The Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K Lands On American Shores
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- Опубліковано 22 сер 2024
- Hello, friends,
This week's Mid Week Palate Cleanser brings us another micro from across the pond, the follow-up to Sinclair's ZX80 and ZX81, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K. Affectionately known as the Speccy, these micros were a huge hit in Great Britain and helped usher in a golden age of home computers for the Brits.
As usual, I make a fairly fundamental mistake, but fortunately don't cause any damage this time and I eventually figure it out and get this little marvel up and running a game.
Hope you enjoy the video!
Thank you for watching
Todd
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So another (small) boo boo in my video: I said that the Speccy only has an internal speaker for audio output. Turns out I was wrong. When not being used to save data to cassette, the MIC port on the back of the Speccy outputs mono audio. Sorry for the confusion.
A cold shiver went down my spine when you said center positive, another one when you said current limited to 1.4A...
All I had to go by was a photo of an original UK power brick for the Speccy. It said 9v @ 1.4A, but didn't show the polarity. Steve told me it was center negative, but I apparently wasn't paying attention. I'm just glad I didn't destroy anything before I figured it out. Thanks for watching!
@@YARC-1981 It is really incredible that nothing got fried. Usually a few lower RAM ICs, 2 transistors in the DC-DC circuitry and of course the unobtanium part , the ULA gets fried with reverse polarity.
@@YARC-1981 And yes, the power brick says 1.4A, but that is its absolute max rating. A healthy Spectrum by itself works at around 800mA max. The brick has extra juice for the added peripherals like Interface 1, Interface 2, Microdrive(s), a joystick adapter, ROM cartriges etc.
@borayurt66 Yep. I got extremely lucky. I'm guessing the current limiting protected the Speccy, but in any case, fortune smiled on me.
Out of all of the British 8-bit machines, I think the ZX Sinclair is the most interesting. It such a simple machine that was surprisingly capable for all of it's simplicity. Also, loved the mention about the keyboard being "slightly" improved.
Yep. I agree. The Speccy is a wonderful example of getting the most out of an uncomplicated design. I think I was being generous about the keyboard. It's marginally better than a bare membrane. I appreciate it in the context of trying to produce a machine the public could easily afford. In the context of keyboard quality in general, it's still pretty bad. Thanks for watching!
Glad it works and didn't get damaged by the wrong power configuration. I made an AC 9V adapter mod and only use it with my Spectrum computers. Thanks for sharing
Yeah, when I put together a permanent supply for it I'll be sure to get the polarity right. It was far to easy to get that right for me to get it wrong like I did. Inexcusable. I got unbelievably lucky. Thanks, Rudy!
@YARC-1981 Not to worry, it happens to all of us. I fixed a Commodore C64 by turning on the power bar :)
That's funny 'cause it happens to me all the time. I built a bespoke psu for my bench for Commodores. I included a power switch on the supply. Don't know how many times I've thought I had a dead C64 only to realize that I hadn't turned on the power supply.
The 16/48 Spectrum sound could be amplified via your cassette recorder, so long as said recorder had a monitor feature. I would sometimes put my tape recorder into pause mode and amplify the sound that way. You had to be sure to remove the tape cassette first, and depress the record tab sensor inside the tape compartment (to allow record to activate without a cassette inside... or you could use an empty cassette shell).
Did NOT know that. Thanks!
Gald it arrived ok mate .. composite mod sometimes need 10uf cap adding for some tv's .other wise it should be fully working . :)
What I saw online said 100uf 16v, so that's what I put in. I didn't figure out the polarity thing until after I'd re-done the composite mod, so I don't know that the original was working, but I assume it was. Thanks again!
@@YARC-1981 No worries . theres a few different mods for it :) gald its running mate ... There mite be a little pot to increase the brightness too ..
I saw several adjustments, but wasn't sure what each did, so I didn't fiddle with them. The picture could use some brightening, so I'll probably pop it back open on the next video and tweak it a bit. Thanks.
Timex 2032
Did I say something in the video about the Timex versions? It's been a while and I don't remember. It would have been the Timex Sinclair 2068, though. As far as I can tell, there wasn't a 2032 (that's the common coin cell battery number: CR2032). The 2048 was the working title for what would eventually be released as the 2068 and was also what Timex's affiliate in Portugal called the machine they sold after Timex Computer Corporation folded in the US. The 2068 wasn't an exact clone of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, but there was a cartridge you could buy for it to make it Spectrum compatible.