ZX Spectrum Next Kickstarter 2 just launched

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stephen_usher
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Re: ZX Spectrum Next Kickstarter 2 just launched

Post by stephen_usher »

Unfortunately the KS2 Next isn't compatible with the KS1 alternative cores otherwise you could have run the QL core. ;-)


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Sparrowhawk
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Re: ZX Spectrum Next Kickstarter 2 just launched

Post by Sparrowhawk »

I have an N-GO which is 100% KS1 compatible, so best of both worlds :)


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Re: ZX Spectrum Next Kickstarter 2 just launched

Post by Derek_Stewart »

Hi,

The N-GO like the Next looks very expensive for a Spectrum 128. Both are out of stock. I did think about the MiSTer, but that option is even more expensive.

Additionally they all can not run SMSQ/E and connect to a QL Network.

So I stick with the Q68, it has more potential, and the less expensive.


Regards, Derek
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Re: ZX Spectrum Next Kickstarter 2 just launched

Post by XorA »

So I stick with the Q68, it has more potential, and the less expensive.
You forgot full support from its creator too :-)


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Re: ZX Spectrum Next Kickstarter 2 just launched

Post by martyn_hill »

Hi Derek and Merry Christmas!
Derek_Stewart wrote: Sat Dec 23, 2023 9:04 pm Additionally they all can not run SMSQ/E and connect to a QL Network.
The Next supports the Interface-1 (with a few careful pokes) and therefore supports both the Network as well as the ZX Microdrives. Works nicely...

As it happens, there is also work in progress to add the Sinclair Network capability natively to the Next (via the 2nd Joystick port, to which the developers were 'persuaded'' to add an output bit, as well as the existing input.) I was chatting with Simon N Goodwin about it at the recent Crash Live event...

There is also work underway to re-build a QL core for the KS2 version of the FPGA. Not sure about the scope and whether it might support SMSQe as well as QDOS.

We shall see :-)


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Re: ZX Spectrum Next Kickstarter 2 just launched

Post by Sparrowhawk »

KS3 is coming in June, for anyone who missed out on KS2:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sp ... ts/4400514

Also there are details about a new fully licensed C64 core and a mention that an update to the QL core is imminent.


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Re: ZX Spectrum Next Kickstarter 2 just launched

Post by Sparrowhawk »

Went live this AM. Almost at £1m as I type this!

Update: forgot the URL. Here it is:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sp ... -issue-3-0


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Re: ZX Spectrum Next Kickstarter 2 just launched

Post by stephen_usher »

If you don't want to buy the whole machine then there's a Spectrum case compatibleish PCB option for £150 or, if you have a KS1 Next, a replacement Next motherboard for £180. Might save you some pennies if you don't want the whole shebang.

Looks like the main differences between the KS2 and KS3 PCBs will be that the FPGA is four times larger and there's an upgrade to the VGA output allowing more colours, stated to be useful for the QL core. (Oh, and Spectrum +3 floppy signals to the edge connector, but that doesn't affect many people.)


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Re: ZX Spectrum Next Kickstarter 2 just launched

Post by bwinkel67 »

A good article on the other kickstarter for the Commodore 64 (well, it's not a kickstarter, but something similar).

https://www.wired.com/story/the-risky-b ... k-to-life/

Does anyone know the author? He seems pretty spot on on many things retro.

For me, I like the Spectrum Next approach better as it's about the machine, not personalities or the company.

[Edit: Same author also recently wrote about the KS3: https://www.stuff.tv/hot-stuff/the-next ... modore-64/]


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Re: ZX Spectrum Next Kickstarter 2 just launched

Post by tofro »

bwinkel67 wrote: Tue Jul 22, 2025 8:43 am A good article on the other kickstarter for the Commodore 64 (well, it's not a kickstarter, but something similar).

https://www.wired.com/story/the-risky-b ... k-to-life/

Does anyone know the author? He seems pretty spot on on many things retro.

For me, I like the Spectrum Next approach better as it's about the machine, not personalities or the company.

[Edit: Same author also recently wrote about the KS3: https://www.stuff.tv/hot-stuff/the-next ... modore-64/]
Honestly, if I were a Commodore enthusiast, I'd have my problems buying a C64 Ultimate and part with a large part of my money knowing that a considerable share must be used to finance the legality of the badge ("a low 7-digit amount") instead of the innards. That just seems silly.

Interestingly, that "badge/brand-adoration" we see here never really was a thing with the Sinclair brand. It went to Amstrad, was exploited a bit over there for some years on some questionable products like the Sinclair PC 200 (at least not sinking as low as ending up on staplers, shredders and cheap Chinese calculators), then somehow ended up with Sky, who never actually seemed to use it. It was the ZX Next guys that dug it up again for their remarkable feat of re-activating Rick Dickinson for sadly a last time designing another masterpiece and managing to put a "Sinclair" badge on the IMHO rightful heir of the ZX Spectrum line. The ZX Next really put the "ZX Spectrum" story to the 21st century.

Whether providing a QL core for the ZX Next makes it a "real" QL under a "real" Sinclair trademark, that is a different question. The ZX Next with a QL core resembles a maybe 1998 QL with a Gold Card with some slight improvements on sound and graphics (Which, unfortunately, lack a bit of software support, currently. SMSQ/E on this core might be desirable). I'd even say it can't be much more because of its limited memory, at least until KS2 (not sure if that is going to improve with KS3). But for what it is, it is really good - In my experience, it is more compatible to the original, but expanded QL than anything else you can lay your hands on, currently. While the Spectrum core really boosted forward what the Spectrum was technologically, the QL core is more a re-creation of of the past in a very nice packaging (again: not a bad thing if that's what you want). If you plug a QIMSI Gold in your QL you'll maybe lose some compatibility to the original thing, but end up with a much more modern machine with even more visual authenticity - Simply a matter of taste.

Maybe Peter Graf's elaborates might have more technical and historical "justification" to carry a Sinclair QL badge than the ZX Next? I don't know (Even if they'd lose any design contest against the Next...) - And I don't care. The ZX Spectrum and QL crowd never really mingled, but rather lived in parallel universes, with only a few exceptions. IMHO it's a good thing we have both alternatives and at least some collaboration now.


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