A fanzine for the ZX81 by Yerzmyey

Something unexpected popped up on my Facebook news feed earlier. This was a new issue of a fanzine produced for that most monochromatic of platforms, namely the Sinclair ZX81.

I have fond memories and a happy disposition towards that little black slab of historical Z80-based computing fun. It was my very first exposure to the world of computers, and I had a number of early adventures with it, before my attention was caught by shinier and brighter things.

Slightly later on, I was gratified to discover there were such things as emulators, to faithfully recreate the simple desktop of my first binary love. Further on yet, with an internet connection to a wider online world established, there were people discovered still pouring their time, effort, and dare I say devotion, into this tiny beast.

There are people doing their best and getting some awesome results from it even now. Previously I have mentioned the activities of 'Bob's Stuff', a coder for games for various flavours of Sinclair computing, including some decently made mini-epics for the ZX81. Meanwhile, another gentleman, Yerzmyey, known to us in a more Atarian capacity, has managed to create four issues of a proper .pdf based fanzine dedicated to the little black Zeddy.

'Monochrome' is just shy of 300 kilobytes, so could almost be presented as a real old school disk magazine. There is a not so small issue with the .pdf format though, so we're limited to higher end Atari's and clones, should you chose to browse it there. Otherwise, any old thing capable of displaying .pdf will do.

The presentation is artfully designed to pull you into an alternate reality of desktop publishing made possible on a stock ZX81. The font is the ZX81 system font, the issue is decorated liberally with screenshots throughout. You could almost smell the burnt aroma coming from the Sinclair thermal printer paper as this issue churns itself out into hard copy.

The illusion is a clever one, but you then note that the screen grabs are shrunk to fit within the page. Also I'm guessing the number of text characters per line is a bit more than the original screen would allow . There are eleven pages in total, all of them packed to the last drop with news and reviews of the burgeoning ZX81 scene. And yes it is. As Mr Yerzmyey himself says, "ZX81 is like the Tardis: Maybe it is small on the outside, but on the inside - It's great!"

There is a hell of a lot of content even within these few pages. The editor in chief stares out near the top of the first page in ZX81 character-set caricature, googly eyed and suspicious looking. His editorial dourly refers to the ongoing financial crisis in Europe delaying this fourth issue, which seems to be fair enough.

However, he's not glum for long, as we pick up our toolbag and go off digging for some 'Games Archaeology'. A series of long-lost programs has been resurrected, with a download URL to go and get em! Nice thinking!

We are pondering the mystical properties of the number 207 next, which apart from the height in centimetres of the author, is also the number of t-states needed for a ZX81 to send a screen line. A detailed discussion about how to use this for high resolution games follows from 'Dr Beep'.

The 'ZXpand Commander' is considered next. This is a utility for those lucky people with 'ZXpand' extensions to manage their SD card, create and browse directories, execute programs, rename files, and much more!

'1 Kilobyte Corner', written by Yerzmyey, features some 1K mini-masterpieces including playing instructions and screen grabs, coded by the previously mentioned Dr Beep. Yes they're simplistic, but look closely as he has managed hi-res graphics. A highlight includes a 'good and fluent' pinball game in 1K!

'A curiosity for Atari XL/SE' is described by Sikor. This is a program on the XL/XE which allows you to create chunky graphics with the ZX81 character set. The ultimate goals including 'hi res' (256 x 192 pixel) support and a converter to transport this back to the ZX81.

Yerzmyey gives us the results for the Retrospective 2012/13 online contest. Both ZX81 graphics entries are featured of course.

'ZX81Putil' describes a utility intended to convert a .WAV soundfile of a tape recording to an emulator compatible file format. It's on the PeeCee.

"New Productions from Revival Studios", screams the headline. A platformer called 'Down' is the main feature, but other games of theirs are described too.

The ZXpand gets more textual loving, with a description of some games which work with the joystick port provided with the extension. A high res screen grab which really catches the eye is included with this article. The game is called 'Intergalactic Space Rescue', has been apparently converted from the ZX Spectrum, and looks nothing like a ZX81 game!

Pausing only to rub my eyes in disbelief, we're on to some 'New demos for the 16k ZX81' (Ayaya!) There are some interesting screen grabs, including something made in a 320 x 240 pixel mode, which is really pushing the metal perhaps. I like the sound of that, but I'd like to see these running as well as a static screen can only do so much.

We follow this with some 'New Games for ZX81 16k'. A nice high resolution version of classic Space Invaders is up first. 'Jim Bagley's ZX81 Racing' brings Micro Machines style track day fun to the ZX81. Bringing up the rear is our very own Bob Bobbison of Bob's Stuff with his cunningly reverse twisted isometric Pacman styled, 'One Little Ghost'.

'New Old Games by Nocash' provides the reader with a tasty selection of high-resolution game screenshots and brief reports. We're near the end, and a beta version of a 'Mysterious Lost game' emerges briefly from its dusty shelf, blinking in the unaccustomed sunlight and all that. Squeezing into the tiny space left, just before the fat lady does her stuff is a quick 'Blast from the past', an early pinball game, which still plays pretty well.

Right, we're at the end of the page. "That's all Folks", where Yertz tells us he managed to put this all together in two days with severe damage to his spinal column resulting from this. Pro-tip from a fellow editor, try not to write things whilst balanced on a wobbly chair which is sitting on top of a high wall!

Anyway, we're leaving this hopeful of a next issue. I'm sure that the ZX81 scene will continue to amaze us all. And we can thank Yerzmyey for such an action packed and busy issue, not an inch of space wasted! Nice work mate!

We can only ask this final question about the ZX81, "What's she gonna look like with a diskmag on her?" With the ZXpand, it ought to be possible. Who's gonna try!?

CiH for Mag! - August 2013.

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