The PicoZX - A Handheld Classic Computer Emulator

[@PeteSlater]

I grew up in the UK using a Sinclair Spectrum. It was a wonderful time to be a kid and I learned a lot of stuff I do in my day job on those machines. Nice to see Sir Clive's technology still being enjoyed 40 years later.

[@AlexJacksonSmith]

Same.

[@rmcdudmk212]

Live in the US and I feel like we missed out on ZX spectrum machines. We had the Timex machines but it wasn't the same.

[@rayerdinc2441]

It is what started me in to the world of computers and programming and fortunately gave me the grounding to work in the industry! I saved up £99.99 for my ZX80 and spent hours learning how to use and programm it. This is an amazing project one I will look in to.

[@disband_thebbc5933]

I never owned a spectrum but it's thanks to Sir Clive that I owned a computer at all. He forced other manufacturers to lower their prices to remain competitive resulting me eventually getting a second hand Commodore 64 from someone down the street who was upgrading.

[@Rich77UK]

Magnificent! My dads cousin (rather wealthy) gave us his old ZX48k when I was about 7 (1984) as he bought an upgraded/molded version or similar. He soon moved onto a C64 and then Amiga...he also kept us in games...I miss David. The So the 48k was my first computer, and I loved it. Truly, a masterpiece of engineering making so putting affordable. sir Clive was way ahead of his time. People laughed at the C5 but today we see Renault Twizzy and Citroen Ami electric micro cars driving around (in Europe at least) people laughed at his electric bike...but they are literally everywhere now. The man was a good 40 years ahead of the rest. Oh...I'm totally building one of these.

[@sambranton3346]

You need to let us all know if you got one and how you got on.

[@paulie-g]

To be fair, part of being an inventor is being able to tell what the technology of the day can viably support. Most decent engineers would've been able to demonstrate that neither the C5 nor his bike were viable because batteries had dreadful Wh/kg and endurance, on the back of a napkin down the pub. You wouldn't even need to prototype to find that out. It would've been fine if he wanted to take some of his extra money and produce 'the future, today' for a few enthusiasts as a side project, but he bet Sinclair and everything he had on these ventures being mass market hits. I'm also more inclined to give credit to the actual engineers for the Speccy. Colourful character, though, would've done well in the present day if Musk is any indication

[@A37927]

I grew up in Spain and was lucky enough to have a Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K in my adolescence, which not only introduced me to the world of microcomputers until today, it literally changed my life (for the better!). Videos like this make me feel very good about the legacy and excellence of that British product that should never be forgotten.

[@keiichicom7891]

This brings back memories; I had a zx81 with the "wobbly" 16k memory expansion pack.

[@drbitboya]

Sweet work, thanks! My dad had several Timex-Sinclair 2068s. He ported the 1967 ASME Steam Tables from Fortran to Basic, and set them up to help General Electric Field Service Engineers analyze performance tests on steam turbines, so they could give preliminary results on the day of the test instead of the customer waiting for the data to be brought back to headquarters for analysis. The TS2068 had a 5-byte floating-point representation. It was better than 4-byte single precision, but not 8-byte double precision, so there was a convergence problem with one of the lookups that we eventually solved by replacing a successive substitution iteration with Newton-Raphson. After he retired he configured a TS2068, running off the his Ford van's battery, to display a trend of windspeed from an analog anemometer when he went windsurfing at Canadian Hole in Avon, NC, USA.

[@randy7894]

Good heavens. This is neat stuff. An MSX build with regular keys would be an instant buy for me. Thank you for making this video.

[@crouchypony]

Speccy owners will love the upgraded keyboard

[@paisleyboxers]

This is fantastic, I can see how much work you've put into this, thank you!

[@bamsegod]

Well worth the 3 week wait between videos. Amazing work Ken, love your channel

[@whatskenmaking]

Thanks! I really would like to make videos more frequently, but with a very demanding full time+ job, every 2 - 3 weeks seems to be the only option that's doable for me. Thanks for your patience!

[@bobbus_74]

Fantastic video. As an Englishman, I appreciate your use of "zed ex" and not "zee ex"!

[@otopico]

I love this project. I also l,ove your low key piano while doing the assembly as it reminds me of Mr. Rogers, which is always a good thing.

