ZX Spectrum Next | Nostalgia Nerd
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- Опубліковано 6 чер 2024
- Get an Audible free trial; click www.audible.com/nostalgianerd or text "nostalgianerd" to 500 500.... The ZX Spectrum Next. After a Kickstarter all the way back in 2017, it's finally here. Let's take look at this modern take, on an absolute classic.
Video Markers;
0:00 Unboxing
4:28 Backstory
7:38 Case Overview
11:57 Plugging in
14:44 Day Zero Software Update
15:52 Software Overview
20:51 Testing
31:30 Clock Speeds
34:07 Personalities/NMI
38:18 Hardware Compatibility
40:13 Mouse/NextDAW
41:35 BASIC Testing
43:00 Offer
44:05 Hardware & Upgrading
49:15 Going Online
50:15 Your Questions
53:07 Conclusion
56:49 Credits
57:29 Secret Upgrade
🔗Video Links🔗
Original KickStarter: www.kickstarter.com/projects/...
World of Spectrum: www.worldofspectrum.org/
ZX Spectrum Next: www.specnext.com/
Next Facebook Group: nnerd.es/NextFB
Victor Trucco UA-cam: / vtrucco
If you can't wait for the 2nd KickStarter: nnerd.es/eBayNexts
Upgrade Components for ZX Spectrum Next;
RAM Upgrade: nnerd.es/ZXRAM
WiFi Module: nnerd.es/ZXWiFi
SD Card: nnerd.me/ZXCard
Speakers: nnerd.me/ZXSpeak
Inline Power Switch: nnerd.me/ZXSwitch
PS/2 Mouse: nnerd.me/ZXMouse
Pi Zero Starter Kit: nnerd.me/ZXPie
Pi Zero Female Header: nnerd.me/ZXHeader
ZX ProPad: nnerd.es/ZXPad
On Board Speaker: nnerd.es/ZXeBaySpeaker
Real Time Clock: nnerd.es/ZXeBayBatt
RGB to Scart Cable: nnerd.es/ZXScart
VGA Cable: nnerd.me/VGACable
HDMi Cable: nnerd.me/HDMICable
Portable Cassette Deck (will need connectors below): nnerd.es/Deck
3.5mm Stereo Breakout: nnerd.me/StereoBreakout
3.5mm Audio Cable: nnerd.me/zqFPXZQ
3.5mm Stereo to Mono Adaptor: nnerd.me/StereotoMono
Software Requirements:
SD Image Writer: nnerd.es/Balena
Next Pi Distro: nnerd.es/PiDistro
Next Distro: nnerd.es/ZXDistro
CP/M Core: www.cpm.z80.de/download/cpm3bi...
Additional Game Info:
All POK Files: nnerd.es/POKs
Software Amusements Games: nnerd.es/ZXGames
Melkhiors Mansion (Atic Atac): / ericretro
Lemmings Next GitHub: github.com/mikedailly/Lemmings
Rusty Pixels Physicals: www.specnext.com/shop/
NEXTDaw: nextdaw.biasillo.com/
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I just watched an hour long review of something I'll never buy and have zero nostalgic appreciation for - I bloody love your content Peter!
I'm glad you do! Thanks!
I did the exact same thing!
I hear choking sounds
Its the inner nerd in us.
You have to watch it in headphones. Seriously the sounds he make is somewhere inbetween ASMR (which parts I had to swiftly fast forward) and porn (no offense).
But the content is real nice otherwise.
I'm an American with literally no nostalgic connections to any classic British micros, but after seeing your rundown of the Next in this video, I want one *really* bad. You do a great job covering both what this thing does (which is pretty cool on a simple design level, honestly), and why what it does is so neat.
The Speccy was awesome :) The Next looks great as well, certainly going to be easier to develop on than the original :) If you want to play while you wait to get a Next, Speccy emulation is pretty much perfect. ZX Spin is a fantastic free emulator and Speculator, which is not, but probably the best out there.
