User:SelfCloak/sandbox
The 1982 arcade game Tron includes a snake-like sub-game inspired by the film's Light Cycle sequence,[1] and fan games like GLtron and Armagetron Advanced were later made for PCs.
Gallery
[edit]-
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The body of Pope John Paul II during a funeral ceremony. -
Tombstones of men who died in the American Civil War. -
A dead chupacabra lying on route 72, Florida. -
Human remains found in scrub, circa 1900-1910.
ZX Spectrum
[edit]The ZX Spectrum was released as six different models, ranging from the entry level with 16KB RAM released in 1982 to the ZX Spectrum +3 with 128KB RAM and built-in floppy disk drive in 1987.
The ZX Spectrum played a pivotal role in the early history of personal computing and video gaming, leaving an enduring legacy that influenced generations of enthusiasts, developers, and gamers. Altogether the machine sold over 5 million units worldwide (not counting unofficial clones). Over 24,000 different software titles were released for the ZX Spectrum.[2] The machine was officially discontinued in 1992.[3]
The Sinclair models featured audio line in and out, in the form of an "ear" and "mic" socket. An external tape recorder was needed to load the majority of software released, or the ZX Microdrive. Either socket could be connected to headphones or an amplifier as an audio output, although this would not disable the internal speaker.
Within the original iterations of the 16 and 48K models, an internal speaker with severely restricted capabilities served as the audio output. This speaker, capable of producing just one note at a time, was governed by the BASIC command 'BEEP', where programmers could manipulate parameters for pitch and duration.[4] Furthermore, the processor remained occupied exclusively with the BASIC BEEPs until their completion, limiting concurrent operations. Despite these constraints, it marked a significant step forward from the ZX81, which lacked any sound capabilities. Resourceful programmers swiftly devised workarounds; its rudimentary audio functionality compelled developers to explore unconventional methods such as programming the beeper to emit multiple pitches.[4]
Video output is through an RF modulator and was designed for use with contemporary television sets, for a simple colour graphic display. Text can be displayed using 32 columns × 24 rows of characters from the ZX Spectrum character set or from a set provided within an application, from a palette of 15 shades: seven colours at two levels of brightness each, plus black.[5]
Sales of the Spectrum reached 200,000 in its first nine months[6] rising to 300,000 for the whole of the first year.[7] By August 1983 total sales in the UK and Europe had exceeded 500,000[8] with the millionth Spectrum manufactured on 9 December that year.[9]
Owners of the 16KB model could purchase an internal 32KB RAM upgrade, which for early "Issue 1" machines consisted of a daughterboard. Later issue machines required the fitting of 8 dynamic RAM chips and a few TTL chips. Users could mail their 16K Spectrums to Sinclair to be upgraded to 48KB versions. Later revisions contained 64KB of memory but were configured such that only 48KB were usable.[10]
Pre-production designs
[edit]Rick Dickinson came up with a number of designs for the "ZX82" project before the final ZX Spectrum design. A number of the keyboard legends changed during the design phase including ARC becoming CIRCLE, FORE becoming INK and BACK becoming PAPER. The Spectrum reused a number of design elements of the ZX81: The ROM code for things such as floating point calculations and expression parsing were very similar (with a few obsolete ZX81 routines left in the Spectrum ROM). The simple keyboard decoding and cassette interfaces were nearly identical (although the latter was now programmed to load/save at a higher speed). The central ULA integrated circuit was somewhat similar although it implemented the major enhancement over the ZX81: A (fully) hardware based television raster generator (with colour) that indirectly gave the new machine approximately four times as much processing power as the ZX81, simply due to the Z80 now being released from this video generation task. A bug in the ULA as originally designed meant that the keyboard did not always scan correctly, and was rectified by a "dead cockroach" (a small circuit board mounted upside down next to the CPU) for Issue 1 ZX Spectrums.[11]
ZX Spectrum +3
[edit]The +3 saw the addition of two more 16KB ROMs. One was home to the second part of the reorganised 128 ROM and the other hosted the +3's disk operating system. This was a modified version of Amstrad's PCWDOS (the disk access code used in LocoScript), called +3DOS. These two new 16KB ROMs and the original two 16KB ROMs were now physically implemented together as two 32KB chips. To be able to run CP/M, which requires RAM at the bottom of the address space, the bank-switching was further improved, allowing the ROM to be paged out for another 16KB of RAM.
