Corrections/updates: - Buy The Spectrum here (ships from Amazon UK) amzn.to/4i14r9Q - The keyboard membrane is NOT exactly like the ZX Spectrum one. It's probably the same connections, but the location is very different, so you can't just swap them out. - The +2 mode of BASIC is still keyword-based and without an initial menu, like the normal +2/+3 ROMs.
Don't +2 and +3 have both 48K BASIC and 128K BASIC? With the colour menu giving you a choice of 128 BASIC/+2 BASIC/+3 BASIC vs 48 BASIC if you choose the former you can type letter-by-letter and if you choose the latter you type by keyword.
@@andrewdunbar828 it seems not, as Noel's answer to my previous question (in Spanish), tells. This is too bad. My first computer was a Speccy 128k, I never learnt the key combinations. I could wait for a Speccy 128k/+2 variant (thohgh I already have bought one), but I'm afraid it will never come.
A 48K Speccy was my first ever computer at the tender age of 8 and it’s the reason why I learned programming and eventually had a successful career in IT. I loved my Speccy and spent many an hour happily entranced playing a game or programming in BASIC. Thank you Sir Clive and Rick, RIP.
Yeah loved my spectrum as well learned Z80 machine code and basic on it. I ended up working for Ultimate play the game (atic attack, jetman etc )owners the Stamper Brothers at Rare when they first created it, worked at Rare several times since but it was not the same after Microsoft brought it out. There was an add on("interface 1 ) I brought that took it upto 128k , and "microdrives" but they never became popular.
Not only did I learn to program on a Spectrum: being Italian I also learned English with its manual and an Italian/English dictionary on my desk. I owe it a lot.
As a 53 year old this is one of the iconic things from my childhood. This has been made by people who have great respect for the source material, good job.
...which is the main reason why I want one, because it's so difficult to program ZX BASIC from a 48k using a PC keyboard. The games I can play fine using an emulator, but the programming REALLY needs that keyboard.
@@CowmanUK You might like Retro Recipe's review; he talked about that and how to change modes, boot to BASIC, use USB sticks to load games as if from tape, etc.
Good to see you again; welcome back! Loved the review. I don't have the same kind of nostalgia for the Speccy, growing up in America and all, but I can certainly appreciate how you and everyone else who grew up with them feel. I have a genuine 48K Spectrum and I can see the attention to detail they put into it. Nice.
Great Video as usual - One comment is that the games you mentioned don't use ULAPlus. They use the Nirvana Engine which allows for different paper/ink for each line within a character attribute (rather than just one combination per character attribute) but still use the same 15 regular colors that the Spectrum supports (15 since bright black is still black) but at the expense of many CPU cycles. ULAplus is a way of extending the palette beyond the the standard 15 and doesn't use CPU cycles to do it.
If I understand correctly, what Eastern European users had were "copies" of the ZXSpectrum, some home-made by hobbyists, others re-creating it to take the advantage of the pre-existing library of games(many also made by hobbyists). It's a fascinating topic, but in my mind it's also a reason to build your own "Spectrum" from kits, rather than this "official," sanctioned remake.
@@squirlmy It was legit zx. They were available in specialized import shops called Pewex, where you could buy stuff using foreign capitalistic currency. It was one of the ways for the state to build foreign money reserves.
@@squirlmy They were available via import duty-free shops called Pewex since the 80s, but you could buy there using foreign currency only, with dollars being preferred. It was a source of foreign currency reserves for the state.
Very nicely done. I'm from the US - a TS1000 was my first computer (2068 the second) and I dreamed of a Spectrum back then (I saw in a computer magazine). I have all the US models (1000,1500,2068) and now all the UK models as well as the Spectrum Next KS2 lol. That Microdrive USB stick is awesome - icing on the cake.
I have _all_ Spectrum models and still had to order this. (Yes, that includes a Spectrum+ with Spanish keyboard and ROM, a Spanish toastrack, Spanish versions of the Amstrad models (+2, +2A and +3) and of course the Inves Spectrum!
Wow ... this is amazing!! While I never owned one, ZX Spectrum was the model that Fred Harris used in the BBC tv series Me & My Micro, so I learnt BASIC programming on Sinclair BASIC but had to convert to GWBASIC and BASICA. Oh boy ... like almost 40 years back.
Kudos on them to include an actual keyboard! That's what the C64 and A500 initially lacked, and I still hope for an A500 Maxi like they did with the C64.
A couple years ago The 8 Bit Guy went on this crusade to make an 8bit inspired retro aesthetic computer and it turned into a mess with plenty of feature creep and bloat. This is exactly the kind of thing he should have designed. A simple little toaster with modern I/O ports. I'm impressed with the Spectrum retro machine. I might even get one to take a shot at programming one.
It's great to see you back! Great video as usual! I love that the original design was kept as-is, it seems to be a fun gaming console for playing ZX Spectrum. I would be a bit more critical for the conclusion: it seems great for anyone curious about the ZX Spectrum **games**. For learning about the ZX Spectrum hardware or learning assembly programming, it is not adapted, the hardware is completely abstracted by the software emulation. I suspect it's an SoC (rather than an MCU) that runs a Linux underneath, so in terms of speed and space limitation that the ZX Spectrum had (and was part of the fun/challenge when programming), well, they are not present anymore.
The membrane might be similar to the original spectrum, but it's not directly compatible. ribbons for the rows and columns on the original membrane are in entirely different locations on an original keyboard (and on the Plus, since you could do the rubber key to plus update yourself)
Great video - thank you Noel. This is a great alternative for those that don't want the worry of maintaining a 40-year old original model but still want the fun of all those great games.
To remove any glued part like the faceplate use rubbing alcohol (stronger is better) and carefully inject a couple of drops where plate joins the plastic case and wait a minute. The glue will become much weaker and you can pull the plate away easily without damaging it. After the alcohol dries you can still reattach the plate using the original adhesive strip. Of course you have to be careful and maybe add a drop of an alcohol once you lift one side to the spots that are still not affected by the alcohol. With a little bit of practice this is the best way to pull any glued surfaces apart like LCD screens etc. The only thing that you have to keep in mind when removing the LCD is that some are not sealed so the alcohol can get in between the touch surface and the LCD panel but if the LCD is junk then you can use fair amount of the alcohol and don’t have to be very careful with it. Of course using a syringe especially with a needle will be the best way to apply the alcohol but be careful that you don’t scratch the surfaces with the needle.
