Most liked posts in thread: What's new Pussycat too?

Nice one Richie
Do you have any games for it yet?

 

They've had an amazing time, apparently, Al and on their way home now - via the shops - of course Aye, they should send the show around the UK - it would be a sell-out wherever they went...and you know who they've got set to go next year virtually unreal on the Oric? Only the King of Rock n Roll! (no, not our Matt - bleedin Elvis!).

 

Good video above Andy. After a couple of weeks ownership I think The Spectrum is the best system they've produced so far. Keeping my fingers crossed for the full size Amiga and rumoured Atari ST next...

My credit card has taken an end of year battering between Christmas, car repairs and a couple of retro items I've been holding out for release. The first was The Spectrum but now I finally have the Atari 7800+ as well Originally pre-ordered from Amazon back in August but then got an email the day before release saying it had been delayed until 21st December. Couple of days later I spotted HMV had it in stock for delivery so 24 hours ago I got to rip open the box like it was 1986 again!

Build quality is excellent and it's almost identical in every way to the original 7800 apart from being 20% smaller in size. The package comes with a homebrew 7800 platform game, Bentley Bears Crystal Quest and a wireless CX78+ joypad. Not only does the joypad come supplied with a 9pin d-sub Atari style dongle but you get a USB receiver in the box as well. This means you can use it with any machine from the 2600, XL, right up to emulators on the PC. All the games I have tried so far play perfectly and look pin sharp running to my 14" crt via an HDMI-Scart adaptor. You get those lovely looking CRT phosphor trails when you fire weapons etc.

I liked the 2600+ but prefer the 7800+ styling and think it looks pretty awesome next to my 2600+ and Atari 800. There are more products planned in the "+" range so it will be interesting to see what Atari come up with next.





It was a bonus week for Atari arrivals, as along with the most recent issue of Pixel Addict, my one-off Atari Addict special also dropped through the letterbox. Only had a quick glance so far but looks like it will be a really enjoyable read. It covers all the Atari systems from the 2600 right up to the ST and Jaguar. Spotted an article on the restoration of an 800XL and looking forward to reading that in particular.



And Finally... this crazy little critter arrive at the start of the week. It's a USB memory stick designed to look like a Sinclair Microdrive and match The Spectrum. How cute is that? Going to load it up with some of the Spectrum games I've been playing around with and test it soon. Good timing as I've just received my copies of the CRASH and ZZAP64 2025 annuals so plenty of new game reviews in the former to cast an eye over.




Now, does anyone want to buy an Amstrad CPC 464 or a Dragon 32? Please!!!!

 

So that's a "maybe" then Paul?

 

In the most remote way possible...

 

Lurving the microdrive USB stick, Al, and the Atari Addict mag - hankering for a copy now mesen. Your consoles, real deal 800 and 2025 annuals are all most impressive, buddy, and once I've got all your Easter Eggs wrapped for Halloween (1984), then I'll crack on with unwrapping, unzipping and unleashing the Atari Grandslam console wotsit currently hiding under satan's, I mean santa's sack...

 

She's got lovely markings, Paul, and a mate at work pointed out that her eyes are a wee bit Siamese, do you not think, guys? Any road, she was NO trouble last night - not a peep once we'd gone to bed and lights out but I fully expected to come home tonight and the house would be upside down and crap and pee everywhere... not a bit of it. Barely a thing out of place and the clever gal had used her litter tray perfectly.

Incredible - we thought we'd have no end of problems due to her having so much upset in her life the past few months.

The story of her owner's far-too-young passing is here in the local rag - tragic, lads.

(Btw, Molly is our mate's Moi and Chris' grand daughter)

Tributes to 'brave, hilarious' Hull woman after tragic death aged just 23 - Hull Live

 

@AlexDrito How are you getting on with the MISTer? I keep looking at the MISTERpi and was even tempted to pre-order the SuperStation One https://retroremake.co/pages/superstationᵒⁿᵉ

 

Why is one 149.99 and the other 179.99, when then seem the same...

