Does anyone remember the Spectrum to Spectrum+ upgrade?
MooseBlaster
basically the shell of a Spectrum+ and a RAM upgrade. What
you did was gut your poor old Spectrum and place it's bits and
pieces into the shell. And with the RAM, you crunched it into
the slots and put it all back together. The only difference between
the two was that the now updated Speccy had "Upgraded" printed
on the bottom.
My brother told me about it, but I just want to make sure of it.
--
MooseBlaster
---------------------
BE MOOSE-TIFYING
http://www.come.to/spectrum-games
Derek Jolly
>
>Can anyone remember an upgrade made by Sinclair which was
>basically the shell of a Spectrum+ and a RAM upgrade. What
>you did was gut your poor old Spectrum and place it's bits and
>pieces into the shell. And with the RAM, you crunched it into
>the slots and put it all back together. The only difference between
>the two was that the now updated Speccy had "Upgraded" printed
>on the bottom.
You on about the Spectrum+ upgrade kit? I got one of these for my
48K Speccy. It came with a Spectrum+ keyboard, a new heatsink, and a
reset button you had to solder in. Didn't come with any RAM, but
maybe you could get that for the 16K Speccy.
It did have Upgraded written on the bottom of the shell next to the
expansion port slot where you'd expect the serial number to be.
--
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Steven Harrison
I sent my Speccy off for the keyboard upgrade... it made it easier to
type, but looked a lot less nicer than the original rubber keyed job...
I always regretted it... (sniff, sob)
On Wed, 18 Aug 1999, Derek Jolly wrote:
>MooseBlaster wrote this. Honest guv!
>>
>>Can anyone remember an upgrade made by Sinclair which was
>>basically the shell of a Spectrum+ and a RAM upgrade. What
>>you did was gut your poor old Spectrum and place it's bits and
>>pieces into the shell. And with the RAM, you crunched it into
>>the slots and put it all back together. The only difference between
>>the two was that the now updated Speccy had "Upgraded" printed
>>on the bottom.
>
>You on about the Spectrum+ upgrade kit? I got one of these for my
>48K Speccy. It came with a Spectrum+ keyboard, a new heatsink, and a
>reset button you had to solder in. Didn't come with any RAM, but
>maybe you could get that for the 16K Speccy.
>
>It did have Upgraded written on the bottom of the shell next to the
>expansion port slot where you'd expect the serial number to be.
>
--
Steven Harrison
Network Services Engineering
Verio, Bellevue.
Derek Jolly
>On Wed, 18 Aug 1999, Derek Jolly wrote:
>
>>MooseBlaster wrote this. Honest guv!
>>>
>>>Can anyone remember an upgrade made by Sinclair which was
>>>basically the shell of a Spectrum+ and a RAM upgrade. What
>>>you did was gut your poor old Spectrum and place it's bits and
>>>pieces into the shell. And with the RAM, you crunched it into
>>>the slots and put it all back together. The only difference between
>>>the two was that the now updated Speccy had "Upgraded" printed
>>>on the bottom.
>>
>>You on about the Spectrum+ upgrade kit? I got one of these for my
>>48K Speccy. It came with a Spectrum+ keyboard, a new heatsink, and a
>>reset button you had to solder in. Didn't come with any RAM, but
>>maybe you could get that for the 16K Speccy.
>>
>>It did have Upgraded written on the bottom of the shell next to the
>>expansion port slot where you'd expect the serial number to be.
>
>
>I sent my Speccy off for the keyboard upgrade... it made it easier to
>type, but looked a lot less nicer than the original rubber keyed job...
>
>I always regretted it... (sniff, sob)
>
So did I, and put my original keyboard back on after removing the reset
button. It eventually paid off having this keyboard though, as my 48K's
ribbon cables broke a few times and eventually it got to the stage where
the point I had to cut them behind the break meant that the ribbon
cables were then too short to fit into the slots with the thing closed.
Hey presto, stick the + keyboard on and the Speccy keeps going.
Darren
Derek Jolly wrote:
>
> MooseBlaster wrote this. Honest guv!