As aforementioned, just get an emulator for free and play whatever game you want.
Like you, I have no nostalgia for the Spectrum, but with the sheer quantity of love on UA-cam for this made me check it out.
And... it’s underwhelming, even on an emulator. It has quirks and personality, yes, some of the games are innovative, but... as even Peter said here, it’s such a fragile system, even if you emulate.
Bare in mind here that Peter has a lot of experience with Spectrums so he can navigate it easily. Going into this blind, as I did... well... I’ve even made the emulator crash (or simulate a Spectrum crash). It’s very frustrating.
If tl;dr - emulate it. Don’t blow your money on this that you’ll frustrate yourself over and never use again.
I'm intrigued, but at just under $200 for the base model, seems fairly steep for a machine I have zero nostalgia for.
if you just want to play old games, get an emulator.
if you actually want to get into retro computers, try building one yourself. it's a great experience, relatively cheap, and teaches you a lot about older hardware and how it works. obviously you would need knowledge before starting such a project, but there have been so many 8 bit computers it's easy to get all the information you need online.
i could go into more detail but only if you need/want.
I emulate other systems, and everything works ok. It does what I want it to do - play retro games.
This souped up reproduction will cost £160 or so. It’s a lot of money to take a punt on some old games you never played first time around.
Man, you can tell this is the product of true love and dedication!
I want to THANK YOU for this video, as it helped me wrap my head around the ZX Spectrum Next this week for my own video. Cheers! 🍻
I remember playing that Batman game on my 48k after a rather traumatic trip to the dentist. Trying to get past the driving level with a still slightly anaesthetised cheek. Those were the days.
Despite the Speccy or other home micros being way before my time, I love projects like this that intend to give you a close-to-original experience in a more modern, enhanced, but still authentic package without resorting to emulation. I'm amazed how well executed this one is; the fact that this is a passion project three years in the making really shows.
Every IT worker ever: "Just RTFM"
Also every IT worker ever: "Nah, I don't need to read that manual"
Narrator: "He needed to read the manual."
When I read that last line I hear Morgan Freeman's voice in my head.
Awesome.
@@allahspreadshate6486 I heard the one from David Attenborough 😂
The ZX Spectrum was my childhood machine and nothing else has brought me as much joy since then machine-wise. I need the Next I think, that nostalgia in my life.
"I don't want this to be an hour long seminar"
Makes hour long seminar anyway.
Great video
These folks have poured in so much effort and love into this release that it has shamed every other console and PC re-release that has come out to date. This is a system that I just missed out on growing up, and I'm incredibly impressed with the work done here and I can see the appreciation fans will have for this product.
sega cough cough sonic generations cough ;)
I love how they removed S1, 2, 3&K, and CD from Steam despite us having the easy ability to EMULATE.
When I got my Speccy back in 83 I couldn't care less about scratches :D
That said, I *need* one of these, to rekindle my love for computers.
When I was 8 years old I painted my 128K +2 white with tipex. It seems like a cool thing to do at the time.
Miguel Lopes
www.kickstarter.com/projects/spectrumnext/zx-spectrum-next-issue-2
Don't need it, cant justify it, cant really afford it... but boy, I've gotta have one of these!
Getting similar convenience with real hardware would cost more...
But "convenience" was never a part of Speccy fun!
Sell a kidney!
@Monty Python the Flying Circus It’s an FPGA, in a sense, there is no emulation, it’s a virtual predefined circuit. This means zero lag, unlike emulation. Also, since it’s an FPGA, there’s nothing to stop it say, load an Amstrad CPC core and boom you’ve got a CPC. Never mind it has a tonne of old school I/O for interfacing with original peripherals. And then there’s the lovey SNES style enhanced mode.