[@darren6202]

Thankyou for calling it a "ZED-X" Spectrum and not a "ZEE-X" Spectrum as others have in the past.

[@arostwocents]

I hate it when people call it zee-x. Every other product name people pronounce properly but for some reason ZX Spectrum people can't help but say it wrong a lot of the time. You don't find half the people calling Sega Segga do you

[@thomasschuler5351]

youre completely right. altho it's a "Zee 80" cpu 😊

[@darren6202]

@@thomasschuler5351 you prick!

[@Blitterbug]

@@thomasschuler5351 Ech.... I guess so 🤐

[@jasonviande5053]

Lol, does Canada and English say "zee-80"? Seems a bit inconsistent of they do

[@SockyNoob]

The Spectrum honestly makes the most sense as a handheld compared to other vintage computers.

[@sanpedro1337]

My first computer! i was about 5 and played in on a black and white telly :) Id start the tape whilst my tea was ready and when id finished eating the game would (hopefully) be loaded. If i remember right to load a game you pressed J, held symbolshift, pressed P, held symbolshift then P again 🕹⌨

[@raspberrypi]

LOVE

[@fastbeta]

Congrats! Cool project as always

[@jasonviande5053]

That... is awesome. Subbing to your channel now. I had a Timex Sinclair 2068 when I was a 17 (in '94 I think) and it was okay. It disappeared when I moved the first time, which is a bummer. Didn't really have much software of any kind, but it was technically my first computer.

[@sergiodeoliveira5358]

Sinclair computers were also extremely popular in Brazil during the 80s when the Brazilian government forced a closed market where computer imports were prohibited (to try and jumpstart a Brazilian self sufficient computer industry). A company by the name of Microdigital built several models (TK80,TK85 were ZX81 clones and the TK90X and TK95 were Spectrum clones). The ROMs were slightly modified to acommodate Brazilan characters with accents, etc., but still fairly backwards compatible with Spectrum software. The TK90X was my first computer.

[@phillai]

Great video Ken. 👍 This looks absolutely amazing!! 😎

[@firsteerr]

the memories of playing flinger twister to input code comes flooding back

[@stephenpalmer9375]

it is a lovely looking project, and actually looks fairly achievable with my soldering skills. However, being in the UK and having about 5 ZX Spectrums and multiple other emulation options, it's just a touch pricy. But kudos to the designer, and hopefully lots of people outside the UK will have fun with a piece of our history!

[@bogey4741]

To me the interesting aspect is not the zk emulation but that’s it a modern retro computer that shows you what can be done with a tiny dirt cheap modern mcu. Pretty amazing time we live in!

[@ErazerPT]

@@bogey4741 Yes, that's the most interesting part for me too. Things like the LYLYGO FabGL VGA32 really do show how much you can get done for very little these days. Fun to watch how people can "get creative" with off the shelf parts repurposed for some totally different end.

[@TheTurnipKing]

There's boards based on this emulator with VGA out that go straight into a 48k shell

[@whatskenmaking]

You can actually use the Pico ZX board straight in the shell if you don't solder on the tact switches. There are through-holes to solder on connectors that the 48k keyboard plugs right into.

[@rayerdinc2441]

Thank you for the video and what an amzing project I will look in to plus your video Sir, showing how to solder smc without hi-tech has given food for thought has that part did put me off at the start of the video. Thank you.

[@rayerdinc2441]

Oh, yes subscribed and liked!

[@rayerdinc2441]

Update chickened out, got a ready-to-go built one. With my eye sight and dexterity decided not to take the chance. It's a great nostalgic piece of history. 👍

[@DavidB-rx3km]

A very nice, clear video!

[@wktodd]

That's a really well designed project

[@marcosscriven]

This is great - been watching a lot of retro computing videos lately, and this is the first time I've seen your channel. I have a few questions. Do you use any kind of magnification or glasses while soldering the smaller components? Did you consider a hot plate or hot air gun for the SMD components? Love the background piano music - such good taste!

[@elektron2kim666]

My ZX-Spectrum experience in the 80's helped me in an exam with "X^2+2*x+2" questions as I had been exploring plots of those for a week.

[@BenHeckHacks]

Very cool!

