Sinclair ZX Spectrum Vega - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Flump
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 02, 2014, 06:35:38 pm
content: A modern day Zx Spectrum, do you fancy one ?Is it a good or bad idea ?https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/sinclair-zx-spectrum-vega

author: 0xdeadbeef
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 02, 2014, 06:49:14 pm
content: Overpriced. Just an emulator running on an ARM (I guess) in pseudo retro case. I would be more enthusiastic if it was really done in hardware like the C64 DTV.And what is "connect to your TV - no need for a monitor" supposed to mean in the 21st century? Even the most basic information is missing (video connection, possibility to save games etc.)...As a side note: I hate these joypads with movement on the left hand. As I was young, we played with a joystick where you would steer your character with the right hand and press the button (singular) with the left hand. Only as Japanese consoles took over, you were suddenly supposed to do the steering with the left hand and press the buttons with the right hand.

author: Sigmoid
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2014, 06:03:16 am
content: Quote from: 0xdeadbeef on December 02, 2014, 06:49:14 pmDon't try to make sense of the price tag. It's "art".For hipsters.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 03, 2014, 06:15:43 am
content: Quote from: 0xdeadbeef on December 02, 2014, 06:49:14 pmI was thinking the same thing. Is it HDMI? composite?

author: DJohn
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2014, 09:03:52 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on December 03, 2014, 06:15:43 amIn the "meet the team" video, Chris Smith says "composite". And it's powered by USB, which I don't understand. It's cheaper than supplying a proper power supply, but means you can't use it more than a few metres from a computer.For the real vintage feel, it should have the up/down buttons on the left hand and left/right on the right.Were many Spectrum games able to save? Very few did on the C64.

author: AndyC_772
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2014, 09:33:25 am
content: Some games certainly were, like 'Elite', for example. One of the best Spectrum games ever, and no way to play it on this device because they've inexplicably decided to omit 90% of the keyboard.

author: janoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2014, 09:44:10 am
content: Pointless project, IMO.It won't be able to play the majority of the games with the limited "keyboard". But I guess that doesn't really matter, as the thing cannot play anything else than the few preloaded games as there doesn't seem to be any mean to load external sw (?!)And the USB power requirement - well, I guess the idea is to power it from a USB phone charger, but what is wrong with providing a regular barrel jack as well?!If you want a Speccy, you can get the original deal cheaper on eBay. Or use one of the many available emulators. Way better deal, IMO.

author: DJohn
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2014, 11:15:00 am
content: Quote from: janoc on December 03, 2014, 09:44:10 amQuoteIt's conceivable that they could use the SD card to save games as well, and allow a USB keyboard for the games that need it. I hope so. Not that I'm getting one. Wow they went fast.I must just be old-fashioned when it comes to power. If USB phone chargers are ubiquitous these days, then fair enough (although the cable on mine is far too short). I'm used to having several dozen not-quite-compatible barrel jack supplies lying around.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 03, 2014, 11:30:37 am
content: Quote from: DJohn on December 03, 2014, 09:03:52 amWho says 5V USB has to come from a computer?

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 03, 2014, 11:33:43 am
content: Quote from: janoc on December 03, 2014, 09:44:10 amBarrel jacks are awful. I have a large tub full of plugpacks with all sort of incompatible plugs and voltages, and sometimes polarity.I wish everything that was low enough power had 5V USB.

author: LordNobady
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2014, 12:50:42 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on December 03, 2014, 11:33:43 amThe best thing about barrel jacks is that halve of the devices don't tell you the polarity and power thy expect. And most of them are not protected. ( and we are not even talking about plug packs with and AC output )

author: Anks
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2014, 07:45:49 pm
content: Would of made more sense to had a LCD and make it a handheld and wouldn't of took much more work. Ben heck did it with his spectrum build.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 03, 2014, 09:18:07 pm
content: Quote from: Anks on December 03, 2014, 07:45:49 pmAre you joking? Needlessly bloating project and multiplying BOM cost. And at the end everyone would complain about poor battery life.

author: Dave Turner
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2014, 10:02:56 pm
content: +1 for dislike of barrel jacks. My commercial telescope had a barrel jack for power. Consider cold nights outside - I was forever losing power. Yes internal battery backup, power caps etc. yada yada yada. Main point poor design and unreliable in the long term.

author: rob77
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2014, 10:08:48 pm
content: IMHO the whole project is pointless....i'm already running my favorite spectrum games on a androing dongle with marvin emulator plugged into my TV...if it was a ZX spectrum re-spin (new one manufactured in 2015) , then i would be considering to buy one

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2014, 10:23:56 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on December 03, 2014, 11:30:37 amMany TVs have USB host ports for memory sticks.USB is the most ubiquitous power connector these days , so the most sensible one use.Composite is a reasonable interface - most TVs, even whizzy digital ones have composite inputs. Probably cheaper to implement and more flexible than HDMI

