Dalsi Pivo
	We came. We saw. We sat down. We drank beer. And vodka. And some brandy. And a little rum. And who knows what else!? Yes, I'm back from Beerever, and I can happily say, "it's an experience". I'll write up a kinda report when I have my photos developed. Knowing how lame I am it'll be sometime next year! Hehe. Or perhaps after this weekend. Suffice (I like that word) to say, Budcice is a really nice place for a drinking holiday -- nice scenery, nice weather (when it's not thunder-and-lightning), but a distinct lack of a shop. And you should visit Prague. It's a damn nice city. Quick greets to Hellboy, Yerzmyey, Mikezt, and hey, all the party-people. You'll get listed when I do the write-up.
	[icabod] - 06/08/2002 23:29

	State-of-play
	This here's just a little update on what's been happening with... well, me. I know you all have nothing better to do than talk about how great I am. But before I start on that, I'll mention that I had an email from Dimitri Kokken, the retro-machine collector. He asked if I could put up his email address in case you can help with his collection. So here it is. Now, it seems that I'm not the only one suffering from the heat. Poor ol' Martijn from WOS is suffering too. In his words, he hopes that people don't mind him "slacking a bit" because of the heat. I certainly don't. I've been doing it myself!!! Hmm. My flights are booked, a hotel room is booked for one night, and arrangements are made. I'm gonna be at Beerever (after a night in Prague)! This will mean that I won't be doing any updates to raww.org for a few days. I may get a chance tomorrow night to mention any important news, but after that you'll have to wait until, I guess, next Tuesday. It's a long time away, so I apologise. But the excuse of "in Czech getting drunk" is a good one I think. And assuming I bother to get my scanner set up again you may even get some photos from the event. Well, the photos that I'm not using for blackmail, anyway. I'm sure there's going to be some dodgy, R18-rated pictures in there, hehe <g>.
	[icabod] - 30/07/2002 23:03

	ZX on Kohina
	Well they must want me to link to them, as Kohina have added some ZX tracks to their playlist. The tunes are: Ben Daglish - Dark Fusion (48k) Martin Galway - Cobra (48k) Martin Galway - Ping-Pong (48k) Tim Follin - Chronos - A Tapestry of Time (128k) Tim Follin - Raw Recruit (128k) The total playlist reaches a staggering 23 hours, 37 minutes. Well, at least a small part of that is dedicated to our humble machine.
	[icabod] - 30/07/2002 22:42

	X-Agon Music Collection
	If you're a big AY-fan then you really have to check out this file mentioned by X-Agon over on the X-board. It's his complete collection of Ay-tunes in .SQT format, totalling over 100 tracks. Grab it and go get AY-Emulator to play them on your PC. Have a proper background sound to your surfing. Yes.
	[icabod] - 30/07/2002 22:37

	CAFe 2002
	Another request for people to go to this party has appeared on POS, tho' I think that with 168 registrations it's doing okay. If you're planning on going, go sign up. But the main reason I'm mentioning this here is the funny translation that translate.ru has given me: "so what horse-radish you sit on the place and the fig do not do(make)???". Okaaayyyy.
	[icabod] - 30/07/2002 22:32

	CSP Warez
	Wanna check out the releases from the just-happened Crazy Siberian Party 2oo2? Then head on over to POS and grab it from their downloads section. I've got it queued so I can't make a comment on the quality of the productions... or even what's there! But grab it and look at the work. Do it!
	[icabod] - 30/07/2002 22:27

	RIP Scenosaurus
	A look at Scenosaurus shows that it's no more. Just a standard "there's nothing here" page. RIP.
	[icabod] - 30/07/2002 22:21

	Old Computers Library
	A quick check of old-computers.com reveals that they've opened a library on their site. Okay, so it just contains links to a bunch of Amazon books, but it saves you doing the searching. The books listed are all about the whole "Retro" computer scene, including ones about the history of games, and... well, mainly the history of games. Check it out if you're looking for a book to read on the beach for your next holiday.
	[icabod] - 30/07/2002 21:47

