Back to the flow
	I'm sitting here in a few spare minutes, chilling out to "Saddar Bazaar", an album I just bought. It's got sitar's and stuff. Well, I like it anyway. So, the sun is shining (actually as I write it's just disappearing), so it's really a bad day to be sitting in front of a PC. So first up, a few little news-nibbles: Gas13 : A handful of new images have been shoved onto this website, along with new stats and a new Top13. Twin-AY : Himik has mentioned over on POS that he's in the middle of writing a tracker for using two AY chips. Just for all you greedy people. CAFe'2002 : Some news but, natch, no links on this upcoming (!?) party over on Scenergy - but only the Russian section. The English section seems to have died (or did I miss something?). UnrealSpeccy : There's a fix out for this neat emulator. Not sure what the fix actually is, but I'm surprised to see it as I thought development had stopped. Oh well, I'm not complaining. Peters : An announcement over on this site that a new BIOS for the Sprinter is in progress. You can look on the site to see a list of updates. Should be out in on April 10th. SE#4 Preview : Oh yes, LaesQ and the rest of the Papaya team have put up a preview of the upcoming Subliminal Extacy #4. Apologies for not mentioning this earlier guys. Grab It!!! TAP2MDB : Ha! Only just after I posted the last version of this MB02-tool, a new version has been released, v1.0alpha. Click here to choose it, use it, and abuse it. Thanks z00m. Springtime : Yes it's that time of year, so it seems appropriate to allow you all to download Diver's winning Forever3 image, "Springtime Feelings Forever" - it's nice. Missing in Fun : Thanks to Yerz for sending out a "classic" (you may call it old-school) demo, made by FBI et al. It's called "Missing In Fun". Aah, releases give me a nice warm feeling. Uhm...! Phew. That's a fair bit of news. Sorry it's not all in separate posts, but I'm a busy chap. I have to get ready to go out drinking! <g>
	[icabod] - 30/03/2002 18:32

	TAP2MDB dev release
	I found this neat little tool, shoved up my inbox earlier today. It's one for all us MB02 users (and anyone with, say, RealSpectrum is one of those). TAP2MDB was sent to me by z00m, to distribute as a, ehm... beta test? It's the first stable version of the program, and needs some proper, real-world testing. What's it do? It plays with .TAPs and MB02 images. Obvious, when you think about it. So grab it, play with it, and report any bugs.
	[icabod] - 27/03/2002 22:08

	GeneralSound and Sprinter
	Thanks to Yerz for pointing out an interesting thread over on the Peters forum. If you follow this link it'll take you to a discussion on sound on the Sprinter. And more interestingly, on the possibility of General Sound support for the system. The thread's getting quite long, so I'll quickly mention that Peters will soon be putting up a poll about the "extended sound of the Sprinter." So if you're interested in this topic, keep an eye on the page, and you could influence what could be the next real Z80 demo-platform.
	[icabod] - 27/03/2002 22:00

	SUC-Session in English
	I mentioned earlier this month that classic German ZX-zine, SUC-Session was to be printed in English. Well now it is. If you haven't already seen the news from FBI, then I'll tell you now that you can download the first free English issue over at Sintech/SUC. I'm just adding it to my download queue now, so rather than me reviewing it, why not grab it yourself so you can see why this 'zine has lasted so long. Oh, and it's been translated to English from German by... English people. Hmm. Going by the way I speak, that may not be such a good thing <g>.
	[icabod] - 27/03/2002 21:48

	One goes up, one comes down
	Okay, some news of a new site, and the possible loss of an old site. The new site was mentioned on POS today, it's dedicated to the ATM-Turbo Spectrum clone. I don't really know this machine, tho' I've heard of it. Soon there should be a whole bunch of information about it for you. Oh, and you may want to run it through Babelfish or translate.ru... just in case you can't read the page. Now to the loss of a site. Possibly. A post was put on POS yesterday saying that the site may disappear -- to quote: "some actions are taken from a certain side with the purpose of closure of our portal." Well, I'm not sure quite what's happening, but Himik has asked if people want the site to stay. I say yes, as there can never be too many resources, and you can see how often I leech news from there <g>. So if you want the site to stay, let Himik know. Perhaps soon some more details of exactly what's going on will appear.
	[icabod] - 27/03/2002 21:15

