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SPECCY EMULATORS FOR DOS/WINDOWS |
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This page last updated on 6 January 2000
[DOS/Windows]
[UNIX/Linux]
[OS/2]
[Mac]
[Archie]
[Amiga]
[Psion]
[Windows CE]
[ST/TT]
[NeXT]
[Java]
[BeOS]
[Playstation]
[SAM Coupé]
[QL]
[C64]
[MSX]
[Benchmarks]
48 emulators listed:
[E++]
[Elwro]
[Finspe]
[JASPE]
[JPP]
[MultiMachine]
[Nuclear ZX]
[PASMulator]
[R80]
[RealSpectrum]
[Roman ZX]
[SimCoupe]
[Sinbas]
[Sinclair]
[SP]
[SP48]
[SPEC]
[Spec256]
[Spec32]
[Speccy]
[Speccyal]
[Spectre]
[SpecX]
[SpectrEm]
[SpectrEm-Dr]
[SPECTRUM]
[Spectrum Emulator]
[SPM]
[Suzanne's Spectrum Emulator]
[UKV Spectrum Debugger]
[Unnamed Spectrum Emulator]
[Warajevo]
[WinXZX]
[WinZ80]
[WSpecEm]
[x128]
[Yet Another Spectrum Emulator]
[Z80]
[Z80Stealth]
[Z80 TR-DOS]
[ZX (Orro)]
[ZX (Rindt & Brukner)]
[ZX32]
[ZX Emulator]
[ZX-Jam]
[ZX Plus]
[ZXSpectr]
[ZX Spectrum Emulator 128K]
[ZX-Spectrum Emulator]
[ZX Spectrum Simulator]
- Emulates Spectrum 48K with Kempston joystick.
- Loads SNA snapshots (from the command line only).
- No snapshot saving.
- No real tape support.
- Requires VESA 2 compatible video card or drivers (though if you bypass the
menu by giving it a snapshot filename on the command line you can run it without such drivers).
- Speed acceptable on a P100.
- Freeware, though see the included license.
- Also emulates a number of arcade machines, e.g. Centipede,
Phoenix, Invaders, and does them very well.
- Very basic compared to other Speccy emulators. Z80 emulation not
entirely correct; e.g. Commando and Ghosts'n'Goblins do not run
correctly (This is an undocumented flags
problem).
- Source code available; no longer being updated by the author.
- Available from E++ homepage or World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates an Elwro - not 100% compatible with ZX Spectrum (the real
Elwro had problems with JetPac while other games were ok) - with
two disk drives accessed via * commands (e.g. SAVE * "file") with
capacity of about 700kB. These are physically files.
- Loads files from disk. Snapshots/tape files?
- Saves files to disk. Snapshots/tape files?
- Real tape support?
- Requires Hercules, CGA or EGA.
- Speed?
- Commercial only.
- Capable of running CP/M. Changeable interrupt frequency (45, 50,
65, 70 Hz). Comes with utility to read the real Elwro Junior disks on
PC.
- Bad points?
- All system messages are in Polish.
- Available from?
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- Emulates the 48K Spectrum and the Kempston joystick.
- Loads from .SNA and .Z80 snapshot files, and from .TAP tape files.
- Saves to .SNA snapshot files.
- No real tape support.
- Needs a proper DOS prompt; doesn't run in a Win95 dos box.
- Runs at real Speccy speed on my PII-233.
- Freeware.
- Allows palette editing.
- No outstanding features.
- No other comments.
- Available from ftp.funet.fi or World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates the 48K Spectrum.
- Loads from .SNA and .Z80 snapshot files.
- Saves to .SNA and .Z80 snapshot files.
- No real tape support.
- Nothing special needed.
- Runs at real Speccy speed on my PII-233.
- Freeware.
- Good points?
- Crashes on loading my .Z80 snapshot of Manic Miner; small visual
bug on loading my .SNA snapshot of the same.
- All documentation in Spanish, so much of the above may well be wrong. Any corrections always welcomed.
- Available from World of Spectrum or the author's home page.
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- Emulates 48K Spectrum, Kempston joystick (using PC joystick).
- Loads .SNA snapshots and from sampled tapes (.VOC).
- Saves .SNA snapshots.
- Tape support (read-only) via sampled sound files (.VOC).
- Requires VGA. Real-speed version requires 386 or above.
- 386/25MHz or faster is needed for the best perfomance. 486/25MHz
or 386/44MHz is needed for good sound emulation.
- Freeware.
- Includes program for reading and converting snapshots from MGT
disks. Also includes a very old version of SPConv. Two versions; JPP
and PJPP, the latter being an exact-speed version.
- Screws up system screen mode on quit. Restore with MODE CO80
command. Z80 emulation - R register imperfectly emulated.
- Two versions supplied; one for slower machines, and one (PJPP) for
faster machines; PJPP has better emulation and emulates the FLASH
attribute and the border. No longer being updated (last version was in
1992).
- Available from NVG
or World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 16/48/128K Spectrum, +2/+2A/+3 and the Timex TS2068.
- Loads .ACH, .PRG, .SNA (both 48K and 128K variants), .SNX, .SP,
SLT (and LLT), .Z80 and .ZX snapshots, from Z80's and Warajevo's .TAP,
.TZX and .VOC tapes and from .DSK disks.
- No saving yet.
