Mail review - letters from: Eugene Mazitov, Нimik, Slavka Kalinin, Deadie.

       
          
---------------------------------------
 Review by Denis Tokarczuk      
                                        
And The 11th issue was not deprived of attention
from the readers - as new,
and old ones too.                           
                                        
 One of the first to come to us on e-
mail is a very interesting letter that we
they simply did not have the right not to bring goals -
com.                                    
                                        
 So, Eugene Mazitov wrote it to us:
 EM: "...Hello dear (OH Na
SO MUCH DEAR!!!!) authors ZXTime.
First, about the reasons for this reaction. B
gave my time (1988) to a friend
(rich relatives bought a pussy)
Sp48. That's when I first saw Spec-
cy.  Thenin 1991 I bought my first Spect-
room (as I remember now - for rubles -
3000 rub.  at that time). Imagine -
of tape recorders only a player, instead
familiar"1982 Sinclair Research Ltd"-
"Didactic Scalica.....(something else there)",
I don’t know assembler (thank God, I did
attention to coincidence (as it later became clear
no, partial) command systems i8080
and Z80 (S.K. of the latter was with me). Here
in such a situation, I began to seriously break down
take your own Speccy. Later (year 94-95) (I
Already a pretty good coder, npuctpac-
was leaning towards iron - I modified my 48 to
64k) I was offered a job - correspondence -
create disks, provide advice on
repairs, etc.  Spectrum. For this I
given (the company specialized in ekate-
Rinburg  Quorum'ah) Quorum 128 + FDD
controller (this is all together then - a little
Isn't it 200$, and I'm a schoolboy (7-8 grade).   
 Next came the development - HDD, ROM
Cartraidge, Modem... (everything died out due to
termination of financing), then the company
She moved and I lost contact with her. When
trying to plug in (with a soldering iron) 30pin SIMM
256k - instead of py5/ru7 (it turned out much
cheaper).  Couldn't resist the temptation to
experiment (computer circuitry
strongly favored) stuck double
frequency (8 MHz) and ... the custom one flew
microcircuit (like ULA).                 
                                      
 It was the beginning of the end... then it dried up
stream of Spectrum literature, everything
(including electronic journals) was not
later 98 And we (me and two friends
pymucta) slowly (what to do - 1
Spectrum (modified to 64k) for three)
started landing on other platforms...  
                                      
 After a year, considering that he was a long-liver
ZX,  still couldn’t stand the time, we
quietly switched toIBM. (By the way, the work
I work for a computer repair and adjustment company,
In addition, I earn extra money by writing software.
ramm).                                  
                                      
 But all my old projects are in my head
are still living. I sit down from time to time
for my Athlon 950,  I enter the folder
MyZXProjects and run: either PCAD - to
work circuit SlotZ80 (something like
modern aggregate AMD AthlonXP +
nForce2 SPP in one cartridge in the form
slot processor, where instead of AMD AthlonXP
- Z80, instead of nForce2 SPP - my design
botka (by the way, the idea is still around 93-95),
or Z80 assembler for PC - add ka-
any driver (HDD/High Mem/CD/...),
or emulator ZX - check above -
interesting.                                 
                                      
I don’t know why... but here I want it.I WANT
make SUPER SPECTRUM - so that
Z A T K N Y L I S b these overfed pi-
syushniks who are not even minimally op-
optimize the program (recently clients
complained - about P4 - 2.8 GHz (original -
not Celeron), cache 512, DDR 512 RS 3200,
Gef4MX4200Titanium - toyBRAKES). 
Recently, an old acquaintance from Spectrum
Mom  said - you don't need Quorum 128 v
lying around in the basement? .. - I thought - ma-
I will put tepu, in Quorum secam encoder, y
methe floppipe remains, the mother doesn't care
Play Loderuner and play Tetris... and I took it.
Then I went online to look for a loderner
(well, she loves this game) for some reason
be an emulator. Among toys, etc. on-
I was walking through your newspaper (issue 11) I thought - on-
trace of centuries... maybe I’ll find an idea
for your brainchild... And then - bam year
2003, month of April!!!    WOW!!!!!!
Yyyyyeeeeeccccczzzzzz!!!!  Spectrum lived!
Spectrum is alive! Spectrum WILL LIVE!!!!   
                                      