	ProTracker source
	A very short note to mention that POS have posted the source to ProTracker v3.4f (with mouse). Lovely.
	[icabod] - 27/03/2002 21:06

	GFXZone DVD announced
	I just noticed an interesting bit of news posted over on Scenet, which didn't immediately strike me as related to the ZX until I read the full article. The people over at GFX Zone are planning to get together a huuuuge collection of art from the demoscene (more than is on the site itself), and wrap it all up neatly onto a DVD. To quote the post: "Every contribution is welcome: oldskool, lowres, newskool, hires, 8bit, 24bit, traced, C64, Speccy, CPC, full screen images, logos, cliparts, diskmag backgrounds, object textures, sketches..." So yes, the ZX is in there. Time to dig through your collections. You can read the full announcement, of coz, on GFX Zone.
	[icabod] - 27/03/2002 21:03

	Syndeecate 2002
	A note before I decide to get some much-needed sleep, about upcoming party "Syndeecate 2002" which I spotted in a mail from Yerz, and also on the X-board. There's no mention of this event on the Demoparty Calendar as of yet, and I don't have a URL for it, so read the post on the board and you have all the information I do. Basically, from this year the party is tyo be multi-platform, with TDM organising the ZX-section. Standard compos will be running, but it looks like a non-standard platform for demos (+2A), unless someone else provides another party-machine. And yes I know the Didaktik Gama 128 will be there, but I just like to be picky. Party is to be held in Czech Republic in mid-August. I'll give more information when I see some.
	[icabod] - 27/03/2002 00:15

	Plus2a, Plus3 and Plus3e
	Two different news-things, but related in their, uhm... relationship with the +3 (my first ZX). WOS reports on a new article written by Philip Mulrane covering and FDC controller that'll turn your +2A into a +3. Go on, you know you're jealous of my 3-incher. I wonder if this can be used in conjunction with the plus3e, a project that's just been updated. In case you didn't already know, it's a project to allow the connection of a Hard-drive to you +3. A nice idea. The latest version of the ROMs was released only a couple days ago, and you can go to the homepage to find the full list of changes in v1.04. Neatest new feature? Gotta be the loading of Z80 snapshots. Just my opinion, of coz. The whole page has been tweaked a bit too, including much techie info, so if you plan on supporting this in any file-managers, etc... get reading.
	[icabod] - 27/03/2002 00:05

	ZXMak updated
	Version 0.280 beta 1 has been released of Speccy emulator ZXMak. New in this release? Well according to DJH Downloads there are improved Z80 and VG93 engines, new disc-format and tape-support, and the obligatory bugfixes. I also notice that on the same page you can grab an updated version (v1.2b1) of TRX2X, the Universal Disc Convertor. And handy tool for anyones box, eh? Oh as I've already mentioned DJH, I'll say here that there's a new (extra) URL you can use to get there: zxfiles.tk. Alas it goes initially to the Russian version, but there you go, you can still use zxeng.
	[icabod] - 26/03/2002 23:56

	Back Again...
	Yep, I'm back from another few days off. It was my birthday, so I decided to get away from my hectic life, and went to London. Oh well. So much for peace and calm, eh? Accidentally got drunk. No really! I planned for a quiet night! So I'm back again, to do come catch-up. As I write this I'm in the middle of downloading my 350+ emails -- what's the betting my PC crashes before it's finished? Ehm, so yeah things have been a little... sketchy on raww.org of late. I've hardly been using my 'puter, so updates have been a bit, shall be say, crappy. Don't worry, it's just a phase the site is going through. Let's just say I've been a bit preoccupied with other things, so haven't found the time to sit down and play recently. First things first, I've made a correction to the results of Forever3 that I published a few days ago. Thanks to Diver/4d for pointing out that the full title of his winning image is "Springtime Feelings Forever", a variation on Springtime Feelings by Cyclone. Thanks also for pointing out the mis-type of TBK (TrieBKraft). 'Tis sorted.
	[icabod] - 26/03/2002 23:01

	Sprint Emulator
	A little post (as I've just checked my watch, and I'm running out of time) about Sprint, the emulator of Peters' baby. Not certain of a version number, as it's still just a copy of the developers work directory. Also, I'm not certain of changes. Best go check it out.
	[icabod] - 22/03/2002 18:41

