Rewiring joystick ports on Spectrum +2

[ApolloBoy]

So I'm expecting a ZX Spectrum +2 to arrive soon, and one of the things I'd like to do is rewire the joystick ports to the regular Atari/Kempston standard instead of building adapters or going with the godawful SJS sticks. Just curious if anyone's ever tried this before I put my Speccy under the knife.

[Newsdee]

You could use an expansion adapter or wire a cable, that way you don't touch the original.

 

Here's a wiring diagram:

http://www.retroisle.com/general/spectrum_joysticks.php

[ApolloBoy]

I'm actually going to skip that idea entirely and just grab a cheap Kempston interface. I know most Speccy games support the Interface 2 standard that the +2 uses, but there's some games I'm interested in that only work with the Kempston interface (and the keyboard of course) so yeah...

[carlsson]

Better up, if you get something like the SMART Card, you get both a SD memory slot, a joystick interface and troubleshooting ROM in one.

 

At £23.99 + shipping (and possible expenses), it is too cheap to avoid!

http://www.retroleum.co.uk/smart-card-for-zx-spectrum/

 

Edit: It won't fit physically into a +2 unless you take the top off the computer which is a shame, but electrically it is compatible.

Edited October 11, 2016 by carlsson

[Newsdee]

I have a DivMMC Enjoy! (that's the actual name) and it's great:

http://www.bytedelight.com/?product=divmmc-enjoy-black-edition-2

[am1933]

As mentioned by Newsdee, get a DivMMC and keep the +2 relevant, it will act as a joystick interface and as a virtual hard disk for storing rom/tape images-something that may well come in handy as the +2's are notorious for the failure of the cassette drive.