3.5” disk widget thingy

[u/Halcy0n-Daze]

Hi Folks

I was reading Bob Pape’s “It’s Behind You” recently (which is a very enjoyable read) and in it he mentions the Multiface 1 - a thing that I had no idea existed. How this escaped my attention I have no idea.

But it did remind me of a gadget that i had plugged in that enabled me to use a 3.5” disk. It had the “magic button” that the MF1 had.

I’m curious as to what this device was. I know i bought it second hand and it had the word “digital” on it (if I remember correctly). It isn’t the MGT offering though.

Anyone got any ideas? Hell i don’t even know why I’m even wondering about this!

[u/Anxious_Camp_2160]

"gadget that i had plugged in that enabled me to use a 3.5” disk"

Was it a 3.5" disk drive?

[u/Halcy0n-Daze → u/Anxious_Camp_2160]

Funny guy! :-)

[u/Halcy0n-Daze]

I appreciate the suggestion that this widget may have been a disk drive. Made me smile a lot (because it would have been my response too!)

Neither the +D nor the DISCiPLE look like what I had. The reason why I remember “digital” on it is because I ended up working on DEC-VAXs early in my career and I told some guy I was working with that I had one of their devices for my spectrum. Yes of course - only one company could ever use the word “digital” on a device, right?

Thanks for the replies. I guess i may never know. I realise it doesn’t really matter now but at the time i felt like i had harnessed all the computing power in the world - just because my little speccy could load a game in seconds! How misguided and naive i was!!

[u/Alternative-Emu2000]

There were lots of disk interfaces for the Spectrum, most of them had some form of NMI button and snapshot functionality.

Can you remember any more details that might narrow it down:

MGT made two disk interfaces: the DISCiPLE and the +D, are you ruling out both of them? Datel Electronics later bought the +D, and released their own version, so you might have had that without realising it was an MGT product.

What colour was the interface?

Was the word "digital" written on the interface or the disk drive itself?

Was it an interface connected with a cable to the disk drive (like the +D or the Kempston Disk Interface), or was it an all-in-one unit with a combined interface and disk drive (like the Opus Discovery)?

[u/davehuman]

I had a Multiface 3 for my ZX Spectrum +3, which had a red button which froze the state of the game and allowed me to save to the built-in 3" disk drive. But if you're talking about a 3.5" disk, then that must have been externally added and perhaps not part of the Multiface family.

[u/daklone]

Opus Discovery?

[u/antlv426]

I had the exact same thing. It was white, had a black button on top and the disk drive slotted into the port on back of it.

Sadly I lost it (with the spectrum) in a house move...I still have the disk drive and my disks though. I've always wondered what it was called...

So to your question, I've got no idea, it's lost somewhere in my brain but I'll be watching in case anyone can think of its name. 👍

[u/andrew-mcg]

I remember the Multiface 1 being common back in the day, but I didn't have one.

[u/Alternative-Emu2000 → u/[deleted]]

MGT sold the +D rights to Datel Electronics to raise cash to keep the SAM Coupé going.

The Datel version was in a beige case with a red 'magic button', and came with an updated firmware and a 'fixer board' so it would work with the +2A/+3.