You won't find another Spectrum 48k like this anywhere - Final part of our new build - and What If?!

The final part of our brand new Spectrum build -and we're asking What If the Spectrum had won race to be the machine of the BBC? This episode has been sponsored by our good friends at PCBWay.com - Check out their website for all your PCB fabrication needs. pcbway.com - PCBs for as little as $5!
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PABB's Issue 3B ReDrawn
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SuperFo's Mechanical Keyboard
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VLA82
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Retroleum RAM and ROM
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Spectrum Issue 3b Bill Of Materials
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Spectrum S-Video Conversion
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Keyboard Stickers
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[@TheRetroShack]

I've added the link to the keyboard stickers in the description. Sorry about the oversight :)

[@BOBService417]

Nice video!😉

[@PeterMaddison2483]

Where's the SPACE bar?

[@letsdiscussitoversometea8479]

​@@PeterMaddison2483that would've been a REALLY good improvement. I'm only aware of companies such as Fuller and Protek developing such keyboards however, which is a shame.

[@TheCompoundingInvestor]

A work of art. Excellent effort

[@SudaNIm103]

I'm impressed.

[@Super_Bros.]

That looks really awesome! I really like it a lot.

[@TheRetroShack]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@giulianomarco]

Perfection. Though like the Stones said, "Paint It, Black". 😋 The sticky labels on my DK'Tronics keyboard eventually started coming off. So I was left with just grey and red blank keys! But by then I knew where all the tokens were anyway. 👍

[@benbeazley3614]

Cool looking specie. 😊

[@johnd5051]

It looks awesome but I think it would of looked better black or even another colour but well done 👏

[@Rick_Todd]

Yes should of been Black to look like a Real ZX Spectrum. Very good job though.

[@MaggieKeizai]

That's fantastic; all new production vintage machines are just a wonderful thing to make.

[@jrrscttktts]

Don’t be hard on yourself with your mis-steps on your prototype. I’ve seen “real” engineers end up further off on their prototypes and it’s what I do for a living! You did great.

[@dadawoodslife]

Amazing, what a time to be alive, with the ability to build professional looking products like these at home.

[@HappyCodingZX]

Great work and a lot of fun! Just my humble opinion but I think that Sir Clive would have wanted it black, and the BBC had a spec that I think would have insisted on a spacebar and bigger Enter key, if not like the actual BBC Micro then at the very least like the Spectrum plus . Much like the other build a machine with proper keys just doesn't look right without them.

[@Scrub_Ghost]

Brilliant. You have so much patience and dedication. Congratulations.

[@JVHShack]

Very nice unit here, Mr. Shack! Also, good luck to all who enter the contest.

[@mattedsmith]

I'm not sure I like the result, but I love that you've done this whole series and tried to put a funky twist on it, thanks!

[@gerryh8367]

Absolutely superb.......

[@TheRetroShack]

Thanks a lot 😊

[@jowi_24seven43]

I was impressed by the keyboard and its inserts. Very nice practical design

[@erwindewit4073]

That is pretty cool! Getting a ZX Spectrum with a mechanical keyboard is fantastic in itself I think!

[@bobbus_74]

Lovely job. Really enjoyed all the trial and error along the way.

[@retrogametherapy]

Love this! Can't wait to try one myself! And the stickers looked like fun to me 🤣🤣

[@whity4584]

Brilliant work, love the keyboard

[@pwissink1]

Well done 👍

[@mikeh_nz]

Nicely done.

[@Ray-ej3jb]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

[@rager1969]

I was a little dubious when you said 3D print a case. I thought it would look a bit weak and it did, until you dressed it up, especially with the keys. It's amazing how little details and color have a big impact.

[@pet.a.928]

looking good, like the case style and fixes the spectrum shortfall of the keyboard.