[@AtreidaeChibiko]

Okay. Seeing that trick of leaving the screws on the screw driver has blown my mind

[@EnjoySynthSounds]

Just like the UK black rubber keyed model, I really love the aesthetics of the Timex 1500.

[@transientaardvark6231]

The ZX spectrum properly managed to do what the RasPi was supposed to do. I learned to program with it. It booted instantly, just worked and was impossible to break (short of by mechanical violence). If I'd had to learn on the horrible flakey linux pile of junk that is the RasPi I would have given up. RasPi is a nightmare just to get working at all. Not everything it comes with works. It constantly needs apt updating and each update breaks something. And any mis-step with config can brick it. Most Pis are inside industrial equipment as a convenient SBC which are programmed by specialist professionals who are paid to put up with linux. Most of the rest ae in cupboards either never opened or swiftly discarded once it was seen just how unusable they are. A tiny amount have successfully ended up in projects. The Pico OTOH is a proper dev board and it is astonishing that the $4 board can pretend to be a ZX spectrum in faster than real-time. PicoZX is exactly what the RasPi should have been from the start.

[@castman]

Very good project 👍 Thanks for this

[@adriant.7568]

Thanks. Ken - What type/size of solder are you using and what temp is your iron?

[@newYorkStories]

My first computer in my early teens was a ZX-81. I skipped the Spectrum to move on the C-64, but this is very interesting. Oh, and I grew up in Europe

[@justinthomas2458]

Ken, have you updated the headphone jack link in the description to a cut off variant? Finally got around to ordering the boards and onto parts

[@whatskenmaking]

No, I haven't - it's still the original design that Peter used. Good luck with your build! If you post a photo on Twitter/X, please tag me so I can see how it turned out!

[@justinthomas2458]

@whatskenmaking Thanks for the reply! The jack you have linked is currently unavailable but I have a couple straight pin ones leftover from another project that I'll just bend the legs out and if I have to implore some bodge wires and hot snot it to lock it down. BTW I appreciate the way you edit your vids without drowning out your voice with music or fading out with a palm slaps!

[@justinthomas2458]

​@whatskenmaking Fi ished my build! One improvement I made was using a 606090 lipo from Amazon and installed it inside the enclosure instead of the big 18650 holder. I'm not on Twitter but I would be happy to share pictures. It was a fun build so thanks for spotlighting here or I probably would have missed it

[@RichardHallas]

Great video, but I’d love to know how well the ZX81 emulator works on this, as it’d be the perfect companion emulator to the Spectrum - given that the ZX81 is the Spectrum’s predecessor and both systems have 40-key keyboards with similar layouts.

[@TheTurnipKing]

They're so close to being the same machine that if the Spectrum emulator works the ZX81 is bound to.

[@RichardHallas]

@@TheTurnipKing With respect, that’s not what I asked. Ken made the point that some of the other emulators worked better than others. Clearly they’re all supposed to work on this hardware, but some have problems. I was simply hoping for more information about how well the ZX81 emulator works, since it’s something I’d want to use if I got a Pico ZX myself - and it could well influence my decision to get one.

[@TheTurnipKing]

​@@RichardHallas unfortunately I've only used the fruitbat Spectrum emulator on a Pico, but it makes me very hopeful that the ZX81 would be damn near perfect.

[@whatskenmaking]

Ah, yes - in hindsight, I probably should've given some more details on which MCUME emulators worked. The ZX81 emulator functions well - the keyboard works as expected and the BASIC commands/programs I tested work fine. Games were hit or miss - some loaded without issue (3D Monster Maze and Breakout, for example), but there were others that I couldn't get to load (e.g. Lunar Lander or Galaxians). It could've been an issue with my tape image, though - I didn't spend much time troubleshooting or looking for alternative images.

[@RichardHallas]

@@whatskenmaking Thank you.

[@pin00ch]

this project tempts me to do it. I mean it looks 'doable'

[@whatskenmaking]

It's quite doable - probably the most difficult part for folks that don't have a lot of soldering experience is the LCD. They're less than $4, so I would suggest buying 2 or 3 of them as backups in case one gets damaged during install

[@IgnusFast]

I really wish this was available as a kit. I think I could handle assembly, but I don't have the wherewithal to source all of those parts. :)

[@carlhuyts1452]

I had a zx spectrum, I was about 15 years old. Had some games. Then I got books how to program. Together with my father I started learning. and so on. later, Toshiba msx computer. These were nice years😂

[@AlexEvans1]

The ZX-81 (and ZX-80) was actually sold in the US. I have a US ZX-81 that we bought new in 1981.