	Virtual TRD Downloads
	Oh, I've been a long time in front of this machine, typing away. It's lovely weather outside, but I have a duty to my loyal readers. I don't think you realise the sacrifices I make to write this damned page. But I digress. The last post for today (I hope) will focus on the large number of downloads available over on Virtual TRD. You can skip over there yourself to check the full list, but here's a few highlights: Z80Stealth I've already mentioned, but this new version seems to originate from V-TRD. So go grab it. An article about adapting programs to TRD. How about one adapting away from TRD next? Something about what's happening on the ZX community. I think. Some TRDOS System Tools, including the latest version of RIP (a packer). A Real Commander plugin that converts PCX-to-SCREEN$. Very handy. Digital Player. It's a music player. No, it is. A couple .SCR-viewers. A list of all ZX Software sold by Scorpion. Aah. That's the computer work finished with today. It's sunny outside still... think I'll go put on a DVD. Hehe.
	[icabod] - 28/07/2002 19:57

	CAFe 02 news
	A few little notes grabbed from POS about the upcoming CAFe Party. Basically there's two new ZX-based compos. Yes, I said ZX-based. One of the compos is for writing a 32k game. Details are in the rules, and there's also an updated timetable. The other competition is a little different. It's for writing the best poetry about the ZX Spectrum. Worryingly, the only word I can think of that rhymes with Spectrum is... rectum. Oh dear.
	[icabod] - 28/07/2002 19:43

	AY-Emulator Alpha 7
	Yes, the latest alpha-release of this lovely thing is out, and ready for download. Newly-playable files are of the following types: FTC, PT1, FLS, GTR, FXM and AY (AMAD only). I think that's all that's needed to be said. Oh, apart from the link.
	[icabod] - 28/07/2002 19:37

	Phat5 news
	I told you I had some news on the next "edition" of this party. Most of the information posted on POS was correct, including the dates and place. Yes, it's still in Riga, Latvia, and it's taking place from 20th to 23rd of September. The party seems to be growing, allowing all platforms, and this year it's even bigger than ever. The party-place is being split into four areas: Scener/Computer area, DJ + Live Acts area, Group HQs (and sleeping), and also the big "Party" area (for shaking your booty). Apparently, over 30 DJs will play during the weekend. Oh, and it's all the standard compos. But you knew that already, right?
	[icabod] - 28/07/2002 19:33

	Sprinter Downloads
	More Sprinter downloads are available from the Peters Plus website. Let's see: 256 Colour demo. See, told you it could be a demo machine. This new version works well on Sprint. OrgASM v0.16 has been released, giving coders the ability to write Assembler. Yes. DLLs. There's a couple downloads that will allow people to use "DLLs" with their Sprinter programs. A handy addition, I think. Libman v1.1 gives the ability, and LibShaos is a set of libraries for you to use. It all sounds rather nice.
	[icabod] - 28/07/2002 19:27

