Old Computers [PREV] Not your conventional cassette player..

Bought a Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2. Recorded Pacman onto a TDK D90 using software + my D6C and I've mostly been using playing that. I'm also enjoying the programming side of it.
I tried using it to play my music cassettes but the sound quality is awful, especially in stereo so I guess it wasn't intended for that.

Anyway, it was definitely a great purchase and it's given me another use for my blank cassettes.

 

Back in the days of cassette storage I recall that a good quality tape recorder didn't necessarily mean good loading.
Bass probably just interferes with the wanted signal.

As for Spectrum games try "Chuckie Egg" and "Manic Miner" (although if you do I fear we might not see you again for a long time).

My first three computers, which all relied on cassettes

• Sinclair ZX81
• Texas TI99 4A (not very good without the extra RAM which I never got- The internal RAM isn't connected to the processor !)
• Toshiba MSX (most UK MSX games were Spectrum ports)

 

I think it's my TV too, I keep having to re-tune it every 20 minutes or so. I seem to remember Manic Miner being included in the bundle of games I got with it, I'll have to have another look.

This is the first old computer I've bought but I'm having a lot of fun with it, so I might have to also invest in a Commodore 64.

 

That's about what I paid for it to be honest. It did come with a joystick and a huge bag of games though.

 

Get (or make if you are feeling adventurous) a SCART lead. The picture and sound quality will be much better.

The C64 is another classic computer which is famed for its sound synthesis (designed by a bloke who later founded a Synthesizer company. The 1980s were an incredibly exciting and diverse time for home computers with new (usually incompatible) machines being released very few months. In less than than a decade things leapt from machines like the ZX80 to the Commodore Amiga.

 

Great thread guys i can't quote you all lol....my first computer was an aquarius which i broke just after turning it on lol looked much better than my replacement which was a spectrum 48k which i had for ages before getting a commadore 64....think iv had most of the computers on the market apart from a bbc, the dragon 32 was great too...nearly bought an amiga 1200 a few weeks ago but it's difficult to run on a modern tv so i passed (whats the deal with that) also had most of the consoles (just sold my ps4) as i never use it....i hardly play games now which is such a shame as i have 2 pc's with 4 graphics cards in each and about 1000 modern games

 

It took me about 2 hours to connect the Spectrum to my TV (which is at least 10 years old now). I had to change several channel, sound and colour settings before it would even show anything resembling the main menu. I have been thinking about getting a Commodore 64 too but I think I'll familiarize myself with the spectrum first. I'll see if I can find a SCART lead.

I don't really play that many games either. I seem to play one game for a few months, get bored of it and then move to another in an ongoing loop. Saying that, I do have an original Xbox and Gamecube that I use very occasionally. When I was younger, I used a have a Gameboy that I used all the time, but my brother seems to have stolen it....

 

Reminds me my Amstrad CPC 464, which looked about the same (and I suspect the cassette part to be the same too) but was a different system.
Yes the "Datacorder" was designed for data only.
If I remember well, type II cassettes may not be the best for this type of machines, mainly because the erasing head doesn't give enough power, so the old data are still there ; very faint, but enough to mess up the new data. But if you don't overwrite the cassette it must be ok.
You may, also, need to tweak the head alignment from one cassette to another ("Ok, I want to play Metro2018, so it's about 10° left, and I should remember to set it back after..."), especially if you copy a cassette with a dual-cassette deck (but I suspect it should be the same if you record on a cassette recorder that is not the computer's).

Have a good fun

 

Chris - You can get a Spectrum SCART Lead for about £11

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SINCLAIR-...872098&hash=item4a9ecd4108:g:~m4AAOxyBjBTUQw5

There must still be a lot of Spectrum enthusiasts with 597 sold.

