Welcome to ValorosoIT, the channel and blog dedicated to the world of vintage computers, vintage electronics and, of course, to our beloved retrocomputer. Today's topic? A double interview with two great fans and experts from the world Sinclair Spectrum: Davide Barlotti and Stefano Guida.
Davide guided us in a technical demonstration dedicated to the acquisition of images and the photo editing on ZX Spectrum. The second presented us with an interesting editorial initiative: the magazine in PDF "Sinclair ZX Notizie", entirely free.
Let's see together what emerged from this exciting double interview.
Acquisition images and photo editing with the ZX Spectrum: the technical demonstration of Davide Barlotti
Our journey begins with Davide Barlotti, already the protagonist of a previous interview on the ValorosoIT channel. This year, at the Varese Retrocomputing 2024, Davide brought an extension of the project shown the previous year. At the time, in fact, we had seen the video acquisition with the Spectrum and the print on paper. Today, however, we are shown the entire cycle: acquisition, data transfer to another computer and photo editing.
The heart of the demonstration is composed of two Sinclair Zx Spectrum, both equipped with the historic Opus Discovery unit, a historic device with a bidirectional parallel door. This door, in addition to allowing printing, is used to transfer digitized images from one computer to another.
The process begins with a camera that takes a subject in real time. The image is shown in black and white screen or gray scale. When you get a satisfactory frame, it is "stopped" and sent via the "Copy" command to the other Spectrum connected.
It is interesting to note how the original "Copy" command was changed, which previously was used to copy on paper, to adapt it to the digital transfer between machines, making it possible to pass the passage of images between two units.
The photo editing on Sinclair Spectrum: with optical pen and personalized software
Once the image was transferred from the first to the second ZX Spectrum, an optical pen and a specifically modified photo editing program comes into play. The program is not standard, but has been adapted to interact with the "Network" icon, to indicate that the image is no longer loaded by the spot, but directly from the network (understood as a direct connection between the two Opus Discovery).
The software is written in part in Basic and therefore allows changes and customizations, within the technical limits of the time. Once the image is loaded, it is possible to use the optical pen to intervene freehand, adding for example a signature, drawings or other graphic elements.
The entire demonstration is a clear example of what could already be done in the 80s, of course with a huge economic investment!
Stefano Guida and the magazine "Sinclair ZX Notizie": a shared digital memory
In the second part of the interview, we are pleased to meet, for the first time on the ValorosoIT channel, Stefano Guida, creator and curator of the magazine in PDF format "Sinclair ZX Notizie".
The magazine can be downloaded for free from the site speccy4ever.speccy.org.
The project was born as an extension of the site "Lo Zx Spectrum in Italia", which collected a vast collection of newsstands dedicated to Spectrum, with particular attention to Italian publications.
Unfortunately, the site is not reachable today, but the content continues to live thanks to Stefano's editorial work.
ZX Spectrum and world news
The goal of the magazine is very clear: to collect and disseminate information on the Spectrum world.
Many, in the Italian community, ignored that - even after the end of the golden era of the Spectrum - in countries such as Russia, Poland or Czech Republic continued to be products of the Spectrum clones, organized demo parties and dedicated meetings.
Stefano, thanks to his interest and research, has decided to bring together this information in a permanent container, avoiding that they are lost among the posts of social networks. Hence the idea of a periodic magazine, released in PDF format and under License Copyleft, available for all and freely distributable.
At the date of registration of the video (September 2024) 13 numbers have been published, and the 14th is already during the release phase.
Among the topics covered: Hardware interfaces, modern clones of Spectrum, international events and curiosities related to the Sinclair world.
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