	Notes
	I've just been booking flights and stuff to the good ol' Czech Republic. Unless something strange happens I'll be at Beerever. If my boss stops me... well, it's the second time my work got in the way of travelling, and they'll owe me a lot of cash. Sorry for the few days of quiet. Aside from being fairly busy, the weather's been too nice to sit inside in front of a computer all day. I mentioned a few of the recent happenings a couple days ago. I'll cover a few little things here now: z80Stealth : I've already told you about a new version of this emulator on the scene. But still no news of it on the official page. Is it a fake? Has the page moved? Hell, I don't know. Anyone? Hellboy : A little mention that there's a new Hellboy comic in the works. Nothing to do with the scener, but as it's his namesake, worth a mention. Kohina : Doing his bit for ZX, Yerz has provided a bunch of Tim Follin music to this retro radio station. Here's hoping they'll play 'em. I just switched on and they're streaming Arkanoid/C64. I'll add their button when they finally get some ZX tunes in their playlist. Voting : There's mention on ZX-Chart about getting votesheets in, I think (translation is dodgy). Still haven't spotted the HTML results from the last lot yet. Retro Computer Mart : Two new articles from the keyboard of Shaun Bebbington. QLs, Vics, and C64's. But there's news of a Sinclair Special coming up. Read the articles: [22/07] [23/07] Skrju : Thanks to skreemah for reminding me of the recently released demo from this group. It's called "LoveMaker", and you can grab it here. It's in .SCL format. VidStudio : Here's an app for playing with video. It's posted on DJH Downloads, and is called "Video Studio 1.0". It compresses the video apparently. It may even be for the ZX <g>. Short Intros : Some claims on c64.sk of the "shortest intros ever". Well, I agree that 4b is very short. I've not checked it, but I bet it looks like shit. Ahem. Sorry. Prolly prints "Hi" or something. 15byte bobs sounds kool, tho'. Emails : I got an untranslateable email from someone. May have been news. Maybe not. Ho-hum. MSF : Another email that just translated badly from Macros - I think it's about MSF #24 being released at Crazy Siberian Party 2oo2 (which is happening as I write this). Look for it in the warez-pack. UncleClive : Got an email from UncleClive about his site, a kinda gaming satire thing. Check it out. Nicely done I think, and lots of retro references. Currently features a ZX Techno Track for download, I think based on a SCREEN$ loading. Hmm. A couple other in-site links are here: [1][2] Clones Wanted : Got a mail a few days back from Dimitri Kokken, mentioning his collection of Retro machines. He has over 390 (!!). He's looking for, well, anything he doesn't yet have (ZX clones, etc). Check out his collection here and try filling in the gaps. The full list is available as a .XLS file. Sunbeam : Phoenix has moved servers, and his FTP is on a different IP address. I'll fix up the redirection of Sunbeam FTP later on this evening. Plus+Effect : I was mailed a banner to Plus+Effect, but I've lost it. DOH! I think Eudora ate it. Ooh, I've found it on the site. Lovely. That's that.
	[icabod] - 28/07/2002 19:22

	Tools and things
	It's been a few days since the last update (but that was quite a big update), so there's a fair bit of news to dish out. I'm going to split it over a couple days... it's easier on me that way. First up I'll mention a few tools that you may like to grab: MB Commander : If you're a user of the MB02+ disk system for the ZX then you may be interested in this new utility by Shrek. You can grab it from pandora.cz. Article text is in Czech, but click-the-zip. Horror Fast Test : There's a new version of this tool to check out your ZX hardware over on DJH. Also if you check out the Russian version there's another app there for some animation fun. Quick Commander : Not sure about this one... piped OB through a translator and I think there's a new version of this other Commander tool. v2.71 in fact. Pro Tracker : I think there's also mention there that Alone Coder is working on a new version of this tracking app. Nice. SevenuP : Hehe, a quick bugfix release of this graphics editor has hit the 'net. Something dodgy about cutting and pasting. Up to v0.51a. Oh pooh to all this. I'm tired. I've had a... hectic few days this week. Things have been a little out of control. There's extra news, sure. But that can wait a few more hours. Quick mentions now (and proper articles tomorrow probably) for: A new release of z80Stealth - nothing on the homepage, so check V-TRD for the goods. banner.scenosaurus now becomes Bannerscene. Sprinter - demos, assemblers, and library functions. All available on Peters Plus. News on Phat2002 (or Phat5) to come tomorrow. Sorry again. Tomorrow. Yes.
	[icabod] - 26/07/2002 00:24

	ZXF Magazine
	Finally, the last news item for today, and quite an important one. I'm surprised no-one has mentioned this to me before. ZXF is a free ZX Spectrum magazine, released in .PDF format (get yourself over to Adobe for the viewer if you don't already have it). I can't comment on it just yet, as I'm only just downloading it. But the feedback from CSS-regulars paints a pretty picture. I'll have to download and print it at work tomorrow. Of coz, this does make me wonder... where has issue 3 of Retro Review got to?
	[icabod] - 21/07/2002 21:58

