My retro corner

[STFormatJez]

Just finished making some walnut box frames for my fave ST games (plus spot the PC ringer! )

Have used the awesome (and highly recommended) Kaico Open Source Scan Converter in combination with the ubeswitch for converting the ST monitor out to HDMI and it gives crisp, clean awesome results. I may post some photo comparison shots I took when I did a lot of ST display output testing, using everything from: ST Monitor to TV SCART, ST monitor to VGA cable, ST ubeswitch to VGA, ST TV modulator to B&W cathode ray TV (the Saisho tape/TV thing on the right!) plus a few others.

Also made a custom walnut ST mouse wall holder

[mjvans]

The frames look great. That desk looks very neat and tidy. My desk is much too chaotic.

[CosmicPuppet]

Nice!

[distantminds]

nicely done!

[joska]

Your Spectrum setup is fantastic!

[STFormatJez]

Thanks all, it's taken about 3 months on and off to build the cases. I'm not the fastest worker!

Your Spectrum setup is fantastic!

Thanks dude, I use ZX-VGA-JOY to output the video for the Spectrum and it's very clear and sharp. It also has a Kempston joystick port.




Took me 8 (eight) attempts to load Manic Miner from this aging tape deck this evening! Got there in the end though, which was worth a fist-pump Kids these days - don't know they're born!

Delirious Demo 3 for the ST can easily take 2-3 attempts to load and the disk drive makes some seriously scary noises getting there!

[STFormatJez]

And here's a true story for you...

Some time during 1990 (I got the ST you see above for Christmas in 1989), I remember trying to flick a ladybird off the floppy disk drive door. But of course all I did was flip the drive door up and send the ladybird inside the machine! (the original 'bug' ). I remember being quite worried at the time that I'd flicked it into the actual drive and would break it.

So about 2 months ago I wanted to try the anti-yellow trick and restore my machine to the beautiful light grey we all know and love (using the hair bleacher). I decided to give my ST a good clean out at the same time and took it completely to pieces to clean all the keys and dust. And guess what! At the bottom of the case I found the shell of the ladybird from 30 years ago!!!

[sporniket]

A very nice corner

[mrbombermillzy]

And guess what! At the bottom of the case I found the shell of the ladybird from 30 years ago!!!

I take it you are going to frame the bug too?

I must say, Ive always wanted some retro game art posters on the wall. Looking good there!

[dma]

Niiice!

[mlynn1974]

I've never seen the ZX-VGA-JOY before. Very Nice! What make and model is the cassette player?

[LaceySnr]

That's a super neat setup! Wish I was even half as good at keeping things organised

[TheNameOfTheGame]

Nice, but far side should be Gods, Chaos Engine and Magic Pockets

[MegaSTEarian]

Very nice corner, excellent work there!

[Cyprian]

Also made a custom walnut ST mouse wall holder

nice corner,
that mouse wall holder looks really cool

[viking272]

Great work, looks amazing.
Yes the ladybird bug should be mounted too

[STFormatJez]

that mouse wall holder looks really cool

Thanks man, it's a bit 'agricultural' in build and maybe lacks a little finesse, but I love a bit of natural walnut!

I take it you are going to frame the bug too?

Yes the ladybird bug should be mounted too

The thought had crossed my mind!

Nice, but far side should be Gods, Chaos Engine and Magic Pockets

Amen! The Bitmaps Bros rocked and I do have the Gods box, which is awesome. But my favorites remain Speedball 1 and Xenon 2

I've never seen the ZX-VGA-JOY before. Very Nice! What make and model is the cassette player?

The Saisho cassette player is model PTV 440 4.5inch and it's one I had in the mid-late eighties. The number of hours I spent squinting at a 4.5" B&W screen playing Flying Shark on the speccy Also remember listening to Bruno vs Tyson on the radio in the middle of the night!

[STFormatJez]

Christmas 1989 +31 years! A little less hair on the top of my head and a little more on my chin. Otherwise, still playing Double Dragon from the Power Pack (Disk J)

Merry Christmas everybody!

[dma]

Ahah, cool!

[wietze]

Neat!

[Saisho440]

Apologies on replying to such an old thread.

Lovely set-up, but what did you use to play the spectrum through the Saisho PTV 440?

There’s no input as far as I can see? Any advice would be really appreciated!

[Ragstaff]

Thanks for the thread necro, I wasn't visiting at this time and missed this cool post!
One thought occurs to me - it would be cool to have do the RCA audio output mod on the ST, and then feed it into the input of the Saisho box? I don't know what other inputs it has but I see a Left and Right microphone input on the front.
Sure, it wouldn't make audiophiles happy but surely would still sound better than the TV speaker. The retro cool points would be greatly increased.

[alexh]

I wasn't quite prepared to make the leap from Zx tapes to DivMMC so I bought an MP3 player, you can get them for as little £2 from Temu for a 512MB one, and converted lots of TZX files into WAVs and then from WAVs into accelerated WAVs using OTLA (all scripted) so now Manic Miner loads in about 20 seconds and you still get a bit of that old skool loading nostalgia. (This isn't my video but we even have the same MP3 player)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O9sKfPtfAk