- No real tape support.
- Requires Win95/NT and DirectX 5.0 (DirectX 5.0 is currently not available
for WinNT though :-(); ports to other OSs are planned.
- Runs faster than a real Spectrum on this P100.
- Freeware.
- Good contended memory emulation, nice UI and generally well-polished.
- Incomplete Z80 emulation(?): some snaps cause a crash (eg Match Day II); no 'flash' loading of tapes, and loading of 128K .SNA snaps is broken.
- MultiMachine is so called because not only does it
emulate all the main Speccy models, it also emulates the Amstrad
CPC 464/664/6128/464+/6128+, the ZX80/ZX81/TS1000, the Jupiter Ace, the
Elan Enterprise, with plans for the MSX, PCW 8000 and Tandy TRS-80 ranges!
- Available from the MultiMachine Homepage or World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K Spectrum with ZX printer.
- Loads .SNA and its own .SNP snapshot format and from .TAP and its own
.LTP tape files.
- Saves its own .SNP snapshot format and to .TAP and its own .LTP tape files.
- Real tape support via external program.
- Requires Hercules, CGA or VGA.
- One of the fastest emulators.
- Freeware. More than $8 or poem about Spectrum for source code.
- Tape file emulation supports some non-standard loaders (even from ordinary
.TAP file). Many Hercules modes supported. Comes with program to convert .SNP
to .Z80, .SNA to .SNP and .TAP to .LTP files and vice versa. Has a simple debugger.
- R register incorrectly implemented, only one of flash and bright paper can
be displayed at a time, and the flash emulation flashes only the ink, not the
paper colour.
- Previously known as ZXSpectrum_v3.67, and as ZX in this FAQ.
- Available from the author's home page,
as well as World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K Spectrum/TK95 (Brazilian Spectrum clone), and a whole load of arcade machines.
- Loads .SNA files.
- No saving.
- No real tape support.
- Requires Win9x and DirectDraw.
- Speed?
- Freeware?
- Comes with a built in monitor/disassembler; source code (Delphi 2.0) also available.
- Spectrum emulation is pretty simplistic.
- No other comments.
- Available from the PASMulator Home Page.
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- Emulates 48K, 128K, +2 and +2A Spectrums, Pentagon and Scorpion
(Russian Speccy clones), Multiface 128, and Kempston and Sinclair
joysticks.
- Loads from .Z80, .SIT, , .SLT, ..SNA (48K and 128K) and .SP
snapshots, from .BLK, .TAP, .TZX and .VOC tapes, and from .FDI, .TRD
and .SCL disk files. Can also read from .ZIP and .RAR archives.
- Saves .SNA and .Z80 snapshots, .TAP tapes, .SCR, .PCX or .GRP screenshots and .PSG sound files.
- No real tape support.
- Requires a VGA, 486 DX4-100, 2Mb of RAM and an Adlib or GUS soundcard for 128K sound. VESA 2.0 is "highly recommended" (though it runs fine without).
- Runs at normal Spectrum speed on this P100; it did seem to run about 20% slow on an WinNT 4 machine I tried it on.
- Freeware.
- Now comes with a nice GUI and long filename support for Win95. Has
a built-in debugger and you can configure the keys you want to use to
emulate the Speccy joystick.
- Very little wrong with this at all.
- No other comments.
- Available from R80 Homepage
or World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K, 128K, +2, Pentagon (without Betadisk), Disciple/+D and Multiface 128.
- Loads .SNA and .Z80 snapshots, .TAP, .TZX, .WAV and .CSW tape files and .IMG and .MGT floppies. Can also load from the PC's floppy drive.
- Saves .SNA and .Z80 snapshots.
- No real tape support?
- Speed?
- Requires a P200 for full speed.
- May not be distributed except from the authors' web site.
- Good points? Claimed by the authors to have "100% exact reproduction of all the multicolor effects".
- Bad points?
- All comments above basically taken from the docs supplied, as I haven't had a chance to test this yet. Authors claim that the program is under constant development.
- Available from the RealSpectrum official homepage.
- Emulates 48K Spectrum.
- Doesn't load snapshots, loads files from .H (header) and .B (bytes) files.
- Doesn't save snapshots, saves to .H and .B tape files.
- No real tape support.
- Requires CGA.
- Non-graphic applications quite fast but Manic Miner, for instance,
is 10 times slower than on Z80.
- Freeware?
- Good points?
- Z80 emulation - bug in IM/2 emulation. Lots of wasted slack space
on disks with large cluster sizes due to tape emulating method using
lots of small files.
- This program appeared on the SEZAM-BBS in Belgrade in the summer
of 1991, most probably from Slovenia. It seems, according to one
newspaper, that the author is Peter Kroselj.
- Available from World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K Spectrum and the SAM Coupé (as you may have guessed
from the name!).
- Spectrum emulation has no loading ability (Coupé can load from
either real disks or images thereof).
- Spectrum emulation has no saving ability (Coupé can save to
either real disks or images thereof).
- No real tape support.
- Requires VGA.
- About twice as fast as a real Spectrum on a P100.
- Freeware (available as either source or binary).
- Good points?
- Sound emulation requires use of the SimCoupe Audio Drivers TSR, which is
available from Aley Keprt's home page.
- The above is a bit unfair, as this is a Coupé emulator first,
and a Spectrum emulator second. Also available for Unix/Linux.