The longest load time ANY Spectrum game took was just shy of 5 minutes. It was The Hobbit by Melbourne House and didn't use any speed loaders (speedlock) at the time and it used up all of the available 48k, including the screen memory (title screen). So no other game can possible have taken longer to load. Anyone who says there were load times of up to 20 minutes is either WILDLY misremembering or -outright lying- exaggerating. p.s.: Unless, of course, we are talking about loading a 128k game from tape, which might have taken longer than on a 48k model, but by then speed loading was long established, so it can't have taken 20 minutes either.
I recall at least one game (although I can't remember _which_ game) whose custom loader emulated the block loading method from the BBC Micro. The advantage was that you could recover from an intermittent tape glitch by rewinding the tape a bit and having another try at the problematic block (no nightmare _R:Tape loading error_ or whole-machine reset) but the downside was that it was definitely slower that a continuous load at the same baud rate. Nowhere close to 20 minutes though.
It is worth mentioning that ZX Spectrum Next is a Kickstarter project which had 2 stages and both are already ended, so you will pay significantly more than during Kickstarter campaign.
Yay! The first review! And I admit, it is a tad better than I expected. The "rewind" function is really cool, I don't know any existing emulators that can do it. Being able to properly save BASIC programs (not just do a full memory capture) is a feature I didn't expect The Spectrum to have. For the people who want to play some nostalgic games this may be the ideal solution. The machine that Spectrum Vega was supposed to be is finally here.
There were real advantages with single-keyword-entry in that it helped the user type syntactically correct lines of code, but it also checked each line when you pressed Enter, letting you know where the syntax broke down with an inverse [S], and not letting you enter it until you fixed the syntax. Also, although you always enter the lines of code from the bottom, a line of code can be any length up to the size of the screen and operates properly in insert mode, like modern editors do. In this sense, although I like the Commdore PET/VIC-20/C64 full-screen editor, this one is at least as good in its own way.
I was one of the few in the US with a zx-80 back in the day. I have always been impressed by the unconventional thinking that went into Sir Clive's machines. Thanks for this video
My favourite Speccy game was Elite. A space trading game where you could update your craft by trading goods for profit. You also had to shoot the bad guys before they got you first. There were different levels to work through from beginner to Elite.
I've watched some reviews of The Spectrum today and yours is by far the best. You answered all the questions I had about it, and then some. Good video! (subbed!)
If I didn't already have a Next I'd be all over this. I'm tempted to get one anyway to be honest, just for the nostalgia kick. The Next and PC-based emulators are great, but I really do miss that rubber keyboard. It may be the butt of many a joke but it's the keyboard I grew up typing on, and on which I learned most of my early programming. I was never a fan of the original 128K machine's keyboard (although the Amstrad versions were better) so having access to 128K software in a 48K form factor is like the hybrid I would have killed for back in the day. It's just a shame it's emulated rather than FPGA but I guess they needed to keep the cost down. And that is very much in keeping with the Sinclair spirit. I love the idea that this Christmas morning there'll be people up and down the UK and elsewhere opening these things up and reliving some of that 1982 experience with their own children or grandchildren. Whether those kids become captivated by the simplicity of retrogaming or lose interest in half an hour doesn't really matter; for at least those few minutes there'll be new memories made, old memories jogged, and countless stories told. Priceless.
I live in Kempston in the UK, where the Spectrum Kempston interface was created. I actually live just a short walk away from where the company was based, in a residential flat!
Looks interesting - not listed on Amazon AU and Australia is not mentioned on their 'Buy The Spectrum' web page . Now, when are they going to do the same thing for the Amstrad CPC range?
My first computer was a ZX Spectrum, which I no longer own. Getting a refurbished one was never an option because I don't want to risk getting a brick, nor having to maintain it. Emulating on a PC is not the same, so this is the perfect solution! Just ordered one and I'll come back to thank you later once it arrives. :)
Great review. I think it's really great that they moulded the dedications to Sir Clive and Rick Dickinson in the case itself. To me, that speaks volumes. Somebody at Retro Games is clearly a big fan of the Speccy. After the very nasty Retro Comuters' Vega Plus debacle, I imagine RGL would have been concerned many people would be fed up of Spectrum machines, but credit where credit is due, this is a great addition to the Spectrum's legacy.
Cool machine, now costing UK £133 online, aprox $167 me thinks there is some Amazon price gouging going on here. Dads original QL, spectrum, zx81 and Cambridge calculator went to a local church sale and sold for around $5 each.
@SomePeopleCallMeWulfman Yes, if we only knew then what we know now. I kept dads Sinclair mini tube TV, its in its original carry case with the mono earphone and ariel adaptor in the side pouch. Also have the power brick and AA battery holder. I've kept it but have not dared to switch it on because I'm sure any tantalum and or electrolytic caps have long passed their sell by date, don't want to fry the thing. Its one of those jobs that I never seem to get around to doing, maybe next summer I'll get around to it and if successful in its resurrection I'll post it on the UA-cam.
Good to see another video from you in my feed! The Sinclair Spectrum was one of those machines I was curious about, but, by that time, I was deeply into CP/M and lusting after much more expensive hardware. What a silly thing for me to do. Thanks for the link to Amazon UK.
I learned to code on a Spectrum 48K with that orange BASIC manual. However, learning all the keywords on that rubber keyboard was fiddly and a few years later I preferred programming on my friend's Spectrum +2 where you could type out the commands normally. Also the +2/+3 has a Renumber function in the menu system which was pretty handy.
Yes I think eveyone know the spectrum, the games etc. a more detailed look at what exactly these are is just what eveyone needs to know…. Our first mission should be…what can we do with it. I am horrified to see there’s no multiface emulation….no POKES….i wonder how easy it will be to load pokerama or the like
It's not public, but it's just one big microcontroller of some kind (maybe it's an FPGA but I doubt it). It's under the heat sink, so I can't tell, and it's even possible that it may be scratched out like some manufacturers do to keep things "secret".
Great review! Just a minor correction, that the Snake Escape, same as the other games written on the Nirvana engine, does NOT require ULA+, as it uses precise timing tricks on the original ULA.
Hey! Glad to have you back! I was just about to suggest you plug the keyboard on a real spectrum to see if it worked, but the connectors look incompatible. Pity. Fantastic review!
I always found Speccy BASIC more friendly than Commodore BASICs. I hated that you had to print an inverse heart to clear the screen for instance instead of CLS like normal BASICs. But if you mean the editor then yes. But in those days we took things slow and read the manual and learned how to edit programs using shift 4, 5, 6, 7 from memory. After coming from AppleSoft BASIC and TRS-80 Level II BASIC I could jump straight into Speccy BASIC.
In fact I don't know how to efficiently edit BASIC on most old machines now, including ones I used to use in the '80s (-: On a Commodore 8-bit emulator I end up just typing the whole line in again when I want to change it, just like most C64 guys would on the rare occasion they use a Speccy emulator.
