Sinclair ZX Spectrum Next - got one!!

It's a quick look at the spectrum Next as I managed to pick one up for a reasonable price (£395 inc shipping).
As it's a quick look I miss out loads of things - so please don't be disappointed if I miss out a feature you're interested in.
The Official site for info is www.specnext.com.
Big thanks to the team for creating such a great device. You can read a bio about all the team members here: www.specnext.com/about/

[@robertpatrick3350]

Sabre Wulf…… fantastic to see that start screen again. One of my favourite games along with Attic Attack and Knights Lore.

[@stevesretroloft]

It was certainly one of the classics for the Spectrum.

[@JeremiahStoddard]

It's a neat little machine. I was a Kickstarter 2 backer, and wasn't really familiar with Sinclair computers until KS2 was underway (I knew the Timex Sinclair 1000 existed and had BASIC in ROM--therefore wanted one when a teenager, but didn't know much more) but I don't regret it at all.

[@stevesretroloft]

It certainly has been one of my better purchases. Good to see the 'next' side of the device is getting good software support as well.

[@Seventeen_Seconds]

Wow spent years as a kid playing sabrewulf! Such a wonderful game. The path along the bottom of the map with the wolf and the yellow hut guarded by the zulu at the very top. Great memories thanks very much

[@stevesretroloft]

It was probably my favourite game at the time (well, maybe Match Day ran it fairly close!).

[@cthutu]

You can load TZX at 28MHz so loading can be 8 times faster. TZXs are used for custom loaders and so cannot be loaded like TAP files without conversion. Since you need a processor to convert the TZX into audio and the Next is too busy running the loading routines, the Pi is required.

[@stevesretroloft]

Thanks for the info :)

[@kirishima638]

This is so cool!

[@stevesretroloft]

Thanks, I can't wait to see what other games are coming soon,

[@andrewgoodall2183]

I'm glad this worked out better than the Vega or its sequel.

[@stevesretroloft]

It has been a much better project overall compared to previous attempts.

[@alexanderwingeskog758]

Cool! Bought a Pi Zero 2W for a bit of emulation... My friend had a ZX48 but I could not remember the games we played on it except for H.E.R.O. but Sabrewulf was absolut one of them! I'm going to visit him and then we are going to play all games we did 30-35 years ago! ZX48, C64, Amiga (and a really small bit of DOS games)...

[@stevesretroloft]

Nice one, its always good to introduce retro to others!

[@brianp7022]

It's like a long lost friend.. 48k speccy at 14..then at 17 a +2 (amstrad) great memories 😊

[@stevesretroloft]

Sounds a very similar story to me - I might have been 16 when I got my +2 though!

[@alexandermirdzveli3200]

Great video, but you'd better edit out smacking from the audio stream.

[@stevesretroloft]

Thanks for the tip - I'm still learning with video and sound.

[@MrVidification]

On pc you could always run Retro Virtual Machine and try and find a windows retro keyboard that replicates sinclair or in the very least, amstrad. There might be one out there.. maybe

[@stevesretroloft]

There are a few options out there from what I've seen.

[@choboutube]

Sabre Wulf was my thing. I even drew out a map.

[@stevesretroloft]

That must have took a bit of time - it was quite a big play area!

[@choboutube]

@@stevesretroloft yes, it did. I remember the crappy joystick too. Does the old game actually play OK with emulators?

[@stevesretroloft]

@@choboutube I've tried it on an emulator and it does work o.k for me - although I can't get a joystick to work with it.

[@b213videoz]

Does it work with external physical floppy drives ?

[@stevesretroloft]

It should work with Floppy devices made for the original spectrum as the FPGA chip is a hardware recreation of the original Spectrum devices (not sure yet if you need to fiddle around with any menus). That brings me neatly on to my next video where I see if it works with my Microdrives!

[@cybertrix-kid8065]

Any tips on how to safely remove the sd card? It seems a bit tight on mine.

