Hello from Colorado USA

Introduce yourself to your fellow forum members - what was your journey into the Sinclair world?
craftsman1234
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Joined: Wed Aug 02, 2017 9:15 pm

Hello from Colorado USA

Post by craftsman1234 »

Just stopping in to say hi. TS-1000 16k pack owner since the 80's. Got her all hooked up again about 2 years ago and did the basic composite mod with the transistor and resister. Works pretty well. Of course had all the fun with converting P files to wav then to cassette. Fun Fun.

This last weekend I was able to pick up in the original box a ZX81 and 16k pack. It is working great and just found out about OTLA so I have been able to access a lot more programs. I was hoping to be able to use the mini PC Lattepanda to run OTLA (which it does) but it does not seem to output the sound correctly to be able to complete loading correctly no matter what volume you set (Sigh). The PC does just fine. I plan to add 16k to the motherboard and composite mod the zx81 as well.

Big fan of Bob's Stuff (game)

Looking to get a zxpand and sound card if they are ever remade.
ZX81 / TS-1000. Commodore 128DCR/SuperCPU/Ramlink, 64, PETs, Plus/4 C16, Vic-20, COCO, TI/99
sirmorris
Posts: 2811
Joined: Thu May 08, 2008 5:45 pm

Re: Hello from Colorado USA

Post by sirmorris »

Welcome aboard!

ZXpands are now in their second generation - the '+'. Look out on SellMyRetro. More coming soon.

C
craftsman1234
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Joined: Wed Aug 02, 2017 9:15 pm

Re: Hello from Colorado USA

Post by craftsman1234 »

Thanks, that is where I have been checking.
ZX81 / TS-1000. Commodore 128DCR/SuperCPU/Ramlink, 64, PETs, Plus/4 C16, Vic-20, COCO, TI/99
sirmorris
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Re: Hello from Colorado USA

Post by sirmorris »

One thing with the playing of tapes from the PC - do you use mono-mono cables? They are recommended.
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Andy Rea
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Re: Hello from Colorado USA

Post by Andy Rea »

as well as using a mono cable its also possible that the volume is just not high enough, in such cases there are 3 options

1 you already know, use a different machine
2 use an external amplifier between source and zx81 ( it was quite popular in the 80's for such arrangements as they actually over amplified the signal essentially providing a square wave input to the zx81 )
3 modify the input circuit on the zx81

welcome to the forum

regards Andy
what's that Smell.... smells like fresh flux and solder fumes...
craftsman1234
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Joined: Wed Aug 02, 2017 9:15 pm

Re: Hello from Colorado USA

Post by craftsman1234 »

sirmorris wrote: Thu Aug 03, 2017 10:16 pm One thing with the playing of tapes from the PC - do you use mono-mono cables? They are recommended.
Yes and tried several. I have the stock cables that came with the Zx81 as well. I'm using a modded one now that is split but ends up as mono. It works great with the PC. Just does not seem to work with the mini PC.
ZX81 / TS-1000. Commodore 128DCR/SuperCPU/Ramlink, 64, PETs, Plus/4 C16, Vic-20, COCO, TI/99
craftsman1234
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed Aug 02, 2017 9:15 pm

Re: Hello from Colorado USA

Post by craftsman1234 »

Andy Rea wrote: Thu Aug 03, 2017 10:48 pm 2 use an external amplifier between source and zx81 ( it was quite popular in the 80's for such arrangements as they actually over amplified the signal essentially providing a square wave input to the zx81 )
3 modify the input circuit on the zx81
Now #2 might be something to try.
ZX81 / TS-1000. Commodore 128DCR/SuperCPU/Ramlink, 64, PETs, Plus/4 C16, Vic-20, COCO, TI/99
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mrtinb
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Re: Hello from Colorado USA

Post by mrtinb »

Maybe try another tool than OTLA.

I use a Java-program that converts to WAV and then I put the WAV on my iPhone, and play it for the ZX81 from there.

http://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/tapeut ... rview.html
Martin
https://zx.rtin.be
ZX81, Lambda 8300, Commodore 64, Mac G4 Cube
craftsman1234
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Joined: Wed Aug 02, 2017 9:15 pm

Re: Hello from Colorado USA

Post by craftsman1234 »

mrtinb wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2017 7:31 am Maybe try another tool than OTLA.

I use a Java-program that converts to WAV and then I put the WAV on my iPhone, and play it for the ZX81 from there.

http://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/tapeut ... rview.html
Thanks, that is what I had been using. Does a good job of converting files and I had used my cell phone for loading as well as saving to a cassette tapes for the last few years. My phone is a but buggy on playing it back well.

OTLA works really well and does it "on the fly" so I can load games much faster. My draw back is it runs on a Windows PC and my PC is a bit away from where I want to keep the zx81 / TS100. The Lattepanda is a mini PC that runs Windows 10 and would be a great fit due to it's size. Just a bit bigger then a PI3. Audio Jack as well.
ZX81 / TS-1000. Commodore 128DCR/SuperCPU/Ramlink, 64, PETs, Plus/4 C16, Vic-20, COCO, TI/99
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blittled
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Re: Hello from Colorado USA

Post by blittled »

Hi craftsman1234,

Welcome from another American in Pennsylvania! :)

I wonder if OTLA would work on some hardware I have. I used an Arduino Due with a TFT interface to read in from an SD card and convert the p file to 3.3V pulses which are the perfect amplitude for the ZX81. Once I got the timing down I never had a failed load. I could easily add a timing factor to speed up the transfer to the ZX81 to work with OTLA.
2X Timex Sinclair 1000, ZX81, ZX80Core, 5X 16K Ram Pack, ZXBlast, ZX P file to Ear Input Signal Converter, Elf II
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