Re: Who are Andrews UK?
Sam Coupe Mini? On Fri, 13 Apr 2018, at 9:17 PM, RWAP Software wrote: > Paul Andrews (Andrews UK) is part of the team behind the original > Sinclair Vega and Vega+ (not the version which Retro Computers Limited > are still struggling to get out to Kickstarter backers), and theC64Mini > which has come out recently. > > Rich Mellor RWAP Software www.rwapsoftware.co.uk www.sellmyretro.com > > On 2018-04-13 21:01, Thomas Harte wrote: > > Per both Wikipedia and, more convincingly, the UK Intellectual > > Property Office, they registered the 'Sam Coupe' trade mark in May > > last year for software and hardware. > > > > They also seem to have gone after Jupiter Ace, ZX80, ZX81 and Sinclair > > Spectrum so it might just be a name grab but they seem primarily to be > > a Luton-based vanity publisher per https://andrewsuk.com/ (which gives > > the same address as that with the IPO, so it's the same company) and > > there's no obvious value in a trade mark you're not actually going to > > use and that nobody else is using so my theories end there. > > > > Does anybody have any more concrete ideas?
Re: Floppy disk drive error
On Mon, 23 May 2016, at 09:08 PM, Colin Piggot wrote: > As they are standard 34-pin floppy devices they do still need a > controller board to work with the SAM Coupe. > > I’ve build a few customised versions of my disk drive controller board > with longer cables to accommodate these in the past for people. > There’s photos of one in the ‘SAM Projects’ article in SAM Revival 25. > I was one of the customers for the customised one and it works really well, cable sneaks out of the side of the machine nicely. Graeme
Re: HxC and Sam Coupe
On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 11:40:34AM -0700, Tommo H wrote: What's the software like for the HxC? Can you just copy floppy images onto SD card or is there some Windows blob to convert to a more direct flux transition sort of representation? You use the software to convert .dsk/.sad/.mgt files to .hfe which is the hxc's native format. This has all the extra hardware type information. The software is supplied for windows but compiles under linux (which is what I use). It can batch convert! Graeme
Re: HxC and Sam Coupe
On Sat, May 11, 2013 at 11:03:17PM +0100, Graeme Gregory wrote: On 11/05/13 18:41, Colin Piggot wrote: From: Graeme Gregory wrote: So one of my Sams just happens to have a duff drive, I was wondering is it an easy enough job to dismantle the drive to extract the control board and hook up a HxC instead? You'ld have to do a lot of desoldering at the back of the original Citizen disk drive to remove the original control board as it's directly soldered to the back of the disk drive. You would then need to solder on a new ribbon cable and power connector. I know of one SAM user who uses a HxC, I built them up one of my disk drive controller boards with extra long cables so he could have the HxC sitting outside of his SAM. (There'll be photos of that project in the next SAM Revival) Ah interesting, I would not want to do irreversible damage to the original drive when its probably a minor issue. What would you charge for such an adapted board? So just to follow up, Colin made me the extended adapter board and my HxC is now working nicely on with the Coupe. And if anyone else tries this you might want the hint that the coupe uses DS1 to access its disk just to confuse matters. Graeme
HxC and Sam Coupe
So one of my Sams just happens to have a duff drive, I was wondering is it an easy enough job to dismantle the drive to extract the control board and hook up a HxC instead? Graeme
Re: HxC and Sam Coupe
On 11/05/13 22:12, da...@properbastard.co.uk wrote: Quoting Colin Piggot qua...@clara.net: I know of one SAM user who uses a HxC, I built them up one of my disk drive controller boards with extra long cables so he could have the HxC sitting outside of his SAM. (There'll be photos of that project in the next SAM Revival) Kind regards, Colin = Quazar : Hardware, Software, Spares and Repairs for the SAM Coupé 1995-2013 - Celebrating 19 Years of developing for the SAM Coupé Website: http://www.samcoupe.com/Twitter: @QuazarSamCoupe HxC ? http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emulator/ Floppy drive emulator as the link says, allows you to put images on SD or via USB depending on model and use them directly with machine via floppy controller. Graeme
Re: HxC and Sam Coupe