- Version 0.78 is available from the SimCoupe homepage;
Version 0.72 is available from World of Spectrum, as either a binary or source distribution.
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- Emulates 48K Spectrum Basic with ZX printer.
- Loads .TAP files, snapshot can be loaded from CONFIG.DAT file, and screens
can be loaded from .SCR or .PCX files.
- Saves .TAP files, snapshot can be saved into CONFIG.DAT file, and screens
can be saved into .SCR or .PCX files.
- No real tape support.
- Requires EGA or VGA.
- Very fast (Author claims it to be twice as fast as Z80).
- Shareware (No specified amount).
- Can create standalone running programs, and has a simple built-in debugger and
online help for Basic commands.
- Requires COMMAND.COM to be in the root directory of current disk.
Documentation and everything is in Czech. Poor user interface.
- Obviously, can't run machine code programs.
- Available from World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K Spectrum and 128K Spectrum, and Kempston joystick using the
PC joystick.
- Loads .SIT and .Z80 snapshots and from .TAP and .BLK tape files.
- Saves .SIT and .Z80 snapshots and to .TAP and .BLK tape files. (The .Z80
snapshots written are slightly non-standard in that they the ROM in
the snapshot; some other emulators, eg Warajevo, don't
like these).
- Real tape support via a separate program only supplied with registered
version.
- Requires VGA, and an Adlib card for 128K sound.
- Speed quite good on a 486SX/25, very fast on a P100.
- Shareware; unregistered version has nag screen that renders the built-in
debugger practically unusable. Registered version can save Spectrum screen to
.PCX screens and comes with a tape loader program, plus a disk full of games
as .BLK files.
- Built-in debugger (much like Borland's Turbo Debugger) for stepping
through, breakpointing, modifying etc. Z80 code (including the ROM). 128K
sound is very clean.
- Currently available only in Spanish.
- The .BLK file format is the same as Z80's .TAP format, just with
a different name.
- Available from the author's web site or World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K Spectrum.
- Doesn't load snapshots. Loads from TAPE_ZX.SPC file.
- Doesn't save snapshots. Saves to TAPE_ZX.SPC tape file.
- No real tape support.
- Requires CGA or EGA and a ROM file called ROM.SPC - this file is just a
16Kb ROM dump, identical to the SPECTRUM.ROM file included with JPP and
xz80.
- 'One of the fastest emulators' so I'm told.
- Freeware?
- Built in MON-like debugger (press F8) for stepping through Z80 code.
- No accompanying documentation at all. Colour palette a bit odd. The version
available on the net is a 1988 version, probably unfinished, with dozens of bugs.
- No other comments.
- Available from NVG or World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K Spectrum.
- Loads from .SNA files.
- Saves to .SNA files.
- No real tape support.
- Requires a 386 or better.
- Runs faster than Speccy speed, and can't be slowed down.
- Freeware?
- It works :-).
- No border.
- No other comments.
- Available from the SP48 Home Page or World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K Spectrum, Kempston joystick (using PC joystick), cursor joystick (on cursor keys).
- Loads .SNA snapshots.
- Doesn't save snapshots or files.
- No real tape support.
- Requires VGA, P100+.
- Needs more than a P100 for normal Speccy speed - P120 might do.
- Freeware.
- Undocumented Z80 instructions emulated, doesn't run too fast on fast machines
(goes to maximum of 100% Speccy speed).
- Allows modification of the ROM. Z80 emulation incomplete. No user interface. Slow.
- Written by the author mostly to learn about writing an emulator! Now also available for Windows.
- Available from the author's SPEC homepage or World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K Spectrum with special 256 colour mode (see below).
- Loads .SNA or .Z80 snapshots.
- No saving.
- No real tape support.
- Requires?
- Can run at full Speccy speed on this PII-233, but the
autodetection is broken and it by default runs at about 30% speed.
- Freeware?
- Has a special 256 colour mode in which the Speccy's graphics are mapped onto 256 colour ones.
- Other than the 256 colour mode has very few features.
- No other comments.
- Available from the Spec256 Home Page;
also available from here are some games updated for the 256 colour mode.
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- Emulates 48K Spectrum and Kempston joystick.
- Loads .SNA and .Z80 (up to v2) snapshots, and from .TAP tapefiles.
- Saves .SNA snapshots.
- No real tape support.
- Needs a 486-33, 4Mb of RAM, VGA and an OPL2 compatible soundcard at 0388h for sound.
- Runs fine on this P90; the 486-33 mentioned above is the author's guess of the machine speed need for true Spectrum speed.
- Freeware (source available).
- Has a built-in debugger.
- Incomplete emulation of bits 3 and 5 of the flags.
- No other comments.
- Available from the author's Sinclair Emulators page or World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates Pentagon (Russian Spectrum clone) with TR-DOS.
- Loads from (128K only?) .Z80 snapshots and from .TAP tape files.
- Saves to .Z80 snapshots.
- No real tape support.
- Needs?
- Adjustable; can run much faster than a real Speccy on this PII-233.
- Freeware?
- Attempts to play AY sounds through the PC's speaker if a soundcard is not available. Built-in debugger.
- Bad points?
- All documentation in Russian.
- Available from World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K Spectrum and all common joysticks.
- Loads from .SNA and .Z80 snapshots.
