A ZX Spectrum Care Package from ByteDelight

Before the house fire I had quite a few ByteDelight devices, and I lost the lot. Ben Versteeg of ByteDelight very kindly said he’d put together a care package, and this is me opening it, lucky-dip style. Ben didn’t ask for this video and isn’t expecting it; I just wanted to say thank you. The video itself was supported by PCBWay.

A 128K toastrack and a ZX Diag kit

After a stroopwafel (the first of several) and some posters for the wall behind my weekly streams, including Eat Sleep Spectrum Repeat, came the heavy box: a ZX Spectrum 128K toastrack. It’s the best 128K model, and it’s going to be my streaming machine from now on.

ZX Spectrum 128K toastrack unboxed from a ByteDelight care package — A 128K toastrack: my new streaming machine

Next was something I’ve wanted for ages and never had, even before the fire: a ZX Diag card as a build-it-yourself kit, with all the ICs and the PCB. Plug it into a broken Spectrum and the LEDs help tell you what’s wrong.

ZX Diag diagnostic card kit for the ZX Spectrum with PCB and components — The ZX Diag kit, ready to build

Interfaces, cables and a mug

An interface that lets you plug a USB mouse into the back of a Spectrum, plus a mouse to go with it.
A ByteDelight-branded 9V barrel PSU for the Spectrum (European, with a fused UK adapter), which I know Ben will have tested for clean video.
A DivMMC EnJOY Pro: SD storage plus two joystick ports that can emulate different interfaces, such as Kempston and Sinclair, for two-player games. It’s in the newer PCB-panel case, which looks really smart.
A composite video cable for the grey 128K +2.
A ByteDelight mug and a tiny gold toastrack.

ZX-HD and a Harlequin 128 kit

Then the ZX-HD, which I also had before the fire. It takes the video signals from the Spectrum’s edge connector and redraws them very quickly for a pin-sharp output, and adds ULAplus so supporting games get more colours. It needs a Pi adding, which I have, and it will make a big difference for streaming.

ByteDelight ZX-HD HDMI video interface for the ZX Spectrum in its box — The ZX-HD is back on the bench

Then a Harlequin 128 issue 2D, a build-it-yourself Spectrum clone kit with the board, all the ICs and sockets, a ROM and full build instructions. It’s quite a lot of work with a fair bit of risk if it goes wrong, but I might make it a video. Would you watch that?

Harlequin 128 issue 2D ZX Spectrum clone kit with PCB and chips — The Harlequin 128 kit: a future build video?

Finally, the ZX-AY stereo three-channel audio interface, with beeper sound for any ZX Spectrum, in the new more robust black PCB case. I had one before and loved listening to music on it.

Thank you

Honestly, Ben, you’ve been too kind. Thank you also to The Future Was 8 Bit, Zaxon, RetroHQ, Bob at RetroRGB and everyone who has helped me rebuild after the fire. I’ll be making proper thank-you videos now I finally have the facilities. If you need a ZX-HD or any of Ben’s other gadgets, visit ByteDelight.

My earlier ZX-HD review, the DivMMC EnJOY review and the 128K toastrack group fix.