Such core changes brought incompatibilities:
- Removal of several lines on the expansion bus edge connector (video, power, and IORQGE); caused many external devices problems; some such as the VTX5000 modem could be used via the "FixIt" device.
- Dividing ROMCS into two lines, to disable both ROMs.
- Reading a non-existent I/O port no longer returned the last attribute; caused certain games such as Arkanoid to be unplayable.
- Memory timing changes; certain RAM banks were now contended causing high-speed colour-changing effects to fail.
- The keypad scanning routines from the ROM were removed.
At the time, it was estimated about 15% of ZX Spectrums sold had been +3 models. Production of the +2B (the only other model then still in production) continued, as it was believed not to be in competition with other computers in Amstrad's product range.[12]
Official clones
[edit]Sinclair Research granted a licence for the ZX Spectrum design to the Timex Corporation in the United States. Timex marketed several computer models under the Timex Sinclair brand. They introduced an enhanced variant of the original Spectrum in the US, known as the Timex Sinclair 2068. This upgraded model features improvements in sound, graphics, and various other aspects. However, Timex's versions were generally not compatible with Sinclair systems.
Timex's Portuguese division was also in the process of developing a successor to the 2048 named the Timex Computer 3256, featuring a Z80A CPU and 256 KB of RAM.[13] The planned model was intended to have both ZX Spectrum BASIC and a CP/M operating modes. However, the company terminated its development as the 8-bit market ceased to be profitable by the end of 1989. Only one fully functional prototype of the 3256 was completed.[13]
Distribution
[edit]Although the ZX Microdrive was initially greeted with good reviews,[14] it never took off as a distribution method due to worries about the quality of the cartridges and piracy.[15] Hence the main use became to complement tape releases, usually utilities and niche products like the Tasword word processing software and Trans Express, (a tape to microdrive copying utility). No games are known to be exclusively released on Microdrive.
Copying and backup
[edit]Many copiers—utilities to copy programs from audio tape to another tape, microdrive tapes, and later on diskettes—were available for the Spectrum. As a response to this, publishers introduced copy protection measures to their software, including different loading schemes.[16] Other methods for copy prevention were also used including asking for a particular word from the documentation included with the game—often a novella such as the Silicon Dreams trilogy—or another physical device distributed with the software—e.g. Lenslok as used in Elite, or the colour-code chart included with Jet Set Willy. Special hardware, such as Romantic Robot's Multiface, was able to dump a copy of the ZX Spectrum RAM to disk/tape at the press of a button, entirely circumventing the copy protection systems.
Most Spectrum software has been converted to current media and is available for download. One popular program for converting Spectrum files from tape is Taper; it allows connecting a cassette tape player to the line in port of a sound card, or—through a simple home-built device—to the parallel port of a PC.[17] Once in files on a host machine, the software can be executed on an emulator.
Reception
[edit]BYTE in January 1983 acknowledged the appeal of the Spectrum's low £125 price to British consumers and called it a "promising machine". It criticised the keyboard; "inexpensive or not, the ... layout is impossible to justify ... poorly designed in several respects". The review was sceptical of the computer's appeal to American consumers if sold for US$220—"hardly competitive with comparable low-cost American units"—and expected that Timex would sell it for $125–150.[18]
Community
[edit]The ZX Spectrum enjoyed a very strong community early on. Several commercially published print magazines were dedicated to covering the home computer family and its offshoots including Sinclair User (1982), Your Spectrum (1983) – rebranded as Your Sinclair in 1986, and CRASH (1984). In the early years, the magazines were focused on programming for the system, and carried many articles containing type-in programs and machine code tutorials.
