Those of us surrounded by non-PAL based TV sets & not smart enough to wire a simple RGB video hack to our spectrums (ie: me), may be interested to learn of a new breed of zx clones making the rounds: FPGA -based spectrums... Made from modern components, requiring minimal soldering and (good for me!) coming with PS/2 and VGA connections as standard, Besides the mighty Zx Sprinter, only a handful of these clones are out there (eg: ZxGate , ZX Spectrum in an FPGA )... Right now, a new FPGA Zx clone is taking shape... Just recently, Alessandro, of mighty Zx Badaloc fame, managed to get his Zx clone running from humble 16k origins to 128k/+2/+3 & +3E standards... and most of it on a single chip... You can follow his progress at: Zx Badaloc_FPGA

The new PC Keyboard Interface is ready; come and get one!
Maybe you followed the progress on www.benophetinternet.nl/hobby about the new PC Keyboard interface from Miguel (from Spain) and me.
The interface is ready and you can now get one if you want.
And maybe the best feature is that updates can be programmed by your own Spectrum!
Details are on the website.

Okay, it was uploaded two weeks ago in fact, but again a lot of bugfixes... So grab it at WOS or from http://lcd-one.da.ru. And I'm currently working on Alpha 7. What is the killer feature of the next version? If you are a +D/SAM user, this will be probably a great help for you...

I'm sure you've noticed that I've been a bit quiet online of late. Well the reason for that has now arrived - on Monday morning, my wife gave birth to our baby son, James. I'll try to get some actual scene news posted sometime soon (I have a few bits of news backed up), but for now my priorities are elsewhere. In the meantime, keep an eye on Speccy Live for ZX news, and why not pop over to my blog for some photos of the new arrival.

Thanks to Riskej for pointing me to the webpage of ASCiI 2008, which has just been announced. The party takes place in Izhevsk, Russia on November 1st and 2nd, with the "standard" compos (demo, intro, graphics (standard and "zilog" logo) and music (copy and nocopy)). I can't guarantee to get anything done for the party (for the same reason that I've been a bit quiet of late, getting my life ready for the new arrival), tho' if I find myself with a few spare minutes I may well take part in the logo compo again. I'm guessing we'll see a lot of "Zilog Inside" pics, eh?

The next Forever party, taking place in Trencin, Slovakia, has been announced. It will be held on the 13th to 15th of March 2009, and... well, you know the score - compos on all 8-bit platforms. More info on specific compos later.

Just (a couple hours ago) got back from Sundown 2008 in lovely Budleigh Salterton. There were a few ZX-related releases this year, tho' only one actual "prod" as such. In the "Newschool Demo" competition (should that be "nooskool"?) Gasman came third with "Antisocial", a Javascript demo that made use of a ZX Spectrum Orchestra tune. Justinas got the first prize in the "Open Synth Chiptune" competition, with his AY-tune "Unscrambled Emotions". And I got pipped to the post in the "Open Oldschool Demo" compo, with my quick-hack "Tribe" (I'll provide an upload of this later).
Ate-Bit moved properly onto the PC with a non-ZX-based prod titled "Ribbons, Tunnels and Techno", but only the party version was available and is "not for release!"
Oh, and my entry into the photo competition wasn't as appreciated as it should have been. I think people were scared at what it might be. Hopefully someone will provide me with a copy of "Over-exposed to the Sun(down)", as I don't have one.
Full results are available here.

Just a quick post as I finish my lunch to mention that the UK's biggest demoparty, Sundown, starts tomorrow in Budleigh Salterton on the South Coast (down near Exeter). Currently there's no reason for me not to be there, but that could all change depending on the arrival of the bodlet. So if you're there, I'll most likely see you - I'll be hovering around the "Retro" corner with my ZX setup, and probably trying to borrow someone's PC so that I can get a demo in a presentable form.

In what would appear to be a blatant cut-n-paste from Speccy-Live, below the break you can read the final results from last weekends Chaos Constructions party. If you head to the party-page you can see a selection of links to party reports and photos. While at the Speccy-Live page you can get the full set of releases.

Don't have much time at the moment to do a detailed post, but I do have time to cut-n-paste the changelist for the latest Alpha release of Retro-X, the follow-up tool to the wonderful Bmp2Scr... but it does so much more besides. Grab Alpha-5 and play. Changelist below the break...