Thank you for all the kind words, I am so pleased with the Mechtrum it really is one of the best things I have made. The key caps come from Manuel who makes the N-GO so we must thank him too. I still have 2 units for sale on my store if anyone is interested and these could well be the last two I will make. Looking forward to Saturday it's going to be a great day and I will be helping in the chat all day.

It warms my heart to see what you are all doing for such a good cause. Well done Neil! Great to see Thomas enjoying the retro games

Thomas has an amazing smile! These machines look incredible. Thank you Neil, great show and thanks to your guests too!

I have to say, this whole project gives me such a warm feeling. I found myself smiling through this video like a six-month old baby with cronic wind. Looking forward to the stream and auctions on Saturday, I have a feeling this is going to go very well indeed.

This was a really heartwarming episode. Thanks for this! I hope the auctions garner a lot of attention and money for the charity.

Fantastic video and I love the Befriending Scheme idea. I used to teach adults with special needs and once a week I had the pleasure of teaching a ‘retrogaming’ technology enrichment class. The students enjoyed it almost as much as I did haha! Interestingly enough the most requested game was Pong, showing what a timeless game that is!

There are those who believe we should take the old, the obsolete, the imperfect, and toss it all in the garbage. Thank you, Neil and Lee, and especially Thomas for showing us that we all have value, no matter our circumstances or our perceived value to society.

Thomas is a hero! Thank you for sharing your enthusiasm for these wonderful retro systems!

Thomas is a great co-presenter. I was always a Commodore user, but Spectrum had the killer design.

Ever since I first saw your video about Soviet clones of the ZX Spectrum, I've been very interested in these kinds of projects. This video definitely made my day, and the day just started.

@greatestytcommentator

9 ай бұрын

And those clones are still hacking the United States of America today!

Memory lane i still have my original ZX spectrum with my original WH Smith data recorder. Also with my dk’tronics programmable joystick port, an alphacom 32 thermal printer and a. Currah speech module.

I've been following MFMI for ages, and I know Lee has been working very hard on these machines. This is such a nice story about the community getting together for a great cause. Can't wait for the live stream!

I got my Harlequin 128 from Byte Delight about 3 years ago, and it was a lot of fun to build. Great project at a great price. 11:15 I noticed that you had a Commodore 64 tape on the table. LOL

@RMCRetro

9 ай бұрын

Haha yes, how did that get in there!!!

@frankowalker4662

9 ай бұрын

@@RMCRetro Everytime I saw it I took a drink. Luckily it only shows up about 4 times. 👍

I loved Thomas's sign-off.

I'm glad to see that there's still a viable Spectrum scene, as the 48k was the very first computer that I owned, followed by the 128k varient. 😊

I grew up on Commodore machines but that smoked spectrum with the white keyboard panel and keys with black text is absolutely stunning. Do want one.

Some amazing kit - letting go of that would normally be painful, but seeing it raise money for a great cause makes it worthwhile. You know where ever it ends up, it will be cared for by an enthusiast which is always a massive plus.

I enjoyed playing Horace Goes Skiing on this very machine in the cave this weekend, keep up the good work guys.

Loved the orange keyboard, it's "The Real Deal". lol

Terrific guests and charity, Neil. Well done for featuring them. Look forward to the auction 👍🏼

These are pure works of art. Great work.

This channel is incredible.

ZX Spectra, surely? 😁

My first machine was a 48k but drifted on to commodore machines, grate to see a 41 year microcomputer still going in 2023.

@HrLBolle

9 ай бұрын

commenting as somebody born way past the 8-bit era of home compute: Meanwhile the 8-Bit Guy created a " commodore clone" and pored in all the best aspects and the created new additions to make it into what should have been as far as I understand the scope of the Commander X16 project

The Smoked Transparent and White Keyboard Spectrum 19:24 ... looks very nice 👍

What a lovely trio of gentlemen! Hope the auction goes well!

I just have to see Spectrum to bring back memories and only to 5 seconds later see JetPac being palyed.. I can't remember the amount of hours spent playing it.

@johnd6487

9 ай бұрын

I was a bit of a digital luddite as a kid, and never had any desire to so much as touch my best friend's LCD games.. until we went on a visit to my mother's friend, who's son had a brand new, just released, Spectrum. He fired up Jetpac pretty much within five minutes of us getting there. Needless to say, from that moment on i totally embraced the new era.. Christmas came, and I unwrapped my own little rubber keyed wonder, along with a copy of Jetpac and Gulpman and I never looked back.

Most excellent.

As an American, the Speccies don't have the nostalgia. However, all of these looked amazing. Thomas looked like he was enjoying himself with the games. 😁 Good luck with the auctions. I'm expecting those Spectrums to get a lot of bids.

@TheDarkHour684

8 ай бұрын

I'm from the UK but live in Illinois :-D It's definitely fun watching my old countrymen fiddle around with old computers. hehe

That orange speccy is just beautiful!

That black 48k case is iconic.

Nice initiative! Good to see The Cave supporting it!

So rewarding building my 1st ByteDelight Harlequin kit, and for it to boot 1st time so chuffed. I obviously went with a all white setup to finish it off.

that smokey+white spccy looks amazing

Great cause, and Lee is a legend for his incredible mechtrum.

What amazing Epic home computers you just got to love em.What a beautifull Cases ! Spectrums just brought entertainment and programming to homes all around the world in an affordable fashion and together with the C64 brought an revolution and paved the way,for the bigger more powerfull machines like the Amstrad Atari and the Amazing Amiga a few years later on.