Re the C64 and other 8 bit machines they were all fairly similar in performance. Although the C64 has better graphics and sound than a Spectrum you won't find many games that weren't also available for the Spectrum.

febed01 - The CPC464 does look similar as the Spectrum +3 was actually made by Amstrad after Clive Sinclair had to sell his company after the twin flops of the C5 electric car and the QL computer. Amstrad philosophy with most of their products was to make them as easy as possible to use straight out of the box. Alan Sugar came up of the idea of the integrated cassette deck and bundled monitor for the CPC, and had the case design started, before they had actually decided which processor and software to use.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/12/archaeologic_amstrad_cpc_464/

If anyone wants to watch an excellent Docudrama / comedy about the rival companies making the machines watch.



It features a Cameo role by the designer of the ARM processor used in about 95% of all Smartphones.

If you don't want to watch the whole thing go to 57:00 to see loads of vintage footage including Margaret Thatcher demonsrating a Spectrum to the Japanese !

Reno - I don't think an A1200 should be any worse on a modern TV than something like a PS2. The only possible issue would be when trying to scale 625 lines onto an HD 720 TV. When I find one of my four Amigas I will have to try it. I probably have more computers here than boomboxes with those, three Atari STs and a couple of Spectrums. My original rubber key Spectrum cost me just £1 working complete with a cassette recorder back about twebty years ago when they were just thought to be junk. I recall one of the STs cost me £3 in a similar way. The one I paid £250 back in 1990 got sold on when I got an STe.

 

I've seen Micro Men, well worth a watch, @Chris. It's a fascinating bit of insight on just how intense the 'computer wars' of the 80s were, plus there's loads of retro goodness, right up your alley.

Personally, I've always preferred BBC/Acorn gear to the Sinclair stuff. Much more powerful, considerably better keyboards, and cheaper on the current market to boot! I have an Acorn Risc PC 600 in the shed I still use for legacy CAD software. Fantastic piece of kit - it's got a 586 card in it that lets you run DOS/Windows 3.1 in a window on the RISC OS desktop! Crackers

Henry

 

Can't believe I haven't come across that documentary before, it was very interesting and quite funny in places too! Ironically, I think there would actually be a market for the Sinclair C5 today, especially with the obesity epidemic...

Haven't managed to find Manic Miner yet, might have to buy/record another copy so I can see what all the fuss is...well was about. I'm pretty much committed to buying the C64 now (my dad wants me to so he can re-live his childhood), I've also been informed that there is an amiga somewhere in the loft.

I don't know if I've mentioned this already, but I'm actually going to be starting a computer science course at uni in about 2 weeks time, so playing with old computers is actually proving to be quite educational and it makes for good programming revision because even though the languages are different, the general concepts are the same.

 

I certainly wouldn't argue with anyone who says the BBC was the best computer in the early 1980s. The thing is at £400 it was three times the price of the Spectrum, and about twice the price of a C64. I have just checked and according to the Bank of England inflation calculator that is the equivalent of £1400 today.

I think most BBCs were bought by Schools, Industry (even in the 1990s the place where I worked had dozens which were to control communication systems in a training environment), or by rich parents who thought buying one would automatically double their children's IQ and guarantee them a place at Oxbridge

Another thing to remember is that £400 was without any peripherals like a disc drive or monitor.

Even a simple portable colour TV would set you back about £200 back then.
The only person I knew who did buy a BBC back when it was launched bought a cheap colour monitor advertised for just £100 in one of the Electronics magazines. However, for £100 you didn't actually get a case; just a bare chassis designed to go in a Video Arcade machine so he had to make his own out of bits of plywood .

Without peripherals there were actually few useful things you could do with a computer other than learn programming and play games. Of my first three computers the only useful thing I remember doing was writing a Morse Code Tutor program on the TI99-4A to teach myself Morse Code (which was a requirement for the Radio Amateurs exam back then).

Chris - I hope you enjoy your course. You are right that the principles of programming are the same whether it is for a Z80 or a Core I5. In fact Z80s and 6502s are still being used in some embedded applications, although a PIC or an ARM processor is more likely these days.