- Saves to .SNA snapshots.
- No real tape support.
- Needs Windows 9x (or NT?) and DirectX.
- Slow: only around 40% of real Speccy speed on my PII-233.
- Freeware.
- Basic built-in debugger/monitor included.
- Slow. Colours slightly screwed on my machine (white becomes a light purple). The score counter in Jetpac is completely wrong (DAA bug?)
- Source code for the Z80 core used is available from the author's home page.
- Available from the author's home page or World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K only.
- Loads from .SNA and .Z80 snapshots.
- Saves to .SNA or .Z80 snapshots.
- No real tape support.
- Needs a 200MHz Pentium to run at real Speccy speed (according to
the author). Doesn't work under a WinNT command prompt.
- Runs at full Speccy speed on this PII-233.
- Freeware.
- Comes with a (fairly simple) built-in debugger. Good undocumented flag emulation.
- Not all Z80 instructions emulated yet (just barfs if it finds one which it doesn't emulate).
- Unrelated to Spectre for the
Sam Coupé. The Sophos Sweep virus checker reports a
virus in DOS32.EXE, but this is a false alarm.
- Available from the Spectre Home Page
or World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K Spectrum with Kempston and Cursor joysticks.
- Loads from .SNA snapshots and from .TAP, .RAW and .WAV tape files.
- Saves to .SNA snapshots.
- No real tape support.
- Needs Win95/98/NT4, DirectX and a 2Mb graphics card.
- Much faster than a real Spectrum on this P2-233, but can auto-adjust to real Spectrum speed. Author states that a P133 is required for true speed emulation.
- Shareware (£10); unregistered version times out after 10 minutes and cannot save emulator settings.
- Comes with 1x1, 2x2 and full screen modes with and without scanlines. Has a simple 'Poke memory' option for Multiface pokes.
- Nothing obviously wrong, but there are certainly emulators which more features available.
- This is basically a port of SPEC to the Windows environment.
- Available from the author's SPEC homepage or World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K Spectrum and Kempston(?) joystick.
- Loads from .SNA snapshots and .TAP tap files.
- No saving as yet.
- No real tape support.
- Needs a SoundBlaster for speaker output.
- Speed?
- Freeware? (Source provided)
- Comes with a built-in debugger.
- Still pretty buggy: many games don't work properly.
- Other points?
- Available from the SpectrEm Homepage or World of Spectrum
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- Emulates 48K Spectrum and Kempston joystick.
- Loads from .SNA snapshots.
- No saving.
- No real tape support.
- Requires?
- Quick, due to compilation of Z80 code into x86 machine code.
- Freeware? (Source provided)
- Comes with a built-in debugger.
- Very buggy: virtually no games work. No sound.
- Other points?
- Available from the SpectrEm-Dr Homepage.
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- Emulates 16K and 48K Spectrums.
- Loads .SP snapshots (VGASPEC uses a different .SP format) and .TAP tape files.
- Saves .SP snapshots.
- Loads from tapes through a SoundBlaster card, or a wire connected to the parallel port.
- Requires VGA and a 286. An enhanced version for 386s and above is also
included.
- Matches a real Spectrum speed on a 386/25, and can be slowed down on
faster machines.
- Freeware.
- Includes diagram for tape interface. Versions from 0.99E onwards also
have R register emulation and some brief English documentation, which was
missing from previous versions.
- Incomplete emulation of undocumented instructions/flags, and no IM 0 emulation.
- VGASPEC emulator is an illegal prerelease of this emulator.
All onscreen messages in Spanish. Previously called 'Sinclair' in this
FAQ.
- Available from the author's Spectrum page or World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K Spectrum with Multiface 1, Kempston joystick (with cursor
keys and Alt).
- Loads .PRG snapshots and files from 'tape' - i.e. your hard disk.
- Doesn't save snapshots. Saves files to hard disk, but can't cope with headerless files.
- No real tape support.
- Requires 16MHZ 286, EGA or better.
- Works reasonably fast on 286 and a bit faster than necessary on
386/486 systems. 386/40MHz or 486/25MHz is needed for good sound
emulation.
- Freeware, but a donation to the author gets you the source code plus
'various utilities'.
- Includes program for loading snapshots from MGT/Datel Plus-D disks.
Comes with a Z80 disassembler written in BASIC, and a speed testing
program. Ran at least one snapshot (Scumball) that no other emulator
could manage (JPP's documentation makes a mention of this one not
working - Arnt thought it was a bad snapshot).
- Z80 emulation - imperfect R register emulation. Allows modification of the ROM
(though it does get refreshed to normal condition whenever loading/saving).
- Onscreen display of Z80 registers (can be disabled, but not removed from
the screen). Attributes can be disabled for faster emulation.
- Available from NVG or World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K, 128K and the Scorpion (Russian spectrum clone)
- Loads from its own .FDD images of TR-DOS disks.
- Saves to .FDD disk images?
- Can real from real TR-DOS disks.
- Requires?
- Faster than a real Spectrum on this PII-233. Can't be slowed down?
- Shareware.
- Built-in debugger.
- Bad points?
- All documentation in Russian.
- Available from World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K, SpecDrum and the Kempston mouse, with partial emulation of the 128K/+2.
- Loads from .SP snapshots.
- No save capability.
- No real tape support.
