Sinclair ZX Spectrum + 128k Toastrack! The last 'proper' Sinclair machine! But were they any good?
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- čas přidán 28. 04. 2024
- The last official Sinclair machine launched before Amstrad took over the business - too little too late to save Sinclair, but still the most sought after Spectrum there is. But does our eBay find actually work?
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References
www.elmundodelspectrum.com/in...
21twice.com/posts/2024/02/17/...
archive.org/details/sinclair-...
archive.org/details/computerm...
worldofspectrum.org/faq/refer...
www.retro8bitcomputers.co.uk/l...
www.retro8bitcomputers.co.uk/S...
retrorepairsandrefurbs.com/20.... - Věda a technologie
I live within five minutes walk from the Timex factory in Dundee where Sinclair machines were assembled. We used to search the skips outside for any goodies (a lot of demo tapes, some microdrive stuff etc), but a friend of mine found what must have been a tester model one of these in a skip round the back. It didn't have the heat sink though, so he screwed a piece of metal tubing to it and it ran fine!😂👍🏻
My father inlaw bought me a mint toast rack speccie last year for my 42nd birthday, as he's an old home micro fan and owned speccies in the 80s, and knew I wanted another spectrum because my first computer was a Spectrum Plus that I got given as a gift back in 1987. He also got me an Amiga 500 about 3 years ago for my 40th because, again, that was the computer I had from 1991 right the way through the 90s as a teenager and wanted another.
I bought one of these from eBay a few years back for £50. Works perfectly has a LOAD of peripherals. I could sell it for well over £400 but I'm NEVER getting rid of it as I actually use it, and my 15 year old daughter, thinks the games are AWESOME.
i got one in my loft from when i was a kid still works as far as i know, also a 48k my dad never throws anything away
This and the ZX+ are up there as my favourite examples of product design.
They've got a kinda timeless quality to them (imho)
4:00 the Inves Spectrum+ was created after the Amstrad buy out. Instead that picture should have shown the Spanish Sinclair ZX Spectrum which looked identical except for the keyboard which looked like that Inves machine shown. Yes, I'm nitpicking here. Fun fact: the Spanish box shows a British keyboard!
“Absolutely no-one bought” the keypad in the UK for the simple reason that Sinclair didn’t launch it in the UK. It was advertised but it never came out. I was desperate for one at the time, but I ended up being disappointed.
There's a blast from the past. I had the 128k+ that had the tape deck built in. Many hours of fun playing jet pack 😁😁
I had exactly the same. After having the 48k was an amazing (Outdated) little piece of hardware
Presumably to save a couple of pennies per machine they used a BS6312 phone socket for the RS232 instead of a DB9, and as a pair of inquisitive young idiots me and my friend tried plugging a phone cable into his 128K which promptly killed the machine stone dead - turns out pumping -50V into the machine was not a good idea.
I have a Toastie Version 9G in my collection - these machines have a proper 9 pin D-sub socket. (and some shielding as well).
Exactly, I was keen to "explore" the midi capabilities of the machine, the only place selling the plug was RS and they are a joke for selling to individuals. Ended up hooking wires to the internal pins,(1 and 5?) for midi out.
@@MarcKloosnever knew there was a later model version with this socket?
Datecode for that Z80 is 9240, so, it has been replaced during the machine lifetime.
Great informative video. I upgraded from a 48k model in March 1986 to this. Still working apart from around 8 keys (new membrane needed). Stored away for over 30 years until recently.
I had the DK'Tronics keyboard for my 2nd 48K Spectrum. The action was OK, but all the plastic film keycaps came off eventually! Not easy remembering where all the token commands were!
Christmas 1985 - I had my first Micro, a Commodore Plus/4. Ahhh heady days!
My first computer was one of these. Played on it into the 90s. Crazy to see how much they go for now. Should've held onto it...along with everything I owned in the 80s and 90s, apparently.
had the grey 128k; with the built in tape player loved that machine 😁😁
Welcome to the toaster owners club, you have successfully reached peak Spectrum.
