Happy Valentines Day! Here’s a little program for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum to plot a heart on screen.

My #RC2014 Orton 3C computer is up and running. This is a really low level Z80 computer that you program using the switches on the front panel. In this case, I’m calling a ROM routine that reads the switches on the left, displays them on the LEDs, then rotates them left.

@peteronion.bsky.social is it too early to ask if you are organising another RC2014 Assembly this year? I really enjoyed the one last year and I would love to attend again.

Testing out my #RC2014 Orton 3C Digital IO module on my #RC2014 Picasso. The power light is blinding, so I may need to swap the resistor for a bigger value like the numbered LEDs. Apart from that, it’s all looking good for both input and output.

Excellent article by #Eastbourne consultant orthopaedic surgeon @scarlettmcnally.bsky.social. She's the person on the cycle below. She highlights contradictions on transport at national and local level. The #NHS and @eastsussexcc.bsky.social need to do better! #ActiveTravel @cyclinguk.bsky.social

This is a very good article. Enabling much more active travel and discouraging driving is a public health intervention that will reduce the load on the NHS.

With help of @robertprice.bsky.social , I've connected my Timex Sinclair 2040 printer to my @tynemouthsoftware.co.uk #Minstrel4th. ZX Printer was well-supported by #JupiterAce with lots of software, which I'll be exploring. www.robertprice.co.uk/robblog/usin... www.jupiter-ace.co.uk/sw_zxprinter...

More community links to people's fab projects have been added to my site for the interfaces (below) that I make for #RC2014 & compatible systems. 2014.samcoupe.com - ZX True Tone (ZXTT) - SAA1099P Soundchip Interface - ZX-RC and SAM-RC Bus Interfaces - SID Soundchip Interface - Graphic OLED

On the West Rise Marsh in Eastbourne.

Do you like 68000 assembly source code? Then here is some.. github.com/djh0ffman/TT...

I tried to expand on my #RetroChallenge and build an #RC2014 module that could decode the 8 bits returned from a NES controller using just 74 series logic and a 555 timer. It didn’t work. I think I have the timing slightly out so some of the logic is triggering too early. I need a dual scope!

The #RetroChallenge may have finished, but I have a bonus post. The SNES controller is an extended version of the NES controller. So, I have reworked my #RC2014 NES controller module and Z80 assembly language example code to use the SNES controller. www.robertprice.co.uk/robblog/rc20...

Great to see the ZX-RC2014 Bus Interface in use here to use Robert's RC2014 NES Controller module on the ZX Spectrum! The Bus Interface gives your #ZXSpectrum two #RC2014 expansion slots and with an optional ZX through port too. Info/Purchase at: 2014.samcoupe.com

It's the final day of the #RetroChallenge so I've written about my finished project. In this post I explain how I was able to connect my RC2014 NES Controller module to a Sinclair ZX Spectrum, and how I hacked the Manic Miner code so I could use my new module. www.robertprice.co.uk/robblog/rc20...

My most popular cartoon by a long chalk is also oddly niche, in that it mostly appeals to a generation who remember the song it refers to and enjoy the nostalgia for their youth. I can draw one for you if you like. www.worldofmoose.com/collections/...

I teased this a few days ago, but here's the latest part of my #RetroChallenge I've been able to put together the various parts I've already written up, and I can now move a pixel on a LED matrix using an NES controller on my #RC2014. www.robertprice.co.uk/robblog/rc20...

I've been using the 8x8 LED Matrix module on my #RC2014 recently as part of the #RetroChallenge I've written up how it works, and also added a demo program in Z80 assembly language converted from the original BASIC example. www.robertprice.co.uk/robblog/rc20...

I've written about creating a reusable Z80 subroutine to read the NES controller on my #RC2014 computer as part of this year's #RetroChallenge To test it out, I output the returned value to LEDs. www.robertprice.co.uk/robblog/rc20...

More progress on my NES controller module for the #rc2014 #RetroChallenge. I am now able to move a pixel around on an 8x8 LED module using the NES controller. Lots to write up over the coming days.

I’ve plugged in the 8x8 LED matrix for my #RC2014 for the first time in ages. The first job was to rewrite Shiela Dixon’s smiley example from BASIC to Z80 assembly language to help me understand how it works. It’s definitely working :-)

More work on my #RetroChallenge today. I was taking the out from the NES controller, reassembling it on the #RC2014, and showing the output in the red LEDs. I then noticed that I’ve accidentally reassembled the byte backwards. Oppps

I've been working a bit more on my #RetroChallenge, getting an #RC2014 to talk to a NES controller. In my latest post, I explain how I've used Z80 assembly language to work out which buttons are being pressed and to print this back over the serial terminal. www.robertprice.co.uk/robblog/rc20...