[@S0urceror]

Wonderful. Congratulations on this build. You covered the whole Spectrum (of possibilities) 😊

[@charlesjmouse]

Very nice, and very well done! More of this 'silliness' please. If you have a spare keycap or two and stickers, might I suggest testing with a shot of clear coat over the top - may well help integrate things even better. IIRC: One of the reasons why the Beeb didn't go for the Speccy was "We're not putting that toy on the TV." I wonder if old uncle Clive might have had a shot using something more like your design? Mind you, as a BBC B user back in the day I'm happy with history as it is.

[@BottIsNotABot]

Funny isn't it that Rick Dickinson's design for the ZX Spectrum is now viewed as iconic! The BBC Micro not so much. I was (still am!) an owner of many Spectrums, never a BEEB but used them at school. Both great machines, but have to say the Acorn produced BBC was probably the better choice for the harshness of a school environment.

[@frankowalker4662]

That is absolutely gorgeous. I love the case design. One question, where did you get those keyboard stickers ? There is no mention of them in the description.

[@TheRetroShack]

Thanks! Added the link in the description :)

[@frankowalker4662]

@@TheRetroShack Thank you. 👍

[@SomePeopleCallMeWulfman]

It reminds me more of the Dragon 32 than the BBC, but very cool project nonetheless!

[@Hellwyck]

Well done to all, that looks equal parts adorable and awesome!

[@Dondeath]

Awesome job!

[@SawItComingNot]

Fantastic. Mesmerized by your channel. I have had to result to retro gaming consoles now for my pleasure, due to ill health, very shaky hands. I used to love nothing more than a PCB and a soldering iron, I used to service fruit machines. No longer have the dexterity, but love your approach to the retro computers. Keep the great content coming 👍

[@TheRetroShack]

Thanks, and glad you’re enjoying the channel :)

[@ChrisShadowens]

This came out great, and I love the key stickers showing all the extended commands. Hopefully they hold up to the wear and tear of long-term typing on them. I also liked seeing the quality of 3D printing PCBWay does. Should I need something printed up I'll definitely consider using them.

[@slowlymakingsmoke]

That 3D print looks amazing. I do think the BBC would of insisted on something larger, and metal😂. Well done on the project

[@TheRetroShack]

Thanks 👍

[@Rydbjerg]

What a nice BBCtrum 48K 😀 But I would really like to know how I could get a hold of the PI-board shown at the timestamp 1:38 ❤

[@TheFuzzy70]

Great series on your build & awesome result. I'm hopefully going to treat myself this xmas with a Harlequin 128k kit, but like yourself am planning on making my own case so thank you for pointing out your mistakes (will make me think more about possible issues like the edge connector gap & the board mounting)

[@stevvieb]

good job on that case

[@KraftyLive]

I Think the 48K+ would have been the BBC Specky, that or sinclair would have incorporated the actual computer to the monitor and had the keyboard as an external component

[@siriokds]

Oh dear! It looks great! I wonder if there are lucid black keycaps in order to match the stickers.

[@shanebroadbent2792]

Love it. Great job 👍

[@johnriding3217]

Another great series, warts and all :)

[@stevesrover]

Looks fantastic. I love getting my Speccy out every now and then. It’s truly a little marvel. How does something so small do so much?

[@gingertom64]

Now that is a nice ZX Spectrum. I think the only think missing was a name label of some sort on the case.

[@kaitlyn__L]

It’s so cool that the price for low-quantity runs of basically production-quality prototype cases are available now. I’ve always thought SLA was better for quality and structural strength, and your little overhang is testament to that. I’ve been wanting a little resin home printer myself for a while, not for small computer parts (though I could), but for models to paint which you can’t buy anywhere else. Though I’m guessing PCBWay could probably do that too..!

[@richards7909]

That looks brilliant!

[@gregdunlap7538]

Looks fantastic! It's a little weird to see a Speccy in white, but in context it makes sense. Really like how you did the stripes!