I tried a modern regulator in mine, but swapped it back out for a traditional 7805, somehow a toaster with a cold heatsink just felt wrong IMO.
The added bonus of the upgraded 7805 is that the unit draws a lot less power, meaning you can use a standard 48k PSU and not worry. My 128k draws around 800mA now. I do use the 128K PSU, but they are now becoming rare and if you have a failure, this is a great way to keep your computer running with no issues.
I agree, that wouldn't work for me either. What's the point in having a toast rack if it wont make toast 😆
Nice, always good to see a working one. That return key looks a bit wobbly though. As for my 128, it was an Ebay purchase for £15 back in 2001 - I must do a video about it one day. I think it's mostly a good un.
I got my Spectrum 128 on release in early 1986 and I loved it. I still have it in its original box, all in near mint condition. Oh, and I’ve no intention of selling it!
All in near mint condition? Any machine I loved got worn to pieces.
@@zibbezabba2491 If I loved a thing, I always wanted to keep it as near-perfect as I could. What's wrong with looking after your stuff? I accept that 48K rubber-key Spectrums were hard to keep pristine because the print rubbed off the keys and the thin metal faceplate was susceptible to being buckled or scratched, but we're talking about the Spectrum 128 here. They were built like tanks. Obviously mine doesn't look brand new because it's 38 years old, and I used it a lot for two years (from early 1986, when I got it, to late 1987 when I went to university; thereafter it was used a lot less). But the cardboard box is in just as good condition as when I got it (why wouldn't it be?), and as for the machine itself, I think the only thing you could complain about is that they key legends look a bit yellowed.
@@RichardHallas I had an Atari ST. I loved it. Used it (not abused it) so much, I had to replace the disk drive, the power supply and other components eventually. I guess your version of loving something is keepng it in it's nice, clean box.
@@zibbezabba2491 What IS this?! I post a perfectly innocuous and truthful comment about how my much-loved Spectrum 128 is still in extremely good condition, and I find myself under attack for not having abused it more?!
NO, my version of loving something does NOT mean keeping it unused in its box. My Spectrum 128 was admittedly not the most used machine I've ever owned, but it certainly was well used for a good while.
Since I apparently have to justify myself to you (heaven knows why…), let me explain. When the Spectrum 128 came out in early (February?) 1986, I got one right away. I was a schoolboy of 16 at the time. As I had a half-hour trip to and from school every day, plus daily homework to do, plus other time-consuming commitments, I couldn't spend as much time as I'd have liked playing with my Spectrum 128, but I dare say it got at least an hour or so of use every weekday and certainly a fair bit more than that at weekends. I was very fond of it and used it as much as I could.
After about 18 months of ownership, in September 1987, I went away to university for three years, and my Spectrum 128 stayed at home. So during that time it had a lot less use, though I'm sure I'd have made good use of it during the holidays (I can't honestly remember now). And after I graduated in 1990, I decided to put childish things behind me and concentrate on the next phase of my life, so that was when the Spectrum 128 got packed away and retired. I then moved on to new 'work' computers.
So, all told, my Spectrum 128 had about five years of active life. And, of course, it took over from the 48K Spectrum that I'd had since 1982. But I remained fond enough of it that I didn't want to sell it, so I kept it - and, indeed, if and when I can manage to free up some space to set it up again, I intend to do so. I've actually bought a ZX-HD interface for it, and if RetroRadionics ever get their planned Spectrum 128 keypad off the ground, I'll be getting one of those too (as I always really wanted one, and was terribly frustrated when Sinclair didn't launch the keypad in the UK).
It was out all the time for those five years, not in its box, and it got a lot of use. I even played a fair bit of Daley Thompson's Supertest 128 on it (as that was bundled with the machine), and we know what playing Daley is like on a keyboard. Yet the box, packaging and manuals remain in perfect condition, and the machine itself shows no signs of abuse or even of age, beyond having a somehat yellowed keyboard. Why would it? What on earth am I supposed to have done to the machine, that somehow translates "love" into "destruction"?