@deanosaur808

6 ай бұрын

Bigger more powerful machines like the Amstrad and Atari? 😅 I don't think so somehow, and the jaguar was a disaster 😱

@Realmasterorder

6 ай бұрын

Well with Amstrad i am talking about the 6128 and onwards models that was the most popular and equivalant home computers from Atari hardware wise they were a bit more powerfull and after that the Amiga and Atari ST were too far ahead.Yes The poor Jaguar did not go well but was a very powerfull piece of hardware for its time. @@deanosaur808

That has been one of the cool things about the Speccy in these later years: the mostly off-the-shelf components that went into it. Yes, it meant there were a zillion clones (which can be either a good or a bad thing, depending on your view), but it also means we can re-create it relatively easily in the modern day. Unlike the C64, which has been a bit of a nightmare.

that white zx spectrum really is stunningly good looking. even the pcb like how often do you see a purple pcb with all blue and black components on it. can't wait to see all of you and the other excellent guests on the live stream Saturday

We had a 3rd party keyboard back in the day.. The little Rubber Keyed Speccy lived inside... until the keyboard stopped working.

Wow, just wow!

That white case looks amazing.

What an incredibly wholesome video and an amazing cause! Go Lee!

PIMP MY ZX SPECTRUM!! 📢🙃

Great video - top work from Lee - That Mechtrum looks great

Great work

Excellent video as usual

I kind of miss those simpler days with my Timex Sinclair 1000....

Wonderful!

Great work to everyone involved in this project amazing work just wish I was able to afford one of the spectrum

Some great looking spectrums!! Looking forward to the stream

I still love the ZX Spectrum. Glad it came to Denmark back then. I have a Raspberry Pi adventure currently. Especially with MMBasic and Pico.

Update: Lee and Thomas raised an incredible £13,000 through the auction of these machines and JustGiving donations. The Befriending Scheme is going to receive all of the money raised, an incredible effort well done guys! 🔧Here's all the info you need from this episode!: Auction Links: www.morefunmakingit.co.uk/charity2023/ Just Giving Donation P age: www.justgiving.com/page/morefunmakingit Lees KZread Channel: www.youtube.com/@MoreFunMakingItLive Stream: kzread.infoPfF5H2jWBfQ?feature=share The Befriending Scheme: www.thebefriendingscheme.org.uk/ 🔧Kit Donations for the Spectrum builds: Neal - www.youtube.com/@NLKMediaGroup Fergus Logan - x.com/FergusLogan Lee Smith - www.youtube.com/@leesmithsworkshop Rudy - x www.youtube.com/@RudysRetroIntel Arcadesy - x/arcadesy Retro Krazy - www.youtube.com/@RetroKrazy MikeDX - x.com/TheMikeDX Julian Brown Bobbus74 - x.com/bobbus74 Devzine - x.com/devzine_pl and t.co/YiVw1daaYP Charles - www.youtube.com/@RetroTeaTime Taz - x.com/tazfaedodge Nigel - www.youtube.com/@NigelsWorkbench Ginger Hippy Gaming - www.youtube.com/@gingerhippygaming7962 James - x.com/Ghost82uk Chris from the Cave 🔧Contributors: Rees - www.youtube.com/@ctrlaltrees TechMadeEasy - www.youtube.com/@TechMadeEasyUK Retrograde Scene - www.youtube.com/@RetrogradeScene RetrobitsTV - www.youtube.com/@retrobitstv Steve’s Tech Shed - www.youtube.com/@StevesTechShed Timberwolf - www.youtube.com/@TimberwolfK CRG - www.youtube.com/@CRG The Retro Channel - www.youtube.com/@TheRetroChannel

in the last year or so ive heard the word bespoke more than in my entire life.

Great stuff! Now just wait for Comcast to come knocking and demand royalties for that rather fancy Sinclair logo on the flight cases... 😂

Bloody ace pal

The best ZX is the Russian ZX Evolution. Which I am lucky enough to own.

[3:40] The first spectrum reminds me of old didaktik (Czechoslovak clone of zx spectrum) micro i used.

The USB port does load games via the audio plug, but you may not be able to save your program back to it. 😊😊😊 21:39

Mmmm....orange keys.❤

Does the Mectrum cartridge come with the obligatory blu-tac?

Neat

You using SMD ZILOG Z80A chips or ARM chips.

That C64 cassette is feeling very lost throughout this episode! (Magic Roundabout - Actually more in the way of French origins, but it can be classed as English/British in one respect or so). (Just saying!). That WHSmith tape deck looks like a really robust one; has lasted a long time too!

case looks Amiga 1200 inspired

Neil, sorry to nitpick but surely the correct phrasing should have been ‘zx spectra’?

When Sir Clive Sinclair died, Steve from GamersNexus kept calling it the "Zee-X Spectrum," and that got on my nerves.

@cal2127

9 ай бұрын

thats because we say zee for the letter z.

@nickwallette6201

9 ай бұрын

I think that's because it's not called the "Zed Ex Spectrum" -- it's "ZX Spectrum," and Zs are pronounced differently across the planet. But, I'll make you a deal: If you get everyone in Europe to stop calling the SNES a "sness," I'll get everyone in the US to stop calling it "Zee Ex."

@eddiehimself

9 ай бұрын

@@cal2127 Thanks, captain obvious. It's supposed to be called the Zed-X Spectrum though because of its British origin and cultural impact.

@eddiehimself

9 ай бұрын

​@@nickwallette6201 I'll make you a deal: if you stop acting like one Anglophone country in the world that says "Zee" instead of "Zed" amounts to "across the planet," I might listen to your arguments.

@nickwallette6201

9 ай бұрын

@@eddiehimself Well, one and half, technically. Canada is mixed. The more important takeaway here is that, the Internet is global and the globe is a big place. Might as well get used to it, or you'll just drive yourself batty getting hung up on unimportant differences.

If you are looking for FPGA/CPLDs what about reaching out to Lisa Su at AMD as AMD own Xilinx.