Returned from the army - Speccy is alive, but the hardware is gone

To: Unbeliver^SPEED co. (Samara, Russia)

Letter summary: Grey/GSB from a small provincial town writes to the Born Dead editorial team immediately after returning from the army. You can hardly find a Speccy there—whoever had one has either thrown it under the bed or switched to a PC. He repaired his GadaptoD 128 himself, but software is a problem—there's nothing in town, only pen pals from Khabarovsk and Rostov-on-Don help him out. He read in Born Dead magazine about a Samara CD with emulators and software and asks UnBELiEVER to burn and send one for a fee. Internet access is still unavailable—his boss at work doesn't allow it, and paper letters are more pleasant. He ends with the traditional: Speccy lives forever, Z80 is the BEST of all.

Hi, UnBELiEVER! So, I decided to write a letter with a question/request. It might seem a bit late, but here's the thing. I just returned from the army and immediately picked up my favorite computer—a Speccy. We live in the outback, in a small town, and you can hardly find a Speccy enthusiast. Lots of people have Speccy 48s, but they're either under their beds or in the closet. Everyone between the ages of 7 and 50 (!) uses mainly Dendy, Sega, and PlayStation-like platforms. So there you have it. There are only a few people left who are partial to Speccy, and I'm one of them. After the army, the first thing I did was fix my GadaptoD 128, hooked it up to a Samsung monitor, and started looking for software. I couldn't find anything in the city, it's a hole in the ground, but I did find something in the nearest big city, which is... In Rostov-on-Don, and some were sent by pen pals, like Slip/Action from Khabarovsk. And back home, all my friends, or rather, most of them, are switching to PCs forever. That's the whole point. This is where I get right to the main topic of this letter. I'm currently working at a local TV company; I got a job there right after the army. So, I have Pentiums both at home and at work. But for some reason, the thought of ditching the Speccy has never even occurred to me! Well, the point is this. All of my friends, or rather, many of them, who have completely switched to PCs, agree and would be happy to get a Speccy, but... The reason is the lack of hardware. Many of them don't have Speccy-compatible PCs at the moment, while others have hopeless computers that cannot be repaired or restored. But they do have IBM PCs. If only there were good emulators... But there aren't any! More accurately, there are a couple of versions of the emulator by Nikolay Shalaev and X128. But a lot of things don't work on them, or don't work correctly. You can only read magazines. And then, in the Born Dead Slyrom sent me, I read about a CD made in Samara with emulators and software. The magazine, of course, wasn't new, but my military service prevented me from writing earlier and generally slowed everything down except physical activity. So I thought, maybe UnBELiEVER could burn a disc and send it to me?! I won't even mention cash on delivery, in case I'm expecting some (and haven't received the money ;) No. I'm enclosing an envelope in my letter. Drop me a line and ask if you'll help a poor fellow. And if you say yes, I'll send you the money you specify in the letter, and you can then send me the disc. Maybe you've already quit Speccy yourself—that's how a friend of mine gloats after seeing the beginning of the letter. But I hope that's not true. I don't know what people or groups are active right now. But I'm thinking of figuring it out by chatting with people. Maybe Paradox will be in Rostov next year, and then I'll definitely be there. For now, I need to find my old friend Edik, who runs the "Ptichka" newspaper in Rostov; he always had the latest software until I ended up in the army. Why haven't I sent an email? There are two reasons. My boss at work is being pushy—it'll be a while before I can access the Internet. We have a local network here, a bunch of computers are linked together, and you can visit the server at night, but it's still a bit of a mystery. And secondly, it's somehow more enjoyable to write and, most importantly, receive emails the old-fashioned way! Although, of course, it's a matter of preference. Yeah, damn, it's boring at work without Speccy. If you send me the disc, I'll be here at work, working on the emulator at night, because it's a 24-hour shift. My brother's been begging me for Dendy emulators and other similar stuff, since he grew up on that platform. (By the way, my first "computer system" was also an 8-bit console! Then came the Gadapto 128, and I realized that Speccy is the best in the world! Well, that's it, I think. Sorry if I wasted your time. I hope and trust that this letter didn't go over your head and touched something deep inside. I'll be waiting for a reply. I hope burning the CD won't be too difficult. Thank you in advance for any response, advice, suggestions, etc. With respect and gratitude: Grey/GSB P.S. and of course: Speccy alive forever! Z80 is the BEST of all!!! Overall, Kompyt Rulez!!!!!