LA STORIA DELLO SPECTRUM
Hello guys!!!
I have sent some days ago a little e-mail interview about Speccy
scene in the world. I have asked to my friend Yerzmyey (from Polland) to forward my
e-mail throug internet. Thanks to everybody for any reply and for collaboration!!
Here is the interview:
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1) Do you use Speccy every day?
2) do you use real speccy or an emulator? (in this case: what kind of emulator do you use?)
3) Does Speccy still rulez in your country? :) is it dead or alive ? :)
4) are there any magazine about speccy?
5) are there any software house for speccy?
6) Does exist any other speccy clone in production today?
7) what kind of clone do you have?
8) what do you think about speccy future?
9) why Speccy is so popular in your country?
ok...
very different answers I have received. For West Europe the answers seem to be the same (as for Italy
(my country)):
1) sometimes
2) emulator - RealSpec
3) Speccy is dead and in 80/90 Commodore 64 (aka C64 or CBM64)
was the most home computer sold
4) Some magazine is still in production but as hobby/fun in
Austria/Germany
5) Seem to be Cronosoft in England FunForge Software/LCD design
in Austria
6) Some guys know only Sprinter... :(
7) Original Speccy
8) Only a nostalgia product
9) Because was cheaper and for amount of games
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C-Jeff ask me to reply to my answer :)
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1) no I'm not because original Sinclair Speccy has a big problem: membrane. This "membrane" broken off very easy using
keyboard often or also leaving it. My Speccy membrane now is broken :( so any keys doesn't work. With emulator I can have a
powerful speccy without this trouble and I can download and use easy any programs/games from internet
2) emulator (RealSpec)
3) Speccy in Italy is quiete dead. Speccy was active between 1982 an 1992. In Italy there was another platform most used:
Commodore 64. About 60% of people used Commodore 64 and 40% Zx Spectrum. Commodore lives until 1995 I think... but Commodore users used it as a game consolle and not for coding as Speccy!. The trashed it when it was dead. Speccy users have it and are still active. There is a big mailing list for Speccy. I think there is nothig for Commodore.
4) no. There was until 1990 paper magazines with tape (with cracked games :)) called:
(*) Special Program
(*) Special Playgames
Run
Load'N'Run
(*) Game2000
(*) Poke
SuperSinc
These magazine are most popular in Italy.
(*) these magazine have also C64 games
5) no! :(
6) Apart Sprinter, Didaktik Kompakt http://www.kompaktservis.cz/didaktik.htm I think also Kay-1024 and some Scorpion cards
(http://www.scorpion.ru/spectrum/hard/sc_hard.htm)
7) Original Sinclair ZX Spectrum + and Cip03 (romanian Speccy clone with 64K)
8) I think it will be only a nostalgic thing :(
9)because there was many software for it
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I don't know if Italian Speccy scene is similar to other West Europe countrys. Ok. CBM64 was sold better than Speccy in 80's and 90's but now CBM64 users have trashed their home computer and they have forgot it. Differently Speccy users still love their machine and are very active. Here in Italy there are an active mailing list and perhaps you have listened about RealSpec emulator:
it is done by RamSoft group: an italian old demo groups (Stefano Donati and Luca Bisti) that are still working on new release of their emulator. Also we are very interested about Speccy scene and clones as you can see in Davide's web site: www.zxspectrum.it
So I think that Speccy still rulez (little) in Italy and CBM64 is definitly death.
I am very surprised about Speccy scene in South Africa!!! Seem to exist any active ppl who develop and use Speccy!! Read
below the answer by Adriaan Erasmus:
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Stefano
I am pleased to meet you, may the following answeres be what you were looking for. Here goes.....
1) Do you use Speccy every day?
No not every day but a lot more lately than before (1991-2000). The reason I use it more now is because I am writins a new game
for the Speccy which will come out soon ;-)
2) do you use real speccy or an emulator? (in this case: what kind of emulator do you use?)
Speccy and an emulator. I have 2 Speccies I use: 48K (rubber keyboard) & +2 Grey case. The emulators I use most include
Spectaculator, RealSpectrum and SPIN. The emulators I don't use as much anymore is R80, SpecEmu, XZX (Unix) and Warajevo.