[@thegreatjonzini]

Awesome 🎉

[@SimonFittonDavies]

Very nice. 😊

[@jparky1972]

Looks good. I think, considering 'most other things that Sinclair sold were black. This too 'should' have been black. Or "Very very dark grey".

[@KraftyLive]

I like this Iteration, although if I was building a 48k keyboard today i would move the CAPS SHIFT, SYMOBL SHIFT and Space, make a 5 row with them and an actual spacebar with larger ENTER

[@arioch2004]

I miss my 48k zx spectrum so much...

[@baz8755]

Looks awesome however I still think Sinclair nailed it with the 48K ZX Spectrum and it's dead flesh keyboard, coming from a ZX81 the machine was amazing. One day I will treat myself to one with all modern upgraded innards.

[@Rubberdinghyrapids]

what a fantastic project, well done, looks amazing. can anyone remember on the BBC computer, there was a game, possibly called dragons lair or something similar? was possibly one of the 1st role playing games i remember. apologies, i know there's not much to go off.

[@johnwiesen4440]

Hi I use my Recreated Sinclair ZX Spectrum on my PC emulator. I got it many years ago. It is a very nice ZX Spectrum.

[@sonicpelaaja]

Looks like a joy to use compared to a stock 48k Speccy. It's a looker too. Nicely done!

[@arthurswart4436]

Love it. Still have my ZX Spectrum+ in a box in storage somewhere. I'd love to have a build kit to make my reproduction version. How much would that set me back?

[@luisvolkyazul]

Wow 🎉

[@YesiPleb]

Try and get your hands on an Amstrad CPC 6128 and do that up. Get a Gotek in there instead of the old disk drive. Would be interested to see what other add-ons you can get for it.

[@danpedersen55]

Great !!🎉😊

[@zdanee]

Wow! Now all you need an old 8" CRT to go at the top of that!

[@georgemaragos2378]

Hi, Well done it looks great Would you redo the case and add say 10mm more in depth to alleviate the problem with the angle headers and cable clearance What of some type of heat sink ??? even the glue on ones like a raspbery pi Regards George

[@PaulioBee]

Visually I get Jupiter Ace vibes, but with the full keys.

[@Colin_Ames]

It looks great. Could the Spectrum have been the BBC computer? Maybe, although I think the BBC made the right choice with the Acorn. Where did you source those keyboard stickers from? There’s no link to them.

[@TheRetroShack]

Thanks! Added the link in the description :)

[@another3997]

The downside to the Acorn was of course, price. At between 3 and 4 times the cost of a Speccy, but with less memory, the Beeb was always going to struggle as a 'home' computer. Even some schools and colleges struggled to afford them. Yes, the Acorn was a better quality product, and technically advanced... but a revised, better equipped Spectrum could still have made a lot of sense for a lot less money.

[@Colin_Ames]

@@another3997 What you say makes perfect sense, assuming Clive Sinclair could have risen to the challenge and created something robust enough to withstand the abuse from students. Sadly we’ll never know.

[@CharlesBlackburn]

Now you have done this….. RENEW the BEEB!!! Along with the tube, 1mhz bus, user port etc

[@learningtoride1714]

The case did give me some Jupiter Ace vibes.

[@paul_boddie]

I was thinking that as well: a Jupiter Ace with a proper keyboard, albeit without a space bar. Why do none of these Spectrum remakes (seen also recently on RMC) give the machine a proper space bar?

[@horusfalcon]

I have to agree with johnd5051: black is the new retro!

[@markretro3612]

wow .. that is cool or as we would have said in the 80's ... RAD

[@catonthekbd]

If you turned the keyboard pins so they faced away from the main pcb, would the cables still fit?

[@ZaPpaul]

I would have solved the keycaps issue by using the Gosh Wonderful ROM, which allows you to type commands normally.

[@FireballXL55]

The special looks good, but not what a BBC sinclair would look like it would have been bigger to have all the items on the BBC tick list. 2 of being the analogue input port and a Teletext mode. without even thinking of disk drives etc.