	Zine-news
	A couple bits of information about some 'zines I think. The homepage of RetroReview now has the cover of the next issue online. It's being shipped on March 20th... oh, a couple days ago. I've yet to receive my #1 yet, but that's coz I took ages to subscribe. The cover shows a Sprinter, and Peters state that this is the first proper review of the system, so if you're thinking of getting one, buy the 'zine. Also, you'll know that Micro Mart have a "Retro Computer Mart" section. Well they now have a forum available, on a "use or lose" basis. So go check it out here.
	[icabod] - 22/03/2002 18:37

	Forever3 and other parties
	Ooh. So there's now some official results for Forever3. You can read the full results on the official site (all platforms) or over on Demotopia. They're not much different from the previous set, but there's more details at least: Music Compo 1 - Exonique - Gasman / H-Prg (+RA) 2 - Improvisation #8 - Ivan Roshin 3 - Navstevnici Theme - Factor6 / pht + k3l Graphics Compo 1 - Springtime Feelings Forever - Diver / 4D 2 - In Time - Stanley Small 3 - Walter - LCD Intro Compo 1 - Intro that goes Ping - Gasman / H-Prg (+RA) 2 - Galatrax - Serzh 3 - Mahnung - Key-Jee / TrieBKraft Demo Compo 1 - Alterego - Hooy Program 2 - Reject - Factor6 / pht + k3l 3 - Laya - 3SC Okay, so looks like there's a little name-correction in there, but it's not changed wildly. I believe that I have a couple more releases somewhere in my inbox... Oop, yes I do. So you can now grab yourself "Intro That Goes Ping" (link is to Demotopia), and courtesy of Baze you can see the final version of "Laya", featuring a couple fixes, better, sync, and... "more green". Lovely. I think everyone's still waiting for the full set of productions released at the party. Knowing my luck they'll be out over the weekend. And I'm away again (birthday drinking). Ho-hum. If you're interested in releases from the other platforms at the party, I'd suggest checking out c64.sk, who have just posted a link to 32-of-34 of the .SID tunes presented there. Not sure about catching the Atari stuff. And while we're talking about releases (oo-er), you can grab the ones I've mentioned along with some more "discovered" work from Kaplicon'00, over on Demotopia. And hell, why not, lets mention that ZpiXel have added a gallery with all images from CC1.
	[icabod] - 22/03/2002 18:31

	Forever results and releases and stuff
	Thanks go mainly to young Mr Yerzmyey for providing this information. In case you've not already seen them on another website, or in your email, then I'll cut to the chase and post the results I have from Forever3 (or 2002, or whatever): Music 1 - Gasman 2 - Ivan Roshin 3 - Factor6 Gfx 1 - Diver 2 - Stanley Stall 3 - LCD 1k Intro 1 - Gasman 2 - Serzh 3 - TBK Demo 1 - Alter Ego - Hooy Program 2 - Reject - Factor6 3 - Laya - 3SC Not sure how official these results are, so I wouldn't go writing books on it all yet. There's also been a few more releases (Yerz seems to be working overtime with the whole demo-releasing thing): "Laya" by Baze. "Be more human, you bastard!!!!" by Yerzmyey. "Matrix" by Yerzmyey. This one's a gigascreen, so just load it into an emulator. Ooh. I think that'll cover the news for tonight. Need sleep. Oh one more thing (almost forgot), you can get look at the C64 results if you're interested. They're on the Forever page, shock!
	[icabod] - 19/03/2002 22:46

	Playing Catchup (again)
	Yes, yes, yes. I'm running a little "slack" with the news. It's not quite as easy as people think, running a website. Especially when mixed in with work and drinking. Anyway, here's a load of news that's come out in the last couple days. I'll put the Forever3 results in another post. ZXMak : A new beta of this emulator has been released. v0.270b3 features a better z80 engine, and a few bux-fixes. FastTracker : The latest version (1.0b) of this tracker is available over on POS. It comes in a handy pack with a bunch of tracker-tunes. Mmm. RealCommander : A new module for this file manager system thing has been released. It allows connection to a HDD, and the use of TRD images. You can grab it from RealSoft. Mo' Soft : Also over at RealSoft you can grab the latest versions of BestView (2.12) and TRD Navigator (0.65b).
	[icabod] - 19/03/2002 22:30