If you think that loving something translates into ruining or destroying it then you live in a very different world to me. But I've often observed how some people are just naturally very ham-fisted; perhaps you're one of them. Are you a fan of the old song, "You always hurt the one you love"? I guess your version of loving something is beating it to within an inch of its life, to leave your mark on it.
I feel sorry for your Atari ST, anyway. I have little doubt that if I'd had one for as long as you had yours, and used it as much, mine would still have looked new at the end of it… but I'm just careful with things. Heaven knows you how break a disk drive, unless it was faulty to start with. As for PSUs, they sometimes just go; the user doesn't have to be at fault, and it doesn't indicate either over- or under-use. My original 48K Spectrum's power supply failed and had to be replaced early on. More recently, one of my longest-lived work computers had TWO failed PSU. The first one went bang during the period when I was using the machine all day, every day. The second one failed recently, after I'd used the machine again for the first time in a while. It really doesn't mean much.
Anyway, is that enough personal history for you, so that I can justify my statement that my much-loved Spectrum 128 is still in excellent condition?!
Jeez…
Great video, production quality is on point. Spectrums are great as well 😀
Glad you think so!
Ah yes, always wanted one of those! And found and bought over last year. In box, working with broken keyboard membrane in the red box for 50 euros. It still needs the work put into it, so cool video!
The Original Zilog might still be good. Probably just needed a reseat in the socket.
This totally passed me by bsck in the 80s. I had one of the rubber key jobs (our second computer/console after our Adman Grandstand 300) then went on to the 128k +2A (the grey one, if i remember right), both second hand but im very fond of those machines.
I cant say i was ever aware of the "toast rack" Speccy at the time.
Bought a friend's 128K when they upgraded to an Amiga. Absolutely loved it, even making a MIDI cable for it.
As a spectrum 48k owner, I was always envious when I saw all the 128k improvements in games that weren’t available in my 48k version. WEC LeMans was a particular disappointment. Ocean couldn’t be arsed to bother with any sound at all for the 48k version.
I had a 128k Toastrack before a 48K rubber keyboard. What a jump a nice keyboard better sound from my TV more RAM. The only down side is loading 128K games from tape. But I got some nice things for mine a ZX-HD from BYTEDELIGHT ( before the chip sortage) and a DivIDE and a new power supply. One thing I did was put a heatsink on the ULA chip to keep the heat down.
I have a working toastrack. I've not done anything other than buy a switch mode power supply and replace the keyboard membrane. I did notice however that at least one of the ICs is marked AMSTRAD. I must get the hardware updates done though before I get carried away on another wave of nostalgia.
I had one of these. Swapped it later for a +2A
I indeed did have a toast rack speccy, that I purchased shortly after release. Not got it now as it was sold along with a good range of original games and additional hardware including the multiface 128 when I got my first Amiga.
Did I regret it, yes but that was a long time ago now and have since amassed quite a collection of machines most of which are also gone as they were all donated to RMC. I do still have my original ZX81 plus some Amiga’s and a C128 and to replace the Spectrum a lovely new Spectrum Next.
I think Neil mentioned a certain Rob a few times when he got new donations!
I have quite a bit of Sinclair gear which I might donate-when I'm too old to care for them-to the Dutch HomeComputerMuseum (since I live in the Netherlands). That museum has about 2000 computers but is severely lacking Sinclair content!
I wish I could give you a link to my website but CZcams doesn't like linking in the comments 😬
@@MarcKloos provide kewords for google :D
@@MarcKloos Yes it felt the right thing to do, I could have made a fair bit selling them but I'd rather them go somewhere where they can be seen and enjoyed by many rather than another private collection. Took a look at you website, that is a fine collection of Sinclairs you have.👍
When cleaning the keyboard, use a little clear silicon spray on the underside. The keyboard will feel like new and have no unwanted key binding on the square edges :)
Thanks for the tip!
such a beauty! looking forward to the next episode!
