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SPECCY EMULATORS FOR UNIX/LINUX

This page last updated on 11 Aug 2000

[DOS] [Windows] [UNIX/Linux] [OS/2] [Mac] [Archie] [Amiga] [Psion] [Windows CE] [ST/TT] [Java] [Playstation] [QL] [Other Platforms]
[Benchmarks]

9 emulators listed:

[Fuse] [SimCoupe] [SpectEmu] [Spectrum] [Unnamed Spectrum Emulator] [x128] [xz80] [xzx] [xzx v2] [zxsp]

Fuse v0.1.3 (Philip Kendall)

  1. Emulates the 48K, 128K, +2 and +2A Spectrums.
  2. Loads from 48K and 128K .SNA snapshots, and from .TAP tape files.
  3. Saves to .SNA snapshots.
  4. No real tape support.
  5. Requires either X and XWinAllegro or Linux and the Allegro WIP.
  6. Runs at normal Speccy speed on this PII-233.
  7. GPL.
  8. Not many good points.
  9. No user interface and no sound are probably the most serious. The X version uses all available CPU time.
  10. Disclaimer: written by the same person who maintains this FAQ.
  11. Available from the Fuse Home Page or World of Spectrum.

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SimCoupe 0.78 (Allan Skillman)

  1. Emulates 48K Spectrum and the SAM Coupé (as you may have guessed from the name!).
  2. Spectrum emulation has no loading ability (Coupé can load from images of SAM disks, or the Linux version from real disks).
  3. Spectrum emulation has no saving ability (Coupé can save to either images of SAM disks, or the Linux version to real disks).
  4. No real tape support.
  5. Requires X or VGAlib.
  6. Speed?
  7. Freeware.
  8. Good points?
  9. Bad points?
  10. The above is a bit unfair, as this is a Coupé emulator first, and a Spectrum emulator second. Also available for DOS.
  11. Available from the SimCoupe homepage or World of Spectrum (version 0.72).

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SpectEmu v0.94 (Szeredi Miklos)

  1. Emulates 48K Spectrum.
  2. Loads .Z80 and .SNA snapshots, and from .TAP tapefiles.
  3. Saves .Z80 and .SNA snapshots.
  4. Real tape emulation either via emulated I/O ports or .TZX files.
  5. Requires X11 (also uses MIT-SHM if available) or SVGALIB for Linux console support. Soundcard for sound emulation.
  6. Z80 emulation is very fast on intel machines, because it is written in assembly (on Linux console it uses on average 3% of a P90 CPU). It is also quite fast on non-Intel machines.
  7. Copyright under the GNU General Public Licence.
  8. Good sound emulation (Linux and Sun). Sound with tapefile loading. Good screen emulation. Border stripes are emulated correctly, and screen timing sensitive programs look better than on other emulators (e.g. BC's Quest for Tires). Good keyboard I/O port emulation (e.g. Gunfright)
  9. Poor user interface. Does not emulate either 128K or IF1
  10. Distribution includes a full size picture of the ZX Spectrum keyboard, and a utility to write .TAP or .TZX files to real tape.
  11. Available from SpectEmu homepage, or World of Spectrum (as a source distribution, Linux binary or Solaris binary).

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Unnamed Spectrum Emulator v0.00.02 (Thomas Harte)

  1. Emulates 48K and 128K Spectrums.
  2. Loads from .SNA and .Z80 snapshots.
  3. No saving.
  4. No real tape support.
  5. Requires Linux and the Allegro WIP.
  6. Runs at real Speccy speed on this PII-233.
  7. Freeware.
  8. Most programs work.
  9. Display sometimes corrupts briefly.
  10. Attempts to map PC keys to Speccy equivalents (eg Shift+8 on your PC goes to Symbol Shift+B). Also available for DOS.
  11. Available from the Unnamed Spectrum Emulator Home Page.

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Spectrum (Jean-Francois Lozevis)

  1. Emulates 48K Spectrum.
  2. Loads .SNA and .Z80 snapshots.
  3. Saves .SNA snapshots.
  4. No real tape support.
  5. Requires X-Windows (X11) and Linux with an 80386 processor (or above) because the emulation code is written in assembler.
  6. Apparently runs at full speed on a 486DX2/66.
  7. Public domain. Author allows modification, just wants to retain his credit as the original author, and wouldn't say no to a postcard.
  8. Sound support for Linux via /dev/audio.
  9. Imperfect emulation; Rhino in Sabre Wulf problems (see the Technical Information section) and some large BASIC programs don't work. Author doesn't know why. Poor user interface.
  10. All messages in French.
  11. Available from NVG or World of Spectrum.

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x128 v0.5 (James McKay)

  1. Emulates 48K/128K Spectrum, Kempston/Sinclair/Cursor joysticks, Multiface 128.
  2. Loads .SNA, .Z80 and .SLT snapshots, and from Z80's .TAP tape files.
  3. Saves .Z80 and .SLT snapshots.
  4. Real tape support via .VOC files.
  5. Requires X-Windows (X11). MIT-SHM extension also a very good idea.
  6. Rather slow; about 25-35% of real Spectrum speed on a 486SX/25 Linux box.
  7. Freeware.
  8. 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.
  9. Some changeable options require re-compilation, and the Multiface 128 ROM is not included due to copyright problems.
  10. Also available for DOS, OS/2 and OS/2 XFree86.
  11. Available from the x128 homepage or World of Spectrum.