	Forever forever?
	Well, I've been away for a few days, tho' not at Forever3. At the time of writing, I think this party is ending. Perhaps a few hours ago. Not quite "forever", was it? Anyway, I've not seen much about the party over the weekend due to spending my time getting drunk. I've spotted a couple things that could interest you all, tho'. First up are the first set of demo releases from the party. Yerzmyey sent out all of the Hooy Program releases, which you can download by clicking the following 3 links: "Alter Ego"; "Be Quick as Your Dick"; "Dupa Biskupa Or Mrtka Z Krtka". Expect the usual oddness from the team. Oh, and they have a new member, too... Expirt. Also, Baze has mentioned in a couple places that he's put up a photo gallery from the party. You can check it out at his website. More news and releases as I get them. Oh, just spotted... Gasman has at least won something. There's a photo of him collecting his prize <g>.
	[icabod] - 17/03/2002 22:29

	Fave ZX Games
	Another non-demoscene post, but demos were mentioned in the email that prompted this, so I can use that excuse. Shaun of Retro Computing Today (the slightly delayed retro-zine) said he was looking at producing a "top-ten games of all time" list. Not just ZX, as the 'zine is "platform independant". So pick out your top-5 games, and email your list to Shaun. So long as Manic Miner doesn't win, I'll be happy.
	[icabod] - 14/03/2002 00:44

	Get it on the BlackMarket
	Got myself an email from Egons asking me to spread the votesheet for the upcoming issue of BlackMarket, a paper-based 'zine. So spread it I will, in the best way I know how... by putting it here. So download the votesheet and take part in the scene. BlackMarket itself is planned to be released at the Mekka Symposium party, which is taking place... ooh in two weeks time. So get to voting quickly if you wanna be counted. And don't worry, you don't have to fill in all sections... hell, I didn't even know there were DivX groups... how d'you write a demo in that??? <g>.
	[icabod] - 14/03/2002 00:34

	AY-Emu and ZXMak
	AY-Emulator and ZXMak: Two different programs related by one common theme. They're both in this post on raww.org. Oh, and they're both ZX-related programs too, but that's a minor thing <g>. AY-Emulator v2.6fix1 has been released. Just solves a couple problems with command-lines and register analysers. ZXMak has also had an update, to v0.270b2. DJH Downloads lists the changes as a few fixed bugs and also a new sound engine. Hmm, perhaps these two programs a linked more closely than I thought!
	[icabod] - 14/03/2002 00:25

	Peters getting busy
	A few new developments over on Peters Plus, the home of the Sprinter board. For a start there's two new programming tools uploaded: Forth v0.07, and Masm80. The latter tool is in beta at the moment, after being ported from CP/M. For those of you who do want to code on this machine, an updated list of the BIOS functions can be found there too. v2.12 includes information on the I/O parameters of all functions. Finally, there's also mention that a new version of Sprint, the Sprinter emulator, has been released. I must say it's refreshing to see a 'puter developer take an active interest in emulation development, without getting legal on anyone's ass.
	[icabod] - 14/03/2002 00:15

	Sup
	Well. Been a little preoccupied lately. Work and... other things. News has been happening, but I've been a tad busy. So I'm here for the moment to settle the score. At least temporarily. This coming weekend sees Forever3, as if you didn't know. Looking at the visitors list shows that it should be one hell of a bash. Pity I can't make it myself, but I have other commitments. But rest assured I'll be with you in spirit. Or rather, in spirits. I intend to be drinking for much of the coming weekend. The weekend after this I'll be taking more time off. Well, I have holiday to use up from work, and it's also my birthday. Woohoo! I guess while I'm here I'll just mention a couple things that almost slipped me by. A bugfixed version of ASMtoPT v3.xx convertor, for transforming tunes of one type to... the other, has been released. It's "Final v.2". Hehe. As I know with software, never claim that a piece of software is the final version. This is the second "Final" release. Hehe. It's nice to see that Scenosaurus is off to a flying start by... having a bunch of non-English news items. Hopefully this will be "corrected" soon. For the English version of the site, use this link, but be warned it's a little behind. A couple things caught my eye posted in comp.sys.sinclair recently. First up is the "Incomplete Spectrum 128 ROM 0 disassembly". It's simply a zipfile which can be compiled in Tasm. Put on line at the request of Andrew Owen apparently. Could be useful for ROM-writers and modders. I also noticed that c.s.s-regular (?) Neuro is planning a kinda subscription service for CD-ROMs of the WOS archive. No info other than the stuff in the post, so when there's some confirmation (like on WOS itself) I'll cover it again here. Oh lastly, I don't usually post games here, but I got sent to me a game called Moorhuhn: First Blood. Well, it seems a waste not to let you see it. Thanks to pROF^4D.
	[icabod] - 13/03/2002 23:54

