Which emulator to use?

[highrise]

Hi guys

I'm new here, obviously. Nice to meet you. I recently got back into Spectrum programming and decided to play about with AGD. However, I have run into some issues upgrading to the new version. Previously I used version 3, and for the most part I just saved off a snapshot as i went along. However, the new version doesn't like this as it has various files it needs to load. I was using the FUSE emulator, and I can't seem to get it to work - I've tried setting up the tape, but when I go to screen layouts (key C), I just get 'ok' and the system goes back to the basic prompt. Not good.

However, I have also had a lot of trouble with Spin, because when I go full screen on my double screen set up, it doesn't work properly, and in fact it crashed out completely and I lost a load of work. Very frustrating. It seems like a good emulator, especially as it also has an assembler, but it doesn't like my Windows 8.1 set up.

So, a rather long winded way of asking, does anyone else write on AGD using an emulator on Windows 8.1, and if so, which one works well for you.

Thanks in advance guys, I hope to write something fun you might like to play in the future!

[Jonathan Cauldwell]

Returning to the BASIC prompt suggests you might have been emulating the wrong model of Spectrum. Make sure you're emulating a 128K or +2.

[highrise]

ah, ok, that's interesting. I thought I was, but I guess when I switched emulators I didn't make the change. Thanks for that.

[trancos77]

High Rise, i ' m new in AGD, but in my opinion, after a few tests, Spectaculator is the best for use with AGD, besides, all the tutorials use it.

[alessandro]

Hi, of all the Spectrum emulators I tried (and I tried quite a few of them in 20 years ), Spectaculator is the most easy and immediate to use and the one I employ for my needs most of the time.

However you should also keep in mind that Spectaculator:

a) lacks some advanced features, like a graphics searcher;
b) has not been updated for years by now and lacks emulation of newer peripherals, like the DivIDE and derivates;
c) must be paid for, € 11.99 for the current version, € 22.99 if you choose the free lifetime update option.

Free alternatives that you could consider besides FUSE, which is a very good emulator although I personally find its user interface not very user friendly, are SpecEmu - possibly the most accurate Spectrum emulator available. Make sure to get the latest version, currently 3.1.b120516.

Another interesting emulator - the author is very active and interested to get feedback from users - with an impressive set of features, is ZEsarUX. This is also available for several platforms.

[highrise]

thanks - for the most part I have settled on using FUSE. I liked SPIN, especially because it had an assembler and I started to learn assembly but it seems to have compatibility issues with windows 8, it freezes unexpectedly which is something you really don't want when developing. I haven't heard of ZEsarUX, I will check it out sometime.

[alessandro]

Do not use ZX Spin's in-built assembler, it's an experimental feature and contains several bugs (as Dunny himself stated on the WOS forum). If you need to write and assemble M/C you should rather employ a text editor like Notepad ++, save the code as an .ASM file and assemble it with a cross-assembler like Pasmo.

I'd avoid using ZX Spin altogether, I only run it when I need some specific feature like the graphics searcher. Dunny has not updated it for years and it seems he is not interested into developing it further.

[ravenheart]

Just started out in AGD, till my new +2 arrives im using both Speculator and Fuse. Speculator is nice and fast and easy to use however the ability to use the windows cursor keys in Fuse make things a bit faster . I could never get to grips with the cursors on the speccy The beauty is I can switch to what I want till I get the hardware then im going native.

[alessandro]

Jul 26, 2017 5:44:27 GMT ravenheart said:

Just started out in AGD, till my new +2 arrives im using both Speculator and Fuse. Speculator is nice and fast and easy to use however the ability to use the windows cursor keys in Fuse make things a bit faster . I could never get to grips with the cursors on the speccy The beauty is I can switch to what I want till I get the hardware then im going native.

You can emulate the Spectrum cursor keys by using their PC counterparts in Spectaculator. Just select from the Control menu Keyboard joystick and then Spectrum cursor keys.

[ravenheart]

cool, now less use for fuse. Thanks for the info

[onan1972]

Hi,

Sorry to pick up an old message, does anyone know if the latest Spectaculator will work using Windows 10?  I'd be prepared to pay for it if so.

Onan.

[alessandro]

Yes it does. I am typing this from my laptop PC running Windows 10 Home and Spectaculator works without problems; on this PC, I even employed Spectaculator as one of the tools for developing my forthcoming game.

[onan1972]

Hi,

Thanks for the confirmation.  The new game (Sophia) looks really good btw!

O,

[alessandro]

Thanks, I hope you'll enjoy it! I will announce it here too of course