The Einstein Speculator - Basic Usage Guide
The intention of this document is to outline the various ways of using the the Einstein Speculator,
the document consists of the following parts:-
1. The initial transfer of ZX Spectrum tapes to the Einstein suing the original three transfer
disks.
2. Advanced usage, using the software provided to transfer games not supported by the
original three transfer disks.
Further information on all of these subjects can also be found in two original documents that were
available during the life time of the original Speculator:-
1. The Einstein Speculator by Mike Smallman which covers the initial setting up and usage
of the three original transfer disks available, along with additional game transfer codes not
included on those original disks.
2. Beyond the Spectrum Emulator by Leslie T Smith which provides an additional 100
game transfer codes and outlines the methods use to transfer other games not in the list.
Both of these publications can be found in the resources section of the Tatung Bytes Website.
Initial Setup and Usage
1. Turn off the Einstein and attach the Speculator to the rear of the machine, there is only one
port that will accept the cable, so there is no danger of selecting the wrong port.
2. Turn on the Einstein and everything should appear as per normal and in fact there is no need
to ever unplug the device, as it has no effect on the machines performance or usage until
called into service by the software.
3. You now need to create a blank freshly formatted disk:-
1. Insert the Master Disc, which was originally supplied with your Einstein and then press
CTRL + Break to boot the operating system.
2. Type “Backup” and press the “Enter” key, the machine will now read the Disc
Operating System into memory, ready to write to a fresh disc.
3. Take out your Master Disc and insert a blank (or used disc if your willing to loose
everything on it) and press “0” (Zero).
4. Once the “A” side of the disc has been formatted and verified you can format the “B”
side by answering “Y” to the prompt, turning over the disc and agin pressing “0”
(Zero).
5. When this process has completed, pressing “N” and then “X” should return you to your
disc.
4. Insert the original software disk (SP1) then press the Cntrl/Brk keys and the software will now
load.
5. Typing “DIR” followed by pressing the “ENTER” key will reveal the two programs we are
interested in, SP1.com and SPID.com.
6. Type “SP1” and press the “ENTER” key, the disc light will now come on and the program will
load. At this point if the Speculator is not connected you will get the “Speculator not
connected” message, if this happens return to step 1.
7. If all is well the screen will now display the emulator menu, simply select the title you wish to
transfer and the menu screen will be replaced by a screen containing the name of the
program, the publisher, joystick assignments and any additional information.
8. Make sure you have connected your tape player into the correct socket on the Speculator and
the press “Play” the Spectrum will game will start to load - If at any point there is an error with
the tape loading, the menu will be displayed and you should re-select the program and start
again - Note: it might be useful if this happens for you to try change the volume on the tape
player before proceeding.
9. To save a game onto disc once it has loaded you must use the “F5” key. The “F5” key must be
pressed at the same time as the numeral keys 1,2 or 3. These are the file numbers for the
three games that can be saved to each disk. IMPORTANT:- make sure to change your boot
disk (SP1) to an alternative disc you want to write the game to, otherwise the game you are
saving will overwrite anything already on the disk.
10. Having successfully saved your games they can now be loaded at any point in the future by
pressing the “F6” key simultaneously with either 1, 2, or 3.
11. It is also worth noting at this point that if you type “DIR” on the disk with these files you have
just saved - nothing will be Shown - this is normal and is where the second file on the disk
SPID.COM comes into play.
1. Reload the master disc and run SPID .COM then exchange the disc with the one you
have just created and follow the prompts, this utility will place a directory onto the disc
so that you can then manipulate the file.
2. Original Spectrum games would in most cases have used either INT MODE 1 or INT
MODE 2 to load on the Spectrum and this would is contained in each of the saved
games you have created. However the Einstein has no idea which one the program
uses. To resolve this problem when loading your game saves you should use INT
MODE 1 (the most populate method used) and if this doesnt work, reload the program
using INT MODE 2. Note: Keeping a list of the games you have saved and which INT
MODE setting they use will save3 this happening.
3. Labelling your discs at this point is strongly recommended as “DIR” will only show
F1.SPC, F2.SPC or F3.SPC and not the name of the game.
12. The above procedures for usage of the SP1 disk, also apply to SP2 and SP3, each of which
provides the ability to transfer 20 original ZX Spectrum disks to the Einstein.
13. Keyboard and Joystick controls:-
1. Most of the keys work in the same way as they do on the spectrum I.e numerals 0-9
and letters A-Z (upper and lower case). Exceptions are:-
1. Symbol Shift (Spectrum) = < (Einstein)
2. Caps Shift (Spectrum) = Left Shift (Einstein)
3. For some programs “Delete” is obtained by pressing “Caps Shift” and “0”
simultaneously.
4. Other characters such as pinion marks are produced by pressing “Symbol Shift” (<
on the Einstein) and another key as it is on the Spectrum itself.
5. Each program has the ability to use the keyboard or Joystick port 0.
2. Function Keys have the following actions assigned to them:-
F0 = Pause
F1 = Turn sound on
F2 = Turn sound off (default)
F3 = Joystick on
F4 = Joystick off
F5 = Save File
F6 = Load Saved File
F7 + ESC = Return to Main Menu.