	Raww gets tipp
	Got myself an email from Ricsibu mentioning a demoscene site he found. It's one of those sites named after it's own URL (heh, who'd do something lame like that... ahem!): demoscene.lap.hu. There's a whole bunch of links to various websites there (think banner.scenosaurus but without the buttons). Well in the ZX section is listed raww.org, and we get "Tipp". Not sure what it means, but as sites like Orange Juice and Scene.org also get it, it can't be bad. Link added to the... links. While I'm here I'll mention that Gas13 has added a screen preview script to his site. Lovely.
	[icabod] - 10/03/2002 20:58

	SE4 Votesheet released
	If you weren't one of the many on Relict's mailing list, then you should click this link. It's the votesheet for Subliminal Extacy #4. Yes, it's going to happen. I've already been hassled for some articles (right Phnx ;]). If you wanna save some time, you could use the same votes on both this and your vote-sheet for ZX-Chart (you have that one too, right?). So download, complete, and send in your responses.
	[icabod] - 10/03/2002 20:42

	AY-Emulator 2.6 goes gold
	Well, I keep seeing the phrase "going gold" on games pages. Basically, I mean that v2.6 of AY-Emulator is now out of beta. Apparently there are a bunch of changes, but they're not listed online, natch! One thing that is added to the features list is support for the .GTR Global Tracker v1.x format. Other than that, you'll have to grab the download and find out. And while you're there, updated source has been posted too. A new link has been added to the AY-E links page, pointing to a sub-section of ExoticA (I know, I thought it was a pr0n site, too). It's an Amiga demosite, but it also contains a bunch of AY-3-891x tunes, too. Lovely.
	[icabod] - 10/03/2002 20:33

	Micromart covers Sprinter
	As I mentioned recently, there's a new Retro column being printed in UK trader magazine, Micro Mart. In the latest issue, there's some talk of the Sprinter SP2000 from Peters Plus. There's not a huge amount of information there, but it's a good summary of what the machine is/does. Also covered in the article are a QL and C64 Clone.
	[icabod] - 10/03/2002 20:24

	Crossing the great divIDE
	There's been even more chatter about the new interface named "divIDE". Oh, I didn't actually mention the other day that this talk is going on on the X-board. So yeah, check out the writings on there, and see what you think. Alas, much of the talk is in Czech (or something -- I'm not too good at recognising languages). But a few things have come out, including some divIDE logos and layouts. The general gist of the whole thing is that it's a nice pre-made, cheaper alternative to some of the other interfaces out there for connecting your ZX (clone) to an IDE HDD. The latest bit of info should be of use to visitors to Forever. Zilog will be taking along a prototype of the divIDE interface, so if you want to ensure it'll work with your system, take that there too. If it doesn't work, hassle the boy to fix it, right!?
	[icabod] - 10/03/2002 20:17

	Noos
	I've had a tiring few days, you know. Oddly tiring. So I'm gonna pack up some news very quickly here for a moment. Saves me some hassle. Oops : Thanks to Steve Anderson for pointing out some, ahem, incorrect URLs. Tech Info : The neatly named "Lil Old Sinclair Computer Technical Information Repository" has had a move. I think there were some problems with Geocities ("ooh, you used all my bandwidth!"). Anyway, to get to this tech-heaven, use the new url. Crackers : Seems that WOS has been suffering from more DoS attacks, leaving a bunch of Portugal IPs blocked to the server. So if you're in Portugal, you may have access problems. Nice to see the server staying up, tho'. Shit 2002 : You can now pop over to ZX Gfx-site ZpiXel to vote in their first compo. Vote for the worst pic of the bunch. Certainly a novel approach, eh? divIDE : A couple interesting posts from Zilog and baze about a new IDE device for all ZX clones called divIDE. Heh, I like the name of the O/S... it's OSama. Ooh, a bit political!? That'll do for now, I think. I really need to get some sleep... it's soon the weekend, and I need to be wide awake for that <g>.
	[icabod] - 07/03/2002 23:57

