ZX Spectrum - Thread

[Anubis]

I've no idea. It works for games I played. (RGL & some classics back from the day)

[Zak]

Originally Posted by hexaae

Honestly what I really didn't like in C64 (even today trying some emulators) was its poor definition due to blocky "pixels"... I even prefer Speccy's defects (color bleeding and unnatural color palette) compared to the poor defintion and blocky gfx of C64
Ok for more colors (C64 palette sucks too anyway) but after 10 mins it always caused a headache to me, especially in motion:



Too confusing for my eyes.

The color bleeding is because in HiRes on Spectrum you can only fill 8x8 pixel blocks. When you switch to LoRes you can use normal filling without color bleeding, but it would be very blocky, more than on C64.

[hexaae]

Originally Posted by hexaae

ZX Spin 0.7 (missing just 2xAY) and RetroVirtualMachine (no ULA+ 64 colors?) are the very best IMHO...

I was wrong ZX Uno machine under RetroVirtualMachine does support ULA+ 64 colors!
So RVM has the wider support for all sound/video variations I know of...

[Dunny]

I've had a ZXSpin update on the cards for a long time now - 0.7s is too unstable on Win10 for my liking and there's some new features that I want to add in. Unfortunately my current projects (and work) get in the way, but once SpecBAS is done I'll be going back to ZXSpin again.

God alone knows when that will be though.

[hexaae]

Originally Posted by Dunny

I've had a ZXSpin update on the cards for a long time now - 0.7s is too unstable on Win10 for my liking and there's some new features that I want to add in. Unfortunately my current projects (and work) get in the way, but once SpecBAS is done I'll be going back to ZXSpin again.

God alone knows when that will be though.

Can't wait!

[hexaae]

Does Spectaculator support ULAplus modes?

[Mad-Matt]

Was just messing around on the spectrum solving a loading issue with Popeye (Needed to tweak tape volume). But as it was failing on the loader it brought up an odd screen. (no capture) So had a quick look at an image file and had to wonder what Don Priestly was thinking adding it to the loader

[Anubis]

Issue with Spectactulator is that is not free.

If you want frequently updated emulator, then check Fuse or Speccy.

[chip]

There's a way to check if the music is made by beeper or by sound chip ?

[dreadnought]

Yes. You have to utilise the two organs found on both sides of your head

Joking, but beeper vs AY sound difference really is very distinctive.

[ Show youtube player ]
[ Show youtube player ]

[chip]

Thanks for the videos

Beeper is not bad anyway ..... but sound chip wins

[hexaae]

Originally Posted by Anubis

Issue with Spectactulator is that is not free.

If you want frequently updated emulator, then check Fuse or Speccy.

No problem to pay a high quality and well supported emulator for me...
But that's the problem with Spectaculator: I see scarce support, and does not support ULA and ULAplus yet AFAIK Deluded.

[Mad-Matt]

Spectaculator hasn't been supported for years and has issues with Windows10 probably not worth buying with fully featured emus like Fuse available.

For all the fancy stuff there is CSpect (Spectrum Next emu)

[Anubis]

Originally Posted by hexaae

No problem to pay a high quality and well supported emulator for me...
But that's the problem with Spectaculator: I see scarce support, and does not support ULA and ULAplus yet AFAIK Deluded.

Is this what you're looking for?

[hexaae]

Hard to find a perfect and up-to-date ZX Spectrum emu with full joystick support with remap of buttons -> keyboard keys (e.g. for games with multiple fire buttons), full ULA and ULAplus support, no issues loading all file formats etc.
My best choice ATM is ZXSpin 0.7. A bit old (DX8/DDraw I guess) but still runs fine with almost all features I'm looking for. Hope to see a modern update soon... (I'm already stressing Dunny enough for this )

[chip]

I personally use an emulator called Z80 Stealth, if you want to try

[rabidgerry]

awful lot of C64 talk going on. Yes so the C64 was a more advanced machine and fantastic at that, but the Spectrum was as well. The spectrum has to be admired for the fact that it's scene continued all this time despite becoming obsolete or old fashioned. It's not like it completely fizzled out and then suddenly it became "retro cool" again like a lot of things now days, it has been solid since I can remember. There is a lot of love for it and despite it's failings it's definitely a special little machine.

So I use ZXAM on my Amiga. Are all you guys emulating on your PCs?

[dreadnought]

I mostly use my original machines + MiSTer, but sometimes emulate on PC too. Some other good options not mentioned here are:

-ZEsarUX: emulates a lot of other machines too and also has some interesting features, eg it's the only one I know which lets you remap keyboard (to keyboard) - crucial for some games which haven't got joystick support and use crazy keybinds.

-Retro Virtual Machine: major selling point of this one is the "reel feel" - minimum menus, excellent CRT shader by default, graphical tape deck with authentic sounds...it's very nice, my go to emu for quick launches

-Retroarch: this one utilises existing emulators but you can use the additional RA functions such as excellent shader library and extensive remapping capabilities

[roondar]

Originally Posted by rabidgerry

awful lot of C64 talk going on. Yes so the C64 was a more advanced machine and fantastic at that, but the Spectrum was as well.

Given this is a ZX Spectrum thread, yeah - it probably ought to be about the Spectrum.

I ended up never getting a Spectrum when I was a kid, I was saving up for one but changed my mind after seeing how few people around me had one. It's always had a soft spot in my heart though.

In fact, I still have a ZX Spectrum book somewhere containing a "Star Trek" program in BASIC called Spec Trek. Actually typed in the whole bloody thing back around 1994 on my A500 plus a ZX Spectrum emulator just to be able to finally play it
On a side note, Sinclair machines often had a very nice version of BASIC. In particular, I found the ZX Spectrum's user defined graphics characters to be a very nice feature.

[rabidgerry]

Originally Posted by roondar

Given this is a ZX Spectrum thread, yeah - it probably ought to be about the Spectrum.

I ended up never getting a Spectrum when I was a kid, I was saving up for one but changed my mind after seeing how few people around me had one. It's always had a soft spot in my heart though.

Well I can see why. It was the machine my brothers owned when I was a wee kid in the 80s. Then it broke and resided in a drawer for most of its life until my sisters boyfriend pulled it out one day and got it up and running again. Then the joys of Manic Miner, Scuba Dive, Skool Daze and many more where mine this time and not my brothers! So I too have the soft spot. I did get a 128k given to me in the mid 90s but I didn't bother with it much since I owned an A500. Anyways this is why I wanted the emulator and to play on Amiga as well. All good gamin under one hood on a machine I love

I never had any involvement with C64 but plenty of time for that and why not an emulator for that on y Amiga too!!!

Originally Posted by roondar

In fact, I still have a ZX Spectrum book somewhere containing a "Star Trek" program in BASIC called Spec Trek. Actually typed in the whole bloody thing back around 1994 on my A500 plus a ZX Spectrum emulator just to be able to finally play it
On a side note, Sinclair machines often had a very nice version of BASIC. In particular, I found the ZX Spectrum's user defined graphics characters to be a very nice feature.

Wow that's proper dedication!

That same boyfriend of my sisters, once he got the spectrum running again began at the > startup screen on the spectrum and began programming!!! Of course to me it was all dark arts