 In general, thank you guys for
IS!"                                  
                                        
 DWT: Thank you for SUCH a letter! Everything-ta-
wow, that's awesome! Even kommehtupo-
I won’t give a damn.  I'm overwhelmed
emotions! Once again - THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!   
                                        
 The following letter came from Himik:  
                                        
 N: "Well done! Good quality but
measures  In general, I rarely write answers to times
new types of reviews onnewspapers, but yours
The newspaper is worthy of attention and respect..." 
                                        
 DWT: Thank you very much for such a flattering
great feedback to us :). In general, personal
but I didn’t like number 11 :). Pain-
It seems that we were the most successful in the 2nd, 4th
1st, 7th and 10th issues - there were others
not really.                               
                                        
 N: "...I support your opinion in terms of
water reviews of NeverMind, and also want
notice that IzhNews is not going to ymu-
the army for now.  We are preparing a new number, and maybe
maybe it will be published soon!.."       
                                        
 DWT: Just great! We are really looking forward to
We hope thatIzhNewswill please you with its very
a rare coming. I just wish
so that in 2-3 months, and not in two -
three years old :).                           
                                        
 The next letter came from Vitamin
(the part regarding the OS in the section - "Topic
>OS<", the rest is here), by Video
Studio:                                 
 V: "...Even though I am
your regular reader from the very first
numbers, just now I decided to write
sat.  Your post pushed me to this
last number ZXTime#11. I read it
almost completely and I got some
What are your thoughts on what you read?     
                                      
 First, mail review. Well, I don’t understand
I'm those people who can't say two words together
They don’t know how to tie, but they’re already cursing for
errors in texts. Sometimes you write it yourself
text, patch it from errors :), from-
you're correcting someone. And then you reread
and you wonder how you didn’t notice
these typos before :) So not much
pay attention to those radishes who
ry accuse you of illiteracy - all in
within normal limits.  And who doesn't like it?
let me send you a specific list of errors -
et :)..."                               
                                        
 DWT: Thanks for your support. To be honest
but, we to similar "reports that y
we have mistakes" we treat with irony.
Almost all publications are guilty of them, as
and such people sinned"whales", like Spectrophone and
ZX-Format (the last one in particular).  
                                        
 V: "...As for our group, then,
Apparently I'm the only one doing anything. Os-
Talents are either preparing forParadoxy, or
bought pussies and are sitting in toys cutting -
Xia. I also bought myself a pussy for a year and a half
back, but with Spectrum not to blame
I'm taking it - on the contrary, I have new plans
projects, for example, video editor
diy that you so desired :) Already even
ideas are brewing to improve video compression
one and a half to two times. You just need to sub-
accumulate enough ideas and release a new one
version of the program, and then, you see,
the editor will finish..."                   
                                        
 DWT: It’s great that the projects
cha! The editor is simply wonderful. Nako-
Nice, a full-fledged one will appear on the Spectrum
"video compressor".  Thanks for the good
letter.                                 
                                        
 And the next letter came from SlavaKalinina:                              
                                        
 SK: "...I don't understand why you
you keep coming up with new intros, and the shell
is still on the level... even
I don’t know what to compare it with, such newspapers have long been
but it didn’t work out. Is it really difficult to understand
that scrolling through text using cursors
keys are standard?.."                 
                                        
 DWT: Standard for whom? For emulator-
schikov? An emulator is not a standard. End-
but it’s easier to move text with arrows, but
For me personally, the Sinclair joystick is much more
more convenient.  In general, how can you already
watch, cursor keys are implemented,
but only with caps shift.              
                                        