On 11/05/13 18:41, Colin Piggot wrote: From: Graeme Gregory wrote: So one of my Sams just happens to have a duff drive, I was wondering is it an easy enough job to dismantle the drive to extract the control board and hook up a HxC instead? You'ld have to do a lot of desoldering at the back of the original Citizen disk drive to remove the original control board as it's directly soldered to the back of the disk drive. You would then need to solder on a new ribbon cable and power connector. I know of one SAM user who uses a HxC, I built them up one of my disk drive controller boards with extra long cables so he could have the HxC sitting outside of his SAM. (There'll be photos of that project in the next SAM Revival) Ah interesting, I would not want to do irreversible damage to the original drive when its probably a minor issue. What would you charge for such an adapted board? G
Re: Time has come to part with my Sam Coupé
Sorry was too nice looking not to! Graeme On 01/05/13 09:50, Stephen Longhurst wrote: Indeed, nice looking Sam too. Mine is way more yellowed, but I prefer to think of it as much loved! Steve On 30 April 2013 18:38, Stefan Drissen stefan.dris...@gmail.com mailto:stefan.dris...@gmail.com wrote: Wow, that sold in a flash! Op 30 apr. 2013 om 15:49 heeft Nathan L. Reynolds (yibble) yib...@yibble.org mailto:yib...@yibble.org het volgende geschreven: Hi all, Unfortunately, the time has come to part with my childhood Sam Coupé. It's up on eBay for any interested souls, http://r.ebay.com/pvGAMA Also included is a Blue Alpha Electronics Sound Sampler, and a MGT 1Mb Expansion Pack. Thanks all, and yes, I'll still enjoy lurking on the list :) -- Nathan (of Metempsychosis)
Re: Essential Sam Goodies
On 22/04/12 17:11, Colin Piggot wrote: Graeme wrote: Ok, to change the topic from current discussion lately ;-) I am a newbie to the Sam world, I bought a machine on ebay as a whim and to reach one of my childhood dreams of owning one. As a kid I could not afford one and by the time I had $$$ Sam had dissapeared and it was time for Uni. So I now have this lovely Sam Coupe with 1.5 working drives and 512K of memory. What games/demos/widgets should I be getting for it. Would be good to give this machine as much love as my collection of spectrums and zx81 get! Welcome to the list Graeme, hope you are enjoying tinkering with your SAM! A lot of people have already mentioned some of the items I've created for the SAM and posted links to my website so I won't repeat what others have said. But if you've any questions about what I do please drop me a line via the website and I'll be happy to answer. The response has been awesome. Unfortunately at the moment Im travelling lots and the sam isnt the most portable of computers :-) I actually got some of you magazines from Ebay a while back I plan to order the lot when I get back to UK. Graeme
Re: Junk mail
On 14/04/12 13:08, Balor Price wrote: On 14/04/2012 11:43, Leszek Chmielewski wrote: My Jowettish is not good enough to recognise what does Roger mean with this personal mail to me: the day i spam you you'll r a dint the bak u yar id! Can anyone translate it for me to english? I live in Austria, so I do not have the abilitys of a native english speaker. LCD It's a bit Northern, this. The day I spam you, you'll have a dent in the back of your head. (It's not meant as a threat, he's joking) Howard Glad you translated that, I couldnt work it out and Im from UK :-D So its a joke about canned processed meat :-D G
Re: ZX Spectrum 'relaunch'
I have been planning for a while not to do this modification. But I was going to use an I2C IO Extender chip instead of the USB keyboard hack. With this I should be able to map exactly the spectrum keyboard map into Linux. Ive had the broken spectrum and a couple of beagle boards sitting on my shelf for 6 months or so but had no time to get soldering! It can be done easilly with the Pi or Beaglebone as well, and they are significant cheaper and smaller. Graeme On 13/04/12 12:56, Andrew Gillen wrote: Hi Warren This idea reminds me of the ZX Spectrum that was modded to run linux. Check out http://www.retrothing.com/2009/04/modding-a-sinclair-zx-spectrum-to-run-linux.html http://www.retrothing.com/2009/04/modding-a-sinclair-zx-spectrum-to-run-linux.html and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0qh7dvaH98 That Beagleboard solution isn't a cheap one, and it requires a fair bit of hackery to get the keyboard sorted, but it looks like a fantastic result. I'd like to try the PI out in a similar capacity, but I lack the degree of expertise in electrical hackery unfortunately to see it through with any confidence of success. If I can find a similar membranous keyboard to that which was used on that set up for a low enough price, it won't stop me trying, though. Much of the experience in playing old games is in using the old kit itself. No amount of PC emulation and full stroke keyboard use can replicate that ZX feel. SAMwise it is different, the keyboard is of a good enough standard for emulation to represent a pretty accurate experience for me. Cheers Andrew -- From: war...