Robert

@flatduckrecords.co.uk

189 Followers 216 Following

ZX Spectrum, SAM Coupé. Award-winning website developer. Oban, Scotland.

Bank of Scotland piggy-bank in the guise of Super Squirrel.
TOWER OF POWER! ZX Spectrum in a LeeSmithWorkshop “Mechtrum” case, with a Quazar RCBUS card, SAA1099 sound card, and a Beta Disk 128 mini disk interface.
Quazar 4 slot RC2014 bus expansion card for SAM Coupé
Tynemouth 68B50 serial port card for RC2014 connected to SAM Coupé via Quazar’s RC bus interface.
Picture of a TV set displaying a BASIC program listing. The line numbers appear to be out of proper sequence, and there is some garbage barf at the end. The program is just REM statements paraphrasing what I wrote in the main body of the skeet to which this picture is attached. (I.e. that it’s just a working-but-janky proof that it works).
A picture of a man wearing a hat. To the picture some sun emoji have been added.
Closeup of a SAM Coupé computer with an LCD screen attached and a serial interface. Text on the display reads “Tynemouth Software 68b50 Serial Port. SAM Coupe serial. Beep beep boop boop”
ZX Spectrum screenshot. Text on a blue background reads "Hello @chrisg.com" followed by "this is cool!" in various colours of text.
Box art for Sega Saturn game, "Bug!"
Advert clipping from Issue #7 of Crash, August 1984. Illustration shows a robot sailor dealing with a dramatically leaking ship, the caption reads “FOR ADDED REALISM PLAY THIS STANDING IN THE BATH”. The text continues, “You'll probably stay there till someone pulls the plug! Controlling this nautical nightmare is stormy stuff, especially with only first officer C-Droid to help you. Is the old sailor worth his salt? Or is he just a Jonah? Dive down to your dealer now for the answer - but be warned - this game will send you overboard!”
The Two Ronnie’s “Four Candles” sketch.
Photo of a TV screen, text describes a BASIC program called “ocean” being loaded.
Photo of a MiniDisc player and Burdcage game OST with some Black Screen Records stickers
One of @breakintoprogram.co.uk‬'s indispensable tables! This one lists the ZX Spectrum character set, including control codes and BASIC keyword tokens. The table is rendered in calming and reassuring peachy pastel shades.
Brian Cavers to Peter Beane No, it is not practical to convert the Disciple/+D OUTLET to SAM. I said “practical” rather than “possible” because with a huge amount of effort you might. Simple, straightforward BASIC can be converted using DBT.BAS on the MGT SAM system disk. It does not appear on the system menu program (the version on that only loads from tape) so you will probably have to load it direct. It prompts for a file name. Put a Spectrum +D disk in the SAM and enter its file-name. It loads and, after a few seconds (depending on the size of the program) it converts it to SAM BASIC which you can then save to SAM disk.
ZXtranSAM. TransAM, gettit? Robot SAM emblazoned with firebird wings and posing for lift off.
UK traffic control sign on a roadside verge; yellow with black lettering, text reads “Wide loads straddle both lanes”.
Sixth Doctor style title card, text reads "Keep BitSocketing"
Screenshot from Dean’s blog showing how a 16 memory address relates to pixels on a ZX Spectrum display. The lower four bits give the X coordinate, the next eight encode the y-coordinate (but their order is not contiguous) and the top three bits are always 010. It looks mental but Dean explains it eloquently on his blog!
Star Trek (the original series) title card, but the caption reads, “SINISTER BOTTOM”. Image depicts a space ship orbiting a strange planet.
Text, animated in the fashion of a Game Boy Advance, reads: KEEP BitSocketing®
macOS screenshot, of an application window. The appication is Nova. The window is split into three panes, left side is the files list showing ASM source files. The main pane is an ASM code listing showing SjASMPlus macro definitions. The bottom pane is a terminal emulator showing command line output from a successful run the SjASMPlus assembler, including some useful values such as the routine start address and total length.
ZX Spectrum screenshot. List of BASIC variable names and values. Text reads: S=18235 A=65194 N (printed inverse) B=204 L$="Samster No. 1!" C (printed inverse) 0 OK, 0:1
A pair of futuristic CYBERHANDS going full CYBERMODE.