[@another3997]

The original BBC tender didn't call for any of those things. The BBC Micro was to have been the 'Grundy Newbrain', but that fell through, leaving them with a big problem. The BBC saw the Acorn and having been wowed by their spiel, theycwent with it, drawing up a new set of requirements along the way. Companies like Sinclair and Tangerine were of course a bit miffed at the BBC for moving the goal posts.

[@FireballXL55]

I thought that was one of the reasons why the Newbrain one fell through because they would/could not meet the full spec.@@another3997

[@paul_boddie]

@@another3997 You should have this discussion with a few of the people involved. I can think of one person who would vigourously disagree with some of these assertions. They would say that the BBC knew what they wanted and made sure they got it. I think that even people working at Acorn would agree that they got a hard time from the BBC over such matters. In any case, before Grundy got involved, it was the Newbury Laboratories' NewBrain, and industrial politics tailored the initial specification to that. Acorn were certainly opportunists, however, and managed to squeeze the Proton into the gap left by the NewBrain, not least by promising a future CP/M capability that was eventually delivered in the form of the Z80 Second Processor. It is actually rather likely that the specification evolved from merely exposing people to computers, which appeals to those who marvel at technology, to providing something that had a degree of versatility, which potentially appeals to a much wider audience. Along the way, features like Teletext and Viewdata capabilities will also have found their way onboard due to the trends of the era and the technological interests of the BBC, and I would accept that some of those capabilities could have been left out. As for Sinclair's eligibility, it seemed pretty clear that he wasn't willing to compromise on his vision and the BBC weren't really willing to compromise on theirs, or at least not to the extent that they considered Sinclair's vision and often peculiar choices to be worth adopting instead. For example, Sinclair went on to release a business machine with another substandard keyboard and an underperforming, proprietary storage technology. Of course, all this would have played out differently had the IBM PC showed up slightly earlier and been more affordable, or if ACT (later Apricot) had been able to bring their own products downmarket, or if the initiative had been postponed and resumed a couple of years later.

[@RichSzerman]

A time saver what if you instead used the membrane and the rubber keys in your custom case instead put some micro switches between the rubber mat and membrane thus giving a click with each rubber key press?

[@andygozzo72]

dont suppose you have a couple of spare modulator lids you're willing to sell? i'm after some......?

[@leebardoe5180]

Looks good I won't still rather have a BBC Micro. Sorry!!!

[@thomasrotweiler]

Out of interest - total cost of components, case etc ?

[@33ordie]

I get why the Spectrum is big in the UK. But personally, I wouldn't want to have one even at a 10 mile radius. It's coder colors, sound chip isn't anything special, and a Z80 really isn't anything special. But bottom line the computer doesn't do anything to me in any way. C64 hell yeah! Atari 8bit hell yeah! Other computers I couldn't care less; Amstrad CPC and all variants, and MSX1 initial launch machines. MSX 2 2+ 3 love them and all those cartridge based expansions very nice, like the sound expansions. But again I might miss the plot. What is so interesting about the Spectrum and acolytes? Please tell me. I feel it's the same "emotional relation" there as people in love with "Xenon 2" which is one of the crappiest slowest numbest shooters ever...

[@seraphinberktold7087]

The ZX Spectrum is the first home computer, i.e. affordabe machine with sufficient RAM to do complex stuff. It started a (game) coding industry. The simplicity of the hardware and its big software library spawned a wagonload of clones, especially in Spanish speaking countries and in Eastern Europe and Russia. There are some 100 clones listed on several websites, even a Wikipedia site lists more than 80 clones. The ZX Spectrum left a huge footprint around the whole World, especially in countries which did not have access to expensive hardware gimmicks. And come on, let's face it, custom chips to help a limping CPU are just boring.

[@3dhYT]

White case and black keyboard? 👎

[@paulladdie1026]

looks great!