[@borayurt66]

This is a great project that I have been seeing around. But, having the PCBs made really costs a significant sum, close to $190 + delivery (can be around $50+ with DHL) for the thicker version. I wish PCBWay would sponsor me too. :-)

[@justinthomas2458]

On a multiple board project like this I wish pcb way would allow single pieces to be ordered, I only want to build one!

[@whatskenmaking]

I did see a comment where at least one person was putting in an order and is willing to sell the additional boards... that might be worth getting in on if you want to build one!

[@rayerdinc2441]

Ah, I have just come across this video and project, so the boards are not ready built for people to buy? You have to buy a batch of them? If so, nice project but don't need a load of boards or PicoZX's. Shame really.

[@mikeh_nz]

@@whatskenmaking Did you get “Black” or “Matt Black” as your board color?

[@MisterErts]

It needs a slightly larger screen, slightly larger keys on the keyboard, and much better joypad d-pad. Apart from that, it looks like a great project

[@helioscat4231]

How to enable there SpecNext features?

[@MrPDawes]

Just waiting for the BBC Micro version. I didn't see any audio disconnect pads on the Audio Jack so I don't believe you have done anything wrong here.

[@whatskenmaking]

Good point - I talked to Peter after the video, and he confirmed that there's no audio disconnect

[@suvetar]

Such a lovely looking board and you did a great job of presenting the build too, Thank you! Daft question, but does the symbol on your ring mean anything?

[@whatskenmaking]

Thank you! Yes, it's a "Band of Brothers" ring that was given to me by two of my closest friends. You can read more about it here - www.bandofbrothers.org/brother-card 😄

[@suvetar]

@@whatskenmaking That's cool! You have good friends Sir! 🙂

[@cromulence]

Highly recommend watching the BBC TV movie ‘Micro Men’!

[@whatskenmaking]

I've seen a little bit of it - it took me a few minutes before I said "hey, that guy isn't really Sir Clive Sinclair... this is a newer film!" I definitely want to go back and watch the whole thing

[@dh2032]

@@whatskenmaking there nearly always a copy on you tube somewhere

[@justinthomas2458]

A tip for anyone ordering parts from mauser: order caps and resistors in multiples of 10. The price jumps down significantly and is actually cheaper than ordering 2 or 3 of each

[@christopherlawley1842]

I wonder how difficult it would be to incorporate an emulator for the Jupiter Ace? It was related to the ZX81 but ran FORTH

[@whatskenmaking]

If you can find an existing build of a Jupiter Ace emulator for the RP2040 platform, it probably wouldn't be too difficult to modify it for the PicoZX - make sure the keyboard map is correct, and drop in an ST7789 display driver over SPI, and you'd be mostly there.

[@SammyRenard]

Is there an oled screen that's compatible with this? o: it's interesting, but lcd... mnyeh.

[@neiltonks]

Please tell me this is available in kit form. Because that would be an awesome project

[@whatskenmaking]

Unfortunately, it isn't - and that's actually one of the reasons why I wanted to make this video; the documentation is lacking and the parts list incomplete, so I was hoping this video might help others that want to take it on. That said, I was thinking about putting together some kits to take with me to VCF East and MGC this year, but I'm not sure if I have the time.

[@neiltonks]

If you did that would be awesome.

[@MisterErts]

Thanks for the parts list, I was struggling to find what I would need to build it, the official documentation is lacking.

[@jadall77]

i'm pretty sure i've seen a video of someone rebuild the z81 from all new parts, i think because guy was a cool nerd used an og. z80 or whatnot cpu.

[@AndrewTSq]

i was just thinking it would be awesome to be able to use a normal keyboard and gamepad, and now you show that :D is it possible to buy it prebuilt ?

