Airing: BBC4 Thursday 8th October 9.00pm

Starring: Martin Freeman (The Office, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) as Chris Curry, the man behind the BBC-backed Acorn, and Alexander Armstrong (Armstrong and Miller, the Pimms ads) as Clive Sinclair, inventor and owner of Sinclair Research.

The story covers the period of British dominance of the home computer market in the early 1980’s and the fight between Sinclair and Acorn to secure the lucrative British schools contract. As those of us who are old enough remember well, BBC backed Acorn won out but was the decision the right one?

The programme promises to be a good laugh and includes lots of retro TV clips from the era which are bound to stir up nostalgia in those that lived through and witnessed the home computer revolution.

Set your recorders for this one…

More details here

The genius that was Lenslok...

If you think copy protection on software is a new thing, think again. Way before DRM, there were code-cards, code-wheels, Lenslok and dongles. Never heard of them? Head on over to Pingdom and read this great article for yourself.

Click on the images to enlarge.

Sinclair era hardware:

ZX81 (Boxed complete)

ZX81 (in polys only, complete)

ZX Spectrum 16K (rubber keys, boxed complete)

ZX Spectrum 16K (rubber keys, boxed complete)

ZX Spectrum 48K (rubber keys, boxed complete)

ZX Spectrum 48K (rubber keys, boxed complete)

ZX Spectrum + (boxed complete)

ZX Spectrum + (boxed complete)

ZX Spectrum 128

Sinclair QL (Boxed complete)

Sinclair QL (Boxed complete)

Sinclair QL (loose with PSU & Scart Lead)

Sinclair Flat Screen Pocket TV (boxed complete)

Amstrad era hardware:

ZX Spectrum +2 (grey, Dixons 128K Computer Outfit)

ZX Spectrum +2 (black, + 2 Action Pack)

ZX Spectrum +3 (Boots Action Pack)

ZX Spectrum peripherals:

ZX Spectrum Expansion System (Microdrive, Interface 1 etc. boxed)

Rotronics Wafadrive (boxed complete)

Comcon Programmable Interface (boxed)

Romantic Robot Multiprint

Romantic Robot Multiface 3

Prism VTX5000 Modem (boxed)

DK Tronics Light Pen (boxed complete)

Ferguson MA20 RGB Interface (boxed)

Trojan Cadmaster Lightpen (boxed complete for 48K, 128K, +)

Trojan Cadmaster Lightpen (boxed complete for+2)

Cheetah Defender Lightgun (boxed complete)

Cheetah SpecDrum (boxed complete)

Currah MicroSpeech (boxed complete)

Currah MicroSlot (boxed)

Genius Mouse (boxed complete)

Sinclair ZX Interface 2 (with instr.)

Magnum Lightphaser (boxed, sealed)

DK Tronics Single Port Joystick Inteface (boxed)

Protek Switchable Joystick Interface (boxed)

Rare SPJ-1 Sinclair Analogue System Joystick (boxed)

Sinclair SJS-2 Joystick (boxed)

Spectravideo Quickshot II Joystick (boxed)

Spectravideo Quickshot I Joystick (boxed)

various loose Kempston Joystick Interfaces of various kinds, lots of misc. joystick interfaces…

ZX81 peripherals:

ZX 16K RAMPack (boxed complete)

ZX 16K RAMPack (boxed complete)

Memotech Memopak 16K (boxed)

Memotech Memopak 16K (boxed complete)

Memotech Memopak 64K (boxed complete)

Stonechip Electronics ZXPanda 16K (boxed complete)

JRS Software 16K RAM Pack

Various misc. loose RAM Packs, joystick interfaces

ZX Printer (boxed)

ZX Printer (boxed)

Alphacom 32 Line Printer (boxed, not pictured)

Other stuff:

2 x Spectrum Six Pack (software pack bundled with 48K rubber keys)

1 x Spectrum Six Pack (software pack bundled with later Spectrum+ 48K)

The age old question asked by many a journalist in their quest to stir up controversy in the gaming community and get the resulting traffic/magazine sales. I personally think its all a load of b***ocks and a good game is a good game whether it was on the NES or on and Xbox 360. I enjoy playing on my 360 as much as I do blowing the dust off my vintage machines and firing them up.

If you agree or disagree we would like to hear from you, feel free to comment below on the neverending Retro vs Next-gen question…

Read an excellent article on this very subject over at Classy Gamer.

