Here are some of the more interesting info I’ve pulled off the Internet in the past couple of months.
EMULATE!, the Spectrum emulator magazine, came out back in Sept. with it’s first issue. The main version of EMULATE! came with a number of Spectrum Snaps. The magazine comes out in electronic form only and not in hard copy. The editor is Barry Plewa ([e-mail address omitted]). The first issue covered: Playing tips, Free game instructions, Adventure Games, Reviews, Classic Spectrum Characters, History of Sinclair (Part 1), Spectrum Games Charts (Past & Present), and A-Z of Spectrum Games Reviews (Part 1). Issue number 2 should be out in October. Since it’s early October as I write this, I assume it will be late October before it’s out. EMULATE! is available on most major Spectrum FTP sites ( a good one is ftp.nvg.unit.no ).
Marco Vacquier put out some news from the Eindhoven show held on the 2nd of Sept. He says that Stuart Honeyball announced that the QXL, Super Gold, and Gold cards are out of production and that Miracle & Jochem Merz are both out of QXL cards. There is a card called the QXL Goldcard that will let you use a (Super) Goldcard to a PC like a QXL. Price should be about 100 pounds. As for Masterpiece, the SVGA card, it is still in the works.
TF Services has halted shipping of the SuperHermes. It’s got a few bugs in the PIC chip that need to be ironed out.
Stephen Smith ([e-mail address omitted]) has created the Spectrum Games Database and placed in on his Web page:
http://www.catalog.com/sjr/www/ss/gamesdbs.htm
The Games Database is designed to include as many Spectrum Games in Snap format. Besides each game, it will include the instructions for each game, past reviews of each game, and a gif file of the opening screen. The database will be uploaded to the major Spectrum FTP sites (see above for an example).
Martin van der Zwan is working on a ZX81 magazine. I have yet to see it yet, but Martin sounds like it will be out sometime soon. I think he is having a problem getting article submissions (a perenial problem). Martin can be reached at: Martin nad der Zwan Moerweg 508 2531 BL Den Haag Netherlands
From the rumor mill, Damion Yates heard that the C5 was named that way because in Z80 opcode, C5 is ‘push bc’, which sounds or looks like ‘push bike.’ My Z80 opcode is rusty (although I do remember that ‘ret’ is C9). Anybody want to confirm the opcode?