	Kohina retro radio
	A quick mention of a streaming radio station from Finland which plays old-school 8/16-bit tunes from games and demos. I couldn't get to the Kohina website, but if you can, you can check their playlist. There's a bunch of C64 stuff there according to VORC.
	[icabod] - 21/07/2002 21:47

	Spectaculator!
	Phew. Quite a lot of news today. I should mention this new version of Spectaculator which was released yesterday. It's up to v2.5, and some of the new highlights include: Ultra-fast .TZX loading Load from .VOC, .WAV, .CSW files. Ramsoft Floating Bus emulation implemented. Hi-Res border emulation. Multicolour rendering is more accurate. ... and all the usual tweaks and fixes. Looks good. Time to clik-that-zip.
	[icabod] - 21/07/2002 21:44

	Phat2 and Shucon
	A couple party announcements here? Why not. I've seen the first mention of Phat2 over on POS. Not much there, just the dates (20th to 23rd September), and place (Rige, Latvia (as with previous parties)). As before it's a party dedicated to all 8-bit platforms, but there's no homepage link just yet. Hmph. For details of Shucon 2e3+2 (wouldn't it be quicker to write "2002"?), look at this X-board thread. From what I can tell, it's starting... damned soon! 29th July to 4th August. Cleverly it's at the same time as Beerever and Assembly 02, but it could be a handy midpoint for people who can't come to the others.
	[icabod] - 21/07/2002 21:37

	Beerever 2e3?
	A little note that there's directions and maps to Beerever at this page. But, uhm, I think that logo needs updating! Any problems, questions, or just to say "I'm coming!", pass them on to Hellboi. It's only fair, as it's his place that's gonna be trashed <g>. Thanks to Yerz for the update.
	[icabod] - 21/07/2002 21:17

	SevenuP v0.5 released
	I mentioned this little tool a few days ago, and a new version has been released. v0.5 of SevenuP, the ZX graphics editor for PC, changes a few things, tho' they generally ease the use of the tool rather than increase it's capabilities. The only real new feature is Copy-and-Paste. Handy for cheating in GFX compos <g>.
	[icabod] - 21/07/2002 20:42

	ZX Trading
	speccy.org have added a section to their site to allow trading of ZX "stuff". Well, perhaps trading is too big a word. They've provided a place for people to advertise what ZX gear they have or want, so people can contact them and trading can occur. Sounds like a nice idea. Unfortunately I can't seem to access it at the moment. Perhaps it's been taken offline, as you can guarantee that as soon as a message board opens up, someone will post messages with subjects like "Come see my heaving boobies" and "I'm all wet - check my webcam".
	[icabod] - 21/07/2002 20:36

	DOS Downloads
	Post groupage. That's the way forward. Some downloads for various ZX Disk Systems are available if you want them. First up is the documenation for the MB02+ from 8Bit Company. Written by the company and Busy (who wrote the software for the system), it contains manuals and tech-sheets, and is available in English and Slovak. For the TR-DOS users among us, there's a new version of TR-DOS Navigator available for download from DJH's webpage. It allows the creation of directories on TRD disks, similar to directories on the MB02.
	[icabod] - 21/07/2002 20:29

	Sprinter Polls
	While I was looking at the Peters Plus webpage, I decided to have a quick check of the current poll that's running. The poll is on "features you want on the Sprinter", and the results are... well, they're unsurprising I think. Nearly 45% of people want it to be Spectrum compatible. I don't recall what I voted, but I personally think this is a smaller priority. It's a new machine, and we all already have Spectrums. Wouldn't it be better to have new features? Just a thought.
	[icabod] - 21/07/2002 20:16