I worked for a retailer as soon as I left school but the owner also owned import businesses for electrical goods and toys, the same idea was set up for computers. The computer retail arm was branded Zappo Computers, I don't think the name really stands the test of time.
Another excellent episode, thanks.
Hmmm, the toast rack. Come out earlier and at a lower price would have helped. For myself I'd have at a minimum put the Spanish 2068 ULA in it to provide an alternate video mode to go along with the bump in memory. By this point in the Speccy's lifecycle a bit more flexibility on the colour front would have been very welcome - of course it never happened, even with the later machines.
Good video, as always. Looking forward to part 2.
Thanks 👍
Excellent video, looking forward to part 2. And thanks for answering a question I'd long had (though never asked anyone): are those actually heat sink fins or just a plastic design on the shell.
Now I know, and, as G.I. Joe once taught me, knowing is half the battle.
I had the Spectrum (my first computer) and the QL
I found my 128K Toastrack in a secondhand shop for fifty quid! They obviously didn't know what they had - much to my advantage :)
I have one of those. I paid £85 for it at Dixons, with Daley Thompson, Neverending Story and a cassette player. Must have been real end of the line stuff! It was the last Spectrum I got: I'd trapped myself in a bad relationship with Sinclair, buying several despite the poor build quality. The 128K one still worked - when I consigned it to the loft, anyway. I used to put a 2p piece in each of the rack's slots, then swap them for fresh ones when they became too hot. It was the only way to keep the computer stable during a long game of Rebelstar. I still play Rebelstar once in a while... but would only ever use an emulator nowadays.
I still have my spectrum with tape player, joystick and about 40 games
I got one just to have it since we did'n't get those in the USA. I now have all the major models including both UK and USA versions of ZX80,81 and the Timex "clones". Even harder to get across the pond!
I loved mine.
Didn't have a 128k... but i did have a rubber keyed 48k, and the upgrade case.
Unfortunately tough i didn't have access to any magazines or clubs, so didn't really know what i had.
Is the keyboard membrane the same for the +2 ? Could not find one for the +2 particularly
Never owned a zx. But, I'd like to get one.
Nice video! I got a +2 that is missing some keys. By any chance do you know of any that has for sale? I need 2,3,4,E,R, I, P, Enter, L (gray)
Old transformer-based power supplies like that one usually have a considerably higher voltage unloaded than when there's a load on it; if you measure its voltage while it's powering the computer you'll find that it's much closer to 9 V.
Switching the external PSU to a better regulated one will make no difference to the operation; as you show the external power is regulated onboard to 5 V by a 7805 voltage regulator. Giving it a slightly lower voltage on the external port (down to about 7.5 V or perhaps even 7 V) will reduce the heat output of the internal regulator slightly, but with that big a heatsink I don't think you'll see any difference in longevity of the device.
I bought one of these about 10 years ago from gumtree, with no power supply. Didn't know if it was working or not because I couldn't power it up. I always planned on getting it up and running at some time and now I'm finally curious about this machine I cant find it 🤔
Love it! I have a gray 128, if you have a chance do a quick comparison between that and your toast rack
Technically they are quite similar! They even share the same ULA (don't let the part numbers fool you). But I never liked the grey +2 because ... of its non-Sinclair colour scheme!
I have a lo-profile case and a harlequin 128k kit to put together
Still got mine. And it still works, despite almost no maintenance other than a slightly shortened cable on the keyboard membrane to avoid a crack. (Or, at least, it did last year. I should probably get around to some of the mods you'll be doing in the next video.)
Maybe your research is better than my memory, but I don't think the keypad was ever sold in the UK. It was announced, at the price you mention, and photos were shown in the press, but I'm 99.999...% sure it never actually came out.
A few of them managed to get out of the Sinclair warehouse but are rare as hens teeth!
