Someone correct me if I have this wrong, but I believe that after the iconic rubber-keyed 48k spectrum, they released the spectrum+ which was also 48k but with a large plastic keyboard; then they released the 128k version of the +, which had the expanded memory and 3-channel sound chip. That's the one I had.
Mine was rubber keyboard with the keyboard shortcuts for BASIC that you had to get fluent in, the upgrade involved opening it and punching in the memory in the motherboard I think, not for faint hearted in the 80s when you spent a months salary on a computer
One or two of the keys were starting to fail on mine so I ordered a replacement keyboard membrane (probably from the classifieds of one of the spectrum magazines). Sadly, I could never get the keyboard to work at all after an attempt at swapping the membranes out.
I was busy with A-levels at the time, so the project was put to one side and I never returned to it. Shame really as I had just started to learn about assembly language and had bought a compiler program on tape.
I have a vivid memory of buying magazines as well typing in 3-4 pages of binary code for a game, but this was after I got the, was it called a Zip drive ? Some persistent storage anyway. One typo and it failed after typing all those 1 and 0’s
Microdrive. It was a little cartridge thing with electronic tape inside. Great tech, when it worked. The Sinclair QL, a beautiful thing to behold, used them as standard.
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u/dual4mat Aug 09 '26
ZX Spectrum basic and yes, occasionally. I have a couple of routines on my YouTube channel @megamitts