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xz80 v0.1e (Ian Collier)

  1. Emulates 48K Spectrum and ZX Printer (via .XBM image files!).
  2. Loads .SNA and .Z80 snapshots with level-loader support, tape files from disk or from Z80's .TAP files.
  3. Saves .SNA snapshots and tape files to disk or to Z80's .TAP files.
  4. Real tape support by direct tape input if your machine is fast enough (e.g. P150 running Linux works fine) or via an audio file.
  5. Requires X-Windows (X11) or SVGALib (for Linux console version). MIT-SHM extension also probably a good idea.
  6. The Linux console version runs at about 35% real Spectrum speed on a 486SX/25. True-speed emulation without hogging the CPU on fast machines.
  7. Freeware (GNU Public License).
  8. Realistic sound output via /dev/audio. Emulates 'stripey border' effect - very important ;-)
  9. Poor user interface; e.g. no file selector - you have to move to your terminal window and type in name of snapshots to load/save.
  10. Version 0.1d is the most recent 'complete' version available; 0.1e only available as source code.
  11. Available from author's homepage or World of Spectrum (version 0.1d).

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xzx v1.0 (Des Herriott)

  1. Emulates 48K/128K/+3 Spectrums, Kempston joystick (with keys).
  2. Loads .SNA and .Z80 snapshots with level-loader support, tape files from UNIX files.
  3. Saves .SNA and .Z80 snapshots, tape files to UNIX files.
  4. No real tape support.
  5. Requires X-Windows (X11). Makes heavy use of the MIT-SHM X11 extension, and works a good deal slower without it.
  6. Needs approx 486/33 to run at the correct speed (this is from general impressions, not exact timings). Sparc 10 or DEC Alpha will run it very fast.
  7. Freeware.
  8. Sound support for Sparc and NEC EWS workstations via /dev/audio. Sound support for Linux via direct speaker manipulation. X server bell audio for most X servers (traps ROM BEEP routine only).
  9. Poor user interface; e.g. no file selector - you have to move to your terminal window and type in name of snapshots to load/save.
  10. Author has resurfaced from the cold wastes of a job without internet access, but is no longer maintaining or updating xzx. See Erik's modified version, below.
  11. Available from NVG

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[Updated!] XZX v2.9.3 (Erik Kunze and Des Herriott)

  1. Emulates 48/128/+2/+3, Pentagon and Scorpion (Russian Spectrum clones) and Didaktik-M (Czech clone) with Multiface 128, Multiface 3, Interface 1 and Microdrive, Kempston Joystick, Betadisk/TR-DOS, +D and Kempston Mouse (in Russian modes).
  2. Loads .SNA, .Z80, .SLT (LLT also) snapshots, from .TAP, .TZX and .VOC tape files, .MDR microdrive files, Hobeta, .DSK, .FDI, .IMG, .MGT, .SCL, and .TRD disk images and .POK poke files.
  3. Saves to .SNA, .Z80, .SLT, .TAP, .MDR, .DSK, .IMG, .MGT and .TRD files.
  4. No real tape support.
  5. Requires X11; /dev/audio needed if you want AY emulation other than on SunOS/Solaris, AIX, HP-UX and NAS which have native support; uses the Open Sound System to give sound support on a large number of platforms.
  6. Runs at full Speccy speed on a P100 with a 8bpp X server.
  7. Shareware: registered version has a better user interface (Motif), and more features.
  8. By far and away the best emulator for Unix, and one of the best emulators available for any platform. Speccy joystick can take input from your joystick under Linux and FreeBSD.
  9. Some changeable options require re-compilation.
  10. More information from the official XZX home page. Pentagon, Scorpion, Multiface 3, Multiface 128 and TR-DOS ROMs are not included due to copyright problems. Shareware version has no support for +D or disks under TR-DOS, but the rest of TR-DOS does function. Version 2.1.3 also available for Windows, and version 2.0.4 for BeOS.
  11. Source code, pre-compiled binaries and RPM-packages are available from the official XZX homepage; Source code (including the rom images) and contrib file are also available from World of Spectrum.

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zxsp-x v0.4.2/zxsp-qt v0.7.1 (Günter Woigk aka kio)

  1. Emulates the 16K, 48K and 128K Spectrums.
  2. Loads .SNA and .Z80 snapshots, and from .TAP tape images (Qt version only).
  3. Saves to .SNA and .Z80 snapshots, .TAP tape images (again, Qt only) and to .SCR screen shots.
  4. No real tape support.
  5. Correct Speccy speed on a 486/133 or better.
  6. Comes in two versions, both for Linux with X11; zxsp requires the Qt library and is available only for i386 machines, whereas zxsp-x is free from these restrictions. Both need OSS for sound.
  7. BSD-ish license.
  8. Good points?
  9. Bad points?
  10. No other comments.
  11. Available from the author's Spectrum pages.

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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.ast.cam.ac.uk/~pak/cssfaq/index.html.