version of lots of other cool arcade games.

But today I don't hate it anymore, it has lots of nice, exclusive games like Akira said, and I have grown up and now I know gfx doesn't matter at all.

But the MSX still is THE 8 bits machine

8 Bits Enough !

Amiga1992 · 15 September 2002, 23:11

Quote:

Originally posted by Shatterhand
and the MSX user would spit and step over all of them

Hahahahaha! That's one of the funniest typos I ever read mate

you mixed the order of spit and step

stainy · 15 September 2002, 23:34

excellent typo!

well the Speccy was my first computer as well.. I got Commando first I think.. the I got some of the Ultimate Play the Game titles

16 September 2002, 01:01

Quote:

Originally posted by Shatterhand
But the MSX still is THE 8 bits machine

NO, NO, NO!!!

I dunno why but I don't like the MSX2 now that I own one. I plugged my 8245 more that eight months ago, played Nemesis and packed the computer again. Now is under my bed

blackcornflake · 16 September 2002, 01:10

Dammit, I LOVE da Speccy!!!

It was my first computer. So cool. It kicked ass from day one. So many cool games, all at cheap prices - I can list the first few games I bought, even now. Mr Freeze. Booty. Rebelstar. Fahrenheit 3000. Rockman. Bombjack. Wild Bunch. Chaos. Think! Turbo Esprit. Saboteur. Agent X.

Beautiful, beautiful classics, all of them. Anyone who has not played these games should play them.

I will always cherish the time I spent as a nipper with my Spectrum. MSX? C64? BBC? All the same to me. Pah.

Amiga1992 · 16 September 2002, 01:36

Quote:

Originally posted by Uukrul
I plugged my 8245 more that eight months ago, played Nemesis and packed the computer again. Now is under my bed

Man, Nemesis is an MSX1 game! You are wasting the machine's capabilities! No wonder you put it under the bed

16 September 2002, 01:46

I know it, Akira

Fissuras · 16 September 2002, 03:04

Quote:

Originally posted by Akira

But you lameulate!!! BOOO for you!!!

Actually I still own my TK 85 (ZX81 clone). Problem is, I can't wait five minutes to load those games!!!

And the truth is... when you have only b&w, no sound and 64x48 pixels only, lamulation is close enough

Amiga1992 · 16 September 2002, 03:17

Quote:

Originally posted by Fissuras
And the truth is... when you have only b&w, no sound and 64x48 pixels only, lamulation is close enough

That is untrue! Look at my snapshot... Can you emulate badly sintonized RF signals? Can you emulate fiddling with the tuning dial until you get a decent picture? And waiting 3 minutes for a tape to load rocks, you always have a picture or something to entertain you while waitinG!

15 September 2002, 08:24	#1
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,645	SPECTRUM thread!!!! We had CPC, MSX and C64 threads. So what about the Spectrum! A machine usually much hated by us Commodore and MSX fans. However it still has good things! I find it technically appaling (though its fast Z80 could pull vector games much faster than the C64), but it has many EXCLUSIVE games and, to me, that counts a LOT. I bought my first Speccy last year. A Lithuanin guy convinced me that the Spectrum is the shit and I bought the thing (same happened to me with the amstrad CPC!). I got a spanking nice Spectrum 128K +3. I had to get a PSU for it, for I bought it with none. I found one and brought it home via surface... When it got here, I tested to see if the machine worked... Booted up, and put it in storage. Until today, when I decided to play with it! I downloaded TAPER and Manic Miner from the brilliant World of Spectrum site. After some initial problems with TAPER, it finally worked. my Speccy recognized the program!!! Then it showed some jumpy MANIC MINER letters on screen while loading.. I was so fucking excited!!! Now the game has booted and I'm having lots of fun with it Here are pics of the machine playing its very first game: It's appearing in B&W because my TV is PAL-N andthe machine is PAL-B... Anyway, the Speccy was a very popular machine so lots of people surely have stories about it. Share them with me here! I will keep posting my experiences with other Speccy classics. For now, i'll go back and waste the night with Manic Miner Last edited by Amiga1992; 14 August 2017 at 20:17.