@Monty Python the Flying Circus Actually I was a commercial Z80 games coder back in the day and this interests me on that level, I prefer to code assembler on a hardware platform and this will allow me to do that on modern hardware. The new "Next" features attract me too, hardware sprites etc. You can’t emulate them. BTW here’s is one of my old z80 CPC titles... ua-cam.com/video/tMfwbkTV09M/v-deo.html Oh, and there is no mention of loading new FPGA cores in the video "dummy". You can’t do this with a PC emulator!
Also, don't have room for it.
Oh those were the days when instruction manuals came in the size of Tomes and all in one language,not like today when it's 5 pages the size of a piece of toilet paper in 10 languages.
... or in the other case there may be an entire shelf of books all about "beginning C++". With the ZX, you could pick up programming in a few days.
Yep! I recently found my good old 48K but the manual got lost :( It was really good, I spent hours with that little sucker. Not only were manuals good but for some appliances they also provided details schematics, diagrams of the interal components and circuits - Louis Rossmann's wet dream, I guess :)) Nowadays, they have entire chapters on telling you not to pour water over your device, and basic common sense stuff like that.
Right now if it was toilet paper it would be more useful than the manual !!!
Love the Video. I need to get one and re-live the past.
I remember that the 28K spectrum came with an instruction cassette. the first thing it showed was how to set the computer up, which was useless as you had to set it up to play the cassette.
*Not like today, where you can look it up online and as a result, the environment is saved as less trees are chopped down for paper.
omg this is an incredible machine, so much love went into it! thank you for making the high quality review that it deserves 💜
Damn, this thing is fully loaded, I'm thoroughly impressed.
Incredible, you can see the love for the ZX Spectrum in this product
After the Vega+ I am SO ready for this to actually work.
It's really in another league.
What a masterpiece( your video, and the next )! I'm Brazilian myself but never used a tk90 because I'm a little younger than the creators of the next, as my first pc was a 386 in late 93, but wow! It really makes me want to get one myself. The only contact I had with a Zx spectrum was through emulators, and only recently around 2 years ago. It really seems the real deal to get. Into spectrum world! Tks once again for entertainment!
When I was a kid my older brother introduced me to the Time Sinclair 1000 which blew me away - and then he purchased a silver Sinclair 2048 which looked so futuristic. This video brings back all those feelings thanks!
At my age I must ask myself the question: Do my kids really need all that food? And I must suppose the answer is no.
Well it's good to fast for Lent :)
kids are resourceful. if they get hungry they'll figure something out.
😂
Also: do you really need all those kids?
😂🤣
"There's a few marks on this box..."
Yeah mate. The kleenex never mops it all up.
Ahh the glorious sound of the AY sound chip, takes me right back to my bedroom in the 80s. Could listen to it for hours!
Yea man those Ocean titles had some great music, for me the music from Barbarian on the Amstrad CPC was jaw dropping
It's rare that I watch a video this long but you kept my attention the whole way. Nicely done!
Love and appreciate your videos! I'm 45 and the best years were spent playing my Speccy 128k and Amiga 500. Man, those memories... :)
That rendition of Only You at the end was suddenly really touching. This machine seems to be such a labour of love!
I just ran across this old episode and I really want that midi file now!!!
Anyone know where to find it?? 😁🤞
I hope the guys over at "8-bit Guy" watch this to prepare their "Commander X16" project, which is very similar to this in many ways.
Similar in concept, but not in execution
@@chrisfratz True.
Just when I got Yazoo out of my head after several months of it being an ear worm, you make this video. Cheers mate!
keratas it’s amazing that even in chip tune form I recognized it immediately. Such a great song (though I know it as being by “Yaz” here in North America)
Great video as always! This has to be the most exciting and complete retro project in years! Looking forward to see what the community comes up with...
My first computer was a Spectrum+ so the design of the Next is really nostalgic for me.
I had a 128k+ and I still have it.
My first computer was the spectrum 16k with a 48k upgrade pack santa gave me later that year. All the way from the 80s in New Zealand. Then progressed to the c64 with...