	Sprinter Demos
	I've said before about how I think the Sprinter could be the next step for the "ZX" demoscene. It's a nice machine, kind of a Spectrum Upgrade. But importantly it's still limited in what it's capable of. That's not an insult to the designers, just a comment on the demoscene in general. When I was really into the PC demoscene, I was only impressed if a demo ran on my 486/66. With todays super'puters (my games PC is a 1.4GHz machine, and it's already out-of-date) nothing's quite as impressive so far as coding goes. Anyone can do stunning FX with a little time and effort. But stunning FX on an 8-bit machine? Now that's special. It's limitations and overcoming them that makes a demo stand out. So, I'm actually going somewhere with all this. Simply, there's a demo posted to the Peters Plus page, demonstrating a Flame effect (yes, nice oldskool stuff) on the Sprinter. Okay, it's not much, but it could spark (hehe - spark) some interest in the future of the 8-bit scene. Perhaps.
	[icabod] - 21/07/2002 20:12

	Geeks or Beer?
	It's been brought to my attention that there's a conflict on the weekend of Beerever, the Speccy-only drinking party being held in a couple weeks in Czech Republic. Of coz, it's the same weekend as Assembly 02, the biggest scene party of them all. Although the good ol' ZX isn't really supported at Assembly (it features as part of the "OldSkool" section, along with C64, etc), Gasman will be there, and hopefully be showing off some of the better recent releases from our dear machine. Alcohol is prohibited. On the other hand, Beerever is a weekend of getting drunk, for Speccy enthusiasts only. And hopefully loose-and-easy women (but that's perhaps just wishful thinking). So. Geeks or beer? Geeks or beer? My money is on Beerever. Let's hope I'm allowed time off work, eh? EH!?
	[icabod] - 21/07/2002 19:33

	Game Music Base
	Seems that the world's gone Database crazy. Which for Joe Public isn't such a bad thing... huge amounts of data at your fingertips. The latest one that's worthwhile I saw mentioned on VORC, it's titled the Game Music Base, and it does what it says on the tin. Under construction by MirSoft, it doesn't actually contain anything relevant to the ZX. Yet. Check out the list of "to-be-done" features, and AY is mentioned. The database is basically a place to grab the tunes from all your favourite games. Just type in a game or company name, and up comes a list. Click/Download the music. Job's a good'un. Roll on the AY section.
	[icabod] - 19/07/2002 00:34

	Little Fishes
	It's been quite pleasant weather again in England today. At least in my part of England. I mean pleasant in the "uncomfortably warm in an office with no air-con" kinda way. So what news? Well, I think I've just received my formal invitation to Beerever2002, the drinking-man's party -- basically a bunch of people getting drunk for a couple days. Not sure if I can make it yet. Must check out flight details. Other than that, there's a few bits of real news for ya: ZX-View : Check out the homepage of Brainwave and grab yourself v0.2b of this Windows-based ZX Graphics viewer. BMP2SCR : Not a new version, but a kinda update. Seems there's some problems with LCD right now, so he's stopping work on all projects for a while. You can go to his page and grab the latest #51 of Scene+ tho'. Get well soon, sir. Symphony : Just a little note to say that Scenosaurus reports on an upcoming CD of the Symphony releases. Tired : I work too much. Really. I'm tired all the time. Can't be healthy. CAFe : With my translator throwing most of the text out-the-window, I can only guess that the recent post on POS is about... ooh... CAFe Party party-place photos and stuff.
	[icabod] - 19/07/2002 00:28

	Lightspeed ZX
	Not actually lightspeed, but after finishing work on the SmartMedia interface for the ZX, Csaba Gondos has been working on another project, a 14MHz ZX Speccy. I quite like the idea of this (yes, there are various fast-ZX systems, I know), as it switches between 4x and 1x speed depending on what it's doing. Of course it's slower when writing to the screen and contended RAM, but other than that it's a boost. Could be quite a nice system, methinks. Thanks to Ricsibu for the news.
	[icabod] - 16/07/2002 21:31

