Rare Sinclair ZX Spectrum and Sinclair QL Items now listed on ebay.

Over the weekend I have been busy sorting through my Sinclair stocks and listed some rare items on ebay - auctions all end on 3rd / 4th October 2009.

The items include the following ZX Spectrum ROM cartridges for use with the ZX Interface 2 or RAM Turbo interface with ROM slot, which are always a favourite amongst collectors:

• TransAm Sinclair ROM cartridge by Ultimate Play the Game
• Pssst Sinclair ROM cartridge by Ultimate Play the Game
• Planetoids Sinclair ROM cartridge by Psion
• Hungry Horace Sinclair ROM cartridge by Psion
• Chess Sinclair ROM cartridge by Psion

I have also listed some more Ultimate Play the Games programs - some of which are very rare, in box box formats, or on the silver Sinclair label - as preferred by collectors:

• Atic Atac
• Cookie
• Pssst
• Jet Pac
• Lunar Jetman
• Alien 8
• Knight Lore
• Sabre Wulf
• Pentagram
• Cyberun
• Martianoids
• Gunfright
• Nightshade

There are even some more silver sinclair label games, such as Bubble Buster and Stop the Train.

For Sinclair QL fans, I have also listed the following rare items:

• CST Q+4 Expansion Module
• CST Q-Pi Printer Module
• Boxed Sandy 256K Expanderam
• QL Hyperdrive by English Software

See my ebay listings now!

What Software Titles were published for the Sinclair QL?

We are continuing to build on the list of software titles published for the Sinclair QL home computer and to incorporate details, with screenshots into the Sinclair QL Wiki

To date we have uploaded details on:

Arcade Games
This includes all of the software written by Janko Mrsic Flogel for the Sinclair QL
Alien Hijack - 3D Graphical Adventure by Chisoft.
Baron Rouge - game where you fly a small monoplane shooting enemy planes and air ships
BJ in 3D Land - platform game, follow up to BJ Returns, but this time in a 3D world
BJ Returns - platform game, follow up to QL Caverns
Citadel - arcade game - overhead flying - similar to Metropolis
Eagle - A scramble type clone - fast and furious
Hyperdrive - Formula 1 Car Racing Game
Karate - Beat em up - you need to beat your opponents in Karate
M-Cosmic - a Graphic Adventure game
M-Crunch - a game based on Pacman
M-Treasure - a platform game, very similar to QL Cavern
Match Point - a 3D Tennis Championship Game
Metropolis - arcade game - overhead flying - similar to Citadel
Pengi - A game set in the antarctic, where you play a penguin!
QL Bounder - platform game similar to the popular Manic Miner on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum
QL Meteor Storm - classic arcade game where you have to shoot up the meteors
QL Quboids - platform game based on Lode Runner Arcade game
Quazimodo - platform game - save Esmerelda from the tower
Spook - faithful implementation of Pacman
Vroom - Formula 1 Car Racing Game
Zapper a shoot 'em up similar to space invaders

Board Games
Psion Chess - The original chess program for the QL, written by Richard Lang and launched by Psion (designers of the QL Quill, Archive, Abacus and Easel software).
QL Reversi - A good implementation of the classic Othello Game.

Text Adventures
Dark Side of the Moon - Your mission here is to recapture a moonbase and mineral mine.
Horrorday - Comic adventure based on the best tradition of hammer horror movies
Lost Kingdom of Zkul - A realtime classic dungeons and dragons type adventure.
QL Pawn - Famous text adventure by Magnetic Scrolls.
Return to Eden - Text and Graphics adventure, which fills 3 disks - released before the Level 9 Adventure of the same name
The Prawn - Spoof text adventure based on QL Pawn.
West - A realtime text adventure where you play the role of a sheriff

Screenshots can be enlarged by clicking on them, and we can supply many of the software titles on disk or microdrive if you have an old version that will no longer load (or if you have moved onto an emulator).

Some of this software is still copy protected, so we would like to hear from anyone that has a working version without the copy protection, or is willing to work on the code to remove it.

We are also looking for the following software titles, which we can then re-release on the QL market:

Funfear - a text adventure by Martin Hopkins (Mert)
TechniQL by Talent (I have copies but with copy protection still intact)
PCB1 by Talent
WIMP by Talent
Strip Poker by Talent (I have copies but with copy protection still intact)
Toolset by Talent
The Lost Pharoah by Talent (I have copies but with copy protection still intact)
Type 22 by Talent (I have copies but with copy protection still intact)
Basic Ally by Talent
Cuthbert in Space by Microdeal
The King by Microdeal
Crazy Painter by Microdeal
Night Nurse by Microdeal
Hopper by Microdeal
Bridge by Microdeal

Can anyone help with these titles?

Welcome News for fans of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum DivIDE Plus

We are pleased to say that we have now sourced a more reliable manufacturer for the DivIDE Plus interfaces, who can make them in bulk and have recently placed an order for 100 interfaces, as an initial batch. We expect the first ones to arrive in mid October, so keep your eye on our website, where we will publish details of availability and how to order:

ZX Spectrum DivIDE Plus order page

You will also note that we have made further improvements to the manual, with more details on some of the other firmware and also updated sections on ResiDOS.

Just a small issue here is that we have probably have orders for at least 50 interfaces already, so we can see us placing an order for a further 100 interfaces quite soon!!

Please don't forget that we can also supply the AY-Magic sound interfaces which work perfectly with the DivIDE Plus - see our Sinclair ZX Spectrum AY Magic sound interface page

Just a reminder - the DivIDE Plus interface works with all ZX Spectrums (although there is an issue with the Portuguese ZX Spectrum+2 which apparently may be rectified by running a wire from the Z80 to the rear expansion port on the Spectrum). It enables the ZX Spectrum to load games instantly from Compact Flash card, or a hard disk. It has a wide range of firmwares available, to give plenty of options for loading and saving files, and has a through connector to allow you to connect to other peripherals.

The AY Magic Sound interface allows standard 16K and 48K ZX Spectrums (rubber key and Spectrum+ versions) to play the AY sounds and music developed for the built in AY controller included in the later 128K version computers, which is included in some of the later games developed for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum .

New for September 2009 has been the re-release (by popular demand) of an old QL arcade game, Pengi, which was written by Jochen Merz and previously released on the Gigasoft label.

In this colourful game, you control a small Penguin (Pengi) as he tries to survive the antarctic climate. Faced with deadly snobees all around, the only way to survive is by pushing ice blocks onto the snobees and squashing them, before they touch Pengi. You can also collect diamonds to gain additional points.

Now available to buy once again, this increases the range of arcade games still available commercially from RWAP Software - purchase QL Pengi

Missing software for the Sinclair QL?

We have now amassed a large library of software titles for the Sinclair QL - much of it is unsuitable for second hand sales, as we only have the cartridges, with no manual or box.

However, we have started to preserve as much of the software as we can by storing it on our PC (with regular backups to the internet), and are updating the Sinclair QL Computer Wiki with details as we go.

We will then be able to make fresh working copies (on microdrive, disk or suitable for use with emulators) for those who can prove that they own the original software. We are also looking for the original copyright holders to contact us, so that we can hopefully bring some of this software back to the Sinclair QL market, either as commercial programs or as public domain.

The ones we have converted and tested to date are listed on the RWAP Software pages.