>> Huh. I did not know that. Come to mention it, I don't remember
>> there being an expansion port!
>
> You remember the pcb at the back, that is the expansion bus... At
> least for the original 16k and 48k model. I do not remember if there
> was a default plug/cache on it or if it was all time open.

Huh. I forgot about that. Yeah, I think we had the 16K model. Not 100% 
sure...

> The 128k wasted all: the keyboard and rear was different. (and the
> 128k were via bank switching of 16k... otherwise, it was like a 32k +
> 16k switched... and the double size rom (16k x 2) was also switched.
> Well, it's only a 16 bits Z80, what did you expect !

So there *was* a system with bank-switching! I'm so glad I invented that 
idea when I was only 11 years old... I *knew* somebody must have thought 
of it before!

>> Ah, the hours I wasted with our Spectrum hooked up to a portable 4"
>> CRT monitor. Do you know what 8x8 characters look like on a 4"
>> screen with manually-tuned RF? I do...
>
> Mine was hooked on TV. oh the battles vs the TV shows.
> Only 2 colours per 8x8 pixels was the main drawback of the display.
> (and the fancy flash mode bit... hardly documented, surprising to use)
> That, and only 8 colours.

Oh yeah, this was a TV too. A portable TV for camping. Which, if you 
know anything about CRT, "portable" doesn't really come into it. The TV 
was 4" at the front, but about 9" long to accommodate the huge tube and 
transformer at the back. Bloody heavy too! And with manual tuning, for 
some reason... I'm guessing it was cheap?

For those that don't know, mis-tuned RF signals result in a weird kind 
of zig-zag ghosting pattern that's very distracting...

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