The Curious Engineer

All blogs / ZX Spectrum / Sinclair

L Break Into Program, 0:1

breakintoprogram.co.uk

This blog started off as my homage to the humble Sinclair Spectrum, a computer that inspired a generation of programmers, and launched a thousand careers. It is a computer born of the 80s, which lives on in the hearts and minds of hundreds of enthusiasts today,  with emulators aplenty running on sys

ZX Spectrum / SinclairRetro computingElectronicsEmulationCommodore 8-bit

’15’20’25
Posts
126 from 26 Jul 2011 to 2 Sep 2026
Posting
monthly (11 in the last year)
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personal blog
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2026 11

  1. I Accidentally Wrote an Emulator (Part 7)
  2. I Accidentally Wrote an Emulator (Part 6)
  3. I Accidentally Wrote an Emulator (Part 5)
  4. I Accidentally Wrote an Emulator (Part 4)
  5. I Accidentally Wrote an Emulator (Part 3)
  6. I Accidentally Wrote an Emulator (Part 2)
  7. I Accidentally Wrote an Emulator (Part 1)
  8. Sega Megadrive Music Driver: Bytecode Processing
  9. Sega Megadrive Music Driver: The Z80 Co-Processor
  10. Sega Megadrive Music Driver: Introduction
  11. Retro Computer Festival 2025

2025 5

  1. Repairing a Sinclair Oxford 300 Scientific Calculator
  2. Repairing a Sinclair Cambridge Calculator
  3. Installing a Gotek in a Tatung Einstein TC-01
  4. A guide to EinTrans
  5. Installing a WCH CH352 PCI serial card on a Linux PC

2024 20

  1. Retro Computer Festival 2024
  2. Don’t trust a multimeter with a low battery
  3. Retro Computer Festival 2024 – Exhibit 4
  4. Retro Computer Festival 2024 – Exhibit 3
  5. Retro Computer Festival 2024 – Exhibit 2
  6. Retro Computer Festival 2024 – Exhibit 1
  7. Recreating my ’80s dev system (Epilogue)
  8. Connect a Cub Monitor to a Tatung Einstein
  9. Recreating my ’80s dev system (Part 4)
  10. Recreating my ’80s dev system (Part 3)
  11. Replacing the L7805 with a Traco TSR 1-2450
  12. Recreating my ’80s dev system (Part 2)
  13. Fixing a ZX Spectrum Issue 2 Clock Circuit
  14. Recreating my ’80s dev system (Part 1)
  15. Pico-mposite Mono PCB
  16. Fixing an Issue 2 board with faulty colour
  17. Making PCBs
  18. Fundraising for Pancreatic Cancer UK
  19. Geoff Follin
  20. Pico-mposite Colour

2023 2

  1. Retro Computer Festival 2023
  2. Sorry about the disruption

2022 1

  1. Pico-mposite Update

2021 8

  1. BBC Basic for the Cerberus 2080 (Part 1)
  2. BBC Basic for the Cerberus 2080 (Introduction)
  3. BBC Basic for the Spectrum Next (Part 1)
  4. BBC Basic for the Spectrum Next (Introduction)
  5. Composite Video on the Raspberry Pi Pico
  6. Fixing a Poorly Commodore 64 (Part 3)
  7. Fixing a Poorly Commodore 64 (Part 2)
  8. Fixing a Poorly Commodore 64 (Part 1)

2020 25

  1. Fixing a Poorly Commodore 64 (Intro)
  2. Electronic Dice project for Beginners
  3. Homebrew Z80 Computer (Part 6)
  4. Homebrew Z80 Computer (Part 5)
  5. Homebrew Z80 Computer (Part 4)
  6. The Spectrum Next
  7. Adding a PiTube co-processor to a BBC Master
  8. BBC Master 128 Restoration
  9. Recapping a BBC Model B Power Supply
  10. Z80 Monitor Program for the BSX
  11. Fixing a poorly ZX-Spectrum (Part 9)
  12. BBC Basic for Z80 on the BSX
  13. Homebrew Z80 Computer (Part 3)
  14. Homebrew Z80 Computer (Part 2)
  15. Homebrew Z80 Computer (Part 1)
  16. New demo – Simple 3D engine
  17. New Channels
  18. Building a Harlequin Spectrum 128K Clone
  19. Smooth Scrolling on the ZX Spectrum (Part 1)
  20. ZX Spectrum development with modern tools
  21. Smooth Scrolling on the ZX Spectrum (Intro)
  22. Fixing a poorly ZX81
  23. Composite Video Modification for the ZX81
  24. Loading Games in a Post-Cassette World
  25. Fixing a poorly ZX-Spectrum (Part 8)

2018 1

  1. C Complier for Z80

2017 2

  1. New Domain
  2. Programming Games in Python

2016 2

  1. TraptionBakery
  2. High Altitude Balloon Kit

2015 1

  1. New Emulator Page

2014 1

  1. Home Automation

2013 5

  1. Fixing a poorly ZX-Spectrum (Part 7)
  2. Speccy Tape App
  3. Composite Video Modification
  4. The Silence Has Fallen
  5. Raspberry Pi Cycle Computer

2012 23

  1. Debug-U-Mug
  2. Bare Metal Programming
  3. The Monkey Apocalypse Must Have Gadgets (Part 2)
  4. The Monkey Apocalypse Must Have Gadgets (Part 1)
  5. The extended Spectrum family
  6. Fixing a poorly ZX-Spectrum (Part 6)
  7. Soldering Is Easy
  8. Raspberry Pi gets a Turbo Boost
  9. Debian Wheezy has been released
  10. My first Raspberry Pi Application
  11. The Monkey Apocalypse
  12. Getting started with the Raspberry Pi
  13. Demo Code #2 – Circle
  14. Demo Code #1 – Vector Graphics
  15. Fixing a poorly ZX-Spectrum (Part 5)
  16. Fixing a poorly ZX-Spectrum (Part 4)
  17. Fixing a poorly ZX-Spectrum (Part 3)
  18. Finally! Gotten myself one of those Raspberry PIs
  19. And now for the science bit…
  20. Fixing a poorly ZX-Spectrum (Part 2)
  21. Starting Programming (Part 1)
  22. Sample Z80 code now available to view
  23. Fixing a poorly ZX-Spectrum (Part 1)

2011 19

  1. Fixing a poorly ZX-Spectrum (Intro)
  2. Starting Programming (Intro)
  3. Introducing the Raspberry PI
  4. We Apologise For This Interruption
  5. Online Emulation
  6. Z80 Opcodes
  7. And so it begins… Again…
  8. Inspiration
  9. Moving Sprites
  10. Shifting Sprites
  11. Masking Sprites
  12. Are you THE Tim Follin?
  13. Sounds familiar
  14. We interrupt this broadcast…
  15. Lifes a beach
  16. Laughing Goat
  17. You kids have it so easy
  18. Update…
  19. In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king