Mark Szeliga Szolkowski's Blog

Long time no see!

Last week I went to the Play Expo show in Manchester where I met some of the guys from WoS, or the World of Spectrum.

Winston showed me his Spectranet ethernet interface for the ZX Spectrum and I ordered one from RWAP software.


Since then I've not done much reading or playing games, but I *HAVE* installed a set of C and assembler development utilities and been having fun writing network code.




And no - that might look like my Spectrum has a faulty lower RAM chip to *you*, my friend, but I can assure you it is the result of some painstakingly hand-crafted code to write 6912 random bytes to the display file - seeded by the current time, no less.

Labels: 2013, ethernet, Play Expo, RWAP, Sinclair, Spectranet, Trafford Centre, World of Spectrum, WoS, ZX Spectrum

A great piece of ZX Spectrum music using two beepers.

Labels: beeper, Mister Beep, music, Sinclair, Sinclair ZX Spectrum

I've been in a bit of a retro mood again recently. I picked up a Spectrum+ (48k Issue 2) recently on eBay with a few faults: Monochrome display - fixed by adjusting a few pots on the motherboard Some keys not working - bought a new keyboard membrane from RWAP A memory fault somewhere in the upper 32K - will get round to this some time with my Dad In the meantime, I've transplanted an Issue 3 board into it and have been having fun...

Labels: replacement keyboard membrane, RWAP, Sinclair, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Spectrum+

I first came across these guys when I was looking for my Sinclair C5. Looks like they've now done a piece about Sinclair's digital watch!

Labels: Black Watch, Sinclair, ToneBank

Here's the link

Labels: Jonathan Cauldwell, Sinclair, Sinclair ZX Spectrum

I've heard this guy review a game before and it was rubbish.

However, I remember Chiller from Mastertronic and this review is hilarious if you have sound.

Labels: Chiller, Inept review, Mastertronic, Sinclair, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, YouTube

I found this link after reading the page 4 of the new issue of ZXF

They sell loads of old Spectrum tapes at about a pound each!

Labels: Sinclair, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Spectrum games

Monday 23rd April 2007 will be the 25th anniversary of the ZX Spectrum's release. There's a thread on World Of Spectrum.

Also, there's going to be a new edition of ZXF! Excellent.

Labels: Sinclair, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, World of Spectrum, WoS, ZXF

I had to come home from work at lunch time today so that I could take Lucy to the doctor's - she's had a high temperature for a few days and started coughing last night, but this morning she started developing white ulcers on her tongue so with it being the weekend, and how badly she came down with chicken pox, it was decided for me that I should get her in for a second opinion.

Anyway, while I haven't been able to go out on it due to looking after her, my A-bike has arrived and I've managed to put it up! I need a bit more practice with the folding procedure but it does seem fairly straight forward. I had a quick go in the garden and it felt a little wobbly at first but OK once you get a bit of speed up. The brakes seem to work fine, except there was a metallic rubbing sound from the back end. At first I thought it was the chain mechanism, but eventually traced it to the washer that helps hold the rear brake cable in place: it was rubbing against the rim of the rear wheel.

I loosened the nut and tried to get the brake band to move away a little but had no luck. I also tried undoing the two torque bolts (as also done here) but to no avail. I resorted to loosely putting a cable tie on to hold the cable slightly outwards and it's worked a treat. I might have another go sometime at doing it properly, but I really can't be bothered sending it back for somebody else to do. Pity though.

Labels: folding bicycle, Sinclair, Sinclair A-bike, Sir Clive Sinclair

I've been thinking about getting one for ages, but a combination of: Ruth offering to get me one for my birthday (shared with John Southworth) a £100 reduction for the month of February means that I have ordered one! The web order means I get a free carry bag, and I've also ordered a pump (which I'll try to get my M&D to cough up for!). I intend using it for short journeys like taking Lucy to the park (remember that she has her pink electric trike, that originally inspired me to get my C5!), as well as popping the 1/4 mile into Sale for things like Bud's and the Post Office.

Labels: A-bike, bicycle, folding, Sinclair