@@markdempsey7286' "PROGRESSED" to the C64'?!?!?!? Wash your MOOTH OOT!
First one was also spectrum +. What a memory. Loved it to bits. Got a multiface 1 and interface 1 with 2 microdrives later. Even though everybody complained about the microdrives... I LOVED them. Loaded like a dream and snapshotted games to them. Can still even remembet the commands.
Wish I could get a Next now.
14:53 A still from "The Prisoner" on their website ? Okay, i'm sold.
Finally got around to watching this, and with one pledged on the second KS I'm now just even more excited.
Also, I appreciated your off-camera chortle at "Bitboozled". It pretty much matched my own.
This is the next video i've been waiting for instead of all the crappy unboxing videos. You've really given us an insight as to what is like to own and use one. I'll be watching out for that second Kickstarter 😊
This computer is just amazing. At the same time I've never been happier that my childhood was wrapped around C64 instead :D (I always wanted a spectrum too, I might actually get one of these... o_O )
Really love the design of this
This was a comprehensive and FANTASTIC review
Super impressed how well they have done this and just watching this video has given me a huge nostalgia buzz. I know I'd enjoy it immensely for the first day, use it for a week and then it would be forgotten.
Trap Door made me feel so nostalgic. It was my favourite game on the Spectrum, even given how hard it was. The +2A/2B/+3 (which I find very little knowledge about online, but I'm sure it was called this) was my first computer, and I miss it so. Had suitcases full of games. This was in the early 90s when getting the games was so easy from car boot sales - Daley Thompson's Decathlon for 20p? Ok. - I've long dreamed of getting another speccy and restoring it, but this vid has convinced me I should probably just get one of these :)
Oh my god. This just looks so perfect. I collect 1980s/early 1990s computers and games consoles, and I've never before seen a modern update of one of these that I actually like the look of. This is the first ever exception. I absolutely need one of these. Thanks for drawing it to my attention!
Awesome video man! Thanks for so much detail! I now feel prepared for the arrival of my new baby! 🕹
Never owned or even used a Spectrum, but I'd have to admit that the whole package and setup is damn slick for a neo-retro machine. A fine recreation of the original systems, yet extends them with many amenities that fans in the 80s could only dream of. Clearly a labor of love from a deeply passionate fanbase.
Cheers!
I really liked the questions you asked in the middle of the video. Your Jet Set Willy answer really killed me. 😂
On a more serious note: I personally wish for a new Commodore Amiga computer to be released for modern audiences. Especially for NTSC gamers like me who missed out on its full potential back in the day.
The Best review I have seen for the ZX Spectrum Next thumbs up
Deffinetly a job well done 👍
Thanks Peter ! You have made such a great show i've made my pledge for the 2nd KS of Zx Spectrum Next. You have a great voice, talent and ways to produce such fantastic videos. Awesome ! Thanks. Good to watch this video and other ! Cheers from Poland. Support is on the way ;)
Excellent coverage of the Next. Very very informative.
OMG that Manual, the design... Everything!!! At last a retro PC that just works as it should. My first Speccy was the 48k+ because I held onto my Sinclair ZX81 for as long as possible lol. I can;t wait to get my hands on one of these.
Why lol?
Why do I want something that I really want??? Ermm Because I like it. Because it's nostalgia and because it's not as another UA-camr put it so well... "solely a consumption machine". and it has amazing games. People these days complain about cut scenes.. well Spectrum games had no cut scenes.. 100% game play, they also complain how easy games are.. welllll play a spectrum game and get back to me on that one lmao
Great video - having recently received mine this is very helpful - thanks for doing a lot of the leg work!
This sums it up perfectly and describes how I felt when I got mine! Bloody great machine indeed
I've ignored ALL the other videos on this one. Waiting for the 'Nerd to give us the low down.
yes so did I
The low down? Speak properly
@@swanningabout aight dawg cool your jets
23:03: "The nice thing about this monitor is, it gives you the correct aspect ratio."
