iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Walker Riley @walkerriley.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Reposted by Brendan Alford

Yes, it is such a bad thing. If you lack the skill, learn. If you lack the time, hire or make the time. LLM is trained on stolen property. LLM contributes to brain drain. LLM is not creative nor can it think outside the box nor can it think at all. You get trash code that cannot be debugged.

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Brendan Alford @balford.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Yes. If someone isn't bothered to learn the skills to create something good, then I'm not going to be bothered playing the outcome.

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Reposted by Brendan Alford

ZXDunny @zxdunny.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

So ZXSpin is back. Release soon.

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Reposted by Brendan Alford

Gwen C. Katz @gwenckatz.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Fuck ChatGPT flyers. The future is broadsheets.

A crowded broadsheet with way too many fonts. It says:
Forget ChatGPT Flyers
Say it with
Broadsheets
Unlimited fonts
Stretch them
Or cram a really long sentence into one line for no good reason
No whitespace
Mix capital and lowercase
Pointing hands
(They're called manicules!)
Don't be left behind
Broadsheets are the future

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Reposted by Brendan Alford

Kevin Teljeur @kevinteljeur.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

This should be a headline item, @thejournal.ie and @news.rte.ie

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Reposted by Brendan Alford

GigerPunk @gigerpunk.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Meanwhile, friends have suggested we set up a gofundme to help alleviate money worries while trying to get Flo back on her feet again. And then they did all the hard work setting it up as well. So if you'd like to help, please have at it. And if you can't that's fine too. gofund.me/d0d4004d7

gofund.me

Donate to Help Flo and Rob with Flo's Stroke Recovery, organized by Emma Leadley

Flo is an artist, sci-fi and fantasy writer and regular attendee at conventio… Emma Leadley needs your support for Help Flo and Rob with Flo's Stroke Recovery

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Reposted by Brendan Alford

Time Extension @timeextension.com · 06/09/2026

If you want quality, human-created content then be sure to support the sites that do it properly and shun those that use GenAI - otherwise you're only going to be left with the latter (Sharing from the "other" place) @thedreamcastjunkyard.co.uk

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Brendan Alford @balford.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Thinking of you and yours. Fingers crossed.

Brendan Alford @balford.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Do NOT stay in that guy's inn.

Brendan Alford @balford.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

He didn't address him by his proper title, the little bollocks.

Brendan Alford @balford.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

They'll have to prize the TZX from my cold, dead hands.

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Reposted by Brendan Alford

ChinnyVision @chinnyvision.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

People like you and me keep the flame burning for alot of the old IP. Nobody could give a shit about Manic Miner outside a few hardcore, let alone preserving it and keeping it alive. And then when there's enough momentum some corporate pricks come along and just create destruction for money.

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Reposted by Brendan Alford

L Break Into Program @breakintoprogram.co.uk · 26/08/2026

I feel really downbeat about this Manic Miner remake. Games should be developed with a passion, not using "AI". And it'll probably end up being another title where downloading a legitimate copy of the original online to play will be discouraged, and fair use will be restricted by IP.

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Brendan Alford @balford.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Heh, good luck finding exploits in zx-diagnostics 😄

An email from a 'bug bounty' company offering to assess zx-diagnostics for vulnerabilities. Good luck with trying that on a 16K assembly codebase that runs on a 42 year old platform.

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And for my latest trick, using my emulator to load Travel With Trashman under emulation while simultaneously piping the audio to the Fluxcaster.

Well, this is pure witchcraft. Worked first time.

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Stress testing in progress 🙂

Strangeloop loading from the Fluxcaster, using a grey Spectrum +2.

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(Excitement builds) Looking forward to some Strangeloop-related torture later 😀

A Fluxcaster cassette, draped atop my laptop, begging me to paint it like one of my French K7’s

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Brendan Alford @balford.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

That’s annoying. One of the changes between the 5C and 6C ULA’s was the timing of the colour burst that improved compatibility with certain TV sets (at the cost of shifting the screen display one character left). I’ve not come across a modern set that couldn’t cope with such a signal.

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Composite mod should work equally well, and coil whine on early machines is part of the charm 🙂

Brendan Alford @balford.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

They should be no more difficult to dial in than an Issue 2 with any ULA installed. I think you’ve just been incredibly unlucky, as in my experience the 5C102E ULA’s are a lot more robust than the 6C001E-6’s found in most issue 3’s.

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Reposted by Brendan Alford

Alex Selby-Boothroyd @alexselbyb.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Eclipse playlist open.spotify.com/playlist/6Wf...

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RoseTintedSpectrum @rosetintedspectrum.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Unfortunately, colour problems could also be a faulty ULA U or V output, not what you want to hear on an Issue 1. Some are more easily 'tunable' than others.

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Reposted by Brendan Alford

Look, sometimes I spend all day making things for no reason and I don't know why, okay? So here's "Murder, She Rapped"

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Also, maybe try the 4K7 resistor mod mentioned in that article.

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Sometimes the VR1 and VR2 pots degrade with age, making it tricky to adjust. You could try swapping these if you can’t get the adjustment right.

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GrantMeStrength @grantmestrength.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Check the LS157 multiplexers, also pay attention to the traces on both sides, it’s very possible that there’s damage to the board.

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Reposted by Brendan Alford

Opcodes app got an update. The Quiz was debugged, and a new compact opcodes view added. Huh this screenshot does NOT do it justice. It’s free to download so go get it and see what I mean. apps.apple.com/us/app/opcod...

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Reposted by Brendan Alford

The Grand Drawing In @theauldsthretch.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Something to put into your calendars… In the evening of the 12th August, there will be a partial solar eclipse visible from everywhere in Ireland (weather permitting). It will start at about 10 past 6 in the evening, and end at about a 5 past eight. 1/13

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Reposted by Brendan Alford

Geoff Wearmouth @warmtoffee.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

This is the Z80 source code for the ZX Spectrum 16K ROM 1982. The code was written by Steven Vickers and John Grant of Nine Tiles on the Zilog Development System. Hit the red button and enjoy a good read for a computer that is still being made today. www.timexsinclair.com/document/zx-...

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Brendan Alford @balford.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Seems to be a lot of unrolled, tune-specific assembly as it’s executing between 2-10K of code per frame, while using maybe 1K of lookup tables. Haven’t looked at the code, just using heatmaps. Impressive as hell!

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Reposted by Brendan Alford

Sinclair Research @sinclairresearch.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

I.. need to know more.

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Brendan Alford @balford.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

As an Irishman, these are absolutely *rank*.

Brendan Alford @balford.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Hello birthday twin 😀 5-0 today myself, fortunately and unfortunately.

Tynemouth Software @tynemouthsoftware.co.uk · 28/06/2026

Reposted by Brendan Alford

New blog post - Adapting Lambda 8300 BASIC to run on the Minstrel 4th. blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2026/06/lamb... Getting it running, loading and saving, making sounds, playing games and even a 10 PRINT maze. Happen to need an excessively long blog post to read? then this is the one for you.

Lambda 8300 BASIC running on a Minstrel 4th.

Loading programs on Lambda 8300 BASIC for Minstrel 4th with data lines in the border and a bytes remaining countdown.

10 PRINT maze using Lambda 8300 graphics characters.

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Brendan Alford @balford.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

So you're going to write some TV emulation, then 😆

Brendan Alford @balford.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Writable ROM or incorrect handling of the undocumented OUT (C), 0 instruction would be my guess.