A full Spectrum of emotions

[Higgy]

@alexh do you have a link for OTLA+ please.

I used to use Tapdancer on Android. That now seems to have gone, but ZX Tape Player seems to do the same and you can increase the loading speed.

I would also recommend this piece of hardware which you can use across all the ZX Spectrum models:

https://www.retroleum.co.uk/smart-card

It is out of stock often, but it is a great price and it does a lot. Just need to find a 3D print case .STL for this V3 version.

[alexh]

@alexh do you have a link for OTLA+ please.

I can only find the older link. It is now on Github but I can't find it with google.

https://code.google.com/archive/p/otla/downloads

ZX Tape Player seems to do the same and you can increase the loading speed.

That too seems to have been removed from the PlayStore. (Maybe you have to have signed up for Beta versions?)

[rubber_jonnie]

@stephen_usher

Good call on T4. The replacement arrived today and...

PXL_20230908_125921785.jpg

I do have a replacement for T5 coming, but since its running with the original, I'll leave it that way and put the replacements in my spares.

[stephen_usher]

Yay! Excellent news.

You inspired me to buy a DivMMC Future from "The Future Was 8 Bit". Should arrive Monday.

[rubber_jonnie]

Yay! Excellent news.

You inspired me to buy a DivMMC Future from "The Future Was 8 Bit". Should arrive Monday.

Nice, be good to see a mini review when it arrives. I'm currently using an Aduitape with mine, but I may go for a DivMMC Future too, it looks great and given that the Penultimate+2 I got from tfw8b is really nicely made and works brilliantly on my Vic-20, I'd expect the DivMMC to be equally well made and extremely functional.

[rubber_jonnie]

Well, that was unexpected and very annoying. The replacement T4 has died as well ☹️

Maybe I should have waited for the replacement T5...

[stephen_usher]

Almost sounds like something is pulling too much current on the +12V line.

[rubber_jonnie]

Almost sounds like something is pulling too much current on the +12V line.

Very possibly, yes. An investigation for another day until I get spares.

[stephen_usher]

Not much on the +12V line (or -5V) other than the 4116 RAM. Probably one of those drawing power and dying (but still correctly storing data for the moment). Replacing the chips with hacked 4164s will do away with the need for the +12V and -5V.

P.S. No DivMMC Future on Monday. Obviously not shipped today.

[rubber_jonnie]

Not much on the +12V line (or -5V) other than the 4116 RAM. Probably one of those drawing power and dying (but still correctly storing data for the moment). Replacing the chips with hacked 4164s will do away with the need for the +12V and -5V.

P.S. No DivMMC Future on Monday. Obviously not shipped today.

It's quite annoying that there are 2 different RAM IC types requiring multiple voltage levels. I suppose it was a cheap design ultimately. I do have some 4164s I think, so I'll see if I can figure out if any of the RAM ICs are failing with my thermal camera, but I see that the LM1889 is also a consumer of 12V, so I'll have to check that too. It seems a little odd that T4 fails after a short period and just after the composite mod, so once I get T4 &T5 replacements I may revert the comp mod just to see if it makes any difference.

It's a Spectrum+, so same mainboard as my issue 3, so the comp mod should work just fine, but it seems like a bit of a coincidence, as I'd run this machine via the modulator just fine previously.

Unfortunately, I cracked and couldn't wait for your review and ordered a DivMMC Future today too :o

Order shows as 'processing'.