The 3D Keycap Kickstarter dominated the early conversation. Ingo’s collaboration with Loïc at 3D Keycap in Montreal — a builder with an inkjet that prints directly onto Cherry MX low-profile keycaps — went live. By Sunday it had funded seven times over, leaving Loïc with at least 45 keycap sets to print.
The discussion turned to whether the set could include both the TS1000-style Delete and Enter keys and the ZX81-style Rub Out and New Line, and when Ingo joined later he reported he had had that exact conversation with Loïc the day before. Ryan also asked about matching blanks to populate a full-size keyboard for emulator use; Ingo said it was on the table and tied it to a planned Kilo Z extended with a proper space bar and dual shifts.
Dr. Beep has moved his ZX81 catalog to itch.io: 150 1K games in a single 9.5 MB zip, plus newer pieces. With Sinclair ZX World now closed to non-members and out of Google’s index, itch.io is the practical home for Dr. Beep’s work going forward.
https://zx81coder.itch.io/150-dr-beep-games
David showed his current site work. Joe VandeZande has been imaging hundreds of disks for him on a GreaseWeasel — Larken, Oliger v1 and v2, Aerco, Zebra, plus some QL disks that turned up unannounced.
David has been having Claude reverse-engineer each format as it surfaces, and has now wrapped everything in an Electron app: drag a disk image onto it, see BASIC listings with Oliger/Larken commands highlighted, view screen captures, and export selected files as TAP.
The newest feature scans a BASIC program for LOAD statements and bundles all referenced files into a single TAP in the right order — removing most of the tedium of getting disk-only programs to run on emulators or modern Pico-equipped 2068s.
He also showed the catalog work: 950+ programs for the 2068, 750+ for the 1000, each with a Claude-generated description and excerpt. Both catalogs have been compiled into LaTeX-generated PDFs styled after period software catalogs. For programs that have no real cassette inlay, David is generating period-appropriate fake covers via a Midjourney prompt builder with style presets cribbed from Sinclair User and similar magazines.
https://www.timexsinclair.com/downloadable-software/downloadable-software-for-the-ts-2068/index.html
https://www.timexsinclair.com/downloadable-software/downloadable-software-for-the-ts-1000/index.html
One fresh find from the archive: City 2068, a post-apocalyptic Manhattan text adventure that until now had been just a text-adventure-shaped hole on the site. Claude generated a map from the program data, so a playthrough is queued.
https://www.timexsinclair.com/computer_media/city-2068/index.html
Ingo’s brother Misha has a draft case design for a Kilo ZE — a keyboard-only enclosure with USB-C, aimed at emulator users who want the keycaps without the rest of the machine. Tim Horner has been breadboarding a microcontroller-based keyboard with higher typematic rate and USB output, which will likely fold into the Kilo ZE PCB. Ingo and Loïc are also discussing a full keyboard kit (PCB, switches, bezel, keycaps in a box) as a possible second Kickstarter, with the STL and Gerber files going open source as soon as a few last fit issues are resolved.
Mike Kutzner showed his ZX-Pand+ in a 3D-printed Memotech-style case. The original ZX-Pand creator has stopped making them, which is why the community “OpenSpand” project exists on the Sinclair ZX World forum.
VCF East is April 17–19 in Wall, NJ. David is going; Ricardo is flying in from Argentina; Stuart Newfeld is likely in; Mike Kutzner is close enough to drop by. Because the festival overlaps the regular meeting weekend, the next meeting is pushed back a week to Sunday, April 26.
David also flagged Ken — a former Timex engineer (~1971/72 through 1985) who has been posting reminiscences to the email list — as a potential future guest.