Topic: General news

The comp.sys.sinclair FAQ, one of the most comprehensive sources of Spectrum info, has received a makeover and a new domain name to mark the occasion - www.sinclairfaq.com. Gone are the endless lists of obscure emulators from 5 years back, replaced by more relevant up-to-date info - and best of all, raww.org has now been designated an essential site!

Just hunting down the last of the FREE things needed to build a nice looking website. In the Crashed tradition... site will focus on what the ex crashed people are doing now as opposed to wallowing in the past. Downloads of all issues are planned (FREE OF COURSE) as long as it doesn't end up costing me money. Can't be done? Currently tracking down ex-writers and collecting pics of them... blurgh... and that all important address that has changed since last time - www.crashedfanzine.org.uk because .com was too expensive. Email address already up and running - crashedfanzine@yahoo.com

Papaya Labz are back from a short absence due to the relocation of their premises. Expect some new updates from them on the Papaya site.

Hi all. Well. Typical. In the zone to update this site, and what happens? My 'netted PC blows up. Thought it was just the power supply, but the whole thing is gone. So I'm in "recovery" mode right now. I'm getting things sorted out slowly, moving everything to a new machine. Apologies again. You must think I'm a real lamer, but that's life. I've not got my webchecker re-working yet so I'm not sure what sites have been updated. Something I did see, tho', is a car with the license plate "H1 TDM". See, the guy's famous.

Tho' I'm still a little confused as to the naming of this graphics proggy, SevenuP has been updated a few days ago. In fact, the day after I last mentioned it. Hmph. Various speed optimisations are the order of the day, along with some bugfixes and other "stuff". I always like to keep up-to-date anyway, so go download.

Just spotted a note from liftarn on the Peters Plus forum stating that a new version of Z88DK has been released. This is a neat C compiler, and v1.5 brings with it support for the Sprinter.
Also in Sprinter news is a new Sprinter/ZX forum from Shaos, the developer of the Sprinter emulator. Currently only the Russian-language forum is there, but hopefully the English versions will kick in soon.
And hey while we're on the subject, I see that the General FAQ for the machine has been updated. A whole bunch of additions including Configuration and stuff.

Okay, so it's possible that this is a joke, but hey it's some low-down and dirty demo "news".
A recent post on the X-board asked about the whereabouts of Omega. Of coz this started a discussion about "Exception" and "Genetic Error". Hehe, reminds me of a post from way back in September'01.
Anyway, Factor6 posted a comment that these demos will be shown at ForeverQ. Hmm, a clever trick to get people to visit the party? Probably. But hell, it's worth the holiday I think. Now, if I can just get someone to look after Sasha (my cat) for a weekend...

I'm sitting here listening to flavours-of-the-month "Godspeed You Black Emperor!" and "Do Make Say Think", and I've been flipping through a few magazines. There are several 'zines I read regularly. Among the ones I can mention (hey, my Mum may be reading) are PC Gamer and SFX. The latter of these has just reached the age of 100 issues, and there's an article in which they pat themselves on the back most vigorously. Anyway in this article it transpires that a couple of the founders of the 'zine were in fact ex-YS people: Dave Golder (who apparently wrote the Killer Column, tho' I can't guarantee it as all my old YSs are at my old home), and ex-Ed Matt Bielby. It's quite interesting. For a couple minutes.
Also something that may interest is an article in last months 'Gamer, all about "Interactive Fiction". That's classic text adventures to you and me. The article was quite interesting, and got me thinking... these days IF's are written in some kinda script. Would it be so tricky to make a player for the ZX? Even if it only played the more simple games it'd be quite a boost to the ZX games "industry". Well, it's something to stick in your head and jiggle about. Check out a couple of these links for information... there's even the source for a Windows interpreter on one of them: [1][2][3][4][5].
Actually while I'm here, I just checked the YSRNRY Joystick Jugglers page... ooh, doesn't Tim Kemp look like Yerzmyey!!!

As well as numerous updates to the ZX Hardware DIY page, some recent additions to the POS downloads may interest those of you who have a fetish for soldering things. There's a bunch of schematics (in .txt files) for the Pentagon and Profi. Could get you through those long lonely nights.
As for those updates to the DIY page... well, my webchecker is playing tricks on me. There's only a couple hardware items, but one of them looks very interesting for me... S-Video output from a ZX -- yes! Now I can really utilise my new TV.

I've had mails and things about a few sites moving, or new sites, or... well, here's some web-news.
Scentre has moved to two possible new URLs. One is based at zxnetspec.org, a potentially good site which is currently under construction, and the other is a redirection da.ru. Take your pick.
Not really a move or anything, but there's been an update over at the 7 Gods homepage. It's only small, but all of the '94..'98 productions are on the site as... animated gifs. Heh. So long as they're not huge files... like mp3 versions of AY music. Hmm.
The homepage of Progress has moved too. The new URL is... well, it's on this page. Check it out.
Scenosaurus is back with us. Kinda. It contains a bunch of links to a huuuge 8 ZX sites.