THE RECREATED SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM MAC OS
THE RECREATED SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM FULL
THE RECREATED SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM ANDROID
THE RECREATED SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM TV

Now, some screenshots of the “Recreated ZX Spectrum” App running on an Android Tablet and an iPAD mini (didn’t work on this last one with the bluetooth keyboard). Here are a few screenshots of my Macbook Air transformed into a ZX Spectrum (Sinclair Welcome Screen and Renegade High Score):

THE RECREATED SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM FULL

– if you want a full spectrum computer try to build it yourself (I’ll do that using a Raspberry Pi and one of this keyboards), buy a Clone, or check the ZX Spectrum NEXT project.

It looks like a ZX Spectrum 48K, but it is just a keyboard, don’t expect to connect a tape recorder, a TV, a Kempston Joystick, etc.

The price is acceptable if you buy it from Amazon UK (at eBay they are very pricy).

Playing ZX Spectrum Games (or programming in BASIC) on an 48K Emulator with this keyboard (with bluetooth) will give you the same 80’s Computer Gaming sensation, the rubber keys are exactly the same as the original.

The Keyboard will probably work with ZX Spectrum Emulators on Android and iOS (and you’ll have all the available games running), I’ll try later on to see what we can do and post it on this blog Using a Tablet with this keyboard and the App companion, will give you a kind of ZX Spectrum 48K Laptop experience – very nice! You have about 40 games available for free, for instance Chuckie Egg and Saboteur are free to play, and a few more that you have to pay ( Manic Miner you have to buy for 1.09€), it is a very small set of the more than 10 thousands games developed for this machine. The Keyboard is detected on all devices, but didn’t work well with the iPAD 3 mini or my Samsung Galaxy Note 4… I didn’t waste more time testing the App because I’m going with the Raspberry PI option, with a few more hours I could probably put the keyboard running well on the other devices. I connected the ZX Keyboard through bluetooth and I was able to play Chuckie Egg in Nexus 7 only.

I Installed the App on an Android Tablet ( Nexus 7), Android Phablet (Samsung Note 4) and on an iPAD 3 mini.

There is a “The Recreated ZX Spectrum” App on Google Play and Apple’s App Store.

THE RECREATED SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM MAC OS

Using FUSE Emulator on Mac OS X, enabling “Use Recreated ZX Spectrum Keyboard” (“Machine” menu), only works well if connected through bluetooth, with USB it doesn’t work well (The BASIC prompt goes crazy, tried “ Chuckie Egg“, selected O+P+Q+A+M controls, and the small-big-hat-egg-shape-guy keeps jumping like if there’s no tomorrow without pressing any key…).The keyboard faceplate is very fragile – both keyboards I ordered are already with bumps… on one of them it was kind of my fault (positioned the usb cable on top of the keyboard, closed under pressure the card box, and the USB plug created an horrible bump on my new ZX Spectrum keyboard) – I don’t remember the original computer having a so thin and fragile faceplate.For bluetooth connection you’ll need two AA batteries to power the device. It comes with a “Retro Gamming” mouse pad and a cup pad, and an USB cable.

THE RECREATED SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM TV

It is exactly like the original 48K, only the interface inputs and outputs are different (no RS232 interfaces or coaxial TV Connector, no ZX Spectrum original interfaces at all…), and – off course – it is a bluetooth and USB Keyboard, no Microcomputer / ULA inside. Here are a few pictures of the Recreated ZX Spectrum unboxing: I suppose that due to the dispute they are not being manufactured anymore, so if you really want one, get it soon on Amazon UK.

I bought mine at Amazon (UK), costed me around 40€ (much cheaper than the original price, more than 100€). You’ll probably won’t be able to buy the product through it’s website anymore due to a dispute between Elite and Ceratech Accuratus (read the press release here).

The Recreated ZX Spectrum product page is here. My first program was developed in BASIC on one of this machines, and because of that event I decided (very soon) to become an IT professional. I finally got one of my most precious childhood memories, The Recreated ZX Spectrum – a ZX Spectrum keyboard in the same shape, size, look and feel of the 80’s Sinclair ZX Spectrum (16K or 48K).

The recreated sinclair zx spectrum