I've soldered up the PCB for my RC2014 NES Controller #RetroChallenge Thankfully, it all seems to work, so I've written about how to use this from MS-BASIC. www.robertprice.co.uk/robblog/rc20...

More work on the #RC2014 NES controller #RetroChallenge this evening. I have designed a circuit and PCB that should allow me to bit-bang the NES controller from my RC2014 computer. www.robertprice.co.uk/robblog/rc20...

It's official, I'm taking part in this year's #RetroChallenge I'm planning on getting an NES controller working with my #RC2014 computer. www.robertprice.co.uk/robblog/rc20...

That’s my #RC2014Assembly name badge module built and working. The LEDs are connected to the bus so I can see what is happening in my #RC2014 in real time. I did have to remove the LED on the RX pin for it to work when using a serial terminal. This is a great little module.

The increasingly far right seem to have infiltrated pretty much everything now - even a political party led by a former human rights lawyer who used to let refugees sleep on his couch makes “a country of strangers” speeches - racism and hatred emboldened every day

The EHRC is not changing course on their bathroom ban. They don’t care what the consultation said. So what happens now? 🧵 archive.ph/inGpF

@miltonhide.bsky.social at the Eastbourne farmers market.

Calling all RC2014 builders & 8-bit enthusiasts! Join us - Sept 20th and share your practical implementations, Witness Microsoft BASIC & Z80 machine code demos & custom hardware. Link: ow.ly/pteE50WiQ7G #RC2014Community #RC2014 #Z80 #8bitComputer #DIYComputing

It’s not everyday you find a Spanish galleon docked in your local harbour when you go out for a bike ride.
#Eastbourne #naovictoria
fundacionnaovictoria.org

My new @bmj.com article. About #dementia. Increasing. Needs care, intervention and prevention. £42billion cost. 1/3 of us will care for someone with dementia. Healthier environments reduce major risk factors for dementia. Our families and UK economy can’t afford not to. www.bmj.com/content/389/...

A work in progress (with a content warning attached) caused by seeing how #pride month has given papers permission to write more dismissive / dehumanising words on the trans community

Thanks for a lovely enjoyable show at The Lamb tonight @robinince.bsky.social and Jo. I had a wonderful evening. Thanks for taking the time to chat afterwards, and sign my copy of Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal.

Reminder that we couldn’t find a bookshop to sell books in Eastbourne tonight but I will be very happy to sign any books and will be hanging about and drinking wine as it has been a hell of a first month on tour wegottickets.com/event/659747/

Disappointed I couldn’t make it to RetroFest, but the seaside makes up for it, and there is also Robin Ince at the Lamb Inn tonight!

Kids are locked out of home ownership, burdened with tuition fees, suffer massive poverty, are threatened by the climate crisis and AI, had their live chances whacked by Brexit, have no healthcare support, and are constantly monstered by the press. They don't need "grit"; they need fairness.

God I love stories like this. 'Rhythm Nation' used to crash hard drives.

That’s my #RC2014 Picasso built and running. Apparently there is also an Easter Egg I need to find.

I visited the excellent The Museum Is Not Obsolete by Look Mum No Computers in Ramsgate. I had no idea this was there, but I was so glad I stumbled across it. Well worth a visit!

Bring back the 1980s. This is the Sinclair cabinet at the Micro Museum in Ramsgate.

Mrs B: “You’ve not been drunk-ordering vintage computer stuff whilst I’ve been away have you?” Me: “No, no. I was completely sober” Mrs B:

I've written up how I got my ZX Printer compatible Alphacom 32 printer working on my #rc2014 www.robertprice.co.uk/robblog/usin...

Lorraine, the Amiga 1000 prototype. Awesome.

Put up by Katy Brand today - this is the story over and over again

I have reworked my Z80 assembly language code, and my RC2014 can now print to the Alphacom 32 (ZX Printer compatible) printer. The lights on the digital IO card just show the current line being printed. I’m very pleased with this.

Please come to this FREE event "Good Future" for the public at East Sussex College. (Literally at #Hastings train+bus station). Sat 5April 10am-3.30pm. Drop-in. (I'm speaking at 10.30am.) How to make the future better (+ health). www.energisesussexcoast.co.uk/events/hasti... @ecobourne.bsky.social

This 35-year-old CVG April Fool was pretty cool! Cobbled together using crappy old bits of tech, this amazing device allegedly plugged into the back of an Amiga and enabled it to play Mega Drive carts. We got calls from distributors. Readers hopes were dashed. We had some lolz.

My #RC2014 is talking to my Alphacom 32 (ZX Printer compatible) printer. I’ve not got the software right as it’s not printing what I was expecting, but it’s a good start.