- Requires an Adlib card for 128K sound, and a SoundBlaster for SpecDrum output.
- Scaled to real Spectrum speed. Runs fine on my P100.
- Freeware.
- Not much at the moment, but this is only version 0.01 :-)
- Biggest problem is that IM2 is not emulated, so many games won't run.
- No longer being developed.
- Available from the author's home page, http://www.crysalis.com/suzanne/sspec.zip, but this has now gone away. Anyone?
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- Emulates 48K/128K/1024K Spectrum with TR-DOS (Technology Research Disk
Operating System).
- Loads .SNA (both 48K and 128K) and 128K .Z80 snapshots, from .TAP
and .SPC tape files, and from .FDI disk images.
- Saves .SNA (48/128) and 128K .Z80 snapshots, to .TAP and .SPC tape files, and to .FDI disk images.
- Can read from real TR-DOS disks.
- Requires EGA and 286. (Very slow on a 286; needs a 386-40 for full Speccy speed).
- Much faster than a real Speccy on this P100.
- Cracked version of a shareware release.
- Supports TR-DOS disks with non-standard sector layouts. Powerful built-in debugger (much in the style of Turbo Debugger).
- Can't be slowed down? All documentation in Russian.
- Comes with a utility to convert .TRD files to .FDI and vice-versa.
- Available from World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K and 128K Spectrums.
- Loads from .SNA and .Z80 snapshots.
- No saving.
- No real tape support.
- Requires Allegro WIP.
- Runs at real Speccy speed on this PII-233.
- Freeware.
- Most programs works.
- Display sometimes corrupts briefly.
- Attempts to map PC keys to Speccy equivalents (eg Shift+8 on your PC goes to Symbol Shift+B). Also available for Linux.
- Available from the Unnamed Spectrum Emulator Home Page.
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- Emulates 48K/128K/+2 Spectrum, TS2068, ZX Printer, Interface 1
(RS232 and microdrives), Kempston joystick (with cursor keys and + or
~ keys as fire or with PC joystick or mouse), 128's keypad, MIDI port,
the Sinclair network and supports user devices (e.g. parallel
printer).
- Loads .SNA and .Z80 snapshots, standard .TAP and its own virtual
tape format. Supports .MDR microdrive format with slight
improvements. Comes with an environment which allows conversion of
almost any format (including .TZX and .VOC) to supported formats.
- Saves .Z80 snapshots, to .TAP tape files and to .MDR microdrive files.
- Supports loading (including turbo loaders) from real tapes via an
RS232 link from a real Spectrum or with external routine for tape
interface.
- Requires 286, Hercules, CGA, EGA or VGA, and a SoundBlaster card
for MIDI emulation. An Adlib card allows better 128k sound emulation,
and a SoundBlaster even better.
- Around a 486-33 needed for true speed emulation.
- Freeware, though the authors welcome donations, in return for
which you at least get your name listed in the documentation of the
next release; 80 DM will get you the source code.
- Better AY-sound through PC speaker than any other PC
emulator. Built-in debugger, though not as friendly as the ones in
Sinclair v2.00 and UKV Spectrum Debugger. Can create stand-alone
snapshot files that don't need to be loaded into an emulator
(including possible mixing of Z80 and 80x86 code). The former problems
with speed adjustment are much improved in this version. Now supports
rainbowing and changing the colour palette to suit your own taste.
- Slightly slower than versions prior to v2.0.
- Written under very poor conditions during war in Bosnia. Generally
considered one of best DOS-based Speccy emulators on the PC.
- Available from the Warajevo Home Page or World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48/128/+3 with Multiface 128, Interface 1 and
Microdrive, Kempston Joystick.
- Loads .SNA, .Z80, .SLT (LLT also) snapshots and from .TAP,
.MDR and .DSK files.
- Saves to .SNA, .Z80, .SLT, .TAP, .MDR and .DSK files.
- No real tape support.
- Requires MS Windows 9x or NT.
- Around 36% Spectrum speed on a P100; can reach 100% on a PII-233,
but the automatic speed adjustment doesn't work properly.
- Freeware.
- Quick 1, 2 and 3 times normal screen scaling settings. Spectrum
screen can be saved to SCR file or printed. Quite nice GUI.
- Slow. Fiddly to set up tape/disk/microdrives because
these are buried in the options dialog. TAP routines seem buggy (many
I tried didn't work or appeared to have no blocks within them).
- Lots of options to play with, including optional FLASH and border
emulation. Multiface 128 ROM is not included due to copyright
problems. Also available for Unix/Linux
and BeOS. This version is has no new
features over the previous one, but is no longer time expired.
- Available from the WinXZX Homepage or World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K/128K with Interface I, SamRam (author's own ROM), Multiface 128, Currah microSpeech, SpecDRUM, various joysticks and the Kempston mouse.
- Loads .SNA, .Z80, and .SLT (LLT also) snapshots, from .TAP, .TZX,
.RAW and .VOC tape files, from .MDR cartridge images, RS232 save
files and .SCR and .GIF screenshots.
- Saves to all the above except .TZX files.
- Can sample from any Windows wave device.
- Requires Windows 3.x/9x/NT. Around a 486-33 needed for full speed emulation, depending on options chosen.
- Fast; easy to slow down to real Speccy speed though.
- Shareware. Shareware version has no real-tape support and is time-limited.