Several other contemporary computer magazines covered the ZX Spectrum as part of their regular coverage of the home computer industry at that time. These included Computer Gamer, Computer and Video Games, Computing Today, Popular Computing Weekly, Your Computer and The Games Machine.[19]
The Spectrum is affectionately known as the Speccy by elements of its fan following.[20]
Notable developers
[edit]A number of notable games developers began their careers on the ZX Spectrum, including David Perry of Shiny Entertainment, and Tim and Chris Stamper (founders of Rare, formerly Ultimate Play the Game, maker of many games for Nintendo and Microsoft game consoles). Other prominent games developers include Julian Gollop (Chaos, Rebelstar, X-COM series), Matthew Smith (Manic Miner, Jet Set Willy), Jon Ritman (Match Day, Head Over Heels), Jonathan "Joffa" Smith (Batman: The Caped Crusader, Mikie, Hyper Sports), The Oliver Twins (the Dizzy series), Clive Townsend (Saboteur), Sandy White (Ant Attack; I, of the Mask), Pete Cooke (Tau Ceti), Mike Singleton (The Lords of Midnight, War in Middle Earth), and Alan Cox.[21]
Although the 48K Spectrum's audio hardware was not as capable as chips in other popular 8-bit home computers of the era, computer musicians David Whittaker and Tim Follin produced notable multi-channel music for it.
A homebrew community continues into the present day, with several games being released commercially from new software houses such as Cronosoft.[22] Jeff Minter ported some of his VIC-20 games to the ZX Spectrum.[23]
Writing
[edit]During his time in prison, PEN America awarded Nicholas Browning first place in Essay[24] and an honorable mention in the Edward Bunker Prize for Fiction in the 2020 PEN America Prison Writing Contest followed by a 3rd Place prize in Fiction in the 2021 PEN America Prison Writing Contest.[25] Evident Change awarded him Media for a Just Society Award in the Media by a Person Who Is Incarcerated category for his 2020 essay Little Gardens in 2021.[26][27]
ASCII Art
[edit](From a Wikiversity page)
o==+--
| |\ \
| | \ \ ____________________
| \ \ \ | |
| \ \ \ | +------------+ |
| \ \ \ | | (__) | |
| \ \ \| | (oo) | |
| \ \ | | o\ .\/. | |
| \ \| | | \/ \ | |
/---\ \ | +------------+ |
/ \ \| |
| | | |
\ / | |
\---/ | |
| |
--------------------------
( )
--------------------------
Cow-struction worker.
o
| [---]
| |
| | |------========|
/----|---|\ | **** |=======|
/___/___\___\ o | **** |=======|
| | ___| |==============|
| | ___ {(__)} |==============|
\-----------/ []( )={(oo)} |==============|
\ \ / / /---===--{ \/ } |
----------------- / | NASA |==== |
| | * ||------||-----^
----------------- || | |
/ / \ \ ^^ ^ |
/ ---- \
^^ ^^ This cow jumped over the moon
\ | / ___________
____________ \ \_# / | ___ | _________
| | \ #/ | | | | | = = = = |
| | | | | \\# | |`v'| | | |
| | \# // | --- ___ | | | || | |
| | | | | #_// | | | | | |
| | \\ #_/_______ | | | | | | || | |
| | | | | \\# /_____/ \ | --- | | |
| | \# |+ ++| | | |^^^^^^| | | | || | |
| | \# |+ ++| | | |^^^^^^| | | | || | |
^^^| (^^^^^) |^^^^^#^| H |_ |^| | |||| | |^^^^^^| |
| ( ||| ) | # ^^^^^^ | | |||| | | | ||||||| |
^^^^^^^^^^^^^________/ /_____ | | |||| | | | ||||||| |
`v'- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | ||||||| |
|| |`. (__) (__) ( )
(oo) (oo) /---V
/-------\/ \/ --------\ * | |
/ | || ||_______| \
* ||W---|| || || *
^^ ^^ ^^ ^^
"Cow Town"
@ @
@@@ @
@@ @
Pffii @@@@ @@
___________D @@@@@@
|________ | _______
(__) | / \ /
( oo /~| | __ \ /
/\_|// | | / \ | |
_/____/__| | | | | |
| ___/-----------------_| (__)
| / \ \ \ `(oo)
| / \ | | |\/
| | O | / / __ /
|----| |-----------/ \-\\\ (__)
\ / | o | \\\ _( )_
________\___/____________\__/____\\\_____________/_/__\_\____
Cow Express Suicidal Cow
- ^ "Tron - Videogame by Bally Midway". Museum of the Game. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ Lewis, Rhys (23 April 2016). "April 23, 1982: ZX Spectrum brings affordable - and colourful - computing into Britain's homes". British Telecom. Archived from the original on 30 April 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
- ^ "How the Spectrum began a revolution". BBC. 23 April 2007. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
- ^ a b {{cite book|last=Wilkins|first=Chris|title=The Story of the ZX Spectrum in Pixels: Volume 1|date=2015|publisher=Retro Fusion Books|location=Kenilworth|isbn=978-0993131509
- ^ Vickers, Steven (1982). "Introduction". Sinclair ZX Spectrum BASIC Programming. Sinclair Research Ltd. Archived from the original on 24 September 2006. Retrieved 23 August 2006 – via World of Spectrum.