The one that was given to me was an English version and came with a separate keypad, but unfortunately the guy that gave it to me didn't know where it was, though he remembered it was somewhere around in his parents' house, and I forgot to remind him to look for it, so I never got it.
I remember a spectrum with a microdrive floppy, what was that one?
Have my 128k toast rack up in my parents loft. I should dust it off and try it to see if it still works. What are the chances? How much is one worth nowadays I wonder
Cool episode!
I'm astonished that you can drop in a CMOS Z80 in place of an NMOS version. You can't do that with any 6502 board that I know of.
Sinclair'a finances were in trouble also because of the C5 trike and the TV80 TV. And it wasn't long after the launch of the 128k Speccy that Sinclair had to sellout to Amstrad.
well done
Hoping someone knows, on a 48K+, it believes it has a joystick input even without the joystick being moved. In the Kempston interface is removed and a basic program is set to read in31 it still detects an entry. Any suggestions a s to what’s wrong greatly appreciated.
And there I was thinking it was mainly nick named the toast rack because it was about that time Sinclair
was toasted, Err-went belly up..
The only thing they should have added was an external floppy drive. That would have extended the ZX Spectrum's commercial lifetime a couple of years more at least. Although I'm not sure it would have made a difference to extend a lifetime's worth interest in the platform as evidenced by all of us paying attention to this 40 years later.
I think The Spectrum+ 128 suffered from the same wrongheaded thinking as the Commodore 128. Both sought to capitalize on the success of their early machines and just ended up cannibalizing their own market. The big difference is that the C128 offered significant hardware upgrades (which was underused) the + 128 seems only offer increased ram and a better sound chip, which probably never got used by developers. And not to mention they both were being squeezed bit the 16 bit machines that offered significantly better, well everything.
The AY sound chip in the 128 was welcomed with open arms by developers.
The sound FX and tunes were really well done on 128K versions of games.
I think the extra RAM in the Speccy was far more utilised than the Amstrad, CBM or Atari equivalents.
@@jasejj That's also true.
There weren't many dedicated 128k games, but quite a few later games would probe for the AY sound chip and use it if present (while still working in 48k)
@@finnw1 There were plenty of dedicated 128K games for the Speccy. It's just that they made them Multi-load games on 48K machines.
How would a knackered Z80 prevent anything appearing on-screen? I thought that resulted in random garbage as the ULA still starts?
We’re in spoiler territory for the next episode here:) Shhhh :) :) :)
I've got a 128+ and a mk2 with the built-in tape player out in the garage. Could I pay off my mortgage 🤔
Need to stock up on those Z80s given Zilog have just announced they have stopped production of the things after 50 years.
There's over 100 licensed second source fabs. No one needs to stock up on anything, we'll be knee deep in Z80s until the sun explodes.
our toastrack was a lurpak freebie🤣🤣🤣
has the same sound chip as the atari st we always laughed at that as amiga owners 🤣🤣
You got lucky, since the Z80 is probably the easiest chip to find, though Zilog has announced that they are ceasing production.
Good get.
Blown Z80, that is a rare event. But nice easy swap. Would it be better to run these of a 6V PSU or so, so less heat has to be dissipated? Oh, and get yourself a CRT. LCD screens on a Speccy look junk, especially since this one has RGB.
I bought one to replace my C64. The 128k mode was never that great, because only a few games came out for it at the time. Maybe later when the Amstrad machines came out there were more, but by then I'd moved on to my Atari 520 STFM.
I have to ask.. Why are there so many resistors and diodes in these machines??
Don't know about the 128 but the 48 used a bank of resistors + diodes as a cheap bus transceiver which may have been carried over
Didn't like the look of pin8 on that socket of the CPU.... Did you try the original CPU back in BTW?
Ha, negated the warranty 😂 !
Once a Specturd, always a Specturd, regardless of the case and keyboard... 😂
Wasnt the ZX81 the original goat?