	Forever III-Invitation
	An article has popped up on c64.sk titled "Forever III - Invitation". I think you can guess what it's about. Yep, a kinda guide to the phenomenon that is the Forever demoparty. The article details rules and competitions, the party-place, and also has some photos from previous parties... including one of our own Gasman (winner not so long ago). Ooh.
	[icabod] - 05/03/2002 23:25

	ZXMak v0.270 beta 1 released
	As well as posting a handy "Universal Disk Convertor" (TRX2X, v1.0b2) which handles a whole bunch of disk formats, Alex Makeev has put the latest version of his emulator ZXMak on his website. Newness with v2.070 beta 1 include emulation of Pentagon 512/1024, Scorpion 1024, and the ATM 512 expansion pack. A whole bunch of fixes have gone in place, too, like support for larger disk images without crashing. Noice.
	[icabod] - 05/03/2002 23:00

	Peters Forum Open
	I think that headline says it all really. Peters Plus have opened a forum on their website, where you can discuss the Sprinter computer. So far there are posts covering new tools for the Sprinter, Graphics modes, BIOS info, etc.
	[icabod] - 05/03/2002 22:09

	Forever Wild Compo Rules
	Some news has appeared on the Forever news page from CreaMD regarding the rules for the Cross-platform Wild Compo. Basically there are no rules. Okay, not quite true. You can do anything you like for the compo, providing it's on C64, ZX, or Atari. The production can be whatever you like, and you can use additional hardware. It may be wise to provide a video of the production if you have trouble taking your own kit to the party. There's also a little request that you let the organisers know if you plan to compete in this compo.
	[icabod] - 05/03/2002 22:06

	Retro Micromart
	I mentioned the other day that there was going to be a new column in Micro Mart, and so it has happened. Thanks go to C64.sk for the link -- I just went and nabbed it. Oh, it's a link to the full article. I've not read the whole thing, but a quick browse shows little ZX-wise. However, there's going to be a look at the Sprinter 2000 next week, so keep an eye on the site, eh?
	[icabod] - 03/03/2002 18:20

	Yet Another Emulator Update
	To be honest I was wondering what had happened to YaSE, and emulator being written by Christian Hackbart. But it's just been updated, so the project must still be running. Included in the new v0.5 are SCL and Hobeta emulation, and Direct-X is better supported. Customised ZX ROMs are also now allowed to be used. Oh I should mention that source is also available.
	[icabod] - 03/03/2002 18:09

	Speccy.cz updates
	Ooh, just found a mail from Wixet "up my inbox". He mentions that there's been a lack of updates recently to speccy.cz due to a broken 'puter. Oh, I know that feeling. Although to be honest, with me recently my excuse has been tiredness or re-playing Deus Ex. Well after a long day in the office it's nice to kill a few terrorists, right? Anyhoo, the news is that an archive update should be happening there soon, and that there's a newly hosted site, Sinclair Mania. In Spanish right now, but hopefully this'll be sorted ASAP. But hey, they have a piccy of a +3 on the frontpage, so extra marks for that (it was my first ZX).
	[icabod] - 03/03/2002 18:03

	Would like to meet...
	I just had an email from a guy named Wendell Davis III, asking for contacts on the 8-bit scene. Specifically, he's in search of Russian coders/developers, who would be interested in doing some work on the Gameboy Advance. Not sure why Russian specifically, but hey, each to their own. I did a little look and, although the website leaves a lot to the imagination, there's a few things on the web about them. Still curious about the whole "Russian 8-bit sceners" thing, tho'.
	[icabod] - 03/03/2002 17:54

	SUC-Session and Scene+ in English
	Some of you will no doubt have heard of the famous German 'zine "SUC-Session", especially as it's been going for, ooh, 8 years-or-so. It's produced by, oddly, SUC (Spectrum User Club). Hence the name. Clever, no? Anyway, a couple recent posts from FBI on c.s.s have indicated that there'll now be an opportunity for English-speakers to enjoy the production. Yep, from now on the 'zine will be bilingual. The same is also true for it's sister-diskzine, Scene+. There are a number of subscription options open to you (yep, you pay for it and can actually get something to hold in your hand -- oo-er). The following prices cover single issue and 6-issue subs: SUC-Session papermag : 3.00 / 16.00 SUC-Session as PDF-Download : 1.50 / 8.00 SCENE+ Disk : 2.50 / 12.00 SCENE+ Tape : 3.50 / 18.00 SCENE+ Tap-Download : 1.50 / 8.00 SUC-Session mag + Disk : 5.00 / 26.00 SUC-Session mag + Tape : 5.50 / 28.00 Prices are in Euros, and the disks are +D, Opus, Mb02, or D80. If you're in need of more details, then email FBI.
	[icabod] - 03/03/2002 17:31