I'm pretty sure that's a 5:4 LCD, not a 4:3 screen, but from the rest of the video, the aspect ratio seems to get corrected with letterboxing, and if that's what it is, then yes. It's true that sadly many 5:4 default to stretching or don't even support that, so yeah, nice to find a display that gets this right.
Fantastic piece of kit, by the looks of it - seriously tempted to jump on the second KS. Excellent and informative vid that really sells the 'back to bedroom coding and then some' concept of the machine.
Love the Spectrum Next, alongside MEGA 65 and Apollo Vampire, best recreations plus upgrades of Classics for this time!
> pulls out manual as big as computer
NN: "it's pretty concise"
He meant "comprehensive" I reckon.
"Yodel delivered it" Lucky it's not on fire then.
...or in a pond.
....Or thrown over a garden fence (I speak from experience).
Or that it isn't thrown over a garden fence, in a pond, and on fire... I know the odds are smaller but I wouldn't put it past them.
I never owned a spectrum, but must tell this project actually looks much more awsome and polished than I expected from just the title. I think it can be interesting even for people who never had any prior experience ever. So much work has been visibly put into this machine!
Also great review!
My Next is still inside its box. This is the video I was looking for to open it and start playimg with it. Nice tutorial and overwiew. Thanks
2:41 "It feels like a Spectrum should, but not crap" © 2020 Nostalgia Nerd :)
Gonna have to correct you in the joystick situation, old bean. The Sinclair Interface 2 used the same pinout as what you're calling Kempston. It wasn't until Amstrad took over that they started messing around with incompatible-but-physically-identical connectors for no reason other than to give Lord Shuggs a chance of shifting inferior branded joysticks at a hefty markup.
I was pretty sure I remembered it that way. I actually had one of his joysticks. I was never a joystick fan but I remember it wasn't as good as others.
interesting story about joysticks on the CPC from when i was about 10yo.. i rewired a few old no name console and C64 joysticks to work with the cpc...first time i tryed it cpc was running, joystick was plugged in, and i tried soldering the wires to the joystick pots,and fried the IO chip!. keyboard was spitting out wrong or multiple keypresses and joystick was going crazy. i ended up getting it fixed about 6months later. it got socketed (luckly)..coz i did exactly the same thing again not long after i got it back!..i managed to just buy the chip and replace it myself..
i learnt about ESD the hard way!
@@chaos.corner They were dreadful. DREADFUL! Weak, spongy things. As bad as the C64Mini's effort. Yuck.
Accurately, the joysticks were Atari standard. There's so such thing as a "kempston joystick", that's the name of the interface itself, and the difference is purely in how the interface presents each atari joystick to the machine.
The point about Amstrad futzing with the Atari joystick standard in the +2 and up is entirely accurate, though.
@@IrregularShed Honestly, I'd take the C64mini's joystick over an SJS1 or 2. It's not great, and taints the very reputation of the stick that it's cloning, but the Amstrad joysticks were absolutely abhorrent.
Great job. Covered all the questions I had. Time for me to get coding as soon as mine arrives.
Thanks for the review, very complete!
Bit o' clarification: Amstrad bought out Sinclair, and then Sky bought out Amstrad and relegated them to building digiboxes for eternity. And now that I typed this, I just realised this means that the Sinclair brands are owned by Comcast now. O_O
Your right...except for Sky News.... That's owned by Disney lmao
Dear god.
Sky gave them the right to use the name like The ZX Spectrum Vega,but Sky donated the money to charity,that they did with the Vega,Sky do not need the money.
@@macoud12 Theres More.
Kieren Hawken will be along soon to claim he designed it.
LOL!
nah...
He'll just claim he designed all the games on it. LMAO
Thanks for the long form overview, can't rush this sort of thing.
ZX Spectrums got me into computing in the 80's, and this is what i think i have missed all these years, retro rules!!!!
