The ZX Spectrum ULA
The ZX Spectrum ULA

Author: Chris Smith

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 9780956507105

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This book takes the reader through the design and implementation of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum's custom chip, revealing for the first time the decisions behind its design and its hidden secrets. By using it as case study, the techniques required to design an 8-bit microcomputer are explained, along with comprehensive details of the Ferranti ULA manufacturing process. If you have ever wanted to design your own computer or wondered what was behind the most successful microcomputer of the 1980s, then this is the book for you. For the first time, the inner working of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum's custom chip and heart of the computer, the Ferranti ULA, is exposed in minute detail. Packed with over 140 illustrations and circuit diagrams, this book takes the reader through the cutting edge technology that was the Ferranti ULA and the design of the ZX Spectrum home computer, illustrating the principles and techniques involved in creating a cost effective computer that required nothing more than a television set and a cassette recorder. The ZX Spectrum ULA is an essential read for the electronics hobbyist, student or electronic engineer wishing to design their own retro-style microcomputer or anyone with an interest in historical micro-electronic and digital design. All topics are explained in simple yet precise terms, building on their careful introduction towards the full functionality presented by the Sinclair computer. Some of the topics covered are: The architecture of the standard microcomputer, Ferranti and their ULA, manufacturing process and structure, The functional layout of the ZX Spectrum ULA, Video display generation, Memory contention and timing, ZX Spectrum design bugs such as "The Snow Effect," Hidden features, ULA version differences.

The Spectrum of Adventure
The Spectrum of Adventure

Author: Thomas a Christie

Publisher:

Published: 2016-03-01

Total Pages: 674

ISBN-13: 9780993493218

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A brief history of text adventure games on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum in the 1980s, discussing 100 interactive fiction titles which helped to shape the genre in the United Kingdom.

A Guide to ZX Spectrum Adventure Games - 1982 - 1985
A Guide to ZX Spectrum Adventure Games - 1982 - 1985

Author: Shaun McClure

Publisher:

Published: 2021-10-28

Total Pages: 579

ISBN-13:

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This book is a guide to ZX Spectrum adventure games released between 1982 to 1985. It includes all of the hit games, plus many that you've probably never even heard of (188 games in total), complete with screenshots, covers and some adverts from the era... Plus oodles of new artwork from Robin Grenville-Evans. This thick tome (over 575 pages) has an introduction from Mike Gerrard (Your Sinclair adventure game columist), plus interviews with developers Don Woods (Colossal Caves), Mel Croucher (Automata), Charles Cecil (Artic Computing), Scott Adams (Adventure International), Tim Gilberts (Gilsoft), Trevor Hall (Mikro Gen), Terry Greer (Interceptor Micros), Tony Barber (Phipps Associates, RamJam Corporation), Pete Austin (Level 9 Computing) and Roy Carnell (Carnell Software). You can download free maps from www.retro-spective-books.co.uk

ZX Spectrum Demoscene
ZX Spectrum Demoscene

Author: Piotr Marecki

Publisher: Jagiellonian University Press

Published: 2020-10

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13: 9788323348627

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This book describes three phenomena in digital media. Firstly, it concerns the 8-bit personal computer ZX Spectrum produced by the British company Sinclair Research since 1982. As a publication about a specific platform, it falls into the mainstream category of platform studies and it pays special attention to how the computer was used for creative purposes. Secondly, the story about the platform will also be presented from the perspective of the community that flocked around it. Therefore, it is mainly a book about people who identify with the ZX Spectrum. We do not describe all the users of the platform here (players, people using apps), rather we adopt the demoscene criterion (which we explain below). And the last and third phenomenon discussed in our book deals with the decentering of digital media or discovering digital phenomena from beyond the hegemonic center. Therefore, even though the ZX Spectrum was created in Great Britain the use of the computer in the country of its birth will not interest us. Thanks to its creator, Sir Clive Sinclair, the ZX Spectrum was designed as a computer primarily for educational purposes. As it often happens, the work detached itself from its creator and took on a life of its own. In our narrative, we will focus on the acquisition (cloning) and creative use of the computer in Eastern and Central Europe.

A Guide to ZX Spectrum Games - 1982 To 1984
A Guide to ZX Spectrum Games - 1982 To 1984

Author: Hilary Wells

Publisher: Independently Published

Published: 2017-09-04

Total Pages: 570

ISBN-13: 9781522090755

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Retrospective reviews of over 200 ZX Spectrum games published between 1982 and 1984 - An Introduction from Crash Editor Roger Kean, and interviews from developers such as Steve Turner (Hewson Consultants), Charles Cecil (Artic, US Gold, Activision), Mel Croucher (Automata), Jon Ritman (Ocean Software, Artic), John Gibson (Imagine, Denton Designs, Ocean), Malcolm Evans (New Generation), Don Priestley (DK, Troniks, Pirahna), Simon Brattel (Crystal Computing, Design Design), Scott Adams (Adventure International), Kevin Toms (Addictive Games), Mike Lamb (CDS, Ocean), Daren White (Gem Software, Rainbow Arts), David Leitch (Silversoft, Binary Design, Sales Curve), Ally Noble (Imagine, Denton Designs), Andy Stagg (Automata), and Bruce Everiss (Bug Byte, Imagine, Codemasters). Fully illustrated with Screenshots of every game - Some original box artwork and advertisements, and original illustrations from Rob Grenville-Evans (Automata).

I Hate the Internet
I Hate the Internet

Author: Jarett Kobek

Publisher: Serpent's Tail

Published: 2016-11-03

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 1782833145

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In New York in the middle of the twentieth century, comic book companies figured out how to make millions from comics without paying their creators anything. In San Francisco at the start of the twenty-first century, tech companies figured out how to make millions from online abuse without paying its creators anything. In the 1990s, Adeline drew a successful comic book series that ended up making her kind-of famous. In 2013, Adeline aired some unfashionable opinions that made their way onto the Internet. The reaction of the Internet, being a tool for making millions in advertising revenue from online abuse, was predictable. The reaction of the Internet, being part of a culture that hates women, was to send Adeline messages like 'Drp slut ... hope u get gang rape.' Set in a San Francisco hollowed out by tech money, greed and rampant gentrification, I Hate the Internet is a savage indictment of the intolerable bullshit of unregulated capitalism and an uproarious, hilarious but above all furious satire of our Internet Age.