> >
> >Can anyone remember an upgrade made by Sinclair which was
> >basically the shell of a Spectrum+ and a RAM upgrade. What
> >you did was gut your poor old Spectrum and place it's bits and
> >pieces into the shell. And with the RAM, you crunched it into
> >the slots and put it all back together. The only difference between
> >the two was that the now updated Speccy had "Upgraded" printed
> >on the bottom.
>
> You on about the Spectrum+ upgrade kit? I got one of these for my
> 48K Speccy. It came with a Spectrum+ keyboard, a new heatsink, and a
> reset button you had to solder in. Didn't come with any RAM, but
> maybe you could get that for the 16K Speccy.
>
I remember all my mates at the time upgrading their newly acquired
rubber 48k's to snazzy Spectrum+'s, I never did own a Speccy at the
time, I had a <cough> C64, but I made up for it a couple of years later
when I bought my mate's one, the joy I had loading up KnightLore,
Alien8, 3D Starstrike, Underwurlde and other classics that weren't
available on the C64.. (however, you've got to admit Bruce Lee was the
dog's on the C64, and lame on the Speccy..). I got a normal rubber key
one, I wouldn't mind getting a Spectrum+ though.. Did Timex do anything
like that for the US Speccy?? BTW, what was the Timex version of the 48k
Spectrum called? I've now moved to the US and wouldn't mind, at one
point, picking one up, as I've now got a power differential to deal with
(240V/110V) if I want to use my original one...
regards,
Darren Rozier
Rupert Goodwins
Darren <fi...@texas.net> wrote in message
news:37BB09FF...@texas.net...
> Hi there,
>
> Derek Jolly wrote:
> >
> > MooseBlaster wrote this. Honest guv!
> > >
> > >Can anyone remember an upgrade made by Sinclair which was
> > >basically the shell of a Spectrum+ and a RAM upgrade. What
> > >you did was gut your poor old Spectrum and place it's bits and
> > >pieces into the shell. And with the RAM, you crunched it into
> > >the slots and put it all back together. The only difference between
> > >the two was that the now updated Speccy had "Upgraded" printed
> > >on the bottom.
> >
> > You on about the Spectrum+ upgrade kit? I got one of these for my
> > 48K Speccy. It came with a Spectrum+ keyboard, a new heatsink, and a
> > reset button you had to solder in. Didn't come with any RAM, but
> > maybe you could get that for the 16K Speccy.
> >
<lots snipped>
> ... I wouldn't mind getting a Spectrum+ though.. Did Timex do anything
> like that for the US Speccy?? BTW, what was the Timex version of the 48k
> Spectrum called? I've now moved to the US and wouldn't mind, at one
> point, picking one up, as I've now got a power differential to deal with
> (240V/110V) if I want to use my original one...
>
> regards,
>
> Darren Rozier
I think the Spectrum + kit also came with a new power supply, with a whizzo
ribbed case for added pleasure, as the old one didn't have enough oomph for
some of the upgrades that were planned (but never delivered, like the Bob,
later Florin, disk drive). Sinclair never could deliver peripherals, despite
having loads in development all the time. Thank your lucky stars you never
saw the JoyBurger...
The Timex Spectrum was the TS2000 and variants. Not a bad machine, as it had
proper plastic keys from the out, extra video modes and a sound chip. One of
the video modes got copied for Pandora, the portable Spectrum that pretended
not to be...
Incidentally the Spectrum +/128/QL keyboard stuff was decided on after much
faffing around with some really nice keyboards from the likes of Cherry, who
made stuff for IBM and loads of others. You could type properly on them, and
they had a lovely feel -- the SInclair stuff always felt like typing on
Lego. Sad thing was, the Cherry keyboards would have cost less...
Rupert
Duncan Snowden
> Incidentally the Spectrum +/128/QL keyboard stuff was decided on after
> much faffing around with some really nice keyboards from the likes of
> Cherry, who made stuff for IBM and loads of others. You could type
> properly on them, and they had a lovely feel -- the SInclair stuff
> always felt like typing on Lego. Sad thing was, the Cherry keyboards
> would have cost less...
Isn't css educational? I never knew that. What always made me laugh was
that although the Amstrad CPC keyboard *looked* "real", it was just the
same rubber-springed effort as the Speccy+/QL underneath. :-)
--
Duncan Snowden
Derek Jolly
Hmm, can't remember about the power supply, but it could well have come
with one. It was quite a while ago. :)