[@whatskenmaking]

Peter had some pre-built devices for sale on Tindie - you might check there - www.tindie.com/products/bobricius/picozx-handheld-zx-spectrum-128k-other-8bits

[@SianaGearz]

With a generous amount of help, i was able to build a ZX Spectrum clone, a Leningrad 48k when i was 9, in the early 90s. It was such a flaky piece of shit, unsurprising given i had to build it from Soviet surplus/reject parts. Leningrad doesn't use the ULA chip since that wasn't available, instead it replaces it with about 12 74- and 40-series clone ICs. It can be built entirely from Soviet parts, including a Kyiv-made Z80 clone based on U880. There is a firmware target for the inverted LCD, you can see it right above the one you flashed in the video. The TN TFT screen isn't an ideal choice though because colour warps excessively when it isn't used in its normal vertical orientation, IPS TFT screen is much nicer in this regard. Inversion is a strap on the ST display controller, so similar screens even with the same type of panel and a suitable pinout could come with different configuration in this regard. I can't find the schematic for this particular device, but the firmware supports separate outputs. Have you checked what the mute option in the menu does, does it just mute the buzzer or the 3.5mm output both? I don't see that the footprint of the 3.5mm connector supports plug detection at all. Perhaps you can request a menu option from the fruit bat? Your TP4056 board contains two little chips, one of those is DW01 battery protector IC and the other its companion MOSFET pair. These are the same exact that you find on a protected cell terminal PCB, these support overcurrent, overcharge or overdischarge cutoff, so protected battery isn't needed, but it also doesn't hurt. Just need to ensure in this case to connect the computer to the protected output of the charger board as opposed to the battery directly.

[@JoeSim8s]

Great video, thnx!

[@bigbadhodad3894]

ok, I have been wanting a spectrum, this will be my next project, as I cannot find one.

[@whatskenmaking]

I hear you - I've seen several on eBay, but they're usually in pretty poor cosmetic condition. I'm definitely going to pick up a 2068 when the right deal comes along though!

[@crookedninja5]

cool... I might build one of these.

[@MrMegaManFan]

30 seconds in and it's already better than the ZX Spectrum Vega+.

[@CThreepio]

The ZX Spectrum was the first computer I used. More precisely it was its Soviet clone.

[@romanarcturus7335]

Cool device. But VGA connector / cable are too heavy for handheld.

[@JimmyBellLoyal]

What’s the total cost Ken? Thanks in advance

[@whatskenmaking]

It's always a little tricky to come up with an exact cost when the parts come inmultiple quantities (i.e. boards come in sets of 5 as a minimum, charge controller comes as a 12 pack, etc) - but some quick 'back of the napkin' math puts it around $100 in parts per device for the 'full' version. For the slim version, it's probably around $90. And you can get the cost down some more if you were to make some 3d-printed side pieces instead of using the PCBs.

[@tabuhuso1]

hi is this opensource project ?

[@whatskenmaking]

Unfortunately, no. 🙁

[@MotownBatman]

New Sub; Dryden, Mich. Really Cool Device, Waiting for someone to Roll-Out a 286 like this lol

[@whatskenmaking]

Thanks! Stay tuned 😉

[@jlawrence71]

Great Video, Just subscribed. !! - As a kid, I begged my parents for the kit version of the Timex Sinclair. Never got it. (I did do the C64/C128 as a kid and ended up a Software Engineer for my career, so I guess that worked out.) But seeing this (and the other Pretty Cool emulations this thing could do) I could not resist. Ordering from PCBWay. Unfortunately, I have to get 5 copies. I ordered PCBs to make 5 with either the slim or full size options. Maybe some of your peeps here might want to obtain the extra copies?? (PCBs only, no components) They worked out to about $45 for each set of PCBs cost. I can sell the extra for a little bit more. LMK what you think?

[@whatskenmaking]

That's awesome - I would encourage you to go for it. I've seen several comments from people saying they'd like to buy the boards, but don't want to spend the money for multiples. Maybe consider putting them on Ebay for a buy-it now price, and share the link

[@justinthomas2458]

I would buy a set for the FULL size build

[@JaxReads]

Hey count me in for a set for the full build. Really intrigued by this.