 SK: "...But this is not the worst thing, you
It’s nice to see how the text first
la turns black and then
slowly... well, very slowly reprint-
displayed on the screen (with page-by-page display)
tania)???"                              
                                        
 DWT: Fixed. Although this is not true
Well, I would say - a matter of taste. Well clean-
The screen appears. So what?   SK: "...Fuck the speed, but here's the e-
There is no need to rub wounds. And in general - I
I looked at how you did it all...
42-printer can be optimized, in
rolle also has something to speed up..."      
                                        
 DWT: Speeded up both. But visually
not very different. Frame-
it doesn't matter with my text encoding
cannot be achieved, but all other accelerations -
not so noticeable.                         
                                        
 SK: "...Yes, actually, when they scroll
colored text, usually transfer st-
poky graphics, and after - the attribute string
Comrade  Y you, everything is somehow to the left, because
That's why sprites suck at scrolling
(or rather their attributes).  By the way, sometimes
attributes appear on screen borders
(where is your pattern), and indeed the newspaper -
somehow it worked glitchy, then it started,
then no..."                              
                                        
 DWT: Fixed.  Stupidly again
the unpacker was thrown into #5B00 - rather
that's all the problem.  SK: "...By the way, is it really not on spec
Are there any muzakers left besides S-Jeff?  Even
I'm already sick of his music..."
                                        
 DWT: Somehow you speak poorly about
С-Jeff'e.  By the way, you weren’t ashamed
find out, because not all melodies in the 11th
at the start they were from S-Jeff'a :).              
                                      
 SK: "...Especially regarding materials
nothing to say except talk
about axes.  Vladislav Semchenko writes in
pure nonsense about some drama
bots for switching pages. Nobody
will not do this, just as re-
flash the ROM. So all these dreams about
AXLES on spec are complete nonsense, it’s just
there is no one to write a bunch of software, even if
the axis was there. And what will it give the spec???
Almost nothing, definitely no games for it
no one will write (and this does not matter
sense), and systems... there would be them too
a little..."                             
                                        
 DWT: Well, here you judge by yourself.If
you won't write programs - this is so-
this does not mean that they will not be written
and use others.                  
                                        
 SK: "...In addition, there have been schemes for a long time -
ka, which allows any memory bank
cut into any address space,
which is much more convenient than suggested -
This circuit is called ZXMMU (if not
I’m wrong), ask Ki for details
Rilla Frolova..."                      
                                        
 DWT: Why did you cling so fiercely to
article Semchenko?It was just another
option and that's it. He does not claim to be the only
really the right way. I, for example, consider
I understand that we shouldn’t climb any more
into the iron!                               
                                        
 SK: "...By the way, this is the principle of operation with
made with banks in Sprinter, and the ROM is there
can be changed programmatically and graphics
there's a lot of rules there, and there's a ton of memory, and there's music
almost like on PC, so why aren’t you noky-
naete him???"                           
                                        
 DWT: Expensive, far away and unavailableUkraine service centers for maintenance
niya Sprinters.  These are perhaps the main
reasons. In addition, the resources of the Special
ktruma have not yet been exhausted both in terms of OS and
in terms of other aspects.                
                                      
 SK: "...KilleRam has reached even greater heights
insanity, he suggests betting on spec
interrupt controller, but no one!!!
I repeat - no one will do this,
and, again, all this is on the Sprinter.
He also suggests writing in a special style
programs, but he himself has at least something
Have you coded yet?  It was painful for me to write under
real commander, and obviously JR will be alone
can't be done..."                         
                                        
 DWT: Writing "JR" kami - that was still
one sentence that does not claim to be used
key correctness. And what kind of post-
really insidious :) links to Sprinter?
Well, he has it all. So what next? On
pussy also has all this, maybe offer
live for us and blame it on him?  We're
We're talking about Spectrum. What does Sprinter have to do with it?
                                        