Exclusive machine 🕹
Actually, it’s not the “Sinclair ZX Spectrum+ 128K” at all (“to give it its full name”). I know that that’s the sum total of the words on top of the machine, but its actual name is not printed there. The REAL name of the machine is actually the “Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128”. No +. No K. But just look at the box, which has the correct name of the machine - ZX Spectrum 128 - emblazoned on it in huge letters. Look at how Sinclair referred to it at the time, in both speech and print. It’s the Spectrum 128, pure and simple.
So, why the confusion? It’s all to do with case moulds. The Spectrum 128 used the same basic case as the previous Spectrum+ with a few minor modifications: a few extra holes for new ports and to attach the heat sink, and the new 128K label, which merely draws attention to how much memory the machine has to further distinguish it from the almost identical-looking earlier model. Sinclair could create the new case by cutting pieces out of the existing mould, and thus not have to spend money on a completely new mould. But what couldn’t be done (at least, not invisibly) was to replace plastic that had already been removed. That’s why the + is still there: it couldn’t have been filled in again to remove it seamlessly. But make no mistake: the Spectrum 128 is NOT a Spectrum+. The + only ever referred to the addition of a new keyboard to an existing machine (Spectrum + new keyboard, in effect). The Spectrum 128, however, added a whole new machine to the existing keyboard. It’s not a minor enhancement of an existing machine, which is what the + signified; it’s a completely new machine (albeit one with a great deal of backwards compatibility). So it’s simply the Spectrum 128.
If you are going to nitpick, then you should call it 'ZX Spectrum 128', not 'Spectrum 128'.
@@MarcKloos There’s a big difference between nitpicking and simply getting things right. Many people misunderstand what the name really is, which is why I explain it above. This isn’t nitpicking; it’s explaining the history of why the machine looks as it does, and has a name that’s easy to get wrong. But having established what the correct name is, I then see no reason not to abbreviate it conveniently by omitting the ZX - as everyone already does with the original Spectrum. Who says ZX Spectrum every time? It’s just Spectrum, or even Speccy. By the same token, Spectrum 128. That’s the shortest form of the correct name. Simple. But the important point really is that it ISN’T a Spectrum+, because that’s specifically the 48K machine in the newer case.
@@RichardHallas Well, about that you are right - on the box and the introduction guide it says ZX Spectrum 128. But Sinclair also included the manual of the + which confused some. I've got very nice pictures of my toasties on my website - 4 different types!
@@MarcKloos Yes, you're absolutely right about that. I remember getting mine and being quite disappointed to find a copy of the previous Spectrum+ manual (which I never liked because it wasn't nearly as good as the original orange manual) and just a little supplementary pamphlet about the features of the new machine. It seemed quite half-hearted, though again you can quite understand Sinclair wanting to save on costs. The machine didn't really need a full new manual. But to 16-year-old me it was a bit of a let-down! Didn't matter, though - I loved the machine itself.
You could also give it stereo AY audio out.
Ben @ ByteDelight sell these.
@@MarcKloos I made my own back in the 90's using 9 resistors.
Gee, couldn't you have made *some* effort to preserve the warranty sticker?
128 K Spectrums wirh no tape deck? Why? That was a step backwards by the looks of it.
My one and only speccy I owned after 2 Oric 1's and an Atmos. After that it was an Atari 512 STFM.
Even "tested and working" doesnt always mean it is when you buy off ebay 🤣...but i have to say most buys off there are okay 🙂.
I’m so sorry. When did you have your thumb amputated and have your big toe sown on?
lol! I assure you it must have been the camera angle as I have exceptionally nice and well-proportioned thumbs :) :) My toes however… :)
My brother as still got is in the box won't part with it doh
I wasn't a fan of the Plus keyboard, even if it was better than the rubber keys.
JPP CODE
bin it.
It’s not really a “proper” Sinclair as it was designed by Investronica in Spain for Sinclair. Really the Spectrum+ is.
Made even less sense than the C128, which was pretty nonsensical in its own right.
Tax compliant memory...
Wish you could upload those colour dixons adverts somewhere mate.