	EarthShaker-based game
	Okay, it's a slow news day it seems, so a quick mention of a new game that's been written, and advertised on the WOS forums (check the Games section). The game's by David Pegg, and you can grab it here -- parts of it are based on Earth Shaker it seems. Wow, that boy really likes that game!
	[icabod] - 16/07/2002 21:19

	Notes
	Oh, just a couple notes for tonight. My computer's giving off too much heat -- we're not used to it in England. I need to turn off my PC and empty a few ice-buckets into my room. That should cool it down. But first: Syndeecate : this post on the X-board provides a little more information on this upcoming party, including the fact that there's no ZX entries yet. One month to go! Nice idea about the beer, too. VORC Shop : There's a new shop at this chiptune site, allowing people to buy music inspired by chiptunes. Aimed at the Japanese consumer, but could be worth a look-in. MB02+ : Check out the 8BC website for a nice new download for this neat disk interface. It's a Multitech graphics convertor. Multitech is a graphics mode using the Zilog DMA chip found in an MB02. Click on the Downloads link and check the screenshots. Oh yes, very nice. Thanks to Martin Blazek for news of the update. ZX DIY Hardware : Ironically for the URL used, this site is about ZX Spectrums. DIY Hardware, in fact. A few bits and pieces there, such as another IDE interface, and things to make your ZX run cooler (I could do with that now). Check it out. Link added.
	[icabod] - 15/07/2002 23:58

	RealSpectrum
	Finishing off for tonight we have some news from Ramsoft, the team behind RealSpectrum (my emulator of choice). Beta 13 of RealSpec/DOS is being worked on, bringing with it Wafadrives, Lightguns, some audio interfaces, and "other hardware bits". There'll also be additional, ehm, additions before the release. RealSpec/DX (the upcoming Windows rewrite), is in the final stages, so I think we can expect a release soon. The only new news is a new (okaaay) tape system. It converts everything on-the-fly into .TZX format due to including the MakeTZX engine (also by Ramsoft). They also mention about RS being the official emulator of the Speccy Tour 2002, a kinda competition that you may have read about. If you haven't, check that link. I'll try to cover it fully when I'm not soooo tired. For now I need sleep. Have a good one.
	[icabod] - 14/07/2002 23:50

	Spin Update
	There's been a whole heap o' changes in the latest edition of Spin, now up to version 0.2c. I'll detail a couple of them here: +3 Disk acceleration "close to perfect" +3 fdc CPU speed options Full +3e IDE emulation Fixed the Volume controls bug fixes to the disassembly window Aah hell, I'm bored of cutting-and-pasting. For the full scoop on what's changed, and a few other things you'll be needing to know, click here to read the full post on comp.sys.sinclair.
	[icabod] - 14/07/2002 23:35

	Nuggets
	Well, it's Sunday night, and I'm knackered. I've been out a-riding my bike, coz the weather's been rather lovely. About 13 miles in total, which is quite a lot for a fat bloater like myself. So I'm looking to get to bed soon, so I can catch up on sleep and wake up in pain from using muscles I didn't know I had. Yes. Here's a couple of little notes you may be interested in: C64 Musak : I'm just mentioning this thing as it's some strange retro-rock mentioned on NTK. This Wednesday there's a concert on from "Press Play On The Tape", a cover band reproducing... C64 SID tunes. Oooo-kay. Symphony : C64.sk are reporting that there's some results out for this weekend's Symphony party, tho' I don't see anything on the site yet, and they only mention C64 results. Beer + Yerza : In a thread about a non-compo party on the X-board, I see that Yerzmyey is playing the Ambient 2002 festival. Some electronic music. Noice. No details on the concert, but it's mid-August. AY-Emulator : The latest alpha of this lovely tune-player is out. Brings with it .PSC and .SQT-playing. Grab alpha 6 here. Crazy Siberia : There's news on POS of the upcoming (I mean in about 2 weeks) Crazy Siberian Party 2oo2. I think I've mentioned this before, but it's not appeared in the calendar. Hmm. Do some work, cut-n-paste the text through RuskiMatic. Twilight : While it's still there, you could check out a report posted on Scenosaurus about the recent Twilight demoparty. Report only appears in the Russian section.
	[icabod] - 14/07/2002 23:24