- ^ "Spectrum sales top 200,000". Popular Computing Weekly. No. 7. Sunshine Publications. 17 February 1983. p. 1. Retrieved 24 October 2022 – via Spectrum Computing.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Spectrums 'to double'". Home Computing Weekly. No. 10. Argus Specialist Publications. 10 May 1983. p. 14. Retrieved 24 October 2022 – via Spectrum Computing.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Spectrum tops ½ million mark". Popular Computing Weekly. No. 31. Sunshine Publications. 4 August 1983. p. 1. Retrieved 24 October 2022 – via Spectrum Computing.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "1m Spectrums". Popular Computing Weekly. No. 51. Sunshine Publications. 22 December 1983. p. 5. Archived from the original on 7 August 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2023 – via Spectrum Computing.
- ^ Goodwin, Simon (September 1984). "Suddenly, it's the 64K Spectrum!". Your Spectrum (7): 33–34. Archived from the original on 22 May 2014. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
So the first three issues of the Spectrum used a combination of eight 16K chips and eight 32K ones. The latest machines depart from that combination, but Sinclair Research has been very quiet about the alteration.
- ^ "The Sinclair Story, Part 2". Crash (16): 127. May 1985.
- ^ "Death of the +3". Your Sinclair. No. 60. Future Publishing. December 1990. Retrieved 6 March 2018 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ a b Prata, Fernando (13 May 1987). "TC 3256: A proposta Timex no mundo das aplicações profissionais". Mircosete (46): 1–4.
- ^ Frey, Franco (May 1984). "Epicventuring and Multiplayer Networking". CRASH (4): 46–47. Archived from the original on 16 August 2007. Retrieved 11 August 2007.
- ^ Foot, Cathy (November 1985). "Microdrive revisited". CRASH (22): 8. Archived from the original on 22 August 2006. Retrieved 10 August 2006.
- ^ Barker, Andy. "ZX Spectrum Loading Schemes". Archived from the original on 6 May 2010. Retrieved 18 September 2008.
- ^ van der Heide, Martijn. "Taper". World of Spectrum. Archived from the original on 28 September 2008. Retrieved 12 September 2008.
- ^ Williams, William (January 1983). "Microcomputer, British Style / The Fifth Personal Computer World Show". BYTE. p. 40. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
- ^ "Hex dump". TV Cream's Top Shelf. Archived from the original on 5 July 2008. Retrieved 10 September 2008.
- ^ "The YS Top 100 Speccy Games Of All Time (Ever!)". Your Sinclair (70): 31. October 1991. Archived from the original on 16 August 2006. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
- ^ Bezroukov, Nikolai. "Alan Cox: and the Art of Making Beta Code Work". Portraits of Open Source Pioneers. Archived from the original on 2 February 2007. Retrieved 18 January 2007.
- ^ "About us - What we do". Chronosoft. Archived from the original on 20 September 2023. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
- ^ Minter, Jeff. "Part 8: The Dawn of Llamasoft". Llamasoft History. Archived from the original on 23 September 2007. Retrieved 26 September 2007.
- ^ Pollock, Robert (2020-11-16). "Little Gardens". PEN America. Archived from the original on 2022-07-09. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
- ^ "Nick Browning". PEN America. PEN America. Archived from the original on 2022-08-31. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
- ^ "Growing up in Prison | Evident Change". www.evidentchange.org. Archived from the original on 2022-04-19. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
- ^ "2021 Winners | Evident Change". www.evidentchange.org. Archived from the original on 2022-05-18. Retrieved 2022-10-20.