The reason the Raspberry Pi (which uses an ARM processor) was developed was that people realised that students weren't learning the basics of computing in the way they did during the 1980s. If you are designing something like a Pacemaker (which is what one of the designers of the 6502 did next) you don't need a fancy GUI or operating system, just carefully written, dependable code.

 

Now a comment about the C5. Two of the reasons it failed so spectacularly were:

Clive Sinclair had been going on about an electric car for years. I think people were expecting something like a G-Wizz but instead he released the C5. The ZX80 was actually far more of a real computer than the C5 was a real car. Most people expect a car to keep them dry when it is raining (even soft-tops) but the C5 didn't even attempt to do that.

The second thing was road safety. It was quickly spotted that C5 drivers were probably more vulnerable to other traffic than cyclists due to the low speed, lack of maneuverability. and low height (which was probably below the average lorry/truck s front bumper/ fender). In response Sinclair started including the high visibility flag as standard but it was too little too late.

 

I think the only way anyone would lose weight with a C5 is by lugging it around because the battery is flat and the pedals are too highly geared to be of any use! What people need is a good old-fashioned bicycle

Indeed, little has changed in terms of high-level languages - even really vintage languages like FORTRAN have an easily recognisable programming structure to anyone with a little programming experience. Which uni are you going to, Chris? I'm starting a degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering at Newcastle University in a few weeks.

You get what you pay for, I guess! My Dad's friend bought one when they came out, but that's probably because he was a teacher and hence needed to know how to use them a little better than those he was teaching!

Isn't morse still on the specification?

Henry

 

It would make a good shopping centre mobility vehicle or a kiddy car. It would also be a great means of transportation for people who eat exclusively at Mcdonalds.

I'm going to Portsmouth. Maybe I could send you my laptop to practice on, the screen is becoming increasingly pixelated and it keeps flickering

 

Nice one! Best of luck

Probably a loose connection from the motherboard to the display

Henry

 

Thanks, I hope your Electronic and Electrical Engineering course goes well too. My mum lived in Newcastle for a few years and she loved it there (well this was in the 80s but I don't think it could have changed that much?)

I suspected it might be the cable but I don't really have the time or energy to open up my laptop at the moment, I might have to switch to the Spectrum permanently!

 

Good luck to both of you. Being interested in the subjects you are doing should be a big help.

Henry

The UK Radio Amateurs requirement for Morse code was dropped in 2003 when ships distress systems became automated and sent through satellites.
Before then the reasoning was that an Amateur should be able to read a distress message if they received one. There are also two easier to get licences "Foundation" and "Intermediate" than the full licence which used to be the only option. The only downside is that as the exams now include practical tests you can't just go and take the exam like I did. You still need the full licence to transmit at 400W.

Your comment on Fortran amused me as when I started Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Bristol Polytechnic (now UWE) in 1980 our first computing lessons (as part of maths) were done using Fortran on punch cards. We did later progress to Basic on VDUs and my final year computing project was simulating a buildings lift control using a 380Z computer. Lift control is the sort of embedded application a Z80 would still be completely adequate for. The Space Shuttle computers originally only had 64K of RAM.

 

Thanks, Chris!

Well, I wrote all my A Level notes on a typewriter, so the speccy should be just fine! Then again, your fingers might drop off if you use the keyboard too much...

Thank you, Longman. I hadn't realised that distress signals were sent by satellite now, very cool! I'd really like to get into amateur radio, but there aren't any clubs near me at the moment. Hopefully I'll find one in Newcastle!

I love little snippets of the past like that story - I was selected to do GCSE computer science rather than the usual ICT course, and the history of computing always interested me. Regarding embedded systems, it's amazing how much you can do with such limited devices. Z80 type processors and their derivatives still run a significant proportion of brand new automated machinery even now. Luckily there's no need to program them in machine code anymore, as the development software translates high-level languages into machine code automatically, which is less of a headache than it was 30 years ago - I've got an old PLC programmer you have to type hex commands into!

Henry