	Hungary and Smart Media
	Thanks to Ricsibu for these couple bits of information from the Hungarian ZX scene. First up is a Speccy-DOS emulator. It's an apparently popular (in Hungary) disk system for the ZX, and this emulator allows you to access disk images and such. You can get to it here. Next, and in my opinion really rather neat, is the homepage of Csaba Gondos. There you can find some hardware projects such as a curcuit to lower power consumption by the ZX. But even better is an interface to allow access to SmartMedia cards from your ZX. Yes, it's those cards you slot into your MP3-players and digital cameras. Now you can use them with a ZX. Aah, this I like. It's worth a check I think. Get some of these things on the production line. Yes. Currently only in Hungarian, but I've been told it'll be translated.
	[icabod] - 11/07/2002 21:35

	CAFeParty extra compo
	Reported on POS today was news of an extra competition at the CAFe Party being held in, uhm, August. Well actually it reads more like a raffle. Three people will be picked at random and given prizes. Yep, it's a raffle.
	[icabod] - 11/07/2002 21:19

	Viewing Brainwaves
	Well okay, maybe not, but there's certainly a new screen$ viewer out there from Brainwave. I saw it mentioned on Scenergy. Features include viewing .SCR, Gigascreen, and XColor images. Handy.
	[icabod] - 11/07/2002 21:14

	ROM updates at S4E
	After quite a long time of quietness (well, a couple months) Speccy4Ever has been updated with two new ROM sets. There's SpecMate (I don't know what this one does), and an update to v1.11 of the ZX+3e ROMs. This last one is a project to allow an EIDE hard drive to be attached to your +3. Nice. The ROMs actually came out a couple months ago, but there you go.
	[icabod] - 11/07/2002 20:50

	AY-Emulator Alpha 5
	Well the latest version of AY-Emulator 3.0 has been released. Alpha 5 has brought with it the ability to play .PT2, .STC, .ZXS, .STP, and .ASC files. In addition to the ones it already supported. I'll soon be able to remove the old 2-series version from my machine at this rate.
	[icabod] - 11/07/2002 20:47

	Emulator Poll
	I see that speccy.org are running a poll to find out which of the various emulators is the most popular. I clicked my vote, and no surprises for guessing that it's the current number 1. Yep, RealSpectrum is at the top so far, with X128 a close second. Not sure how accurate the voting will be tho' -- there's no sign of R80, UnrealSpeccy or Z80Stealth. Guess "Other" could be a winner then.
	[icabod] - 11/07/2002 20:42

	Congratulations Qjeta
	Last news item today is a quick "congratulation" to Qjeta (of MQM team fame). He's scored himself a chick, and has successfully taken her up the aisle. Uhm... I mean of coz that he's just got married. Indeed.
	[icabod] - 09/07/2002 21:22

	Sintech updates
	Something else I meant to mention a few days ago was the recent set of updates to Sintech, the place to get all your ZX-wares. In fact, the place to get all you retro (8-bit) wares too. And PSX, PC, etc... Yes, they're branching out. If you've not visited the shop before, it's certainly worth a trip over there. Loads of things online, and I think they've just added a back catalog of "thingies", meaning there's even more for you to browse through. Pretty much everything that's in stock, in fact. All this and a nice-looking redesign too? Some people just have too much time on their hands <g>.
	[icabod] - 09/07/2002 21:19

	Minigame 2002 news
	While not strictly a party, it's a competition, so I've added the Minigame Compo 2002 event to the party calendar. You know the idea already I think. Write a game in as few bytes as possible. It's multi-platform, with entries allowed on all (?) 8-bit machines. Newness on the site to date is the addition of a FAQ section, and a couple new entries: "ZTrack 1k" and "Tetris 1k", both by Russel Marks, and both for the Spectrum. Well, one's for the Spectrum, the other for the ZX81. But hey, it's got ZX in the name, so we'll count it as our own.
	[icabod] - 09/07/2002 21:13

