ZX Spectrum today? More than alive!

At the request of a few habra people, I give a telegram about the state of affairs of zx-specurum nowadays. Unfortunately, I can’t write absolutely everything about everything, so I’ll make a brief overview of modern hardware and emulators on which you can virtually touch this hardware.

I will write for the usual habrachelek, not spektrumista :), so for more detailed information, use the links at the end of the article.

What is spectrum for you? Probably a warm tube sound from a tape recorder, Manic Miner and Elite. Perhaps this TR-DOS, 128kb of memory and music chip AY. Or maybe it is a Scorpion-256, ATM Turbo or even Profi.

In any case, all this is hopelessly outdated, covered with dust on the cabinets, and probably does not even work, but, nevertheless, a few words about the “classic ex-USSR Spectrum”:
')
CPU : Z80, 3.5 MHz. Turbo possible to incomplete 7 MHz
RAM : from 48Kb to 1Mb
Sound : beeper, AY chip (synthesized 3-channel sound)
Tape : eat
FDD : 720kb floppy (by default, TR-DOS only supports 640kb)
HDD : connection is possible, the most complete software support in the is-dos system

We should also separately tell about the video - 256x192 pixels + 32x24 color attributes: for each block of 8x8 pixels there are two colors (one PAPER color, for disabled pixels, and one INK, for included ones); plus the area around the screen, called BORDER (you can also set the color); more info - speccy.info/256x192

Although, the small size of the video memory makes it possible for the 3MHz processor to cope more easily with the output of the graphics, the result often does not meet expectations.

Graphics doodles

In addition to the well-known hardware multicolor , 512x256 and Gigascreen modes , there are also:



384x304 - the screen area expands to 384x304 pixels, the rest remains the same (attributes on the 8x8 square). Due to the complexity of the implementation on clones of the Spectrum other than Pentagon and the awful addressing of video memory (the extended area is divided into 9 blocks scattered from memory), it did not receive any distribution. speccy.info/384x304



16 colors per pixel - as the name implies, gives spektrumistam what they could only dream about - every point on the screen in their own color. However, the size of the video memory increases 4 times, and in addition, the processor slows down on a real Spectrum (therefore, it is usually used only in turbo mode). However, the mode is promising, there are several games and demo. speccy.info/16col



256 colors per 2 pixels - “upgrade” mode 16col. Two adjacent points are doubled, and the mode is 128x192 with 256 colors. The support in the gland is experimental, and without a changeable palette it is unsuitable for use.



Flash-Color - by mixing INK and PAPER, about 46 different colors are achieved. However, since all the same attributes are used (on a block of 8x8 pixels), in reality it does not look very good. speccy.info/Flash_color


16col + palette + gigascreen

The programmable palette is the same bead that is vital for the 16col and 256col modes . There are several solutions; one of them is realddp.narod.ru/zx/pal444

Sound

In addition to Covox , Sound Drive , DMA Ultrasound and General Sound , released in the Stone Age :), the following devices were invented:



TS (Turbo Sound) - is another AY sound processor, expanding the number of sound channels to six. www.nedopc.com/TURBOSOUND/ts.php



TSFM (Turbo Sound FM) - “upgrade” of the Turbo Sound mode. In addition to 6 channels of AY-sound, a 6-channel sound chip is added (FM synthesis, similar to the chip used in the Sega Mega Drive console). www.nedopc.com/TURBOSOUND/ts-fm.php



Neo GS is an updated version of the General Sound board. Like General Sound , it is essentially a separate computer with its own processor ( Z80 at 12MHz for GS , 24MHz for NGS ), memory (from 128Kb to 2Mb) and sound module: 4 (8 for NGS ) sound channels playing samples from memory. In Neo GS, in addition, there are SD / MMC reader, hardware mp3 decoder and DMA mode of data exchange with Spectrum memory. Neo GS can also be used as an accelerator for computing — arbitrary code can be loaded into the device’s memory (as well as in a normal GS , but unlike NGS , in a normal GS there was no DMA - hence the very slow speed of information exchange between the Spectrum and GS ). www.nedopc.com/gs/ngs.php

ZX Evolution

ZX Evolution or PentEvo - this is the most modern Spectrum. Unlike other (not so modern) spectra, the pentev on board has everything a modern person needs - built-in PS / 2 controller keyboards and mice, disk drive and hard drive controllers, SD card reader, RS232 (aka COM port).

There is also a very important feature - there is a scandible on board, which allows you to connect Pentev to almost any VGA monitor (even LCD); so now you don’t have to buy TV tuners, EGA monitors and TVs.

Not to mention the presence of FPGA on the board; This allows you to change the configuration of the computer without a soldering iron (not on the fly, as it was possible in the Sprinter, but also very good).

www.nedopc.com/zxevo/zxevo.php - to learn more about zx evolution.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fI_St1IeWQ - Com. AAA talks about pentev.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYmyuF2UVWg - the most demanding demo on the Spectrum (requires 16col + tsfm + neogs) successfully works on penteva.

Goodies

RGB to PAL coder - allows you to connect the Spectrum (or any other device with an RGB output) to a regular TV. www.nedopc.com/PALCODER/palcoder.php



ZXMC (ZX_Multi_Card) is a very versatile device. Allows you to connect to the Spectrum ordinary PC keyboard and mouse. It has an RS232 port on board, better known as a COM port (allowing you to connect, for example, a modem), and a real-time clock (RTC). zx.pk.ru/showthread.php?t=609

Emulators

All the emulators below are designed to emulate a modern Spectrum, and not the good old black box with rubber keys :)

Win32



Unreal Speccy is an emulator that supports the maximum amount of new hardware (including the Neo GS). zx.pk.ru/showthread.php?t=1512 , dlcorp.ucoz.ru/forum/23

Unreal Speccy PPC - port for PocketPC (old version, no new version). Despite the problems (sometimes the drive is “turned off”), the best for PocketPC does not exist. Currently, development is stopped. and.intercon.ru/#r20 , zx.pk.ru/showthread.php?t=4982



EmuZWin is a good emulator with GUI. zx.pk.ru/showthread.php?t=1345

* Nix



ZEmu - you can't praise yourself - nobody will praise :). Modern Spectrum emulator for * NIX platform (there is a version for Win32) with support for extended memory, extended video modes (including 16col) and enhanced sound in the form of Turbo Sound FM. There is no GUI (more precisely, samapinny on SDL). Currently, development is stopped. zx.pk.ru/showthread.php?t=2480 , version from mkoloberdin: github.com/mkoloberdin/zemu



XPeccy - actively developing emulator with GUI on QT. Apparently so far only under x86 Linux. zx.pk.ru/showthread.php?t=9479

useful links

zx.pk.ru - the main zx-forum.
dlcorp.ucoz.ru/forum is another large zx-forum (forum dissatisfied with the policy of zx.pk.ru).
www.nedopc.com - here you can buy modern spectra and buns for them.
speccy.info - speccy wiki.

trd.speccy.cz is a storehouse of toys adapted to TR-DOS.
zxaaa.untergrund.net - huge zx-demo archive.
zxtunes.com - archive of AY music. You can listen online.
speccy-live.untergrund.net - news related to the Spectrum.
community.livejournal.com/emulate_su - I was habrapraphed, by a very big secret, said that in this community there will soon be many articles about the Spectrum. Subscribe if you're interested (and even now there are a lot of articles about retro-iron).