@wdlee.co.uk Sent: Friday, April 13, 2012 11:18 AM To: sam-users@nvg.ntnu.no Subject: ZX Spectrum 'relaunch' Off on a bit of a non-SAM tangent (but probably somewhat related for most of us) I came across this the other day: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/8304237/ZX-Spectrum-relaunch-gaming-goes-back-to-the-future.html Lots of you have probably already heard this, but I don't remember it being mentioned, so thought I would! ;-) Supposedly a company were going to relaunch the zx spectrum this year (by the looks of it, as a 48k speccy keyboard that links up to an iPhone or similar to run an emulator), to coincide with the 30th anniversary, but it doesn't look like it's going to materialise any time soon. I know something similar is/was being planned for the C64? However, it got me thinking... Obviously in this day and age, many of use want to enjoy the retro gaming experience, but we haven't exactly got the space to keep things set up. I intend to have my SAM set up permanently at some point, but I very much doubt I'd ever get the space to dedicate to other systems, so clearly something that pleasantly replicates the original experience quickly and easily with modern advantages would be a pleasing alternative. So I figured, what would make an easy to use 'spectrum' emulator for playing all the old games? You'd want HDMI output for ease with modern televisions, SD card storage, and have it all fit into one of our old rubber keyed friends. How do you do this on a budget at that size? The first thing that popped into my head, is the Raspberry Pi (if it ever gets to selling!!). Small enough to probably fit in a speccy case, with HDMI out and card reader. Surely this could make for a fairly cheap and effective 48k Spectrum emulation experience? I think the Speccy is particularly suited, because let's face it, for most of us it was about the games more than anything. I don't think anything similar would work for the SAM, because what makes that such a unique experience (for me, anyway) is the original and additional hardware in addition to the software. But for a speccy I could see it being great fun, to play the games with ease on a keyboard that replicates the old experience but with updated advantages. (I think a SAM equivalent would have to be more along the lines of Colin's 'SAM-in-a-can' projects, but rather than old SAM parts, something that accurately replicates the original hardware with modern additions) Not being much of a tech person I'm not sure about the feasibility, but it seems like a wasted opportunity in todays market where retro-gaming has had somewhat of a resurgence? Warren
Re: ZX Spectrum 'relaunch'
I should run SimCoupe on my Pandaboard to actually give it a real use! I have so many of these embedded arm board lieing around I should use them :-) Graeme On 13/04/12 14:10, Simon Owen wrote: Bonus points if you then run SimCoupe on it, to see if it still feels wrong! I created a quick SimCoupe binary for the Raspberry Pi back in Feb, which I've tested in the development VM under QEMU. Still waiting for real hardware to see how well it runs though. I was kinda hoping I pre-registered early enough with RS, but I've not received one of the magic vouchers yet. I'll have to see if my Farnell order works out... Si On 13 Apr 2012, at 12:43, war...@wdlee.co.uk wrote: There's something very cool about seeing a spectrum do all that (Even if it's really just the case with something else running emulation). I hadn't thought too much about the keyboard, but I suppose that would really be the major difficulty: Getting something that plays exactly like the original but maps to PC keyboard types for the emulator. In theory, you could get a cheap 2nd hand spectrum (even non-working one), a rasberry pi or beagle, and it would come to, what, somewhere under £50? And assuming some relatively easy method of fixing up the keyboard, you could fairly easily create your own. :-) (say's the person who knows nothing about it lol!) It'd be cool if someone created a general guide for doing it cheaply that way, with the appropriate software for the Pi or Beagle, and some extra gadget for the keyboard hookup. Then it would make a nice pack to sell to enthusiasts with little-to-no knowledge of hardware and electronics. Graeme, it would be very cool to see where you get with that! Definitely something you should get working. ;-) Warren Quoting Andrew Gillen a...