Can we switch to 128k mode for BASIC? That’s much more user friendly, ie. Proper typing, instant feedback if entering a line that contains an error, renumbering, and the PLAY command for making tunes with AY
Surely, if you select +2 mode and BASIC, it'd drop to 128k Basic? It must have the 128K ROM included because a lot of the games probably called on the ROM routines?
Amazing evaluation and conclusion! Sir Clive's designs till offers the best fit for a low cost retro system. Somehow it gives more and doesn't fall short of nothing compared to the original ....and this opinion comes from an Atari 8bit user.
Welcome back! I'll check this out! I have an original Speccy, but I'm too old for the games (and don't have the nerves and patience for them anymore). I planned to get a DIVMMC but it costs more than this. Nice little machine :)
Thank you for The Spectrum video. I loved my Spectrum+2. I still have it and it is still working. With my father we have built several peripherals for it including a plotter. Recently I have got and fixed one of the clones (Didaktik M) and even built my very own Harlequin 128. I know, there were other computers with more features and more powerful as well, but Sinclair was my first and I have learned so much with it besides playing all the games on it :-)
At that price, it's a no-brainer for anyone even remotely interested in the ZX Spectrum! I can see it coming in handy when I don't feel like unpacking and setting up my original Speccy, CRT TV, cassette recorder etc...
My first hardware hack was my 16K Spectum. I piggy backed the RAM chips, lifting the CAS (Column Address Strobe) pin on each RAM chip and wiring them over to the address multiplexer chip. Buying the 48K version was too expensive in NZ, especially as this was my third computer (after ZX80 and ZX81).
Wow, thats a blast from the past. I had a Spectrum 48k and at school there was commodore 64s.....I preferred the Spectrum. I did play a few games on it such as Elite, Atic Atac and JetPac but my favourite was Elite. I might get one of these if I could get Elite on it
I'm happy to see you again! And the product is better than I thought. Not for me. I already have enough Spectrums, Harlequins and N-GO Spectrum Next. But other than all the Minis this is a 1:1 sized thing with a working keyboard and offers a lot of use. And as you said it's a fair price compared to anything other. The downside that it is nothing more than a Linux Single Board Computer running an emulator is not that dominant here. The best alternative is probably an N-GO clone of the ZX Spectrum Next in a reproduction case, but while being much cheaper than getting an original Next (400-500€ on marketplaces) it is still double the price of this.
My wife's ordered me one for Christmas, yay! The carousel, rewind, save slots and tape control make this a very convenient device, features that my Next cannot do.
They missed an opportunity to put a real tape interface jack on this, if only for loading. On the original Spectrum, the tape interface was half a dozen passive components or so and on the Harlequin recreations just one or two transistors... and the 3.5mm jack socket of course. Plenty of tapes out there and work fine, if my experience with my old tapes on my C64 in 2024 is in any way typical. Finding a working tape deck on the other hand... Maybe a little more difficult. Perhaps those cheap Aldi decks with the mono heads?
Never had one but used to look at the Timex Sinclair in computer magazines at $99 CAD and dreamed of having one. Preordered the Retro Spectrum and its on the way to Canada. I appreciate your video and looking forward to see if the games are playable in NTSC mode as I don't own any TV/Monitors that output PAL in both video and sound. Subscribed.
Glad you liked it! There's no PAL/NTSC anymore. It's HDMI out and it should work the same anywhere. Not sure why they have a test for 50Hz since I think most HDMI displays will do both, but everything should work. Enjoy!
Actually, I was waiting for a Brit to review this but I'll be honest, your surprised me with a really excellent review touching on all the points I was interested in. Thank you. You have a new subscriber!
Pre ordered the (original) spectrum. After 6 months of waiting I just canceled the order and bought a Commodore C64. Mr. Sinclair was notorious for not living up to his promises. Nice memories though ❤
I still remember 80% of the Z80 assembly language I learned at 15 on this thing circa 1982/3. I wore out the stupid keytop labels in two weeks and had to use a Staedtler (Sharpie for my US friends) to fix it…😂
I think it's great that the keyword entry in BASIC for the 48K model works as usual. How does BASIC work in 128K mode? In the original 128K you typed keywords letter by letter.
@@NoelsRetroLab OK! Does the built in ROM support the extended colors and the AY sound chip in BASIC? One should be able to load ones own ROMs, e.g. OpenSE BASIC.
I love Snake Escape (but have never managed to finish it) but have never heard the music as I have only a +48k. My main reason for getting a "The Spectrum" is to play all those 128k games and the 48k games with 128k-only soundtracks. The only downer so far is that I bought a nice blank teeny USB key in advance so I could sort out my games etc and have a nice bother-free experience when it arrived. They finally put up the instructions and it can't handle anything larger than a 32gb key and they aren't easy to get. SE doesn't use ULA plus - it gets its glorious colour from the Nirvana engine, which changes the 8x8 attribute blocks to 2X8 attribute oblongs. Another Nirvana game that I really dig is Multidude, a nice colourful puzzle platformer thing. I think the new-ish homebrew Buzzsaw is ULA plus and very nice for it.
One other el-cheapo alternative to get the speccy experience (and a lot more retro systems) is to get a Pi 400 (the one built into its own keyboard) and run emulators.
Yeah. I had to use a mail forwarding service to get it in the USA. For some reason, Amazon UK would not ship to the USA. I found that odd. The UK version is the one to get because it has the special Crash magazine included.
I pre-ordered mine from Amazon UK. It should ship tomorrow to me here in the US. I am very curious to compare it to the Commodore 64. I also own the A500 mini and C64 mini. I like all of the Retro Games machines.
Welcome back! I was lucky enough to get a Next in the second Kickstarter, though I have a MiSTer as well which I use more. The Next really is premium, the case is beautiful and it is solid. I think it is overkill for most users (including myself) so it's great to have alternatives like THE Spectrum that give you the Speccy experience at a reasonable price. Looking forward to more videos, Noel! ¡Gracias!
The inclusion of the tape loading has to be the best part, cos how else are people going to know the joy of waiting for games to load in real time like they used to do (aside from the part where the game fails to load and you have to start all over again!)... :P
The art of the loading screen is often overlooked in these instant loading days - and lets not forget the animated loaders (Bobby Bearing, Ranarama, Technician Ted and Joe Blade 2 even had pacman to play) and so many more...
I remember waiting 4-5 minutes and then in the last second getting the back screen crash and the copyright 1982 sinclair research logo every blinking time!