	Doors - Aqua
	In an email I just received from B-reeZe^FBN about his Doors2k file-system, he mentions that work is still continuing on the project, tho' it's now had a name-change: Aqua. The entire architecture of the system has changed, and it will now act as a complete OS. So far the information I have is that it will work with HDD and CD-ROM (floppy drives are kinda redundant these days), with 128 BASIC being replaced by the BIOS for these media. It's also planned to emulate/intercept TR-DOS code to directly use the HDD. To this end, there's a few questions that B-reeZe would like answered: Is a general OS necessary on ZX? And personally to you? What model ZX do you use? How much memory does it have? If more than 128k, on what ports are the extended memory? At present do you have HDD and/or CDROM? If yes, what models and under what circuit are they connected? Would you like a rewritten 128 basic ROM on BIOS? not sure about this one (note: I "translated" those questions from the mail I was sent, so I hope they're right) I last mentioned this system back... ooh, about 18 months ago. Nice to see there's some life in the project. Answers can be sent to B-reeZe.
	[icabod] - 28/02/2002 23:56

	vbSpec 1.40 released
	Another emulator has been released, this time an update of vbSpec (yep, the emulator written in Visual Basic). The changes coming with the release of v1.40 are: Added scanline-accurate display rendering. Added emulation of contended memory. Added support for saving screenshots. Added support for loading .SCR screenshots (works also with Timex hi-res). Some more minor performance optimizations. Fixed some undocumented opcode timings. All looks interesting, especially the first point. It's always good to have another way to look at demos -- tho' nothing quite beats a real ZX.
	[icabod] - 28/02/2002 23:32

	Sprinter Emulator released
	Here's an interesting thing. An emulator of the schweet SPrinter machine from Peters Plus has been released. Well more accurately, a snapshot of the developers working directory is available. It's titled (simply) "Sprint" and is written by Alexander Shabarshin. I've got it queued up for download, so I can't comment on what it's like just yet, but it's a promising project -- it could propel the machine into demoscene status. Importantly, it doesn't emulate the Sprinter's Spectrum mode, but details in the readme show that it should work with, say, the 2D Studio package provided by Peters. The emulator is open-source, released under the GNU license. So go get it and play-play-play.
	[icabod] - 28/02/2002 23:25

	New Releases
	Just a couple mentions tonight of a couple new releases of a couple bits of software. Couple. The latest version of ZXMak has been released. From what I can tell, v0.260b1 fixes a few bugs and adds the following: 16bit Stereo sound; full TD0 support; SIT and SP snapshot support. There's also a new download on the page for ZXSound.dll, which I think will allow 8bit stereo sound on a PC. Of coz, .DLLs are useable by all (license permitting). Also released is a new beta of AY-Emulator. Yes, v2.6 seems to be eternally in beta-test, and this 4th beta includes a better player for .PT3 files. There's also a new feature, which looks like a batch-play system -- just point at a folder and play-away. Source is also available.
	[icabod] - 26/02/2002 00:10

	Amnesia
	Heehee. I wrote a couple bits of news on here a couple days ago but... I forgot to activate them on the site! DOH! So, let's see what other things I have "up my inbox". Well I got a couple buttons from the guys at Brainwave, so I'll be shoving that in with the growing collection in the sidebar. I think as there's quite a lot there, I'll sort out a "rotation" system for them. May make the page load faster. I got an email from Relict mentioning that he's lost his list of sceners. So if you want to receive news from him, fill in the following and email it to him: handle(nick): group(-s): occupation(gfx, code, etc): active e-mail account(-s): max. limit of e-mail: do you want get warez via mail, or only url: languages you know: I thought it may also be interesting to give you a couple bits of non-ZX news. Well, one bit anyway. Just something I found quite interesting. A bunch of scientists got together and produced a photo of Earth. Okay there's more to it than that, but either way it's really rather nice. So if you get a few minutes to spare, why not check out Blue Marble.
	[icabod] - 24/02/2002 15:28