[@jlawrence71]

Update... The screens/PCBc came in from AliExpress/PCBWAY and I am looking at getting my parts. I know I said I did not want to offer everything, but ordering for all 5 is really no more trouble. I wanted to float the question before I ordered everything x5 Looks like that total would be $135 for every part needed including $10 shipping to you cost. Still interested at that level? Would probably want to do Venmo so we can avoid FleaBAY fees and even more taxes. (parts have tax I payed figured in already) LMK... (Shipping would only apply to US addresses, ;) )

[@justinthomas2458]

I'm still interested. When you say all parts are you saying all boards or complete build list? Also I'm only interested in the full sized build with vga out

[@lunarmodule6419]

Interesting thx

[@atabac]

Why didn't Timex get into computer space market

[@aithanmier]

Dang thats expensive AF. I’d love to build one but i’d have to find four friends that wanted to build one also for it to be reasonable. Hell the face PCB is $87 for a five pack.

[@william18miller]

I mean no harm by this... but you were a toddler in 1982? so you are currently in your low 40's?

[@whatskenmaking]

No offense taken - I've always looked a lot older than my age, and I went grey in my 20s. It actually helped me out a bit earlier in my career! Yep, I'm under 45 😁

[@william18miller]

@@whatskenmaking cool.. you are exactly the age of my older brother.. thanks for not taking any offense 🙂

[@Foga001]

Out brother (Insert Bugs Bunny commie meme here)

[@InfiniteLoop]

I so wish someone sold this as a kit,

[@matthewmillaisgray]

Hello Ken! I hope you're having a great day. I wanted to express my gratitude for featuring this remarkable PCB 'ZX Spectrum emulator' in your video. The level of insight you provide is truly excellent, and it's evident that you've put a lot of effort into showcasing its features. I was wondering if you would be open to taking some questions, Ken. Specifically, I'm curious about your knowledge of Bobricus' Mechsenger. How does it compare to this emulator? Are they based on the same architecture, or does the incorporation of LORA technology significantly differentiate them? I'm particularly interested in whether the PICOZX could potentially be adapted or enhanced to function as a Mechsenger, or if the Mechsenger is a distinct ZX Spectrum emulating device on its own. As a self-professed layman in this field, I yet find myself drawn to these types of projects and rely on experts like yourself for guidance. Perhaps exploring the topic further in an additional video, if it aligns with your interests and accessibility to the Mechsenger PCB, could be a fascinating endeavor. In any case, please accept my best wishes and warm greetings. Keep up the fantastic work on your channel! Best regards, Matt

[@whatskenmaking]

Hi Matt - I've seen Peter's other projects, but the PicoZX is only one that I've built myself. The Armachat (I think that's the messenger you're referring to) certainly does look interesting, and it actually looks like it uses some of the same parts (same LCD and tact switches), but it's based on the ESP32 as the MCU instead of the Pico. The other big difference is that the Armachat has a long range transceiver, which the PicoZX does not have. The transceiver is a SPI device, so it wouldn't been difficult to interface it with one of the Pico's SPI busses (probably the same bus the microSD slot is on), but given that it runs on a different MCU and uses different firmware, I wouldn't recommend trying to turn the PicoZX into a LoRa communicator. Thanks for the kind comments and well wishes!

[@Borishal]

Bomb Jack!

[@naikrovek]

this hits all the nerd synapses but i struggle to understand why someone would need to carry around a portable c64. if this is your kind of thing, then you do you i guess. :)

[@jonnyspeed8974]

LOL. FCC managed to complete funk-up one of the most iconic computers of the 80s. It is reassuring that they've always been incompetent.

[@WildVoltorb]

Yeah, it IS expensive for something that looks so rough. I wish it had a real keyboard or at least a dpad

[@EnjoySynthSounds]

A bigger screen and I'd be in like Flynn.

[@CB3ROB-CyberBunker]

oh my gawd. if clive was still around that cheap ass would have made the real thing of pcb's too :P 'who needs a case when we can just use pcb's to be the case' :P

[@DezEssent]

100 GF's! And I can't get even one...

[@krejza9]

It's a nice project, but $200 for 3 PCBs no thanks. PCBWay is really expensive.

[@whatskenmaking]

That's the one downside - because it requires so many boards, it's not inexpensive. You can actually get away with just the mainboard and battery board, and make 3d-printed replacements for the others. Another option could be to order a set of the boards, which come in multiples of 5, and sell the others off to make back the money (there might be some folks watching this video that would be willing to buy them from you!). Also, Peter was selling the boards on Tindie for around $50 for the full set, but I think he's stopped because it's said out of stock for a while now. Unfortunately, the design isn't open source, so we don't have access to the gerbers.