FYI the reason that the BASIC entries worked the way they did WASN'T because of the shitty keyboard, it was because you were directly entering (and the Spectrum was directly storing) the BASIC tokens rather than the keywords themselves (they were expanded out for display but there was no processing to go the other way within the Spectrum BASIC implementation)
Yes, I'm aware those where BASIC tokens, but I still think that it was done that way to save on ROM and not force too much typing on that keyboard. The 128K versions switched to character input (with more ROM and better keyboards). But I don't know. I'd love to find out if the Sinclair design team ever commented on that.
@@NoelsRetroLab I think I've seen some commentary from them to that effect at some point but I don't recall where. Being that Sir Clive's biggest priority was cost I think it's probably a good bet that the reasons are more cost related than practical considerations ;)
@@NoelsRetroLab It would have been done to save on ROM. If it wasn't done, they would have had to implement a whole tokenisation process which would take up a lot more memory than the mechanism that Sinclair implemented.
Nine Tiles created the ROM and upgraded BASIC, just as they did for the previous ZX models. Like those models, they were constrained by the limited ROM size, even though the ROM was bigger than the ZX81. Uncle Clive wanted the system to be as cheap as possible, and whilst not fast, the ZX BASIC is very space efficient. IIRC, Nine Tiles still own the Copyright for Sinclair BASIC, not Amstrad.
Cut my teeth on the ZX 80,81 & speccy. Owned the others too, Commodore, Atari etc. Spectrum has a massive place in my heart but I love all the retro computers. I have the Next which I backed on Kickstarter and I love it, but also want one like this.
I don't know! I think Kempston was the most popular one? But I know you can mess with the config for joystics, so you can probably set any of them (just guessing, I haven't tried).
The speccy was the Raspberry Pi of its day. I heard that when the Iron Curtain fell, it turned out there were loads of brilliant Russian coders for the z80 because it was so easy to smuggle into the country, such as in the lining of a big coat
The Spectrum hardware was relatively easy to copy. Everything, including the ULA could be built with discreet logic chips and an eprom. And it was cheap. People in Eastern European and the USSR produced their own versions of the Speccy, often with better keyboards and sound etc. It's probably the most copied of all the '80s micros.
They have a bit on their website that explains how to format a USB stick (under 32gb) so that you can put on your own game files. Beyond that I don't know.
Right? I really thought that a lot of people in the US who are into other retro devices might really enjoy this as an introduction. I was really surprised to hear they weren't officially releasing it in the US.
@@NoelsRetroLab It really does seem that Retro Games Ltd has been dropping the ball for quite some time because of it. I'm not understanding how they could ever lose money on it in the US i guess.
I am also happy to see you with new video. Hope you are doing fine and I am start now into the weekend and watching your video. Thanks for the amazing content and your way to explain technical details. Greetings from Germany Marinus
I'm from EU and I LOVE Spectrum. I started programming cuz of it, and electronics... So don't assume no one cares, we do. (not only US people watching You) (And I did not watch the video yet, just on the intro now)
I'll tell you their response: _I understand your frustration. The couriour could not ship to your location. Sorry about that_ And thus closed the ticket. It's nonsense as DHL can perfectly well ship anything from the UK to my doorstep! Their shipping cost was £21 while a forewarder would cost me £18, including their handling fee.
Thanks! RetroGames sent it to me but warned me that it didn't come with the retail version, so I didn't highlight it. Apparently you can order it separately from their web site.
Corrections/updates:
- Buy The Spectrum here (ships from Amazon UK) amzn.to/4i14r9Q
- The keyboard membrane is NOT exactly like the ZX Spectrum one. It's probably the same connections, but the location is very different, so you can't just swap them out.
- The +2 mode of BASIC is still keyword-based and without an initial menu, like the normal +2/+3 ROMs.
Wonderful review! Could you tell what processor or FPGA this is using?
As always we in the Philippines are out of luck and won't be able to get one.
Don't +2 and +3 have both 48K BASIC and 128K BASIC? With the colour menu giving you a choice of 128 BASIC/+2 BASIC/+3 BASIC vs 48 BASIC if you choose the former you can type letter-by-letter and if you choose the latter you type by keyword.
@@andrewdunbar828 it seems not, as Noel's answer to my previous question (in Spanish), tells. This is too bad. My first computer was a Speccy 128k, I never learnt the key combinations. I could wait for a Speccy 128k/+2 variant (thohgh I already have bought one), but I'm afraid it will never come.
Now delayed in Uk upto 4th Jan 2025- thank you Amazon, so much for pre-ordering :(
A 48K Speccy was my first ever computer at the tender age of 8 and it’s the reason why I learned programming and eventually had a successful career in IT. I loved my Speccy and spent many an hour happily entranced playing a game or programming in BASIC. Thank you Sir Clive and Rick, RIP.
Yeah loved my spectrum as well learned Z80 machine code and basic on it. I ended up working for Ultimate play the game (atic attack, jetman etc )owners the Stamper Brothers at Rare when they first created it, worked at Rare several times since but it was not the same after Microsoft brought it out. There was an add on("interface 1 ) I brought that took it upto 128k , and "microdrives" but they never became popular.
Not only did I learn to program on a Spectrum: being Italian I also learned English with its manual and an Italian/English dictionary on my desk.
I owe it a lot.
As a 53 year old this is one of the iconic things from my childhood. This has been made by people who have great respect for the source material, good job.
You're the only reviewer who mentions that the added value of a full size ZX Spectrum is that you can program in BASIC on it.
...which is the main reason why I want one, because it's so difficult to program ZX BASIC from a 48k using a PC keyboard. The games I can play fine using an emulator, but the programming REALLY needs that keyboard.
@@CowmanUK You might like Retro Recipe's review; he talked about that and how to change modes, boot to BASIC, use USB sticks to load games as if from tape, etc.
I'm a grown up man with a grown up time schedule, but boy, do I want to have one of these!
Good to see you again; welcome back! Loved the review. I don't have the same kind of nostalgia for the Speccy, growing up in America and all, but I can certainly appreciate how you and everyone else who grew up with them feel. I have a genuine 48K Spectrum and I can see the attention to detail they put into it. Nice.
Great Video as usual - One comment is that the games you mentioned don't use ULAPlus. They use the Nirvana Engine which allows for different paper/ink for each line within a character attribute (rather than just one combination per character attribute) but still use the same 15 regular colors that the Spectrum supports (15 since bright black is still black) but at the expense of many CPU cycles. ULAplus is a way of extending the palette beyond the the standard 15 and doesn't use CPU cycles to do it.
Obscure fact about ZX Spectrum: It was used in 1985 to overlay freedom messages over the National TV signal in the City of Torun in Poland.
