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Hello, recently I've dusted out my old ZX Spectrum +2a and I wanted to run some demos on the thing. Before, I would load them using my iPod on a TC2068 running a Spectrum emulator cartridge-thingy, so naturally I would do the same thing here, so I plugged the jack on the SOUND/TAPE port and ran it. Unfortunately, nothing happened. Googling the issue for a bit, I found out that it was a output only port, and did not allow for any sort of input (obviously). That leaves me with the question:

Is it possible to load demos on the +2a using an external source? And, if not, how do I copy programs on a cassette tape so that I can load them on the built-in tape loader?

Cheers!

Do yourself a favor and get a divIDE (for example from Lotharek). The +2A is a bit problematic with some prods because it doesn't have the exact same timings as the older models.

If you really want to dick with cassette emulation, these work too and set you back only a few Euros:

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Not all the demos can be run from a tape, though, even though they're distributed as TAP images.

Alright. Thanks! :D

You can use a nail connected with your standard mp3 player to load stuff on +2/A/B machines. Anyway, I recommend you to get original DivIDE from www.divide.cz. Lotharek's stuff is smaller in size, but contains non-replacable parts etc. It also has more memory, which is a stupid hack and it's against the minimalist idea of former idea of Zilogat0r, the DivIDE inventor. But toghether with ESXDOS you won't make any mistake if you get even this or the original version (which is also chepaer). It's up to you if you prefer clean design or a messy hacked copy ;)

As I wrote, you can load stuff from audio/mp3 with a nail and couple of wires :) Just touch it to the head in the +2A tape recorder ;)

I might try the nail trick smetime later.Thanks for the feedback!

I'd unplug the whole tape unit if it's not needed (like if you have a divIDE), since it produces extra noise to the sound output. In contrast to the ad above, I've had better reliability with Lotharek's divIDE than the "original" one.

wow, nice trick! :D