It might not seem like a lot of money to pay, but prior to WJ’s demise the game was pretty much worthless. Doubt if it would have had a single bid let alone 8 of them.

Worse still it looks like everyone is digging out their old Moonwalker games, I just saw the Amiga version with a starting price of £29.99 and a Commodore 64 version starting at £19.99. Sad but true.

Now I’m sure I’ve got a copy here somewhere…

“Yeah, OK dude, but how do I get it to work?” I hear you cry.

If you are lucky…

If the oxidisation isn’t too bad, repeatedly inserting and removing the cartridge (with the power OFF!) will reinstate enough contact between cartridge and console to get your cartridge working again. Be patient and gentle, it might need doing for a few minutes before you bring life back to that old game and ramming it in won’t help but may just damage your console or game beyond repair.

If you weren’t lucky and this didn’t work then you need to clean the contacts.

Cleaning Step 1- Alcohol

You will need to get some rubbing alcohol (90%+ alcohol if possible although 70% will do) and some cotton buds (q-tips to our American cousins).

Dip the cotton bud in the alcohol and gently rub along each contact back and forth a few times. You will be amazed just how much oxidisation is removed on a cart that has been unused for a while and the cotton bud will get quite dirty. Repeat this until the contacts are clean and shiny.

Wait for the contacts to dry and try the cart, hopefully all will be well and the game will play, but if not…

Cleaning Step 2 – Ink Eraser

Non abrasive methods haven’t worked so it’s time for the big guns. You will need an Ink Eraser and a small brush (a half inch paint brush will do).

Depending on the cartridge and the shape of your eraser (unused ones will have a nice bevelled edge that will get into that gap) you may need to disassemble your cartridge first. Some cartridges such as those for the Atari 2600 will pull apart after the removal of one screw (with care!), some cartridges such as those for the Nintendo 64 require special tools. You can find instructions on how to disassemble specific cartridges elsewhere on the internet such as here. I will assume that you have taken your cartridge casing apart and have the circuit board and contacts fully exposed. Take this opportunity to examine the circuit board for broken solder and to replace any batteries. Use the eraser and rub on each of the contacts gently in turn until the oxidisation is removed. Once done use the brush to clean off the bits of eraser. Reassemble and try out your cartridge.

Cleaning Step 3 – Last Resort

If the steps above haven’t restored your cartridge to working order then you have nothing to lose. You will need some emery board (commonly used to file finger nails) fine emery cloth or very fine wet and dry sandpaper and a small brush (a half inch paint brush will suffice).

Disassemble your cartridge as above so that the contacts are fully exposed. Rub the contacts gently with the emery board (or paper) until they are bright and shiny. Please note that if this is over-done it will result in the contact being rubbed away and the cartridge will be beyond repair, you have been warned! Brush away any residue, reassemble and try out the cartridge.

Hopefully your cartridge is now working, if not, then perhaps its time to list it on an auction site as ‘unable to test’…

Disclaimer: The Author accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any damage caused to yourself, your console or your cartridges by following the advice above. All cartridge surgery is undertaken at your own risk!

But this Cassette 50 is different. “How so?” I hear you ask. Is it a pre-release copy? No. Has it got an unusual inlay with a typo? Erm, no… In fact this piece of software has only one thing that makes it so special. It’s price.

A Buy It Now for £50.00? I would normally laugh at the price and move on but this seller is either taking the p*ss or has no idea of the value of this item. They either want to convince an unsuspecting newbie collector into thinking it is super-rare when it isn’t or they need to learn its true market value before listing it.

From the listing:

“This is Very common for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, but Extremely rare for the ZX81.”

No it’s bloody not.

A seller has every right to sell an item for what they want and I acknowledge that. But con-artists deserve to be treated with contempt, whether they are selling you a second-hand car or selling you Cascade’s finest on an internet auction site. I have the nasty feeling that they know full well how much it is really worth…

Somebody make them an offer for £5…

UPDATE: Surprise, surprise, the auction ended without a buyer. Shocking that. Anyway at the time of writing they have relisted the item for £40. Still £35 too expensive I’m afraid…

The aforementioned software is called Breadbox64 and amongst other things it allows you to Tweet (obviously!), access your friends feed and access individual friends timelines. You can also run this using C64 emulation on your PC, but what’s the point in that?

If you fancy Twitter ‘retro style’ head on over to his website here. Now where’s the ZX Spectrum version?