 

gReat memories shared, Al. Cheers, mate.
You did right making the purchase too - it was too good to miss at a fab price to boot.
Any chance you could paste the odd Llamasoft stand pic / Nature of the Beast front cover etc up on here - just for the sheer hell of it as much as anything, fella! There's ONLY ONE JEFF MINTER!

 

LOL! I love it, Alex - yep, some of us are that old now even carbon-dating is proving difficult (in my case). Human dating was bad enough - poor Bev

Must be stacks of fun building your own virtual 486 and PC-XT machines and recreating the exploration of those early PC beige box days when we'd see if we could afford another 2mb of RAM or a bigger than 20mb hard drive or you'd saved up your pennies for a 16x speed CD ROM instead of quad speed etc...LOL! And configuring autoexec files to properly set-up your sound card for DOOM, Rise of the Robots/Triads and Duke NUKEM etc!

Great days... and what was that about clearing the 1st level of any games these days? I just get utterly wiped out in seconds, man - Bev and the cat have better reflexes... ;-)

Nice MiSTer report, mister - cheers, Dave - hope all is well for you, mate and hope to see you online for the next lads video get together sometime in Feb...

 

I'll see what I can do Andy. It's on the XBox so might just need to take phone pictures from it. Have spent the last 24-36 with a horrible sickness bug so just getting back on my feet now after spending most of the time in bed.

 

That would be great, Al, re the pinball files for the Megadrive / Gamestation Pro. I honestly haven't had any time to hit it though I was going to earlier and then Bev's friends came round for tea and that was that Glad you're on the mend and glad you've got some new gizmos to play with and hope you enjoy the Rubber Keyed Wonder! Cheers, fella. Enjoy a relaxing, recuperating weekend, mate.

 

I would like a PC Engine again but the price of the console and the HuCards is a lot more expensive these days, and if you go down the route of CD-ROM it gets even more expensive. I have a UK PCE Mini which is nice but I never really use it these days. If anyone wants do a trade for that or my SNES Mini drop me a PM.

 

I had also ordered some Joy2PIC PCB's from OSHPark but I ordered the "after dark" finish looks really nice compared to the normal Purple that they do.
I am tempted to get some Stereo POKEY PCB's in the same finish and I will have to see if I still have the files for a Happy 1050 PCB as well.

 

Dibs please when/if you decide to trade/sell it please Richie

 

Forgotten Worlds have a couple of Turbo-Grafx but I haven't even looked at the price of them. I prefer the look of the original Japanese PC Engine.

 

Lurve it Rich - if anyone wants to see real classic retro computing in action, then look no further than a CPC all in one unit - that Alan Sugar needs no Apprentice to teach us he hit the nail on the headbanger with this one - and Villa are ahead - he's in there - who scored, Rich - Peter Withe? Dennis Mortimer? Gary Shaw? Nah...Andy Gray got a brace most likely?!

 

Cant remember the last time I used a 5.25 PC floppy. Didn't even realise there was an HD version!

 

Tell me what you want on the EEPROM and I'll sort one out for you Andy. Would need to be a 16KB image so the games released on cartridge or the diagnostic ROM's or replacement BASIC.

 

Reading the post again. The interface 2 in the picture is a genuine one so it is not something I made. There are some DIY models out there to build but it is not something I have made. So if you don't have a Sinclair IF2 these won't be much use to you.

 

Not to worry, mate. Yeah, I aint got an IF2 and god knows what they go for and I couldnt build one so never mind. I'll carry on with the ol tapes and that reminds me, I need to load up some more War Strategy titles on the ol Speccy and review those CCS titles. Cheers, Rich. Hey, wouldnt this do??

ZX Interface 2 Clone for Sinclair ZX Spectrum | eBay UK


Hmm, looks like there are several options and add ons but the guys here will advise so who knows, might be something to think about for the future -

MyRetroStore UK | eBay UK Stores