@joua.net: Hi Warren This idea reminds me of the ZX Spectrum that was modded to run linux. Check out http://www.retrothing.com/2009/04/modding-a-sinclair-zx-spectrum-to-run-linux.html http://www.retrothing.com/2009/04/modding-a-sinclair-zx-spectrum-to-run-linux.html and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0qh7dvaH98 That Beagleboard solution isn't a cheap one, and it requires a fair bit of hackery to get the keyboard sorted, but it looks like a fantastic result. I'd like to try the PI out in a similar capacity, but I lack the degree of expertise in electrical hackery unfortunately to see it through with any confidence of success. If I can find a similar membranous keyboard to that which was used on that set up for a low enough price, it won't stop me trying, though. Much of the experience in playing old games is in using the old kit itself. No amount of PC emulation and full stroke keyboard use can replicate that ZX feel. SAMwise it is different, the keyboard is of a good enough standard for emulation to represent a pretty accurate experience for me. Cheers Andrew -- From: war...@wdlee.co.uk Sent: Friday, April 13, 2012 11:18 AM To: sam-users@nvg.ntnu.no Subject: ZX Spectrum 'relaunch' Off on a bit of a non-SAM tangent (but probably somewhat related for most of us) I came across this the other day: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/8304237/ZX-Spectrum-relaunch-gaming-goes-back-to-the-future.html Lots of you have probably already heard this, but I don't remember it being mentioned, so thought I would! ;-) Supposedly a company were going to relaunch the zx spectrum this year (by the looks of it, as a 48k speccy keyboard that links up to an iPhone or similar to run an emulator), to coincide with the 30th anniversary, but it doesn't look like it's going to materialise any time soon. I know something similar is/was being planned for the C64? However, it got me thinking... Obviously in this day and age, many of use want to enjoy the retro gaming experience, but we haven't exactly got the space to keep things set up. I intend to have my SAM set up permanently at some point, but I very much doubt I'd ever get the space to dedicate to other systems, so clearly something that pleasantly replicates the original experience quickly and easily with modern advantages would be a pleasing alternative. So I figured, what would make an easy to use 'spectrum' emulator for playing all the old games? You'd want HDMI output for ease with modern televisions, SD card storage, and have it all fit into one of our old rubber keyed friends. How do you do this on a budget at that size? The first thing that popped into my head, is the Raspberry Pi (if it ever gets to selling!!). Small enough to probably fit in a speccy case, with HDMI out and card reader. Surely this could make for a fairly cheap and effective 48k Spectrum emulation experience? I think the Speccy is particularly suited, because let's face it, for most of us it was about the games more than anything. I don't think
Essential Sam Goodies
Ok, to change the topic from current discussion lately ;-) I am a newbie to the Sam world, I bought a machine on ebay as a whim and to reach one of my childhood dreams of owning one. As a kid I could not afford one and by the time I had $$$ Sam had dissapeared and it was time for Uni. So I now have this lovely Sam Coupe with 1.5 working drives and 512K of memory. What games/demos/widgets should I be getting for it. Would be good to give this machine as much love as my collection of spectrums and zx81 get! Graeme
Re: Junk mail
I had only subscribed to the list a couple of days ago, good thing Im old school when it comes to the internet, would be really off putting to a newbie. I had assumed this was a virus attack, you mean this bloke actually does this for fun? He needs a game of roshambo :-) Graeme On 05/04/2012 08:35, Leszek Chmielewski wrote: And he wonders if his internet provider caps his speed??? I got 2 e-mails with links and attachments and 35 exactly same mails with recommendation of a f*g godd**n speedup software to my private mail adress with a requst to click a link to let them know that he recommendet it. This is enough! I ignored him just until now, but next time I will report him to the public prosecutor for spaming me. Maybe the admin can make a incoming Roger Jowett Filter for sam-users@nvg.ntnu.no mailto:sam-users@nvg.ntnu.no to save us from him? I will add a Filter to my mail. LCD 2012/4/5 Andrew Gillen a...@joua.net mailto:a...@joua.net No, second time I've been mail bombed by him in as many weeks. The first was a mail of 21MB, then tonight 40 odd individual mails plus one of 8MB. Every single one forwarded to ab...@gmail.com mailto:ab...@gmail.com. I know they'll do nothing, but we can dream, right? -- From: da...@properbastard.co.uk mailto:da...@properbastard.co.uk Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2012 11:39 PM To: sam-users@nvg.ntnu.no mailto:sam-users@nvg.ntnu.no Subject: Junk mail Was it just me who was sent a huge number of un-requested files? I've added the sender to my email blacklist.
