It was once claimed that the Sinclair ZX81 could run a nuclear power station. I wouldn't personally like to test out that theory out, and I'm sure many others would be somewhat apprehensive about doing so. One thing that it can do, though, thanks to some wizardry from the German Zeddy enthusiast Siggi, is access the Internet to manage your files and view (presumably primitive) web pages from the mighty black box.

That's right, the second most primitive personal computer of the 1980s (and only after the ZX80) will do cloud computing. A demonstration has been posted on YouTube showing the initialisation of the ZX81's network card, using a program called IPConfig (sounds familiar). Thereafter, ZeddyFox is loaded from a web-server, followed by a game, thankfully all of which is faster than cassette tape.

As you would expect, there are some technicalities to overcome. Firstly, you'll need at least 32K of additional RAM (40K is recommended), so you're best off getting hold of a ZXPand upgrade from www..rwapsoftware.co.uk, as well as some other custom hardware. All of the required information is found at tinyurl.com/ZeddyFox.

I recall reading in several articles over the years that Sir Clive Sinclair was somewhat bemused about his computers being used primarily for games. Well, the mind boggles as to what he'd make of this development. If you're reading, Sir Clive, tell me what you think by dropping me an email at shaun@micromart.co.uk and, for anyone else reading, I'd love to hear from you too, about this or anything else retro-related.

Previous Next

The Spanish-based RetroWorks has released the colour 2D maze game MajiKazo for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum with 48K or more, which was released for the MSX and compatible systems in 2006.

The object is to help Flush, a hapless wizard cleaner who has chosen to work in a vast, expansive castle filled with all kinds of creatures that must be vanished from the fortress.

Each level consists of a single-screen room, which will present several different types of nasties and roamers as you play. These appear from special 'generator' blocks. There are bonuses and power-ups to collect, which need to be uncovered first, as well as four keys to grab, opening the door to the next level. With 24 challenges to play through, there's quite a lot of game there.

You can find the download to this game, complete with instructions, by using the World of Spectrum infoseek facility available through www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseek.cgi.

Colin Woodcock, who edited and published the rather spiffy ZXF magazine and someone who has written this very column on occasions between 2005 and 2007, has published a revised edition of his excellent book The ZX Spectrum On Your PC (Second Edition).

This publication isn't just about getting your emulator to work, but covers in some depth everything that you'll ever need to know about ZX computing on modern hardware, including developments such as the ULAPlus and Spectranet, and has for the ultimate dose of nostalgia, a complete Basic game listing for you to painstakingly type in. Further information is found at tinyurl.com/ZXOnYourPC2nd.