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My cute little Spectrum opened (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by Pirtatogna to c/retrocomputers

6 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Never owned a Spectrum before. As a teenager I had Commodore 64, like pretty much all my friends. This one boots and works, but as of now I have no way of loading programs. I think I need a DivMMC or something.

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[–] bunnybum 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I have a Spectrum in storage that I really need to get around to tinkering with.

Like you I was a C64 boy and graduated to an Amiga later on, so the Spectrum has always been one of those "Y'know, I really should give it a chance"-computers.

Having watched all of Kim Justice's Speccy videos on YouTube I just wish I had the time to give it a proper go.

One of these days.. one of these days...

[–] Pirtatogna 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I went to Atari ST from C64, still have that machine.

Thanks for the tip about Kim Justice's videos, I'll be sure to check them out. I've also enjoyed watching Paul Jenkinsons "The Spectrum Show" on YouTube.

[–] bunnybum 3 points 1 year ago

I can't recommend Kim Justice enough to anyone interested in old micros and the people of the industry at the time. Her documentary style videos are incredibly in-depth and all with that special British flavoUr.

[–] thehatfox 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

To get started you can load tape files from a computer (or phone or tablet even) with some tape loader software and and an audio cable. Connect your device headphone/audio out to the ear port on the Spectrum and run the software. Some tape loader software can run at much faster speeds than original tapes too.

Or if you want a period authentic experience, you can try typing in code manually! There’s plenty of archived Spectrum magazines online with interesting code listings. There’s no better way to experience that fantastic rubber keyboard 🤣

[–] Pirtatogna 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Maybe I could convert some .tap files to .wav and play them out on a computer without even using a dedicated tape loader software? That might even work using my old mp3 player, which would be kind of cool. Not really sure if it plays .wav, though, and I suppose mp3 compression would be a problem. I'd just need to find a mono cable to try that, and they seem to be somewhat hard to find.

[–] thehatfox 2 points 1 year ago

Yes, you can play back the “sound” of a data tape via a .wav file. I have seen audio compression used before I don’t it think it would be as reliable.

There are tape loading cables available online, avoid using stereo cables.