We recappped our experiences at VCF Midwest, which took place September 12-13. Many of the group members attended, including folks from Albuquerque, New Zealand, Atlanta, Kansas, New York, and California. And we met new folks like Evan Wright and Peter BetBasoo.
The group’s table showcased various Timex/Sinclair machines and modern expansions:
- Original TS1000, ZX81, and ZX80 machines
- TS1500 replicas and painted microdrive replicas
- Ingo’s KiloZed, which features full-size keyboards for improved usability
- Jeff Fetta’s CompactFlash adapter for the ZX81/TS1000, allowing direct loading and saving without cassettes and his Zon-X replica
- Stewart Newfeld/Zebra’s Replacement keyboard kits for the ZX81/TS1000 that use tactile microswitches as alternatives to membrane keyboards
- Tim Horner’s Pico-based solution for capturing printer output and serving it to web browsers
We also discussed practical methods for preserving cassette software:
- Recording cassette output to WAV files via PC line-in
- Using the FUSE emulator to convert WAV files to TAP format
- Transferring TAP files to SD cards or CF adapters for use with real hardware
Evan Wright talked to us about his start in computing, which was with a Sinclair ZX81 that he learned to program at a summer camp. More recently, he’s built an engine called Lantern for creating text adventure games across multiple retro platforms.
Peter BetBasoo told us about his intro to computing via the Sinclair and Timex/Sinclair computers. Back in the 1980s, he wrote a word processor that supported Aramaic text using a custom typeface, for the Timex/Sinclair 2068.