- Resizable windows, very good AY and flag emulation, a very nice
monitor/debugger/assembler, and lots of features you won't find
anywhere else.
- GUI perhaps not as polished as some other Windows emulators.
- Clearly the best Win 3.x emulator, and stands up very well on
9x/NT as well. A related (but not identical) DOS version
also available. Can make a reasonable attempt at loading any .GIF file
onto the Speccy's screen!
- Available from World of Spectrum (this file includes both the DOS and Windows versions).
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- Emulates 48K Spectrum with Kempston/Sinclair joystick.
- Loads from .SNA, .SNX, .Z80, .SIT, .SP, .RAW, .PRG, .ACH, .SLT (and LLT) snapshot files and from .TAP tape images.
- Saves to all the snap formats listed above apart from .SLT, but not to tape files.
- Real tape support provided via an extra program.
- Requires Windows 3.x/9x/NT and WinG.
- Around 25-30% Spectrum speed on a 486SX/25 @ 800x600 res, 64K colour
Cirrus video card, 8MB machine. Runs at a bit over 100% speed on
a P75 with otherwise identical setup. Note these speeds are for 1x1
scaled window, /3 frame rate. Larger sizes and full frame rate are slower.
Runs at over 100% speed on this PII-233, but can be slowed down.
- Freeware - GPL; all the author wants is a postcard.
- Resizable window, with quick 1, 2 and 3 times normal size settings
as well. Quick save/load function for saving a snapshot and reloading
it without going through a file selector. Drag and drop snapshot
loading. Saves Spectrum screen to SCR and PCX files. Now has a nice
installation routine for Win95; though it registers a lot of
extensions (for different snapshots) which may interfere with other
registered extensions (e.g. SIT is also a type of archive file, PRG is
an Atari TOS program, and so on).
- Doesn't save SLT snapshots yet.
- Currently two versions: v1.31 for Win 3.x and v1.4b for 9x/NT; v1.4b
plays the beeper through your soundcard and sounds much better. No longer
being updated.
- Available from author's old web page; v1.4b is available from World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K/128K Spectrum, +2A/+3, Kempston/Sinclair/Cursor
joysticks, MGT interface, Multiface 128 and Multiface 3, Also has
emulation of the Pentagon 128 and (partially) the Scorpion (Russian
Spectrum variants).
- Loads .SNA, .Z80 and .SLT snapshots, from .TAP and .TZX tape files
(the latter complete with optional loading noise!), from .DSK (+3
disk), .TRD (TR-DOS), .MGT and .IMG (images of MGT disks), and from
.POK poke files.
- Saves .SNA, .Z80 and .SLT snapshots, .TAP tapes, .TRD disks and .PCX screen dumps (including any rainbow effects).
- No real tape support.
- Requires VGA or EGA.
- About normal Spectrum speed on a 486SX/25 thanks to rewritten
emulation and screen update code (now using Intel assembler instead of
C). SAOM version needs a Soundblaster and requires a more high-end 486
or you get fuzzy sound.
- Freeware.
- Hi-res emulation of screen and left & right border allowing colours
in an 8x1 block (rainbowing). Has a nice file selector and Z80-like
user interface. Just about perfect 128K sound on the SAOM version,
pretty good on the Adlib version.
- One of the best Spectrum emulators available, even if bits 3 and 5
of the flags are not completely correct.
- Also available for UNIX/Linux with X, OS/2
and OS/2 XFree86, though these are now
way behind in terms of development. Now supports soundcards on IRQs 8-15.
- Available from the x128 homepage
or World of Spectrum (Adlib or
SoundBlaster versions). You'll
also need the ROMs.
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- Emulates 48K and 128K Spectrums, and the Pentagon (but with no disk emulation).
- Loads from .SNA and .Z80 snapshots and .TAP tape files.
- Saves to .SNA and .Z80 snapshots, .TAP tape files and .PCX and .SCR screen images.
- No real tape support.
- Nothing special needed.
- Runs at true Speccy speed on this PII-233.
- Freeware (comes with source).
- Supports long file names under Windows, and nothing seriously wrong.
- Flash not correctly emulated.
- No other comments.
- Available from the author's home page.
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- Emulates 48K/128K Spectrum with Multiface 1/128, cursor, Sinclair and
Kempston joysticks, AMS Mouse, Disciple disk interface, Interface 1 and
Microdrives, SamRam (author's own ROM with a basic MON-like debugger).
- Loads .SNA, .Z80 and .SLT snapshots, including level-loader support, and from .TAP and .TZX tape files and .MDR microdrive files.
- Saves .Z80 snapshots and to .TAP tape and .MDR microdrive files.
- Loads direct from Sound Blaster MIC input, or from parallel port
using a custom interface (all these only in the registered version,
and the parallel port interface itself costs extra - though a diagram
is provided if you want to build your own).
- Requires Hercules, CGA, EGA or VGA. Install routine requires Win 3.1/9x/NT.
- Very fast; can be slowed down in a user-friendly manner.
- Shareware. Shareware version has not real tape support and runs
for only ten minutes. If you register, you also get several utilities
(for converting from various formats etc.) and source code (mixture of
assembler and C) to both the emulator and the utilities.
- Most user-friendly emulator; very good menu-interface and
documentation. Good high-resolution colour emulation
(rainbowing!). Lots of unique features not found in any other emulator.