SERIOUSLY looking forward to all the creativity coming soon, especially now that the hardware has finally been released to enthusiasts across the planet.
I missed out on the kickstarter :( I so much wanted to get it but at the time I did not have the money. When I did have the money available the kickstarter had closed, I was gutted. Now I have learnt that they will not be selling them even from their own web site but instead are thinking about doing a second kickstarter for people who missed out the first time. I really hope they do, I would jump on that as soon as possible. Let's hope they do it, or better still just start providing sales on their site on a build to order basis, I'd wait for mine to be built if I could pay now :)
I feel exactly the same
2nd one is underway and already fully funded...now we are on stretch goals!
@@HAVOCJKD Yes, but they want $400 this time and that's frankly beyond reason, imho. A custom-designed FPGA board with a custom case and keyboard are an expensive proposition. Frankly, I've no idea how they managed to do that for the ~$200-250 they sold it for last time around. However, given that they have, the price hike is a bit excessive as they already have the molds. A Mister FPGA setup is a much better bet at this point if you've got the skills to set it up and use it. As nice as the Next is, $400 is hard to justify for what it is unless someone's got an unlimited money cheat ;)
@@paulie-g mainly because they got absolutely ravaged on VAT and lost money on it the first time.
With the stretch goals already smashing, its actually getting better by the day.
And when all is said and done its a luxury item - I'd take this over a PS4 or next gen console if it was an either/or tbh.
But, its also a free world and market - I just was letting you know that they are running again
I pledged:)
Galbi 3000
www.kickstarter.com/projects/spectrumnext/zx-spectrum-next-issue-2
Those final remarks about understanding. So much YES. I've been working on an FPGA IBM clone for about 6 months now, and digging up the documentation, putting in the hardware blocks, programming a BIOS, etc etc have made me understand so much more about that platform.
Loved watching this and now I want one. Thanks for making a great video.
22:11 mick?? Is that for Mickrophones?
7:38 [Soothing sounds of elegance]
wow.... I really dreamed back in the days about this computer !
I remember the ZX spectrum (hello jean Marc and the long days we spent duplicating by hands, all those programs published in the magazines.... souvenirs ...).
I'm glad you have - at last - a REAL good keyboard with the next ! nice !!!!
As some waiting (sort of excitedly) for an Accelerated model to ship - really enjoyed this overview. Really answered a whole bunch of Q's, and I'm genuinely getting more and more excited as a result.
Hopefully there's enough folk who jump on board for the second KS and make for a great little community of folks to enjoy the new wares. Heck, I know I'd love to put something together for one as well.
Might have to get one of these, just to play Stunt Car Racer at those higher MHz. I bloody love SCR ❤️
They did make a version for the Amiga, it was much smoother to play.
This got CP/M ? I'm in now. That is way interesting.
Aaaaaah, fond memories. I still have my ZX81 in a box in my cave of ultimate manliness (my shed).
NN this is the best video you've ever made. Excellent all round, barely even blinked for an hour.
Dude, you warped the box when you made love to it with your hands
Peter later did some petting to the keyboard
"It feels like a Spectrum should, but not crap." So NOT like a Spectrum!? ;-)
I came here to post precisely this.
This is a valid point, the original ones were built to be cheap and inexpensive so everyone could have one. On theory.
@@AlejandroRodolfoMendez It's INEXPENSIVE. UNEXPENSIVE isn't a word
@@ACanOfBakedBeans Sorry I have a typo
And with sprites. So nearly, a C64
I was just watching your Spectrum OL video and checked to see what what I could watch. I had completely forgotten the Next after hearing about it a while back. I'll be looking forward to hearing all about it.
I find this very interesting being from the US. My first PC was a 386 so I got into this game very late. This is awesome! Well done!
Hold on, I saw a mouse!