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2014, 11:50:38 pm
content: A friend has a 32" Samsung LCD. One of the last CCFL backlit LCDs. It has two HDMI ports, a USB port and an antenna connector..... No analog video source at all!Then again, the 4K TV that my brother bought has a SCART port....

author: Rasz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2014, 11:51:17 pm
content: Nostalgia is a very powerful market force.Nintendo WiiU (console everyone laughs at) is still outselling Xbox One, they even have trouble with keeping things like gamecube-to-wiiu gamepad converter on shelveswas the same with Wii, those consoles sell only because people love Mario/zelda games they used to play on NES/SNES when they were 8 years old

author: marcan
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 04, 2014, 07:39:50 am
content: Quote from: Rasz on December 03, 2014, 11:51:17 pmNo it isn't.The Wii U came out a whole year before the Xbox One. That chart covers a span of one year. Draw a line to the left from the last point of the Xbox One curve and you'll see that it's well ahead of where the Wii U was at the same time since launch.Also, half the reason for the relatively dismal sales of the Xbox One (even though it still sells more than the Wii U) is that Microsoft can't sell anything in Japan. Look at the PS4 if you want a fairer comparison (and remember that it also came out a year later). Nostalgia sells, but notthatmuch.

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 04, 2014, 07:54:11 am
content: Nintendo has Mario and Zelda and Pokeman and... well all their first party stuff, in the long run they will prevail regardless, add some exercise games and now they finally have HDMI 1080p for Netflix so I don't think they'll be hurting anytime soon, sure it's not what they anticipated but they'll be alright.Edit: also they always end up getting the Japan market which is hard to crack for even Sony.Back to the Specy, I started with the ZX-81 and then the Spectrum, wrote my own emulator and tape reader back in the late 90s (never published) but even if I knew every byte of the rom code at the time, it's obsolete now. Nostalgia, well yeah and it's for a good cause apparently, still I think I'll pass.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 04, 2014, 09:34:55 am
content: What is a little concerning is that AFAICS they haven't stated what games they have so far secured rights to - they're claiming 1000-odd built in but not named a single one.

author: Rasz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 04, 2014, 05:11:37 pm
content: Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on December 04, 2014, 09:34:55 amI wouldnt say its concerning, its not like anyone will play those games. People buy crap like this to put it on a shelve somewhereLike the main job of all Amiga accelerator cards today is running sysinfo, and they still sell.

author: iampoor
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 06, 2014, 06:49:46 am
content: This project akes the SOAP router seem like a good idea.

author: dexters_lab
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 10, 2014, 01:04:59 pm
content: Quote from: Rasz on December 04, 2014, 05:11:37 pmi sold a modded atari tt030 a few years back, i doubt it was used for anything other than benchmarks and forum kudos!

author: janoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 10, 2014, 01:49:51 pm
content: Well, maybe the idea is to sell it as a collectible, because sir Clive is actually behind this - he is supposedly involved in the company producing these.

author: rob77
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 10, 2014, 02:09:38 pm
content: Quote from: janoc on December 10, 2014, 01:49:51 pmi would happily buy a new ZX spectrum manufactured in 2015, but i'm not interrested in that crippled keyboard... they should make it look like the original spectrum was. the electronics could be (actually must be) different, but the look & feel should be ZX spectrum.

author: andersm
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 10, 2014, 03:12:23 pm
content: The guy behind the project is the author of "The ZX Spectrum ULA: How to design a microcomputer", so there's the chance it's more than just a software emulator. Or if it is, it'll at least be very accurate! In the best case it is something like theC64DTV, and includes connectors for a real keyboard and other peripherals.

author: Dave Turner
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 10, 2014, 09:50:47 pm
content: Justa thought that the original Spectrum's keys are as good, or bad, depending on one's point of view compared to so many of today's controls.

author: 0xdeadbeef
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 10, 2014, 11:35:20 pm
content: Quote from: andersm on December 10, 2014, 03:12:23 pmNope, they clearly state that "the Vega uses a low cost micro-controller and a clever piece of software that combine to enable the Vega to run all of the games". It's just an emulator and there's no reason to believe that this is a new or especially cycle-exact emulator. As a side note: now it's clear that this thing really only has composite video. In the 21st century. Now, really.The "low cost" phrase makes me wonder if they maybe do the composite video in software. Wouldn't surprise me honestly.

author: andersm
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 11, 2014, 09:31:57 am
content: Quote from: 0xdeadbeef on December 10, 2014, 11:35:20 pmAh poop, I somehow managed to miss that.QuoteWell, itisbacked by Sinclair Research.