Contact us via the website and we'll be in touch to help you out!
Contact us via the website and we'll be in touch to help you out! Before you do, did you tip the bag of components out onto a desk? If so, there's a good chance something will be on the floor!
Extract the MicroSD card that is installed into the Raspberry Pi Zero W. That contains firmware only. You might need a pair of tweezers.
Download the latest firmware from the Downloads page.
Follow the instructions in the Updating Firmware page.
Is the external MicroSD card formatted as a FAT filesystem? Are there any games actually on it? If you built the board yourself, did you run the diagnostic program?
The Hermit Retro ZXZero is a Raspberry Pi Zero W-powered board designed to fit into original and reproduction ZX Spectrum cases and ZX Spectrum Plus cases.
The Hermit Retro ZXZero boots directly into a ZX Spectrum emulation environment providing you with an authentic, but modern, retro-gaming experience.
The Hermit Retro ZXZero is designed for people wanting an authentic ZX Spectrum retrogaming experience but without the faff of:
- Having to find old TVs...
- ...or, modify original ZX Spectrums to support modern TVs...
- ...or, having to buy expansion units to plug into modern TVs
- Waiting 5 minutes to load a game
- Having to find games
If you just want to plug in and be playing a game within 10 seconds, the Hermit Retro ZXZero is for you.
You can also use the ZXZero to emulate a variety of Sinclair Spectrum ROMs and machine variants including the 128K, +2, +3 and so on.
It's not a Raspberry Pi breakout board. It's a product that happens to have a Raspberry Pi Zero W as its core CPU. That's a bit like saying the ZX Spectrum was a Z80 breakout board.
It's not. You can look at the Bill of Materials and source the components yourself if you like. Considering the capabilities of the ZXZero, it's very fairly priced.
The project outlined in MagPi 67 is not even remotely equivalent to the Hermit Retro ZXZero. If you assume both projects require a power supply, membrane connectors, Raspberry Pi Zero W and a ZX Spectrum case, the actual difference in cost is not that much.
Additionally, the Hermit Retro ZXZero has the following features that the MagPI project does not:
- Secondary SD card for games
- Fully integrated joystick support
- Sturdy full-size ports (saving you cash on all those flimsy mini/micro conversion cables)
- Supports the Zelux tactile illuminated keyboard
- I2C expansion socket (good for custom controllers)
- Specially designed PCB that perfectly fits existing cases as opposed to two bits of stripboard glued into a case