WASD+Mouse... where's the Doom port for the ZX Spectrum Next; you could have a non-accelerated Doom for that classic 15FPS dos version, or a fully accelerated Doom for the accelerated next, to get buttery smooth however many frames the Spectrum can out put per second Doom!
If it can run on a bloody calculator, the ZX Spectrum Next should get a Doom port too!
Someone is working on a Wolfenstein clone.
Ray cast games will work fine without acceleration. Even a Doom-like engine, which is a bit more complex may work fine if written in assembly. Currently 28MHz mode is more like 24MHz due to memory wait states, but the Z80N instruction set is expanded, and there's a DMA and Copper, AND the ULA replacement has an advanced sprite engine with a minimum guaranteed 100 sprites per scan line.
point of order: Doom doesn't need a mouse, and infact it's only source ports that made it particuarly usable. (The original Doom doesn't allow for looking up and down, so vertical movement is translated to forwards and back in the original Doom).
I think there is a TRDOS FPS for Spectrum compatibles ( www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/3v7cFGneuaw?wmode=transparent&iv_load_policy=3&autoplay=1&html5=1&showinfo=0&rel=0&modestbranding=1&playsinline=1&theme=light ), but I don't know how that would work on a Next, since it doesn't actually have a disk interface. Though CPUwise, it ought to pretty much Rip and Tear. There's also a native Next Wolf3D in progress. ( ua-cam.com/video/fiZMTcuIvQw/v-deo.html )
So, both possibilities are catered for ;)
@@TheTurnipKing No, you want that mouse; even if you can't look up and down, mouse look is too powerful for you not to have it.
Also, this would be a source port, so looking up and down with the mouse can be implemented.
And that TRDos thing; that's not Doom; I'm talking about actual doom with the actual levels.
DOS Doom capped out at 35 FPS, of course if you were running near/below min spec I imagine it wouldn't run great.
I want to get in on 2nd run
Polyester Lynx it’s worth it, NEXT is an awesome machine, it’s worth funding the KS2 when it starts.
And have/did you? :-)
7:39 "soothing sounds of elegance"
sounds elegant
Superb and very helpful video, many thanks. Just waiting for my accelerated to come, this helped me a lot knowing how to do firmware updates etc.
Says " I don't want this to be an hour long seminar." Ends up being 58 minute seminar. lulz
technically not an hour
Noice!
Really a great review. THNX 4 uploading.
Simply the best review so far about the ZX Spectrum Next, thank you so very much sir! great job and super exited about this new toy :D
They broke out *every pin* on the FPGA? Thats almost unheard of, and is just ripe for mods.
It'd be interesting to hear what Sir Clive himself thinks of this machine...
My first thought as well.
I reckon Clive is a Rasberry Pi fan. Think about it, the PI is a modern day equivalent of the Spectrum. It is definitely built around the same strategy, doing everything as cheaply as humanly possible.
@@bluebull399 I doubt it. To much Acorn heritage in RPi for Sir Clive to be a fan of :)))
The most comprehensive Next video and well worth the wait. Thanks
Great video! Lovely product with loads of attention to detail.
Fun fact. The C64 was first inspired by Clive Sinclair, as Jack Tramiel admired Sir Clive's make it cheap, sell loads philosophy. So C64 fans owe a debt to Sinclair :)
What a wonderful machine - I'm loving my C64 Maxi, but it's clear this is a labour of love and enthusiasm, while the C64 is a purely commercial offering. I was never a Spectrum user, and wouldn't plonk down £200 on this myself - but, by god, if someone did this for the BBC micro, I'll be on it like a shot.
Well this is a unit which can do more than a Spectrum could ever do. Three AY sound chips, 256 colours and more. The Commodore equivalent will be the C65 recreation.
@@6581punk Oh, absolutely - the only reason I brought the C64 Maxi was to a) support it, b) the joystick and c) the real keyboard. Still not a replacement for my real C64s, but it's nice to have something that just works. This is clearly a wonderful machine. But, again, not a spectrum fan, really - this is still marvellous. Again - would love someone to do this with the BBC Micro.
