A little help for a first time Speccy owner

[stephenfalken]

Hi guys. I am hoping for a little advice on a Sinclair Spectrum 128 +2 that I recently picked up! I have never in my life owned a Spectrum so it really is like another world for me!

It is a black model +2 (if that makes any difference, I notice grey ones are often classed as a different model?). What I want to do is get a composite signal from the machine so I can run it through a composite>VGA converter - reason being that my retro cave is kitted with a pair of retired LCD monitors. I have seen that there are scart cables available but I don't currently have anything to allow that to be converted to VGA. Is it even possible to extract a composite signal from these machines?

Secondly, can anyone advise on a cheap mass storage solution for these machines? I use the word cheap, since I am still surrendering every penny to the wife for the last truck load of retro junk I brought home! :shhh: Is there an internal/external SD device for these?

Apologies for being such a n00b on the matter!

Thanks

 

[tokyoracer]

I'm pretty sure you can get a composite signal from the RGB port, certainly you can convert it cheaply but it makes no sense to me since you are converting RGB -> Composite -> VGA and the picure is going to look pretty crap by the time it's on the monitor. I think you would be far, far better off getting a scrapped/recycled/given away Sony Trinitron or some other good make TV with a scart socket on the back.

 

[stephenfalken]

Yeh I know what you mean about the crappy picture after conversion. May not be a bad idea to look out for a throwaway TV! In the meantime Im stuck with my monitors however.

Thanks


Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk 2

 

[tokyoracer]

Well here's an option: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Scart-to-...?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Other&hash=item3a5ea6c165

Just bare in mind it won't look good is all but it should work since it can switchable for input and output.

 

[ElectroBlaster]

First off find out if you have this version of the +2 http://www.tomdalby.com/retro/images/+2b_inside.jpg

I cannot be 100% sure, but if your board looks like the one in the link, afaik it is a cutdown +3!

Seek out Zetro (Keith) on this very forum. He made an IDE board and can also supply updated system roms. If you combine his ide adaptor board with updated o/s roms you can then attach an IDE CF card I have a +3 that languished for years in storage until I finally gave it some love. Keith certainly delivered helping me sort things out.

I also bought a scart lead from ebay for it! Attached that to our bedroom tv and got a really good picture

Sorry im not more clued up as the last +2 I had was the grey version when I was still a nipper. All these brilliant add-ons and upgrades just did not exist back then.

EDIT: Our bedroom TV is nothing more than a cheapo Foehn & Hirsch 32". I also have an Amiga 1200 connected up and TBH! for a cheap TV it actually works ok with old stuff

 

[roy_bates]

you have probably got a spectrum 128+2 A/B,they are very common.

if i was you(and i do this) use rgb to scart dont bother with composite when you have rgb.
with this you can use a cheap rgb to vga converter to use your monitors,or just get a second hand tv with scart.

im really lucky there though as i have a ton of monitors i repaired that work at 15khz...and they all accept rgb.

if your looking for mass storage the easiest solution is a divIDE and you can move the files around with a pc.and support tap,and z80 files you can fine really easy on the net.
as i have two of these,i highly recommend them to anyone...they are really easy to use and setup.and reasonably cheap.