 SK: "...Speccy Internet Explorer is
in generalfrank lame, again not
who don’t care about DMA, much less ATM-mo-
demos will not be installed on the spec, that's if
If only all specs had system connectors
and the proposed devices were easily installed
become and can be inserted into these connectors...
First of all, this guy had to not
Study TCP/IP and understand how they work
mail protocols, and make a program for
real hardware, that is, for ordinary
ISA modems..."                         
                                        
 DWT: Yes, you are right about one thing - about the exploitation
It’s too early to say.  But only until then
until the OS is written. Natural-
Indeed, under the existing Spec with its heaps
It’s too early to talk about this according to standards.
First you need an OS.                       
                                      
 SK: "...In short, while you're all here -
we scratched, on Gameboy I don’t know how many
about years ago the axle was made. which
worked well, and used the
larity, and what is most important is written in
analogue of the Z80 (in fact, the capabilities
that percentage is even less). All the information on
Gemboevskaya axis water can be found on the website
those: www.workmaster-rgo.com As far as I
I remember there was a very detailed description there
axles (slightlyaren't they the sources)..."          
                                        
 DWT: Well, what did you want to say?
Probably under "...tongues scratched..." you
meant "developed a concept."
Well, we're almost done. And soon
Let's stop talking about it, because
We love to implement all this in our own
definitely the OS... Thanks for the letter.         
                                      
 The next letter was written to us again by
Deadie :):                          
                                        
 D: "...I read the subject. He left y
I was quite impressed.
Previous issues were much better...   
                                      
 If I understood everything correctly from the review
mail, then you are slightly “offended” by my
previous letter.  Well maybe I
slightly and went too far, but “not all
Maslenitsa for the cat." I hope my "objective-
"nay" criticism will only benefit you
(I said what I thought and got my ass
does not intend to lick anyone - in some
other letters you publish, namely"ass-licking" and peeks through - it's for me
disgusting)..."                             
                                        
 DWT: No, there was no real offense (ra-
it's called a "blue face"). How are you?
I'm blown away by your “subjective” criticism” -
rather, criticism.  And "well... suck up-
We don’t need to say “too much” - it’s too much :).     
                                      
 D: "...Well, now the actual continuation
Criticism..."                      
                                        
 DWT: Criticisms:)...              
                                        
 D:"1) "Cursor" keys you never
admit it. :)"                          
                                        
 DWT: We already admit it.                   
                                        
 D:"2) Where is the letter "E" (ed. note:
"yo" :))?  Look at excerpts from my
letters in the newspaper - instead of it there are only samples
ly (do you at least look at the number before
throwing outhim among the people?)..."          
                                        
 DWT: This letter still does not exist and is not
there will be.  Typically a number is issued when
"roasted rooster" is already running around :), so
that texts are checked only before conversion
transferring to a special format...              
                                        
 D:"3) I’ve already spoken about the OS - all
I already read/heard this nonsense somewhere -
nothing new or interesting (it would be better
made some useful program)."  
                                        
 DWT: The OS is a useful program. On
whether this is nonsense or not -
you can argue.                        
                                        
 D:"4) Respect the readers - do
skip intro.  By the way, the newspaper is coming
only via USR 0 - please note-
nuyu!"                                  
                                        
 DWT: Accepted. It should go fine. 
                                        
 D:"...B&ya!  You're probably done again
take it for a collision... Never mind.  Everything is equal
I wish you SUCCESS in, after all, a difficult
the matter of publishing a Spectrum newspaper!
Know that without ZX-Time it will be boring
 DWT: Accepted. It should go fine. 
                                        
 D: "...B&ya! You're probably all over again
take it for a collision... Never mind.  Everything is equal
I wish you SUCCESS in, after all, a difficult
the matter of publishing a Spectrum newspaper!
Know that without ZX-Time it will be boring
(Who else should I annoy). ;)))"          
                                        
 DWT: And it won't happen without ZXTime!:)       
                                      
 D:"...That's it, bye bye!               
 deadie.horrorsoft.sri"
                                        
 DWT: Thanks for the letter.              
                                        
 - - -                  
                                        
 That's allmain topics that were
affected in the vast majority
letters. WRITE!