Sinclair ZX Spectrum Peripherals

The Interface 1 allows you to connect up to eight Microdrives to the Spectrum, or communicate through the built-in RS-232 serial port.

The other, longer cable pictured can be used to link up a whole bunch of Spectrums to form a local area network!

Sinclair later brought out the Interface 2 which allowed games to be played from ROM cartridges , instead of tape. The interface also features twin joystick ports.

The picture shows that the small flap covering the edge connector inside actually opens upwards, unlike with most consoles. Not pictured are two tiny covers for the joystick ports. Due to their size (and probably their lack of usefulness!) these are often lost.

Connected to the Interface 1 , the Microdrive was the Spectrum's mass (in those days) storage system. The devices could be linked together in a daisy-chain if you really wanted to show off.

The Microdrive uses tiny, interchangable tape cartridges (the small black thing in the lower-right corner of the box) which can store 85Kb of data a piece. It works much faster than the regular tape deck set-up, loading 48Kb programs in less than 10 seconds.

The cartridge connectors are protected with a neat little rubber skirt, which folds up when the cartidge is inserted. Often this is out of place or, even worse, torn of missing. If you're having trouble putting these things back in, give this technique a try!

Yet another joystick interface for the Spectrum.

I found this one interesting because it's absolutely brand new!