Search found 326 matches

by stephen_usher
29 Jun 2018 22:24
Forum: OFF TOPIC
Topic: ‪Maplin Electronics in administration‬
Replies: 10
Views: 12484

Re: ‪Maplin Electronics in administration‬

Martin A wrote:Just ween the post on BBC's news pages, the final Maplin store has closed it's doors.

I wonder if anyone want to buy the name ???

Here's another name from the past that's been resurrected ...

https://www.acorncomputers.com/
But... it should be the "Sinclair C5", not Acorn! :-)
by stephen_usher
21 Oct 2017 00:00
Forum: BASIC
Topic: what did they smoke when they develop MTX Basic?
Replies: 10
Views: 20520

Re: what did they smoke when they develop MTX Basic?

You didn't mention the error messages. Without rushing for the manual could anyone explain what the error "A" means, or "SE.D" Error code look-up tables and messages take up valuable ROM space, which is in short supply. Having said that some current software, such as Microsoft W...
by stephen_usher
20 Oct 2017 23:56
Forum: BASIC
Topic: what did they smoke when they develop MTX Basic?
Replies: 10
Views: 20520

Re: what did they smoke when they develop MTX Basic?

P.S.
The built-in assembler was inspired by Acorn BASIC, both Atom BASIC and BBC BASIC.
The front panel is an almost complete clone of the one on the Research Machines Limited 380Z.
by stephen_usher
20 Oct 2017 23:53
Forum: BASIC
Topic: what did they smoke when they develop MTX Basic?
Replies: 10
Views: 20520

Re: what did they smoke when they develop MTX Basic?

1) Spaces need to be in the right places 2) A LET commands most be used for variable declare or calculation. As said previously, normal until later "lazy" BASICs. It also allows the parser to be far simpler as you ALWAYS have a keyword followed by arguments. This also makes the parser sma...
by stephen_usher
29 Apr 2017 15:11
Forum: OFF TOPIC
Topic: ZX Spectrum Next Kickstater
Replies: 3
Views: 5625

Re: ZX Spectrum Next Kickstater

The backing level which gives the full base machine is £175 + delivery.
by stephen_usher
25 Apr 2017 21:48
Forum: OFF TOPIC
Topic: ZX Spectrum Next Kickstater
Replies: 3
Views: 5625

ZX Spectrum Next Kickstater

Just in case any of you are interested there's a Kickstarter running for an FPGA based Sinclair ZX Spectrum recreation with case designed by the original designer. They reached their initial goal of £250K in just over 24 hours and are now going for some stretch goals (one of which is for a ring-boun...
by stephen_usher
18 Mar 2017 15:32
Forum: OFF TOPIC
Topic: Disk on a Chip ??
Replies: 4
Views: 5394

Re: Disk on a Chip ??

It won't be much faster as the data transfer rate is fixed by the controller. The only speed-up would be due to the lack of with latency seeking track to track. The controller reads a whole track at a time (or waits a specific period for the sector to come around before starting to read). The drive ...
by stephen_usher
16 Mar 2017 00:38
Forum: HARDWARE
Topic: MTX512 reports only 32K RAM
Replies: 10
Views: 12475

Re: MTX512 reports only 32K RAM

Well Dave's parcel arrived today, and...

Image

Thank-you Dave and Andy!

Here's Dave's page about this with more pictures: http://primrosebank.net/computers/mtx/p ... pecial.htm
by stephen_usher
12 Mar 2017 22:37
Forum: HARDWARE
Topic: The MTX case profile drawings
Replies: 71
Views: 71845

Re: The MTX case profile drawings

The CFX-II has an 80 column display built in, which uses a VGA connector for output to a monitor.

See: http://primrosebank.net/computers/mtx/p ... /cfxii.htm
by stephen_usher
12 Mar 2017 20:45
Forum: HARDWARE
Topic: The MTX case profile drawings
Replies: 71
Views: 71845

Re: The MTX case profile drawings

True, but surely the VGA connector would also have this problem?

Anyway, if the unit was in a nice, sturdy external case then there shouldn't be a need to fit it internally.