	Retro Review batch 2 ready
	Following on from a previous post, the second batch of Retro Review issue 1 is available and ready for shipping. Get yourself over to the 'zines homepage to get a copy.
	[icabod] - 22/02/2002 18:19

	Micro Mart and RCT
	As you'll know, the launch issue of Retro Computing Today has been delayed. Well we now have a reason: author Allan Bairstow has joined the team of Micro Mart to write their Retro column, which was announced recently. Nice work sir.
	[icabod] - 22/02/2002 17:42

	Stuff
	It's been a while since we had a "Blah!", so here's one now. Just to sweep up a few things from today. Simply coz I'm tired. Again. I should quit work, and spend all day in bed. Forth : If you code in Forth (who'd wanna do that?) then you may be interested in a Forth compiler for the Sprinter available at Peters Plus. ZX-Gfx : A useful article covering ZX Graphics has been added to Gas13's site. It should be useful to explain to people who don't understand just how good ZX Gfx are. Oh, but it's not in English (yet). Cry Cry! Gfx Editing : On the subject of graphics, over on Virtual TRD you can grab v2.5 of the niftily-titled "MegaScreen Multicolor Editor". I think we can guess what that one does. Txt Editing : Also on V-TRD you can grab a couple text editors/word processors. There's AC-Edit 0.60 (fix) and ZX-WinWord 3.0. ZXMak : This emulator has been updated, with... ehm... UDI Support low-level disk format emulation. There's also a WinNT bugfix. Brings it up to v0.250 beta 1. AY-Emu : Sergey Bulba has released AY-Emulator v2.6 beta 3. Fixes are with playing Global Tracker 1.1 files, and also with ProTracker 3. You can also grab the source for it all. Noice.
	[icabod] - 20/02/2002 21:35

	Dutch Sinclair Meetings
	Noticed this update of information on forthcoming meets for the Sinclair in Holland. I'll do a quick list here, if you want the full details then I've ripped the full details and posted them here. HCC-Sinclair Meetings : 8th June, 10:00 ... 16:00 HCC-Sinclair Meetings : 21st September, 10:00 ... 16:00 HCC Dagen 2002 : 22nd, 23rd, 24th November, 10:00 ... 17:00 International HCC-Sinclair Meeting : 27th, 28th April, 09:00 ... 18:00 There's also a couple meetings for ZX81 (in March) and QL ([1] and [2]). The original list was posted by Robert van der Veeke.
	[icabod] - 20/02/2002 21:17

	News from CSS
	A couple posts on c.s.s sprang to my attention over the last couple days. First up there has been an advert for a job in the Feb 14th edition of Computer Weekly. The job, at VSO, a volunteer-based charity, is about "IT infrastructure with a ZX Spectrum." Yep, you read that right. Well, I've had a quick look on the site and didn't spot anything -- if anyone wants to point it out, lemme know. Also, BBC Manchester are doing a program on Daley Thompson. Apparently his classic ZX games will be appearing in the program. I say his, I mean they were about him. I'm guessing he didn't code them <g> A quote from a researcher: "If you know of any Daley Thompson fans or fans of the game in the Manchester area, I'd love to speak to them. I'm still looking for people to take part in the programme." There should be a contact address for Becky Morris somewhere on the beeb website. Perhaps. Thanks to both Alex Butcher and Alex Waddington, who posted the originals.
	[icabod] - 20/02/2002 21:00

	Scenosaurus exists
	I was going to come up with some clever "fossils" story here, but frankly I can't be arsed. Instead, just the news that new scene-site, Scenosaurus, is online, and looks to be very much open for business. I'll keep an eye on it, and I suggest you do the same. News is a little scarce right now, but I'm sure that'll change.
	[icabod] - 19/02/2002 22:24

	Gas13 Redesign
	Don't think I've mentioned the rather nice redesign of Gas13's site, done by Demiurge Ash. It looks, oooh, lovely. I notice this update from a couple days ago: "So many news that I've decided not to tell them... Just look..." So go on and look!
	[icabod] - 19/02/2002 21:57

	Forever Rules Change
	After some serious harrassing on various message boards, the organisers of FOReVER3 have finally caved in and removed the 2-production limitation for authors. Admittedly it was 2 productions per competition (for demo and intro compos), which I think is fair. Better to work on one quality piece than to flood the market with crap, right? Well, I think so anyway.
	[icabod] - 19/02/2002 21:49