- 128K sound can be a bit wobbly.
- One of the best emulators available for any platform; a slightly
different version is available for Windows.
Please note that Brian Gaff is no longer the UK registration contact:
this is now being handled by Chezron Software.
- Available from World of Spectrum (this file includes both the DOS and Windows versions).
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- Emulates the 128K Spectrum and the Pentagon.
- Loads from most snapshot formats (including .SNA and .Z80), .TAP tape files and .TRD disk images.
- Saves to most snapshot formats, .TRD disk images, .PSG sound files and a .SCR screenshot on exit.
- No real tape support.
- Requires an Adlib or SoundBlaster card for sound output; no beeper emulation with Adlib.
- According to the author, requires a 133MHz Pentium for full speed emulation (100MHz for the Adlib version).
- Freeware.
- Good points?
- Bad points?
- No other comments.
- Available from the Z80Stealth Homepage
or World of Spectrum.
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- As Z80 v3.02, with addition of TR-DOS emulation.
- As Z80.
- As Z80.
- No real tape support; if you want that, you'll need to register a real
version of Z80.
- As Z80.
- As Z80.
- An illegal hack.
- As Z80. Version 3.02 of Z80 had slightly poorer high resolution colour
emulation however; and this hack is the same.
- As Z80.
- This program is an obviously modified copy of Z80 version 3.02 (as
released on a PC Format cover disk) with Russian documentation which
has been kindly translated for me by Kirill Panyushkin. Vitaliy
Mochalin has this to say about this hack of Z80: "The changes to
the original version by G.A.Lunter do not pursue the aim of copyright
infringement. The adaptation has been made solely for use on the
territory of Russia and to add TR-DOS (by Technology Research) disk
system support." From other comments in the documentation it
appears the price asked for registering Z80 is totally out of the
reach of Russians; it is the equivalent of a month's wages for the
average person.
- Not made available at Gerton's request, nor will I reveal the site I got
it from.
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- Emulates 48K Spectrum.
- Loads from .SNA and .Z80 snapshot files, and from .TAP, .RAW and .WAV tape files.
- Saves to .SNA and .Z80 snapshot files.
- Real tape support via a SoundBlaster card.
- Requires Win 9x and DirectX. Didn't work on an NT machine I tried it on.
- Not that fast, but runs at full Speccy speed on my PII-233.
- May be freely distributed in its original archive.
- Nothing obviously wrong.
- Didn't run very well in a double size screen on my machine, but was fine running full-screen.
- No other comments.
- Available in English
or Italian from World of
Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K Spectrum, ZX Printer.
- No snapshot loading. Loads tape files from .001 files, its own tape format.
- No snapshot saving. Saves tape files to .001 files.
- No real tape support.
- Requires DOS 3.3+, EGA/VGA.
- Very quick. Runs very nicely on my 486SX/25.
- Freeware, though the authors ask that you send them $1 if you like it.
- Very quick; useable on a 286. Comes with a Tape Manager utility to
convert DOS files to .001 tapes and vice versa. Nice keyboard help
screen, and two keyboard access modes; one normal and one which maps
PC keys to Spectrum equivalents (e.g. Shift-2 = Symbol Shift P).
- No speed control; goes way too quick on anything more than a slow 486.
- This was previously a commercial emulator, though I'd never heard
of it. Hynek Med convinced the authors to make it
freeware. There is a program which converts their special format
(extension 001, 002 etc.) to TAP, called KDATEZ80.EXE, which is
available from NVG.
- Available from NVG or World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K/+/128K/+2/+2A/+3/, Kempston/Sinclair/Cursor joysticks and the Multiface 128.
- Loads .SLT, .Z80, .SNA, .SP and .ZXS snapshots, from .TAP, .BLK, .TZX
and .ZXT tape files, from .CPD, .DSK and .ZXD disk images and from
.SCR screenshots. (The .ZX? formats are zx32's own format).
- Saves .Z80, .SNA and .ZXS snapshots, to .TAP, .TZX and .ZXT tapes,
to .CPD, .DSK and .ZXD disks, and to .SCR screenshots.
- No real tape support.
- Requires DirectX, Windows 95 or NT (4.0 or higher), 486DX2/66, P75 recommended.
- Very fast on a P100 with 32Mb, Cirrus Logic 5446 PCI video card (sets itself to normal Speccy
speed by default, speed adjustable).
- Freeware.
- Fast and very professionally done - help file, install/uninstall
routines. Freely changeable window size, plus fullscreen mode (with
rounded edges and scanline emulation), rainbowing and quite good
AY emulation too, with selectable frequency/volume/noise masking. Can
open snapshots/tapes from within ZIP files without you having to unzip
them. Good contended memory emulation. Automatically starts/stops tape
files as needed, and gives a pretty good approximation of loading noise
if you want it.
- Bits 3 and 5 of the flags not perfectly emulated.
- One of the best Windows emulators currently available. Multiface 128 ROM is not supplied with the distributions.
- Version 1.03 available from the ZX32 homepage or World of Spectrum;
the update to 1.03.98.0622 (you need the main file first) is either on
the ZX32 homepage or World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K/128K/Pentagon 128K (Russian Speccy clone) with AY mouse and modem.
- Loads from .Z80 and .SNA snapshots, from .TAP and .TZX tape images, and from .TRD and .FDI disk files.