If I understand correctly, what Eastern European users had were "copies" of the ZXSpectrum, some home-made by hobbyists, others re-creating it to take the advantage of the pre-existing library of games(many also made by hobbyists). It's a fascinating topic, but in my mind it's also a reason to build your own "Spectrum" from kits, rather than this "official," sanctioned remake.
@@squirlmy It was legit zx. They were available in specialized import shops called Pewex, where you could buy stuff using foreign capitalistic currency. It was one of the ways for the state to build foreign money reserves.
@@squirlmy They were available via import duty-free shops called Pewex since the 80s, but you could buy there using foreign currency only, with dollars being preferred. It was a source of foreign currency reserves for the state.
Back in the days when the graphics on the cassette cover were 1000 times better than the actual game!
Very nicely done. I'm from the US - a TS1000 was my first computer (2068 the second) and I dreamed of a Spectrum back then (I saw in a computer magazine). I have all the US models (1000,1500,2068) and now all the UK models as well as the Spectrum Next KS2 lol. That Microdrive USB stick is awesome - icing on the cake.
I have _all_ Spectrum models and still had to order this.
(Yes, that includes a Spectrum+ with Spanish keyboard and ROM, a Spanish toastrack, Spanish versions of the Amstrad models (+2, +2A and +3) and of course the Inves Spectrum!
I have a spectrum 48k, a Plus, a +2 and a Spectrum Next. And I just ordered this. Couldn't resist!
Wow ... this is amazing!! While I never owned one, ZX Spectrum was the model that Fred Harris used in the BBC tv series Me & My Micro, so I learnt BASIC programming on Sinclair BASIC but had to convert to GWBASIC and BASICA. Oh boy ... like almost 40 years back.
A great review - so glad you liked it. Mine arrives tomorrow (fingers crossed) and I can't wait!
Hi Noel, I have a video with lots of cheap alternatives using PI ZERO, Pi Pico and ESP32 boards that will fit a 48k case and use the keyboard too.
Kudos on them to include an actual keyboard! That's what the C64 and A500 initially lacked, and I still hope for an A500 Maxi like they did with the C64.
A couple years ago The 8 Bit Guy went on this crusade to make an 8bit inspired retro aesthetic computer and it turned into a mess with plenty of feature creep and bloat.
This is exactly the kind of thing he should have designed. A simple little toaster with modern I/O ports.
I'm impressed with the Spectrum retro machine. I might even get one to take a shot at programming one.
Fantástico verte de vuelta, Noel.
Glücklich zu sehen. Je suis enchanté. Oh, we're not doing Cabaret? But yes, it's great to see the Retro Lab again.
It's great to see you back! Great video as usual!
I love that the original design was kept as-is, it seems to be a fun gaming console for playing ZX Spectrum.
I would be a bit more critical for the conclusion: it seems great for anyone curious about the ZX Spectrum **games**. For learning about the ZX Spectrum hardware or learning assembly programming, it is not adapted, the hardware is completely abstracted by the software emulation. I suspect it's an SoC (rather than an MCU) that runs a Linux underneath, so in terms of speed and space limitation that the ZX Spectrum had (and was part of the fun/challenge when programming), well, they are not present anymore.
The membrane might be similar to the original spectrum, but it's not directly compatible. ribbons for the rows and columns on the original membrane are in entirely different locations on an original keyboard (and on the Plus, since you could do the rubber key to plus update yourself)
Yes, you're right of course. You can tell it's been a while since I've been inside a Speccy, so I didn't realize that at first.
Was Just gonna say that myself
Great video - thank you Noel. This is a great alternative for those that don't want the worry of maintaining a 40-year old original model but still want the fun of all those great games.
Noel. You're alive! Good to see you back.
To remove any glued part like the faceplate use rubbing alcohol (stronger is better) and carefully inject a couple of drops where plate joins the plastic case and wait a minute. The glue will become much weaker and you can pull the plate away easily without damaging it. After the alcohol dries you can still reattach the plate using the original adhesive strip. Of course you have to be careful and maybe add a drop of an alcohol once you lift one side to the spots that are still not affected by the alcohol. With a little bit of practice this is the best way to pull any glued surfaces apart like LCD screens etc. The only thing that you have to keep in mind when removing the LCD is that some are not sealed so the alcohol can get in between the touch surface and the LCD panel but if the LCD is junk then you can use fair amount of the alcohol and don’t have to be very careful with it. Of course using a syringe especially with a needle will be the best way to apply the alcohol but be careful that you don’t scratch the surfaces with the needle.
The longest load time ANY Spectrum game took was just shy of 5 minutes. It was The Hobbit by Melbourne House and didn't use any speed loaders (speedlock) at the time and it used up all of the available 48k, including the screen memory (title screen). So no other game can possible have taken longer to load. Anyone who says there were load times of up to 20 minutes is either WILDLY misremembering or -outright lying- exaggerating.
p.s.: Unless, of course, we are talking about loading a 128k game from tape, which might have taken longer than on a 48k model, but by then speed loading was long established, so it can't have taken 20 minutes either.
No way. There were definitely longer load times: 128KB games with multiload? Those took forever! Maybe not quite 20 minutes, but at least 15?
128k : 13 minutes 20 seconds approx...
I recall at least one game (although I can't remember _which_ game) whose custom loader emulated the block loading method from the BBC Micro. The advantage was that you could recover from an intermittent tape glitch by rewinding the tape a bit and having another try at the problematic block (no nightmare _R:Tape loading error_ or whole-machine reset) but the downside was that it was definitely slower that a continuous load at the same baud rate. Nowhere close to 20 minutes though.
Airborne Ranger took about 10mins on the +2 128k. Most were at least 5mins from what I remember from 35 years ago, when they did actually load.
It is worth mentioning that ZX Spectrum Next is a Kickstarter project which had 2 stages and both are already ended, so you will pay significantly more than during Kickstarter campaign.
Kickstarter 3 was announced yesterday and will be coming 2025
Yay! The first review!
And I admit, it is a tad better than I expected. The "rewind" function is really cool, I don't know any existing emulators that can do it. Being able to properly save BASIC programs (not just do a full memory capture) is a feature I didn't expect The Spectrum to have. For the people who want to play some nostalgic games this may be the ideal solution. The machine that Spectrum Vega was supposed to be is finally here.
There were real advantages with single-keyword-entry in that it helped the user type syntactically correct lines of code, but it also checked each line when you pressed Enter, letting you know where the syntax broke down with an inverse [S], and not letting you enter it until you fixed the syntax. Also, although you always enter the lines of code from the bottom, a line of code can be any length up to the size of the screen and operates properly in insert mode, like modern editors do. In this sense, although I like the Commdore PET/VIC-20/C64 full-screen editor, this one is at least as good in its own way.