Photograph of a blue 3.5" floppy diskette, the label is hand written and reads “Go-Go BunnyGun!”
Photograph of a large hardback book. The title reads “THE MICRO ENQUIRER (SPECTRUM)” printed in large friendly letters on the cover.
macOS desktop screenshot showing beastem and a terminal window. the text in the terminal is a swiftly-ended game of Zork.
SAM the robot, a cute li'l robot dude made from hemispherical bits with springs for limbs. In this illustration by his creator Robin Evans, SAM is saluting.
Photograph of MIDISID Morpheus, a neat oblong black box with a small screen and four twiddly knobs. The device is attached to various wires.
Video clip of a record playing on a turntable. The disc itself and the matching sleeve artwork are a vibrant shade of Curaçao blue.
Quazar RC-ZX bus adapter connected to a ZX Nucleon (Pentagon clone) in a LSW Mechtrum keyboard case, with a CSS Electronics Beta Disk Mini 128 floppy disk interface AND a Quazar SAA1099P sound card. Phew! 😅
I'm escaping to the one place that hasn't been corrupted by capitalism: SPACE!
Photograph of a little blue box that appears to be bigger on the inside. The front panel is adorned with toggle switches, LEDs and a green LCD glowing brightly. Text on the small screen reads RomWBW V3.6.0, Z80 CPU 7.372 MHz, RC2014_std, Ready. Also pictured is a ROM programmer.
Photograph of a bronze cannon.
ZX Spectrum game screenshot. It's a 2D connect-four style game with cartoon angels and demons as the playing pieces. The sprites are colourful and are drawn at a colour resolution above which the Spectrum is nominally capable. Some blinking text reads: EVIL WINS!
Professor Weeto rocking a natty kipper tie and looking very professional.
Text in the style of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles logo reads: EXPLODING WITH MONKEY MADNESS
Photo of Scott and Joe, wielding bladed weapons and searching in the desert for Lee, probably. Text caption reads: BITSOCKET, PART LEE.
It’s a big round space hole? From the movie film Dune part three. Anyway, superimposed text reads: KEEP BITSOCKETING
Photograph of a ZX Spectrum +3 in a Perspex™ sandwich with the keyboard ribbon trails extended ungainlyly with DuPont ™ jump wires.
Imagine text that reads MEGA, but it's also totally rad.
SAM Coupe screenshot of a very lovely Mode 2 plasma effect
Screen recording of a colourful CRT display driven by SAM Coupé. After booting from the splash screen multicoloured sinusoidal waves flow across the screen. Text in the centre which shimmers in contrast to the waves appears to read: ROBERT
Boot up splash screen for the best games console ever, maybe. Blue swirl, text reads: Dreamstress
ZX Spectrum screenshot. A rotating toothed circular saw blade menaces a cute squishy jelly monster. Colourful rainbow text reads: BUZZSAW by Jason Railton, music by Mister Beep.
A photograph of a CRT display showing eight rows of thirty-two 8x8 checkerboard patterns. Each block is a different permutation of colours taken from a palette of eight hues and two and intensities.
Nintedo® 64™ videogame controller composited over a Foggy picture.
Pokémon screenshot but the text reads, “KEEP BITSOCKETING”
custom Twin Peaks opening titles, text reads: keep BITSOCKETING
Cropped iPhone screenshot showing a hex-view of “48.rom”. Two consecutive bytes among many are highlighted. (Other fondleslabs may be available, YMMV).
ZX Spectrum screenshot. Text reads: 10 RANDOMIZE USR 2054 R Tape loading error, 10:1
ZX Spectrum screenshot. A BASIC listing and report message. Text reads: 10 POKE 23296,207 20 POKE 23297,26 30 RANDOMIZE USR 23296 R Tape loading error, 30:1
ZX Spectrum screenshot. Text reads: R Tape loading error, 40:1
t-shirt with printed text that reads: the undo buffer is my version control
GIF from 1995 film Bad Boys. Martin Lawrence says “shit just got real” in that famous Michael Bay orbit long-lens hero shot that he loves doing
Short video recording of a Sony MiniDisc recorder playing back Dario G’s “Sunchyme” from the hit 1998 album Sun Machine.
Partially disassembled Sony MiniDisc Walkman. The batter contacts are crusted green. Soldering tools and cotton buds have been used to start the repair.
Sony J5 mobile phone. Similar to many contemporary handsets, but featuring a jog-wheel positioned on the left hand side.