[@stevesretroloft]

It was bought up a lot on the Facebook page. Often it's easier to use some small tweezers to just take out the MicroSD card instead. Others have mentioned the SD/Micro adapter seems to have a bit of adhesion (possibly due to the print?) and a standard SanDisk adapter works better (surely like me everyone has about 100 spare Sandisk adapters now!).

[@cottonfoo]

@@stevesretroloftYep, definitely copy it all off onto your own card/adapter and keep the originals in the box.

[@robertrokif.3507]

Ah, those memories.... ▼

[@stevesretroloft]

Thanks Robert.

[@denjhang316]

😅I also have a Samsung monitor exactly like yours, but that monitor seems to be broken and I have thrown it away.

[@stevesretroloft]

I think the TV is about 15 years old, my Mom and Dad bought for the kids to use at their house and since they've now upgraded to bigger displays it's a handy retro monitor for me.

[@CoolDudeClem]

Very nice although just like the Pentagon and Scorpion I dont really consider the Next as a "true" ZX Spectrum. Maybe I'm just a purist. That's said though, if someone got me one I would still like it.

[@stevesretroloft]

To be fair I can understand that point of view - I still have my original devices and like using them, but with old kit you also get old kit issues with age.

[@cthutu]

It is Sinclair branded and produced with the blessings of the brand owners (currently BSkyB). It's as close as a true next Spectrum as you can possibly get today.

[@Esaq_1240]

Is this the new remake ?

[@stevesretroloft]

It was a kickstarter project by people outside of Sinclair (other than Rick Dickinson the case designer). the website states: The Spectrum Next is aimed at any retro gamer out there and Spectrum enthusiast who prefers their games, demos and apps running on hardware rather than software emulators, but wants a seamless and simple experience contained within an amazing design. The Spectrum Next is much more than just a renewed trip down the memory lane: there’s a world of new software out there that requires upgraded hardware to run - from games to music and video players, from operating systems to ultra demos.

[@Esaq_1240]

@@stevesretroloft yes I think I've heard about a few years ago they were gonna re-build it, sounds kool & with now resources to make games easier & faster 🧐 I think is a great idea thanks, i'l be checking in specs but there's a competitor that looks like it & is a keyboard is white I think it uses pi & it functions differently but can connect to a TV & make it a PC tru the keyboard but the keyboards is a PC, I'm also looking at PC phones cause is the same as the steam deck or n switch, thanks I will follow your channel

[@stevesretroloft]

@@Esaq_1240 There's a few other alternatives to this: N-Go and X-Berry Pi - both run the same OS and are functionally the same devices in terms of playing games.

[@Esaq_1240]

@@stevesretroloft kzbin.info/www/bejne/kITZeX1vbMlrpJo

[@cloudycolacorp]

I swear every retro tinkerer youtuber has the same samsung TV

[@stevesretroloft]

We've got to keep hold of them as they don't make anything this small anymore!

[@fcf8269]

BTW not using a computer does not extend its life necessarily, as traces and IC rust anyway. Otherwise all the computers that were in storage for decades should be perfect. Old components are bound to fail no matter what, so at least use original hardware instead of FPGA or clones, for as long as they work. The next is a great idea but fall in the same category of other devices that try to be something long gone... If they would sell a kit to replace your ZX80 and ULA on original hardware with modern components that would be great; but as stand alone device, I am not sure I have any interest in it, as I have original hardware after all.

[@stevesretroloft]

There is a modern ULA replacement for the ZX81 (vdrivezx.com/vla81/) I guess the market for ZX80 replacement parts is much smaller as we don't see them too often. For me one of the pluses for the next is I can easily plug it into a newish TV without having either composite mod or use an external device like a ZX HD (HDMI) board.

[@fcf8269]

@@stevesretroloftGood point, connecting the old computers to a modern tv or monitor is a mess, unless you have a scan doubler of sort

[@niv8880]

I've got a 1970's TV (which I used on my ZX81) and turn it on occasionally to preserve the capacitors. I think all electronics should be turned on occasionally. I know with very old electronics the caps can turn into resistors and need replacing

[@karbinunit]

Are they not like a million quid now...... too much and too late!!