I was one of the few in the US with a zx-80 back in the day. I have always been impressed by the unconventional thinking that went into Sir Clive's machines. Thanks for this video
Welcome back, Noel!
E: Removed the note about a typo :D
Thanks. Fixed!
My favourite Speccy game was Elite. A space trading game where you could update your craft by trading goods for profit. You also had to shoot the bad guys before they got you first. There were different levels to work through from beginner to Elite.
I rebuilt a Harlequin and enjoyed every minute of assembling it; would totally recommend it 😀
I've watched some reviews of The Spectrum today and yours is by far the best. You answered all the questions I had about it, and then some. Good video! (subbed!)
Glad I could help!
If I didn't already have a Next I'd be all over this. I'm tempted to get one anyway to be honest, just for the nostalgia kick. The Next and PC-based emulators are great, but I really do miss that rubber keyboard. It may be the butt of many a joke but it's the keyboard I grew up typing on, and on which I learned most of my early programming.
I was never a fan of the original 128K machine's keyboard (although the Amstrad versions were better) so having access to 128K software in a 48K form factor is like the hybrid I would have killed for back in the day.
It's just a shame it's emulated rather than FPGA but I guess they needed to keep the cost down. And that is very much in keeping with the Sinclair spirit.
I love the idea that this Christmas morning there'll be people up and down the UK and elsewhere opening these things up and reliving some of that 1982 experience with their own children or grandchildren. Whether those kids become captivated by the simplicity of retrogaming or lose interest in half an hour doesn't really matter; for at least those few minutes there'll be new memories made, old memories jogged, and countless stories told. Priceless.
Love that shot of all of the spectrum models. Very nice!
And I'm still missing the +2 black and the Inves and other clones, but those are in Spain :-)
I live in Kempston in the UK, where the Spectrum Kempston interface was created. I actually live just a short walk away from where the company was based, in a residential flat!
Looks interesting - not listed on Amazon AU and Australia is not mentioned on their 'Buy The Spectrum' web page . Now, when are they going to do the same thing for the Amstrad CPC range?
I have a spectrum 16k that my dad in 1984 got it upgraded to a 48k 😮 still have it in the loft has a box to make the spectrum speak 😂
My first computer was a ZX Spectrum, which I no longer own. Getting a refurbished one was never an option because I don't want to risk getting a brick, nor having to maintain it. Emulating on a PC is not the same, so this is the perfect solution! Just ordered one and I'll come back to thank you later once it arrives. :)
Enjoy! You're going to love it.
Great review. I think it's really great that they moulded the dedications to Sir Clive and Rick Dickinson in the case itself. To me, that speaks volumes. Somebody at Retro Games is clearly a big fan of the Speccy. After the very nasty Retro Comuters' Vega Plus debacle, I imagine RGL would have been concerned many people would be fed up of Spectrum machines, but credit where credit is due, this is a great addition to the Spectrum's legacy.
Cool machine, now costing UK £133 online, aprox $167 me thinks there is some Amazon price gouging going on here. Dads original QL, spectrum, zx81 and Cambridge calculator went to a local church sale and sold for around $5 each.
Same here. And I even threw in the Sinclair TV. Wish I had kept the lot.
@SomePeopleCallMeWulfman Yes, if we only knew then what we know now. I kept dads Sinclair mini tube TV, its in its original carry case with the mono earphone and ariel adaptor in the side pouch. Also have the power brick and AA battery holder. I've kept it but have not dared to switch it on because I'm sure any tantalum and or electrolytic caps have long passed their sell by date, don't want to fry the thing. Its one of those jobs that I never seem to get around to doing, maybe next summer I'll get around to it and if successful in its resurrection I'll post it on the UA-cam.
It's still £89 at the Smyths Toys website
@@GodmanchesterGoblin Thanks just ordered one online, that's crimbo sorted😃
Great to have you back! 🖖
We appreciate your support so much, Noel!
Good to see another video from you in my feed! The Sinclair Spectrum was one of those machines I was curious about, but, by that time, I was deeply into CP/M and lusting after much more expensive hardware. What a silly thing for me to do. Thanks for the link to Amazon UK.
I learned to code on a Spectrum 48K with that orange BASIC manual. However, learning all the keywords on that rubber keyboard was fiddly and a few years later I preferred programming on my friend's Spectrum +2 where you could type out the commands normally. Also the +2/+3 has a Renumber function in the menu system which was pretty handy.
Nice to have you back Noel. Can we have a more detailed description of the hardware? I'm curious about what processor (FPGA?) they are using, etc.
Yes I think eveyone know the spectrum, the games etc. a more detailed look at what exactly these are is just what eveyone needs to know…. Our first mission should be…what can we do with it.
I am horrified to see there’s no multiface emulation….no POKES….i wonder how easy it will be to load pokerama or the like
It's not public, but it's just one big microcontroller of some kind (maybe it's an FPGA but I doubt it). It's under the heat sink, so I can't tell, and it's even possible that it may be scratched out like some manufacturers do to keep things "secret".
@@NoelsRetroLab Ah I see. Too bad. Thanks!
@@owenjnelson-fb9mgthe easiest way would be to load a previously poked snapshot...
The only time you liked the tape loading time was on the ocean loaders for c64
Great review! Just a minor correction, that the Snake Escape, same as the other games written on the Nirvana engine, does NOT require ULA+, as it uses precise timing tricks on the original ULA.
Hey! Glad to have you back! I was just about to suggest you plug the keyboard on a real spectrum to see if it worked, but the connectors look incompatible. Pity. Fantastic review!
Yes, at first I thought it was identical, but the spacing is off. Definitely something you can fix with an adapter though.
If you can't get hold of a Next then go for the N-go this is 100% compatable with the next.
Great to see you back Noel!!!
I always found Speccy BASIC more friendly than Commodore BASICs. I hated that you had to print an inverse heart to clear the screen for instance instead of CLS like normal BASICs. But if you mean the editor then yes. But in those days we took things slow and read the manual and learned how to edit programs using shift 4, 5, 6, 7 from memory. After coming from AppleSoft BASIC and TRS-80 Level II BASIC I could jump straight into Speccy BASIC.
Adding to this: in 128k mode, there is a full-screen editor and one can types commands letter for letter.
In fact I don't know how to efficiently edit BASIC on most old machines now, including ones I used to use in the '80s (-: On a Commodore 8-bit emulator I end up just typing the whole line in again when I want to change it, just like most C64 guys would on the rare occasion they use a Speccy emulator.