[@bogey4741]

@@whatskenmakingI want to buy a single set of pcbs or even better pcbs and all the parts (preferable the full one) to build myself. If anyone knows of a kit for sale or if you do have the extras let me know and I’ll buy a kit from you! Very interested in this!

[@whatskenmaking]

Keep an eye on Peter's tindie page - he might post more for sale - www.tindie.com/products/bobricius/picozx-handheld-zx-spectrum-128k-other-8bits/

[@bogey4741]

@@whatskenmakingsee it! Thank you! I ended up buying an assembled one up there. There was only the basic white one left but maybe I can add the vga myself somehow. That’s all I really want that’s missing in the non full one. Will Frankenstein it.

[@whatskenmaking]

Nice! To add VGA, you just need to populate the DE-15 connector and the RGB resistors and caps. I tried to call out which components were specifically for VGA and which were for audio in the video, so hopefully that helps

[@darrylkinslow5613]

What part of this thing implies it emulates anything? "Emulator" suggests it does the same thing as something else. Is it doing the same thing as a computer but is completely different, as in emulation? Or is it just a really shitty computer, which is what it appears to be?

[@whatskenmaking]

It's primarily a ZX Spectrum emulator, but as I showed in the video, it also emulators Commodore 64, Atari computers, and a few others. Or maybe I'm misunderstanding your question?

[@darrylkinslow5613]

You don't understand me asking if this is either a shitty computer, or something completely different which emulates a computer? Wow. And yet you thought you were smart enough to make a video? Wow. You said it is a "classic computer emulator" but if it is in fact a computer, it is not an emulator. @@whatskenmaking

[@JonSpink]

it emulates the classic computer from the 80s. its emulating its 8 bit processing on a much more powerful device. its not meant to be high tech its retro.Hope this helps.@@darrylkinslow5613

[@customsongmaker]

​@@darrylkinslow5613which part of the video made you think it doesn't emulate anything?

[@darrylkinslow5613]

@@customsongmaker A computer isn't an emulator of a computer, a computer just is a computer. And so no, nothing is being emulated here. It has nothing whatsoever to do with what I would think.

[@nickname5906]

фигня эти все эмуляторы, радости никакой. спектрум должен быть собран на оригинальном z80 точка.

[@Dinnye01]

PCB Way is nice... but they are chinese... and China has a huge problem with chip design. So everything you upload there is just free research for them. Keep that one in mind.

[@dc9662]

Great. Now thanks to you, they're going to know more about how to make terrible arguments.

[@Megatog615]

now all of china knows about your 40-year-old computer!

[@Isis-vm6cp]

​@@Megatog615 so dangerous if every Chinese have one of those... They could mine all bitcoin left in 3 days, or develop some kind of good AI that rule the entire humanity....

[@SockyNoob]

Lenovo is Chinese and has completely original designs, so that's bullshit.

[@williambrasky3891]

You believe that China, which has been the PCB manufacturing capital of the world for over 20 years, is incapable of designing their own PCBs? Chip design is something entirely different. Chips are the little ICs that go on the PCB. Unless you’re designing the next Nvidia GPU, AMD server processor, or cutting edge ARM SOC, nothing you’re gonna design will interest China. They are already designing & building their own chip designs on all but the most cutting edge nodes. Unless you’re submitting a new EUV lithography machine, no one in china is going to pay much attention. If you’re going to act concerned about a problem you think warrants warning ppl about, you should at least spend 5 fucking minutes to learn what it is you’re supposed to be scared about. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You’re too lazy to learn about the world around you so instead you’re just scared of it.

[@VladIDrago]

Tesla no chance with Sinclair : )..Precursor.

[@ethzero]

I'm based in the UK. I was given a Timex Sinclair 1000 with it's ABSOLUTELY. GOD. AWFUL. MEMBRANE. KEYBOARD. I remember as a kid spending most of my time hitting the delete backspace button due to all the mis-registered double key presses. My wish is that a few of these are preserved in museums as a warning from history and the remaining are FIRED DIRECTLY IN THE SUN - Thanks ☀️💩👍