8 blog posts tagged ZX Spectrum

VTX5000: Part 3 - Software ROM

In part 1 we covered the history of Prestel and Prism, and in part 2 we cracked open the VTX5000 to examine the hardware. Now how did they squeeze a viewdata terminal app into 8KB...

VTX5000: Part 2 - Hardware

With the design spec in hand, Prism Microproducts contracted O.E. Ltd - a UK electronics manufacturer - to implement and produce the VTX5000 as a self-contained Prestel terminal that sat beneath the rubber-keyed Speccy and plugged straight into the edge connector at the back meaning no extra hardware and no extra power supply.

VTX 5000: Part 1 - Prism, Prestel and Teletext

The Prism VTX5000 for the ZX Spectrum and the first modem I ever owned. With its bright colourful viewdata graphics and decent-download 1200/75 bps speed it ignited my life-long interest in data communications and online communities.

Notes from my Spectrum +3 manual

I've recently been working on a full HTML5 conversion of the Sinclair Spectrum +3 manual with full canvas-drawn screenshots and diagrams for smooth scaling/high res displays as well as some close font matching and layout as well as cross-reference links all over the place.

ZX Origins - free 8-bit fonts for games

I started designing fonts around 1987 on an 8-bit Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Many years later, my involvement in the Spectrum emulation scene led aul Dunn to ask me if I could provide fonts for his excellent BASIN Sinclair BASIC for Windows. My interest in 8x8 fonts was suitably rekindled, and I ended up delivering about 60 - some even extracted from my original +3 disk images.

Typography in 8 bits: System fonts

Examining the system fonts of the Commodore PET, Apple ][, Atari 400/800, Acorn BBC Micro, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, and MSX.

Origins of a love affair

From an earliest memory of a cream colored box emblazoned with letters, mostly black, some red, came an owl proclaiming allegiance to the BBC.

Adding depth to my programming ability