Speculator

[MikeDHalliday]

@Tony Brewer. Show us what you got! (Please!)

[gunrock]

Hi Tony,

Glad you could make it. I'm sure these fine folks will be pleased to make your aquaintance.

[arcadesy]

Hi Tony, welcome aboard! You’re in the right place!

[Lardo Boffin]

Welcome!

[Tony Brewer]

Thanks for the welcome everyone. I've found the box and here are the numbers:

Einstein Speculator
Fully assembled, working = 1
Fully or partially assembled, not working = 6
Bare PCBs = 6
Total boards = 13

Einstein Silicon Disc
Fully assembled, working = 1
Fully socketed, no chips, not working = 12
Bare PCBs = 92
Total boards = 105

I'll keep one of each that work, leaving potentially up to 12 Speculators and 104 Silicon Discs available for sale. If you have any questions about these items then please ask.

[MikeDHalliday]

Hi Tony,

The only question I have is how much are you wanting to sell these for?

Some prices would help gauge what we all can afford

Regards

Mike.

[Lardo Boffin]

I would certainly be interested in a Speculator please!

Is there a BOM / assembly guide somewhere?

[arcadesy]

Hi Tony.

I’d certainly be interested in a Speculator and a Silicon Disc

[Tony Brewer]

Reversing the price question, how much would people be willing to pay? Let's use £50 price bands: £0-50, £50-100, £100-150, £150-200, £200+.

Speculator will cost more than Silicon Disc (Spec and SD for short) due to scarcity. I need to buy eight 256Kb*1 DRAMs per SD. Best price in UK I've seen is £1 each. Please tell me if you know of cheaper reliable source.

Re Spec, times have changed since the 1980s. Supporting only a few games, loaded from tape, is no good now. I'm thinking of loading files from laptop/PC via RS232 at 9600 baud (files not supplied by me). Does anyone use a USB to RS232 cable with Einstein-compatible connect? This could be included with Spec if needed. The Spec software would be simpler with RS232 loading. If I do this, is cassette circuitry on Spec board still wanted? It's not expensive, just fiddly to solder. One faulty Spec board works fine apart from cassette input.

Another cost is 60-way ribbon cable and IDC sockets. I have about 20 spare most of which probably don't work. I might be able to cut off connectors, undo them and crimp again. I don't have proper tool for this but I might have a small vice somewhere.

Re BOM, both devices require two programmable logic (PAL) chips. I have some spares already programmed, not sure of numbers. I'd need to buy more PALs or probably GALs when these run out. The PALs mean it's probably best for me to assemble the boards although I could supply PALs if people want to do it themselves. SD has solder-resist but Spec does not, which I regret.

SD needs a ROM that goes in empty socket on motherboard. Again not sure how many I have. SD is drive 3: by default. A tiny .COM file I wrote can change logical drive numbers so that SD is 0: and system is reloaded from SD not diskette when progs end. Improves performance and overall SD makes huge difference to usability of the Einstein.

Are new 3" diskettes still available?

EDIT: price bands altered.

[Sanxion]

Hi Tony

First of all welcome to the forum, it is great to have you with us.

Next, I would definitely be interested in a Speculator and would be happy to pay in the region of the upper bands. However, it would be nice if it was compatible with all Spectrum games, if possible.