15 September 2002, 10:31	#2
Fissuras Old Luny Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Brazil Age: 53 Posts: 574	ZX81 Mee dun't lika spackyyyyy. Mee lika ZX81 Attached Thumbnails

15 September 2002, 23:34	#14
stainy Zone Friend Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Concord, NC, USA Age: 52 Posts: 1,712	hahaha excellent typo! well the Speccy was my first computer as well.. I got Commando first I think.. the I got some of the Ultimate Play the Game titles

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15 September 2002, 12:42	#3
Antiriad The Sacred Armour Of Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Sussex, UK Age: 44 Posts: 1,141	Ahhhh the Speccy...cheap and cheerful. I remember in the schoolground pecking order, the Amstrad CPC owner would look down upon the ZX Spectrum owner :disgusted whilst the Commodore 64 owner would spit on both! They were the 8bit Trinity , you would always goto to the back of any cassette tape cover or magazine adverts and compare the three screenshots graphics. And if you were the owner of the former pair you always were glad when you saw the speccy one! Oh how I miss those days... Got a 128+, +2 and +3 in my collection, I always thought it was sad how Amstrad killed off the Spectrum "look" with its Amstrad clones the +2 and +3, as the ones before were always so distinctively styled. I always loved how almost any popular game made it onto the little black box of joy and how they were stripped down to their basics just to make it work. The Spectrum really had its own unique graphical look which at the time i scoffed at, but now i really adore: the basic looking, colour limited, but usually detailed graphics. This series represented for many their first encounter with the world of computers and will always be special. Muchos respect to Sir Clive Sinclair. Would have loved to have seen how the QL would have developed but thats another story...

15 September 2002, 14:44	#6
ptrchiappe Registered User Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Cagliari / Italy Age: 61 Posts: 186	How could i forget the Spectrum ... it was my first computer; i bought it with 16K of memory (WOW how much!) and then expanded to 48K. I still have it (only a couple of keys don't react anymore) and will never give it away, even if i never turned it on after buying the amiga, it brings me too much memories to separate from it.

15 September 2002, 21:13	#8
RetroMan Registered User Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Germany Age: 51 Posts: 3,704	I must admit, I´m not very impressed by the Spectrum 48, 128, whatever machines ! I once owned a 128 but I gave it away (I wasn´t a collector that days ). The only Sinclait machine I really really like is the ZX81 ! It´s really fantasic what you can do with B&W and only some KB of Ram

15 September 2002, 22:26	#10
cv643d Registered User Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Sweden Posts: 762	I would like a Spectrum +3. It is great since you can mount a 3.5 floppy and load games directly with the floppy. Though, extremely rare here in Sweden

15 September 2002, 22:31	#11
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,645	But the 3 1/2 diskdrive needs to be like one of those you need for an Amiga, so it's quite difficult to get :/ Anyway, Spectrum +3s are non-existant here in Argentina, I imported mine from the UK. I bought it for something like 10 UK quid! Go to ebay and look for one, you can find shitloads I bought mine without PSU though, but I was very lucky to find a seller with a spare +3 PSU to sell!

16 September 2002, 01:10	#16
blackcornflake Moderator Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Cereal box Posts: 794	Dammit, I LOVE da Speccy!!! It was my first computer. So cool. It kicked ass from day one. So many cool games, all at cheap prices - I can list the first few games I bought, even now. Mr Freeze. Booty. Rebelstar. Fahrenheit 3000. Rockman. Bombjack. Wild Bunch. Chaos. Think! Turbo Esprit. Saboteur. Agent X. Beautiful, beautiful classics, all of them. Anyone who has not played these games should play them. I will always cherish the time I spent as a nipper with my Spectrum. MSX? C64? BBC? All the same to me. Pah.

16 September 2002, 01:46	#18
Uukrul Posts: n/a	I know it, Akira

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