3) Does Speccy still rulez in your country? :) is it dead or alive ? :)
I am sure when I do start up a website for a Speccy scene down here in South Africa that it would quickly pick up. Most people
(friends & colleagues) I have spoken to still adore Speccy games and the actual machines. You would be amazed at how many people still have Speccy machines packed away in boxes.
4) are there any magazine about speccy? (real magazine! Not e-mag!)
Not anymore that I know of which is a real pitty.
5) are there any software house for speccy?
There are a lot of groups that does it for fun these days. No commercial software house I now of.
6) Does exist any other speccy clone in production today?
Yes, it is called the Sprinter http://www.petersplus.com
7) what kind of clone (or original) do you have?
Already answered this. I wouldn't mind having as much as possible real machines and/or clones to add to my very small
collection.
8) what do you think about speccy future?
I think the future for Speccy is extremely bright with newer OS's being written and new hardware being built that would make
life a lot easier for us - the REAL HACKERS !
9) why Speccy is so popular in your country?
I guess at the time my father bought my first Speccy for me and my brother, South Africa was going through a rough time with the
old regime and we had a lot of sanctions. New computer equipement was very new and hard to come by. If we could get
hold of newer hardware it was too expensive. Therefore a cheaper alternative was the Speccy and we made full use of it. It was
also well supported in the media through magazines like Sinclair User and Crash magazines (which obviously don't exist anymore). We had to make the best of a poor situation so we developed our own software for the Speccy and had a Speccy user group running 10-15 years ago.
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Ok... Speccy in Russia still rulez and I think is the best place where you can find people that use it. Also there are active
demo groups and demo party; more than the rest of the world! Also in Russia it is becoming less used than some years ago. I
think because pc are powerful and there isn't much new programs/games for Speccy. It is very diffused in Russia because it was very cheap and easy to assemble it at home; it is also very easy to write new software for it.I think also internet connection for Speccy could increase interest of users. Another reason about spread of Speccy is that it can teaches you to work with computer and it makes you think a little more and not only a "click" as pc Windows computers! It is excellent for programming (Basic and of course assembler). For little works is better than pc. Most part of people uses pc but Speccy is used sometimes as an
"underground" machine and in Russia there is different diffusion:
in some places (for example in Saint Petersburg) there are minimum 30 real users.
The Emulator preferred is UnrealSpeccy and also RealSpec.
There are some non commercial magazines called Abzatz, Ptichka, Za rulem.
Now there aren't software houses for Speccy. Most used clones are: Pentagon (producted and hand made),Scorpion and Kay-1024. For the future of Speccy there is a great optimism in any country. In Russia there are many active people who made
software and new models of Speccy: for example Maxim Timonin is studying an ATM Turbo new system with some powerful stuff (now is only an idea...) The project is called "My ideal computer":
ATM-turbo 3 (21(may be 33)MHz, 16Mb RAM, HDD,
General Sound (as the part of motherboard), MP3-decoder, new
GFX-screens with hardware-drawing and other). For now is only
theoretical project, but it have a chance became the reality!
For info: http://atmturbo.narod.ru mailto: max_timonin@mail.ru
Another new Speccy clone is called "Wild Speccy": The Technical description - "Wild Speccy 2003 v - 2.21":
-> RAM - ( 16+16+16 mb = 49 mb = 50331648 bytes )
-> Video 400 x 350 pixels with full support real Speccy
-> FDD (Tr-Dos) + HDD (Wild Dos). HDD max size 32 gigabytes
-> Wild Sound with emulated AY and use 8 digital channels with 16 - bit Sound. Z-80 are not loaded !!!
-> Possibility of the use the modem and Ethernet !!!
-> Sizes of the board Wild Speccy 15 x 15 centimeters !!!
-> And a great deal other !!!
Wild Speccy cost around $50 prime costs, this cost per completing. If anyone is interested about it can send an email to Rob F. from Entire Group RobusAsmCoder@mail.ru
That's all!
Stefano (from Italy)