Spyder board HRG

[BlackCanyonFX]

Howdy all!
I thought I'ld try to share something in my first post. I started in computers in '81 with a kit built ZX-81 and was soon using them in my work (motion picture special FX). Check out the front of the "Pill Machine" in the motion picture "Dissorderlies". Notice the ZX keyboard? It's running a fig-forth ROM, no kidding. Boy, do I miss the good old days...

Anyway, here's one I thought was cool.I bought a board in about '82 called a Spyder Character Board (I still have some ads for it) and reverse engineered it to cover the full 8k hole from 8-16k. Here's my original drawing:

Spyder2.jpg

(250.17 KiB) Downloaded 2553 times

The rams are standard 2kx8. I'll be happy to help anyone interested in the design.

Thanks to all of you for keeping the good ol' ZX-81 kickin'
G.T.Blocker - Black Canyon FX

[RWAP]

Welcome to the forums - that looks an interesting board!

For a shot of the ZX81 in Disorderlies - see http://www.starringthecomputer.com/appe ... f=168&c=44

[BrunoFlorindo]

Welcome!! Very interesting indeed! I will have to look for that movie.

There seems to be a problem with the first attachment. Please see if you can re-attach the picture.

[RWAP]

I have edited the original post and the picture appears correctly now.

[BlackCanyonFX]

Howdy All;
I'm sorry about my absence. I really don't remember when I filed my last post.
I live in a VERY rural part of Arizona and had lost my ISP.
Well....
I'm back. TG

Here is my best reverse engineering on this SPYDER board in a .zip.

spyder.zip

(22.4 KiB) Downloaded 184 times

I hope I don't irritate anyone with a few more posts, but I have over 1gig in ZX files and I have been
unable to chat with you folks in a while. I hope you like what a stir-crazy ex-spclfx-artist does with noone to talk to for months,,,,,


Gregory Blocker BCC, AZ, USA

[BlackCanyonFX]

PS I have the "CANVASS" UDG software for this puppy... working on moving it from tape to .p OR would a diff format be better?...
GTB

[RWAP]

Welcome back - it is good to see you on here again.

Program files are better in .p format, particularly with the upcoming ZXpand interface, which allows the ZX81 to load .p files direct from SD cards

Do you have the picture from the original post, as we have lost some files unfortunately...

It would also be interesting to learn a bit more about this hardware, as to how it is used...

[BlackCanyonFX]

Hey there Rich,
Thanks for the "welcome-back"!
The SPYDER board was one of the very first UDG addons to use what I called the "behind the fence"
concept. The buffer resistors at the ROM form the 'fence' that RAM/ROM must be behind for true UDG.
At least, that was the way it was back "in the day".
The original SPYDER board was comprised of two "RAM" sockets and a third for the original ZX-81 ROM.
The board was populated with one 2k x 8 RAM and you (the end user) replaced the original ROM with
the SPYDER board on a ribbon header cable (the extra RAM socket to be used as the customer saw fit).
I ended up adding 2 more RAMs and ROM switching for my Tree/FIG FORTH needs in films.
I do still have the crap scans from my original drawings for you to re-post if you would like.

The CANVASS software that came with the original board was a pretty neat editing software for
custom UDGs. I generally used the UDGs for primitive sprite generation...{more about that in a future post }

I can't DL the CANVASS program though, until I rebuild a SPYDER board clone. As soon as I can I'll post the SW
here. I have that same problem ATM with a game I wrote back then usuing UDG sprites (Stardust).
I'ld really like to see if that stupid game I worked on for so long (and so long ago) was worthy....
(If you never hear about 'Stardust' again, guess you'll know how that went...)
Once again....Thanks for the welcome back! I'll be here as long as I can stay online out here...
Take Care, All,
GTB

[BlackCanyonFX]

Almost forgot...
Here is my final version of the SPYDER board:

spyder2a2c.zip

(33.3 KiB) Downloaded 207 times

This version was never tested, however.
When I get a chance I'll scan the advertisements and whatever else I can find about the original.
GTB

[BlackCanyonFX]

Hey All,

Here's a program that came with the original SPYDER board when I recieved it.

It's called CANVASS and was supossed to help with the design of UDGs.
I think it did a heck of a job as I remember.

ATM I can't test it so I hope that the .mp3 file will work for you. I have a .wav if the .mp3 doesn't workout.
The .wav is just a bit too large for an attachment. Send me a pm if need be.

Canvass.mp3

(143.79 KiB) Downloaded 146 times

This program should work with ANY hardware that is behind the 'resistor fence'...
that is, those computers with ram in 8-16k as in the SPYDER design above.

Good luck, and enjoy, & With any luck, another bit of ZX history is saved...
Ltrs,
GTB