Can we switch to 128k mode for BASIC? That’s much more user friendly, ie. Proper typing, instant feedback if entering a line that contains an error, renumbering, and the PLAY command for making tunes with AY
Not in The Spectrum! But hopefully we can drop in the Sinclair ROMs and that might work? Maybe?
Surely, if you select +2 mode and BASIC, it'd drop to 128k Basic? It must have the 128K ROM included because a lot of the games probably called on the ROM routines?
Amazing evaluation and conclusion! Sir Clive's designs till offers the best fit for a low cost retro system. Somehow it gives more and doesn't fall short of nothing compared to the original ....and this opinion comes from an Atari 8bit user.
Can't wait until mine arrives - it'll be like Christmas 1983 all over again!
Welcome back!
I'll check this out! I have an original Speccy, but I'm too old for the games (and don't have the nerves and patience for them anymore). I planned to get a DIVMMC but it costs more than this.
Nice little machine :)
Thank you. Yes, this makes all the difference with the saves and rewind. Go for it!
Great review. Also entertainingly comprehensive.
Thank you for The Spectrum video. I loved my Spectrum+2. I still have it and it is still working. With my father we have built several peripherals for it including a plotter. Recently I have got and fixed one of the clones (Didaktik M) and even built my very own Harlequin 128. I know, there were other computers with more features and more powerful as well, but Sinclair was my first and I have learned so much with it besides playing all the games on it :-)
just tell me that Bloodwych, Dan dare, Turrican are available ;)
At that price, it's a no-brainer for anyone even remotely interested in the ZX Spectrum! I can see it coming in handy when I don't feel like unpacking and setting up my original Speccy, CRT TV, cassette recorder etc...
My first hardware hack was my 16K Spectum. I piggy backed the RAM chips, lifting the CAS (Column Address Strobe) pin on each RAM chip and wiring them over to the address multiplexer chip. Buying the 48K version was too expensive in NZ, especially as this was my third computer (after ZX80 and ZX81).
Wow, thats a blast from the past. I had a Spectrum 48k and at school there was commodore 64s.....I preferred the Spectrum. I did play a few games on it such as Elite, Atic Atac and JetPac but my favourite was Elite. I might get one of these if I could get Elite on it
I'm happy to see you again! And the product is better than I thought. Not for me. I already have enough Spectrums, Harlequins and N-GO Spectrum Next. But other than all the Minis this is a 1:1 sized thing with a working keyboard and offers a lot of use. And as you said it's a fair price compared to anything other. The downside that it is nothing more than a Linux Single Board Computer running an emulator is not that dominant here. The best alternative is probably an N-GO clone of the ZX Spectrum Next in a reproduction case, but while being much cheaper than getting an original Next (400-500€ on marketplaces) it is still double the price of this.
Gracias Noel.
Estaba en duda si comprarlo o no cuando se anunció, ahora ya estoy totalmente convencido. Auto regalo para Reyes 😜.
Que alegría verte de nuevo Noel!!!! Muy buen video como siempre!!!!
I ordered one from France, I am in US. I can't wait to get it.
My wife's ordered me one for Christmas, yay! The carousel, rewind, save slots and tape control make this a very convenient device, features that my Next cannot do.
They missed an opportunity to put a real tape interface jack on this, if only for loading. On the original Spectrum, the tape interface was half a dozen passive components or so and on the Harlequin recreations just one or two transistors... and the 3.5mm jack socket of course. Plenty of tapes out there and work fine, if my experience with my old tapes on my C64 in 2024 is in any way typical.
Finding a working tape deck on the other hand... Maybe a little more difficult. Perhaps those cheap Aldi decks with the mono heads?
Received mine today. But to be honest, just got it to make waiting for the full size Amiga a bit easier. Impatiently waiting for news.
I'm all over the idea of the full-size Amiga as well. Can't wait!
I hope they reconsider and make it available in Canada.
Email them! Seriously.
Never had one but used to look at the Timex Sinclair in computer magazines at $99 CAD and dreamed of having one. Preordered the Retro Spectrum and its on the way to Canada. I appreciate your video and looking forward to see if the games are playable in NTSC mode as I don't own any TV/Monitors that output PAL in both video and sound. Subscribed.
Glad you liked it! There's no PAL/NTSC anymore. It's HDMI out and it should work the same anywhere. Not sure why they have a test for 50Hz since I think most HDMI displays will do both, but everything should work. Enjoy!
3:55 Ultimate Play the Game = Rare = Microsoft
Actually, I was waiting for a Brit to review this but I'll be honest, your surprised me with a really excellent review touching on all the points I was interested in.
Thank you. You have a new subscriber!
Sir Clive gave me a Spectrum after I won a competition to design a computer of the future. Fond memories of typing games in from magazines.
Pre ordered the (original) spectrum. After 6 months of waiting I just canceled the order and bought a Commodore C64.
Mr. Sinclair was notorious for not living up to his promises.
Nice memories though ❤
Good to see you back! its been too long Noel!
I remember writing games on this before, you had to save your work on a cassette tape but it was worth it.
I still remember 80% of the Z80 assembly language I learned at 15 on this thing circa 1982/3. I wore out the stupid keytop labels in two weeks and had to use a Staedtler (Sharpie for my US friends) to fix it…😂
I'm in the USA, I recognize the Staedtler name from architectural drafting equipment.
I think it's great that the keyword entry in BASIC for the 48K model works as usual. How does BASIC work in 128K mode? In the original 128K you typed keywords letter by letter.
Not in this one! I meant to comment that but I ended up leaving out of the video. It's still keyword-based and no menu at startup. Weird.
@@NoelsRetroLab OK! Does the built in ROM support the extended colors and the AY sound chip in BASIC? One should be able to load ones own ROMs, e.g. OpenSE BASIC.
I love Snake Escape (but have never managed to finish it) but have never heard the music as I have only a +48k. My main reason for getting a "The Spectrum" is to play all those 128k games and the 48k games with 128k-only soundtracks. The only downer so far is that I bought a nice blank teeny USB key in advance so I could sort out my games etc and have a nice bother-free experience when it arrived. They finally put up the instructions and it can't handle anything larger than a 32gb key and they aren't easy to get.
SE doesn't use ULA plus - it gets its glorious colour from the Nirvana engine, which changes the 8x8 attribute blocks to 2X8 attribute oblongs. Another Nirvana game that I really dig is Multidude, a nice colourful puzzle platformer thing. I think the new-ish homebrew Buzzsaw is ULA plus and very nice for it.
Do you plan to get hold of a real Spectrum and see if its keyboard really works wit the The?