	Graphics Editing
	Oh I just found a piece of news in my Agent archive that was announced a few days ago on CSS. And it neatly ties in with another recent announcement, too. Basically, two ZX graphics editors have been released/updated. First up is SCR-EDitor v1.1 by Shaos (the people behind Sprint emulator). It's a .SCR editor (obviously) for DOS, and comes complete with C++ source code. Next is SevenuP, a ZX graphics editor for the PC, this time running under Windows (98, ME, 2k) or Linux. This one is out at v0.4 alpha. I've tried out neither version due to only just realising they exist. Actually, I may have known about the Shaos one. I'll monitor the pages for changes. Deal? Deal.
	[icabod] - 09/07/2002 21:06

	Coding Challenge
	I saw on the WOS forums there's a new Miscellaneous thread entitled "Machine Code Challenge". In it there's a... challenge. In machine code. Sounds straightforward. Tho' it's not when you actually look at the problem. It's basically to do with "thickening" some data (think of it as, say, BOLDing a font). A couple interesting solutions there already. Go check it out, keep your brain fresh.
	[icabod] - 09/07/2002 20:48

	Laser Squad anyone?
	In one of an occasional games article on raww.org, I have decided it's worth mentioning something I found that's really quite cool. It's been mentioned in PC Gamer (UK) by both "Jumping" Jim Rossignol and "Tiny" Time Stone. Seems they're both avid fans of "Laser Squad Nemesis", a play-by-email turn-based game based on the classic, ehm... Laser Squad, written by the Gollop brothers. I would link to the original game, but I'm not sure WOS allows it, hmph. It's free to try it out, so all you need is a friend somewhere on the 'Net (and we can all find one of those... can't we?). Take up some time during work to play against someone. Get retro. Yes. And in case you're wondering... yes, it's by the original coders. Aah what fun to be had in the office over the coming months!
	[icabod] - 09/07/2002 20:34

	Sprint new release
	I've mentioned before, I think, how refreshing it is to see a hardware developer supporting the emulation of their own kit. Well Peters Plus have just mentioned a new version of the Sprint emulator. As with the previous releases it's simply a snapshot of the development directory, but the tiny download includes demos, source, and binaries for running under DOS, Windows, and Linux. It now even works at the original Sprinter speed under NT. So go check it out. Now.
	[icabod] - 09/07/2002 20:22

	Twilight Results
	Oh, I see that there's some results from Twilight posted on the just-alive Scenosaurus. The party has been held this weekend, so these results are hot-off-the-presses. ZX Graphics 1 - D-Art/Fenomen/Psycho 2 - Fox/AIS 3 - Disabler Pro Library ZX AY Music 1 - Fatal Snipe/Fenomen/Psycho 2 - Sinus/SVR 3 - Klim/OHG Not sure how official those are.
	[icabod] - 08/07/2002 00:39

	TZM Compo 2002
	Just a quick mention of this compo as it's not really ZX-related. TZM Compo 2002 is a music competition. It features two categories, "Maestro" and "Chip-man". The latter is of most interest as one of the acceptable formats is .YM (which is playable by AY-Emulator). Not much else to say really. If you're a musician on any other platforms (PC and Amiga, basically), then check out the site. Earn yourself some street-cred.
	[icabod] - 08/07/2002 00:34

	ZX-Chart 3
	The third edition of ZX-Chart is available for download from both DJH Downloads and POS. I've not checked out the thing yet, but I'm a little curious to know why there's no mention of it on the official site's news yet. Aah, it should appear there soon. Grab and digest. Oh, and you can also check out the homepage of Gas13. He's posted an image he created that's been used in this issue. Update: it's now available for download from the ZX-Chart homepage.
	[icabod] - 08/07/2002 00:10