[@stevesretroloft]

I think the 2nd hand price has stabilised a bit to around £400/500 mark on some (UK) facebook groups. There may be a KS3 announced in the next 6 months, so probably worth keeping an eye on the Specnext website (listed above) for details.

[@tarstarkusz]

3:39 How did you manage to lose the sound effects? Really, the Next is probably not what would have been delivered had Sinclair remained around. It's more what the community might have wanted, but not what they would have gotten. Even if it would have been invented, it would have flopped badly in the market anyway. I've read that the Spectrum did get an extended life in the old Soviet Bloc. But I'm not really sure how much they all got along. Various systems I've seen on the internet suggests they were a bunch of different and incompatible systems.

[@stevesretroloft]

I have to detach the original audio as there was an annoying noise on it, so just did a voice over instead for that bit. Anyway - I think you're correct it's what the community wants - maybe Sinclair could have delivered something similar, but probably not the same thing. As you said no doubt at the time it would've flopped if it stayed an 8bit device.

[@niv8880]

£300? Still, sold out! Not for me, I've bought emulator h/w before for various but get bored of them in 5 minutes. Nice trip down nostalgia lane but best left in the past for me, good luck everyone else.

[@stevesretroloft]

Yes it is a bit pricy, however it's more than just an emulator.

[@freeinghumanitynow]

All the IT nerds buying up these overpriced machines is hilarious to me. That said, this has a better design than the X16. I hope all investors in all of these projects make tons of money. Poor 8-Bit Guy seems to have lost his shirt getting the X16 off the ground.

[@stevesretroloft]

Not too sure if the aim was make money or just make the device they felt was the natural successor to the Spectrum. Either way it looks to have been priced to cover costs, probably with a bit of money left after the event (Companies house will show the accounts for SpecNext Ltd to see where the money has gone). I think the 8-bit guys problems have been around trying to manufacture as much of it himself rather than outsourcing to a few suppliers - that said I haven't watched his stuff for a while (think the last thing I saw of his was him spending a fortune on a flow soldering station and all the issues around getting that to work). With regards to the design, it probably helps the next was modelled by an actual industrial designer/company. Is it overpriced though? - If you bought through the kickstarter then probably not (or in my case picked one up from someone who didn't want to make money on it) - There's some that paid a high price on Ebay, they have to justify the price they paid I guess. £325 for the full version isn't a bad price for a limited run, well designed device.

[@spinnetti]

These aren't about making money, they are passion projects to reconnect with the past. there are generally no "investors" just people getting together to make it happen. They aren't overpriced, they are priced what they took to make happen.

[@andrewgoodall2183]

I'm afraid you're way off m8. I work in electronics manufacture and assembly, with some knowledge of this sector in particular and I can tell you with authority that these things are not overpriced, due to low demand, small economies of scale and relatively high development costs. I'd imagine that the margins on these are not great at that price and the return on initial investment is likely to take a long time.

[@larswadefalk6423]

​​@@andrewgoodall2183i would like to mention that it depends on what one means with overpriced. I am certain that most projects of this kind doesn't make much money out of it in the end, and that in order to cover every cost they have to start there and make a few bucks out of each machine. But I question, is it really worth that kind of money. It becomes a lot of money just to get a feeling back from childhood. In the end it really isn't fun enough for the money spent. Emulators can be quite enough if one put down some time to perfect the setup.

[@andrewgoodall2183]

@@larswadefalk6423 Of course, only the buyer can decide what they're willing to pay for something. I happen to know a bit about this project, and I think the guy probably put his price where it is because he went through manufacturing hell because of inexperience, and that deeply affected his margins I suspect. But even if that had not been the case, it would not be a cheap unit because of the reasons I state above. Ultimately, this is the price, and if you want it enough, you'll pay rather than just use an emulator .

[@michaelcloutier2225]

I got mine free. I have a Mister FPGA and the very good core it cost me a download and 3O minets setup.

[@stevesretroloft]

Nice, it sounds a like it's a great device (the Mister) - I'm sure I'll eventually end up with one (maybe not just yet!).