Emulate! magazine is in no way associated with the University of Birmingham or the School of Computer Science. Address any queries about the content of Emulate! to the editor, Barry Plewa. Any queries about the content of other pages at this site should be addressed to the site maintainer, Damien Burke.


[Contents] [Part 3] [Part 5]


ALCHEMIST RESEARCH

A section of the magazine this month is devoted to Alchemist Research, the Spectrum PD company which produces the excellent tape/disk magazine, Alchemist News. The editor of the mag, Andy Davis has kindly allowed me to include the latest issue of this magazine with the snapshot pack for you all to see. He has also written a piece giving information on what is going on in the world of the real Spectrums.

If you are interested in finding out more about Alchemist Research, you can contact Andy Davis by email or snailmail:
62 Tithe Barn Lane, Woodhouse, Sheffield, S13 7LN


THE 'REAL' SPECTRUM SCENE FAQ

By Andy Davis, Alchemist Research

For quite some time, I've not had any Internet and EMAIL access and a good friend has supplied me files from the newsgroups, text files and the like, all relating to the Spectrum. There were countless questions, many blatantly simple to myself, but I had no access to them. Before you all consider me to be something of a big head, let me introduce myself.

My name is Andy Davis. I run a Spectrum computer club called ALCHEMIST RESEARCH and have done since 1986. What really upset me was a recent FAQ by Stephen Smith. He said that only EMULATE was still available. Certainly not so. What I cannot understand is why AlchNews was completely missed. The issue gets posted regularly to some site or other on the 'Net, plus has had a mention a couple of times in this very magazine!

Anyway, Alchemist Research STILL exists, and is always available to answer any questions you can put to us. The majority of our original Spectrum members are elderly, unemployed or single parents. These people cannot afford or risk purchasing such an expensive PC, and are contented with what they have. The original Spectrum community is a friendly place with lots of people like myself, willing to give up free time to help, and all for nothing. My service is free, and always has been.

Although I also cover and support the emulators, I'll write this from the position I was a year ago - no PC or 'modern' computing technology.

WHAT IS THE SCENE LIKE?

Great fun. Theres lots of dedicated people running some excellent services. However, remember that these people use Spectrums to run their business so don't have EMAIL. Post may be slow, but please use it - you'll not regret it.

NAME SOME.

Magazines:
AlchNews. 62 Tithe Barn Lane, SHEFFIELD. S13 7LN
Run by myself, it's a quarterly tape or disk magazine, covering everything Spectrum related, plus humour, little bit of S/F and some fiction / supernatural.

Software:
Fountain PD. 11 Camel Road, Silvertown, LONDON E16 2DE.
Alchemist Software. 126 Hayward Road, Redfield, BRISTOL BS5 9QA

These two Spectrum software libraries are the biggest and best in the world. They have thousands of titles, covering just about anything you desire.

A more detailed list is available.

WHAT IS THE SOFTWARE SIDE OF THINGS LIKE?

Unlike you, we cannot freely distribute snapshots. In the eyes of the law, it is ILLEGAL. Some services get away with murder, but if anyone did it on the Spectrum, they would be in serious trouble!

SO WHAT DO YOU DO?

We rely heavily on PD. There is a lot of stuff about. The PD games aren't of commercial standard, but there are some gems. The utilities are first rate and you wouldn't get them anywhere else. However, recently, I have been contacting software houses for permission to distribute their old games. As a result, Alchemist Research holds distributing rights to GREMLIN GRAPHICS GAMES, to name but one.

There are two sides to it though. Even though the law infuriates me, that you can blatantly advertise and distribute stuff which was originally written for US! But then again, I worked hard to get the rights to some games, and it upsets me to see them being passed around willy nilly! So, if you have any Gremlin Software, I expect you all to destroy it and get it OFFICIALLY from me for free (!)

WHAT HARDWARE DO YOU USE?

The most common machines are the grey Amstrad Spectrum +2. It had 128k of memory and a built in tape deck. A lot of users have added their own tape sockets, to allow a different tape deck to be used. The most popular disk system is the +D, to those who can afford it. With a 3.5" drive and the SNAPREAD utility (greatly improved by one of our +D programmers - screen corruption has been eliminated!), we can play PC snapshots. We can also read PC DD disks and convert files. The Spectrum +3, which is a black 128k machine with built in 3" disk drive, can simply plug a 3.5" self powered, external drive on the back. Then, a program allows users to read, write and format PC AND +D disks! There is now a +D emulator program for the +D (+3? - Damien).

Microdrives and Wafadrives are popular among a few, but information is usually passed around via tape and +D disk.

As for printers, we mostly use the Star LC-10, LC-100 and Epson machines, from the old LX series, right to the new LQ models around. There are also a few Citizen ABC and old 120D users out there. Hardly anyone uses the Thermal printers.

I hope this has been of some use and interest to you. Remember, our scene runs parallel to yours and is just as popular, and we have been here longer, so yah boo sucks to you!

Andy Davis, Alchemist Research.


[Contents] [Part 4] [Part 5]