@@DaveF. I'm not big on emulation but I did think of getting a maxi do to something really odd and that is to try to hack a mechanical (cherry switches) keyboard into it.
This Spectrum Next video is fantastic, the level of detail you've gone into is fantastic.
Absolutely AWESOME video!
There's some fantastic information here - especially for folks like me who are intimidated by the hardware and bewildered by all the options the Next throws at a new user.
I'm REALLY glad you showed footage of Driller and Darkside, too. Those are both high on my list of games to check out on the Next, and I was curious about how they'd run in the different turbo modes. Kind of mind blowing that the Speccy version of Outrun's now playable thanks to those!
And now to find out how to capture footage from this thing in the correct aspect ratio... not that I have plans, or anything...
"The keyboard feels... Better"
It couldn't honestly feel worse than an original.
Oh well, the keyboards from the Plus-Versions onwards were quite good, actually. I had no problems with those. The original rubber keyboard of the first Spectrums looks terriffic (design) but takes a little getting used to. But again, it was acceptable for typing and quite good for gaming.
The original Spectrum’s keyboard was great when playing Daley Thomson’s Decathlon (and similar games).
I just love "It feels like a Spectrum should, just not crap!"
I understand that the keyboard had to be cheap to fit the budget of the computer, and that therefore you couldn't have a great experience typing on it.
And I appreciate that it's part of the charm of the old British PC platforms that they made these cost compromises in different ways to one another.
But nobody would deliberately make a keyboard that way if they were less constrained.
The feel of the Spectrum keyboard... Oh boy, talk about nostalgia!
Personally I actually preferred the original rubber keyboard over the QL:esque keyboard on the 128K model. I can't remember ever touching any of the later (+2 and +3?) versions so I can't really say anything about those. But as I remember it the keys on the 128K version tended to bind up if you didn't press the exact middle of them. The rubber keyboard might not have looked as nice, but at least it didn't bind if you pushed them on the edge.
And in the video it was mentioned that the weird input method where a single key press could result in a complete basic command being input was used to save memory. This needs a bit more explanation for those who wasn't there at the time. This input method was inherited from the ZX80 and ZX82, computers that had a massive 1KB or 1024 bytes of memory. Just to give you some idea of how little that is just the display, which was character mapped with 32 x 24 characters, takes up 768 bytes, leaving only 256 bytes for program, variables and control data. (Wikipedia claims it was 384 bytes, but I can't get this to compute...)
To make the computer at least minimally usable without a memory expansion card several techniques were used. First of all the display memory was assigned as needed so if you limited the output to lets say one row at the top of the screen then that would leave a lot more memory, something like 990 bytes (according to Wikipedia) available for programs and such. To conserve more memory the commands in ZX Basic was assigned a number and stored as a single character. So instead of storing a command like "GOTO" as four letters and a space it was stored as one byte. To avoid having to do the translation between text and the codes each keypress would generate the correct code for a complete command in the editor.
The Spectrum was basically a ZX81 on steroids. A lot of the functionality and the Basic was lifted from the ZX81 and enhanced to support the new functionality. Even though the new machine had much more memory, 16KB or 48KB, it retained the Basic editor and method to store the Basic code. However it didn't retain the character mapped display but instead used a bitmapped screen buffer taking up 256*192/8 bytes or 6KB for the bitmap, and a 32*24 grid for color (foreground and background) and attribute (normal or bright, solid or blinking) information taking up a further 768 bytes for a total of 6912 bytes.
I have no idea what any of this stuff is yet here i am.
This looks the bullocks!
Thanks for such an in depth video.
Really appreciate it 👊
Very well made video.. Enjoyed it very much.. Even so much I'm going to be joining the kick-starter program for them very soon. :)
who's watching this in 2023 waiting on issue 2?
I just got mine in the mail this evening! It's real! It exists!