One other el-cheapo alternative to get the speccy experience (and a lot more retro systems) is to get a Pi 400 (the one built into its own keyboard) and run emulators.
Yeah. I had to use a mail forwarding service to get it in the USA. For some reason, Amazon UK would not ship to the USA. I found that odd.
The UK version is the one to get because it has the special Crash magazine included.
I pre-ordered mine from Amazon UK. It should ship tomorrow to me here in the US. I am very curious to compare it to the Commodore 64. I also own the A500 mini and C64 mini. I like all of the Retro Games machines.
Welcome back! I was lucky enough to get a Next in the second Kickstarter, though I have a MiSTer as well which I use more. The Next really is premium, the case is beautiful and it is solid. I think it is overkill for most users (including myself) so it's great to have alternatives like THE Spectrum that give you the Speccy experience at a reasonable price. Looking forward to more videos, Noel! ¡Gracias!
The inclusion of the tape loading has to be the best part, cos how else are people going to know the joy of waiting for games to load in real time like they used to do (aside from the part where the game fails to load and you have to start all over again!)... :P
The art of the loading screen is often overlooked in these instant loading days - and lets not forget the animated loaders (Bobby Bearing, Ranarama, Technician Ted and Joe Blade 2 even had pacman to play) and so many more...
time to make toast and tea!
I remember waiting 4-5 minutes and then in the last second getting the back screen crash and the copyright 1982 sinclair research logo every blinking time!
FYI the reason that the BASIC entries worked the way they did WASN'T because of the shitty keyboard, it was because you were directly entering (and the Spectrum was directly storing) the BASIC tokens rather than the keywords themselves (they were expanded out for display but there was no processing to go the other way within the Spectrum BASIC implementation)
Yes, I'm aware those where BASIC tokens, but I still think that it was done that way to save on ROM and not force too much typing on that keyboard. The 128K versions switched to character input (with more ROM and better keyboards). But I don't know. I'd love to find out if the Sinclair design team ever commented on that.
@@NoelsRetroLab I think I've seen some commentary from them to that effect at some point but I don't recall where.
Being that Sir Clive's biggest priority was cost I think it's probably a good bet that the reasons are more cost related than practical considerations ;)
@@NoelsRetroLab It would have been done to save on ROM. If it wasn't done, they would have had to implement a whole tokenisation process which would take up a lot more memory than the mechanism that Sinclair implemented.
Nine Tiles created the ROM and upgraded BASIC, just as they did for the previous ZX models. Like those models, they were constrained by the limited ROM size, even though the ROM was bigger than the ZX81. Uncle Clive wanted the system to be as cheap as possible, and whilst not fast, the ZX BASIC is very space efficient. IIRC, Nine Tiles still own the Copyright for Sinclair BASIC, not Amstrad.
Cut my teeth on the ZX 80,81 & speccy. Owned the others too, Commodore, Atari etc. Spectrum has a massive place in my heart but I love all the retro computers. I have the Next which I backed on Kickstarter and I love it, but also want one like this.
thanks for the teardown! - Finally , a Retro Computers product I don't have to design a working keyboard for :-P
Great to see you back ... where have you been?
Regarding joysticks: when you plug in a USB one, which type of joystick do them emulate? Kempston, Sinclair or what? Thx.
I don't know! I think Kempston was the most popular one? But I know you can mess with the config for joystics, so you can probably set any of them (just guessing, I haven't tried).
@@NoelsRetroLab Ok yeah that would make sense I guess.
The speccy was the Raspberry Pi of its day.
I heard that when the Iron Curtain fell, it turned out there were loads of brilliant Russian coders for the z80 because it was so easy to smuggle into the country, such as in the lining of a big coat
The Spectrum hardware was relatively easy to copy. Everything, including the ULA could be built with discreet logic chips and an eprom. And it was cheap. People in Eastern European and the USSR produced their own versions of the Speccy, often with better keyboards and sound etc. It's probably the most copied of all the '80s micros.
Thanks for the review! I wish it included any of the games I worked on, but well, I suppose it can run external games?
They have a bit on their website that explains how to format a USB stick (under 32gb) so that you can put on your own game files. Beyond that I don't know.
@@Metal_Maxine I'll check that, thanks!
I can replace the roms? So I can get the (C) Sinclair in the BASIC boot screen back?
You can but I haven't tried it. I may do a followup on the second channel about stuff like that.
I've never even seen a Spectrum in person (I'm 54), due to living in the US (Got my C64 in 1984). I'd actually be tempted to get one of these.
Right? I really thought that a lot of people in the US who are into other retro devices might really enjoy this as an introduction. I was really surprised to hear they weren't officially releasing it in the US.
@@NoelsRetroLab It really does seem that Retro Games Ltd has been dropping the ball for quite some time because of it. I'm not understanding how they could ever lose money on it in the US i guess.
I am also happy to see you with new video. Hope you are doing fine and I am start now into the weekend and watching your video.
Thanks for the amazing content and your way to explain technical details.
Greetings from Germany
Marinus
Thanks! 🙂
I find it odd that it's missing joystick ports to plug in the skikstik, wico, tac-2 or whatever your favourite is.
I'm from EU and I LOVE Spectrum. I started programming cuz of it, and electronics... So don't assume no one cares, we do. (not only US people watching You)
(And I did not watch the video yet, just on the intro now)
Basic IDE is a classic, and perfect, it's like a guy came form the future and said "that's what we don't have in C64"
Doesn't appear to be available for shipping to the US from Amazon UK and ShopTo is cancelling the pre-orders they have for the US.
That's a real bummer. Email RetroGames and ask them. If enough people do it they might make it available here.
I can tell you that StopTo has not only cancelled all shipping to the US, but other (European) countries as well 😡
@@MarcKloos Saw your comment on FB. I don't have an account with ShopTo to enter a ticket so I'm waiting for their response to my message.
I'll tell you their response:
_I understand your frustration. The couriour could not ship to your location. Sorry about that_
And thus closed the ticket.
It's nonsense as DHL can perfectly well ship anything from the UK to my doorstep!
Their shipping cost was £21 while a forewarder would cost me £18, including their handling fee.
@@MarcKloos My receipt included £46 for shipping through DHL. I have had DHL ship products to the US from the UK so I know it was something else.
Great review Noel. Where did you get that USB stick?
Thanks! RetroGames sent it to me but warned me that it didn't come with the retail version, so I didn't highlight it. Apparently you can order it separately from their web site.
@ Just looked and they are out of stock. I hope they make some more. 👍🏽
Was looking to get mine day 1 but DPD did not show up to give it me. Need to wait now.
Argh! Very frustrating!