RE: https://mastodonapp.uk/@quazarsamcoupe/116245930353280163

Articles inside the revamped back issue of issue 9 of SAM Revival magazine (originally published in 2004, revamped in 2025) include interviews with two past SAM Coupe developers - Matt Round (now of vole.wtf fame) and Ken Jarvis (graphics artist). An extra page in this edition takes a more detailed look at Sphera, for which Ken designed the graphics.

A look at the undocumented #Z80 instruction OUT (C), (HL) [Often denotated as OUT (C),0 but that's not strictly true!] and how its behaviour differs between NMOS and CMOS core Z80 CPUs. There's an extra page looking at the first commercial release I've found that fails due to this instruction (on the #ZXSpectrum).

There's also a new 4 page article looking more at Manic Miner and Money Bags that are on the coverdisk of software. There's also followups and more photos added to the original news section.

https://samcoupe.com/quickshop.htm (with UK postage applied)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/117082338579

#SAMCoupe #Retrogaming #GameDev #IndieDev #SoloDev

🚨 SAM Revival 9 back in stock!

Fresh stock of the revamped back issue 9 of SAM Revival has arrived. An expanded, full colour, professionally printed back issue, originally released in 2004. Featuring the full SAM Coupe version of Manic Miner (60 Caverns!) on the included floppy cover disk, and Money Bags Special Edition. [Digital file also available of the coverdisk.]

https://www.samcoupe.com/quickshop.htm
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/117082338579

#samcoupe #manicminer #retrogaming #retrocomputing #gaming #gamedev

PIXELS!

#SamCoupé #BootSector #SizeCoding #demoscene #ROBERT

SAM Coupe File Storage Options... https://www.samcoupe.com

I have a limited amount of new old stock of Sony disk drives in order to offer an internal disk drive setup for the #SAMCoupe.

(Interface can be supplied without a drive, and I can also build up it up with longer cables for using a Gotek. If you have an original faulty drive the controller IC can be reused too.)

Also available is my Trinity Ethernet Interface, that apart from giving an ethernet port also offers SD / SDHC card mass storage up to 32GB that acts as Drive 2 when the mass storage DOS is loaded into memory. Easily controllable from BASIC etc to use as a virtual floppy drive. (Drive 1 is always reserved for a real floppy drive). An optional BOOT ROM is available to swap out the SAM's ROM so that the mass storage DOS can be loaded in from the Trinity upon startup/reset.)

These are just a few pieces of the hardware I've released for the SAM Coupe, it's the system I've been developing for over the last 33 years!

Two new SAM Coupe computer PCB pin badges available, in different colour styles: Black + Camouflage!
UK buy buttons: https://www.samcoupe.com/quickshop.htm

The SAM Coupe was only available in a white case, however in issue 94 of Crash (Dec'91) there was news of a SAM bundle which may appear "possibly in a new black case". SAMCo quickly dismissed this the following month in the first issue of their SAM Newsdisk saying it was not something they were planning to do.

They had also been experimenting with other colours, David (the editor of the SAM Newsdisk) had spotted a camouflage painted case when down at SAMCo's HQ, so that is the second new badge!

These new badges, plus the original white design, are available for £7.50 each including UK postage. The few pounds made from each sale all gets put back into my ongoing development of new products for the SAM.

I've also got PCB Pin Badges of C16/64/VIC-20 and ZX Spectrum 16K/48K available.

#samcoupe #zxspectrum #commodore #computing #retrocomputing

Where possible I'm happy to customise hardware I make. This example is a version of my SAA1099P Soundchip Interface for RC2014 & compatibles, modified for use in a homebrew 6502 computer which simulates a Z80 bus for driving a couple of RC style expansion slots.

Although for this setup only address bits A0 - A7 are available, as the 6502 circuitry is using a 256 byte window in its memory map for the simulated I/O address area. As the original SAA Interface uses A0 - A8 to match the decoding per the SAM Coupe I had to change the decoding circuitry to remove the dependence on A8, which I switched to A0 and used A1-A7 for the base I/O address that can be set by jumpers.

For the full range of peripherals I make for use with #RC2014 & compatibles please see my dedicated site at: https://2014.samcoupe.com

For my other hardware...
#SAMCoupe - https://www.samcoupe.com
#ZXSpectrum - https://zx.samcoupe.com

#chiptune #retrocomputing

RE: https://mastodon.social/@samster/116093908713088888

(1/2) Thanks for the mention Samster. My journey with SID and the Z80 started way, way back in 2002, working out how to get it to play happily when connected to a fast Zilog Z80 bus on the SAM Coupe, rather than the MOS6510 it was designed for.

2003 saw the first commercial version of my SID Interface for the SAM Coupe. It's had a few tweaks in the years since and is still available.

In 2020 I was asked if the interface would work on the RC2014 (Thanks Shiela!). Replied no, but then a few weeks later, yes!, having redesigned the interface in a version specifically for the RC2014 bus and integrating an interrupt controller for 50/60/100Hz - ideal for use with other soundchips too! This version has also had a few tweaks over the last six years since release, currently on v1.3.

Can't add photos due to the 'quote' so will add a reply to this post with photos... (Nice to see this now implemented in Mastodon!)

#samcoupe #commodore #c64 #soundchip #chiptune #demoscene #rc2014 #zxspectrum

(1/2) This month Retro Gamer magazine had a tiny picture of a SAM Coupe on the cover, as a tie in with their 'Legacy of the ZX Spectrum' feature article. So I bought it, to see what was said. 43 words. Sheesh!

Of course the gist of that extensive coverage was that it "Offered a (limited) Spectrum compatibility mode".

Can't even get that right! The SAM didn't have Spectrum compatibility on power up. An emulator had to be used, and with a copy of the actual ZX ROM then practically perfect 48K compatibility was there. A few hundred 128K games were hacked to use SAM's different memory paging style, plus AY->SAA soundchip translation routines to get the music playing via SAM's soundchip.

No mention of the SAM's own capabilities either. This is one major problem that persists to this day, articles/videos just treat it as a "Super Spectrum", ignoring the advanced specifications it offered and the vibrant scene in the 1990s that supported it.

#samcoupe #retrogaming #retrocomputing

https://linktr.ee/quazarsamcoupe

A quick post to my new LinkTree for links to everything #retrocomputing I do - my main website for all my SAM Coupe development, the two smaller sites for ZX Spectrum hardware and peripherals for RC2014 & compatibles. My other social media accounts and my Tindie and eBay stores.

#samcoupe #zxspectrum #rc2014 #retrogaming #demoscene #indiedev #gamedev #z80