In a bid to quench my nostalgia and flex my ESP32 chops, I managed to get a ZX Spectrum emulator running on my ESP32-TV board! Then, spurred on by PCBWay's new full color silk screen service, I pursuit the audacious task of recreating the ZX Spectrum's iconic keyboard. It's been quite the joyride - wrangling touch pins, shrinking screens and creating a thing of beauty on PCB. It's not quite ready for the spotlight, but keep an eye on my newsletter for more eagerly-awaited updates. It's like the Spectrum is reborn!
Faced with free time in Cambridge, I decided to visit the Center of Computing History. It's a bit quirky and tucked away in an industrial park, but worth finding. Right in the entrance, you'll see the Megaprocessor, a 16-bit processor that's programmed to play Tetris. But the highlight for me was seeing the prototype ZX Spectrum, the computer that sparked my interest in tech. Though they didn't have a working Spectrum, I got a kick out of programming on a ZX81 and playing with a BBC Micro. They've even got a room full of consoles and the first ever Apple...
I was fortunate enough to enter the world in 1971 alongside Intel's 4004 microprocessor – a moment that ushered in the digital era as we know it. Although a bit of an educational renegade, my curiosity steered me down a path filled with ZX Spectrums, Christmas wish lists, dangerously strewn cables and a legion of half-disassembled childhood toys. In spite of the haphazard approach to my intellectual explorations, I eventually managed to grasp the fundamentals of assembly language and savoured the glory of publishing a small utility, all whilst navigating the complex prepubescent minefield of Dungeons & Dragons. Looking back,...