Author: Croccy22

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TZXDuino

I needed a method of easily loading games for the ZX81 and buying original cassettes wasn’t really on the cards. Normally I look for some sort of native SD Card solution and even though one exists for the ZX81 (ZXpand), it wasn’t easily available to purchase and was probably a bit overkill for my needs.

So instead I went for a slightly different method, and although it is still SD card based, this unit actually reads TZX files from the SD card and then plays them back as sound files out the headphone jack.

The obvious disadvantage is games load at the same speed as they did from tape. But the advantage is this unit is compatible with many of the older computers that used tape as their medium.

It’s actually a really nice little device and since the games for the ZX81 were quite small anyway, they don’t actually take that long to load. 1K Chess for example took about 30 seconds (An entire Chess game fitted within 1K of memory, crazy!)

I purchased this unit from eBay for £24, but you can find them in various different shapes and sizes. I’ve even seen a project where someone built one into an empty cassette tape.

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GBA SP gets re-shelled

Now my GBA SP is all charged up and working, it needed a new shell to bring it back up to showroom condition. There is a huge selection of shells available on eBay for around £12 each. I decided to go for a nice clean purple case. It’s actually a pretty easy job to swap the insides on this console so if you have an old SP lying around it may be time to give it a new wardrobe.

The next question is do I keep the original screen or replace it with a modern IPS screen 🤔

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Acorn Electron (Elk)

I have been looking at these for a while now and this one came up for a decent price on one of the various Facebook groups I follow so I couldn’t resist. It’s all in perfect working order but the case is a bit yellowed. So this gives me an excuse to have another Retrobrighting session and this time I’m going to fully document it and make a guide for the website for anyone wishing to do the same.

Stuck out the back you can just about see the Elk128SD interface which gives the Electron 128k of RAM, a joystick port and an SD card slot for loading all the games from.

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GBA SP – Car boot find

I haven’t been to car boot sales for years, but there was local to me today so I thought i’d go and see if there was any old consoles/computers. Really didn’t expect to find anything of interest. When I arrived, only 5 stalls were set up so my expectations were set even lower.

But then the first table I came to had a Gameboy Advance SP with a game sat on there. The next issue to contend with was what ridiculous price did they want. So many people now just look on ebay at the highest price something sold for and say they want that amount for it.

I was extremely surprised when he said £4! It didn’t have a charger with it so there was always the chance it was broke, but for £4 I wasn’t going to worry too much.

Once I got it home I connected it up to my bench power supply (since I don’t have a charging cable for one of these yet). It all powered up and worked perfectly. The case is a little scratched but I’ll get an aftermarket shell for it off eBay and give it the treatment it deserves.

The game that came with it was the Pokemon Leaf Green version which would normally fetch a reasonable amount on eBay. But this one is actually a bootleg copy. Still a very good deal!

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My ZX81 gets its own CRT :)

Since I purchased it, I have to admit I haven’t powered on the ZX81. It’s currently standard so only has an RF output and although I have TVs that still have analogue tuners they are just not in a convenient location to set this up. My plan was to do the composite video mod to make things a little easier but that was on my list of things to do.

Then, the other day I was browsing YouTube and came across a video where someone had bought a small 5″ CRT from Aliexpress and was connecting it to an Apple II computer. The TV he had was from an old video doorbell or something and was designed to be wall-mounted so not really what I was after. But the thought sat in my head that a small black and white CRT would be perfect for the ZX81 since it didn’t do colour anyway.

So a quick eBay search later I found a perfect condition 5.5″ Chinese monochrome CRT with a built-in RF tuner and radio for £11.99!!

And here it is, a match made in heaven!

I still need to find somewhere to set it up for display but this is a much more manageable size to deal with. The ZX81 also needs a new keyboard as the ribbon cable is perished on this one and is a bit flakey for typing programs on. I’ve also ordered a TZXDuino to help loading tape files into the older computers. I know I could use my mobile phone but these devices look so much cooler 😎

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The boys are back in town!

The earliest version of the Gameboy I have ever owned was the Gameboy Color which I still have in my collection today. It seemed about time that its predecessors joined the club. So here we have a duo of new consoles today. The original Gameboy and the Gameboy Pocket.

Is there another handheld more iconic than the original Gameboy? I personally don’t think there is.

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Dk’tronics Spectrum keyboard

When I was younger we had our 48k Spectrum in a big black plastic keyboard shell. So I didn’t have to put up with trying to type on the little rubber keys that people normally associate with the Speccy 48k (This was before the Spectrum+ came out).

For a while, I have wanted to get one of these again as I have no idea what happened to ours. I think it’s probably sat in a loft somewhere well and truly buried!

Well, I finally managed to get one, and it’s also complete in its original box. Not only that but it appears to have never been used as the stickers for the keys haven’t even been applied yet.

Of course, you know what the next problem is. Do I actually use this and apply the sticker set? Or does this one need to stay in its current condition and I now need to buy another one to actually stick a speccy inside!! 🤣