- Saves to .PCX screenshots only?
- No real tape support.
- Requires a soundcard to run at all.
- Runs at normal Spectrum speed on this P100.
- Freeware?
- Good points?
- Very flickery when scrolling.
- Version 0.34 comes with both English and Russian documentation.
- Available from World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K/128K Spectrum and has experimental Pentagon 128K support (Russian Speccy clone).
- Loads .Z80 and .SNA snapshots and from .TAP tape files.
- Saves to .Z80 snapshots and to .TAP tape files.
- No real tape support.
- Requires VGA and a 'fast Pentium'. Best sound produced if you have
a GUS; any OPL-based card (e.g. SB) will produce fairly decent sound
though.
- Runs at good speed on a P100; certainly manages full Speccy speed.
- Freeware.
- Unusual screen mode - tries to emulate the TV effect by leaving a
blank line every other scanline, and does quite well! No dot crawl
quite yet though :-) Includes built-in Z80 debugger. Some
support for rainbowing and border effects. Nice menuing system.
- Z80 emulation incomplete? (e.g. ICUPS crashes the emulator a lot),
only partial AY emulation. No joystick emulation. File selector finds only
.Z80 and .TAP files, not ones with mixed extensions.
- No other comments.
- Available from World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates the 48K and 128K Spectrums.
- Loads from .SNA and .Z80 snapshots.
- Saves to .SNA snapshots.
- No real tape support.
- Requires Win 9x and DirectX 7, but doesn't use the normal GUI. Screwed up the display of the NT machine I tried it on.
- Runs at true Speccy speed on this PII-233.
- Freeware?
- Good points?
- Feels buggy: a fair proportion of the snaps I tried (eg Manic Miner,
Match Day II, Xeno, etc) didn't work
correctly. Version 0.21 also confused the display I was running on,
and didn't display anything sensible at all on the NT machine I tried
this on.
- Above comments written for v0.22, as I don't have DirectX 7 on this machine.
- Available from the ZX Plus Home Page or World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates the 16K, 48K, 128K, +2, +2A and Inves Spectrum+ (a Spanish clone).
- Loads from .SP and its own .ZX snapshots, .TAP tape files and .SCR screenshots.
- Saves to .ZX snapshots, .TAP tape files and .SCR screenshots.
- Can sample from real tapes to .TAP or .SMP files via SoundBlaster.
- Requires CGA/VGA/Hercules, and a SoundBlaster for AY sound.
- Can run faster than a real Speccy; its claimed real Speccy speed is about 15% fast on this PII-233.
- Freeware.
- Comes with a utility to convert 48K .Z80 snaps to .SP and vice-versa.
- Runs very slowly from a Windows command prompt.
- The .ZX snapshots used are not the same as those used by KGB.
- Available from World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K/128K Spectrum with TR-DOS, Kempston mouse, Interface 1/2/Kempston joystick.
- Loads only .TRD (TR-DOS) files (but see below).
- Saves only .TRD files (but see below).
- No real tape support.
- Requires 386, VGA, MS-DOS 5.00 or better, DOS/4GW extender and an Adlib or SoundBlaster card for 128Kb sound.
- Much faster than a real Speccy on this P100; slowing it down isn't particularly user-friendly, but a couple of utilities to help are provided.
- Shareware.
- Allows writing of TR-DOS disk images.
- No snapshot or tape support in the basic program.
- Has an open architecture which allows other modules to extend the
program: modules to allow the loading of .SNA, .SLT, .TAP and .Z80
files, and saving of .Z80 files are available from World of Spectrum.
Also available on WoS is a patch to most of the user interface into English.
Now comes with an English translation of the documentation.
- Available from World of Spectrum, as is
the source code
(C++/assembler).
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- Emulates 48K Spectrum, Kempston joystick (using PC's analogue or digital
joystick).
- Loads .SEM snapshots.
- Saves .SEM snapshots.
- Real tape support (registered version only) via a Soundblaster card, but
you have to manually calibrate it with a number.
- Requires 386DX/40 and 1Mb of RAM.
- About 75% of normal Spectrum speed on a 486SX/25.
- Shareware. Some options not present in unregistered version.
- POKE facility. Also has what appears to be a Game-Genie/Game Wizard-like option to
automatically find POKEs (registered version only).
- Z80 emulation - doesn't emulate flags register properly; in particular, the H flag.
BRIGHT attribute not emulated.
- All documentation and onscreen messages in German. Anyone fancy
translating it?
- Available from NVG or World of Spectrum.
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- Emulates 48K Spectrum.
- Loads .SNA snapshots.
- Saves .SNA snapshots.
- No real tape support.
- Requires Windows 3.11 (with Win32s?) or Win95/NT.
- Selectable speed; can go much faster than a real Spectrum on this P100, but doesn't auto-adjust to real Spectrum speed (or give an indication of how fast it is going).
- Freeware?
- Good points? This version is certainly much better than v1.01.
- Bad points?
- I haven't had time to play around much with this version yet, so some of the above may be untrue.
- Available from SunSite Poland or World of Spectrum.
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This FAQ is maintained by
Philip Kendall; distribution is
permitted only under the conditions specified in the copyright notice.
Primary site for this FAQ: http://www.kendalls.demon.co.uk/cssfaq/index.html.