ZX-SPECTRUM instant all-in pack

A currated collection of best emulators, programming books and software. All you need to spend time on a desert island.

Online

Try jVGS or Qaop emulators online.

Top ZX-SPECTRUM emulators

Host OS	Emulator	Source code	Last updated	Author	Supported file formats
Crossplatform	USP - Unreal Speccy Portable fork	C++ git snapshot v0.0.86.12	2020	djdron, scor	TRD, FDI, TD0, SCL, UDI, SP, SNA, Z80, TAP, TZX, CSW, SZX, RZX
Windows	Unreal Speccy v0.39	C++ git v0.37 snapshot v0.39	2019	SMT, Dexus, Alone Coder, Deathsoft	TRD, FDI, TD0, SCL, UDI, SP, SNA, Z80, TAP, TZX, CSW
Crossplatform	Fuse v1.5.7 linux and win32	C++ snapshot v1.5.7 from git	2018	Fuse Team	Z80, SNA, SZX, PZX, TAP, TZX, DSK, UDI, FDI, TD0, MGT, IMG, D40, D80, SAD, TRD, SCL, OPD
Crossplatform	JVGS v1.1.4	JavaScript WANTED	2016	Epsiloncool	TRD, SCL, TAP, TZX, Z80, ROM
Crossplatform	Qaop/JS v1.4	JavaScript WANTED	2012	Jan Bobrowski	TAP, Z80, SNA, ROM, SCR
DOS	x128 v0.94	C++ snapshot	2002	James McKay	TRD, FDI, FDD, SCL, Z80, SNA, SLT, VOC, TZX, BLX
DOS	r80 v0.30	C++ WANTED	2000	Raul Gomez Sanchez	TRD, FDI, TAP, SNA, Z80, TZX, SLT, SCL
DOS	Spectrum 128K v3.05	C++ snapshot	1999	Nikolay Shalaev	TRD, FDI, TD0 TAP, TZX

ZXBOX VM

ZXBOX is an Ubuntu 20.04 Virtualbox VM with preinstalled emulators and over 10Gb of ZX Spectrum software.

Download ZXBOX VM from vagrant cloud or build from sources.

Ubuntu has enabled autologin with default vagrant user vagrant with password vagrant

ZXBOX VM contents

• Unreal Speccy Portable emulator compiled from sources
• Fuse emulator + ROMs pack
• Wine (to run Unreal Speccy v0.39 for Windows)
• DOSBOX (to run X128, r80 and Shalaev emulators)
• over 8Gb of ZX Spectrum software - TOSEC-2021-repack filelist collection based on TOSEC 2021 release repacked and released by ladyeklipse
• over 4Gb of ZX Spectrum software - Virtual TRDOS (DVD 1.7 2007) collection from https://vtrd.in/
• Double Commander and Midnight Commander for fast-and-old-school navigation

Nested emulation layers structure

Layer #3 - Z80 Emulation	USP, Fuse	Unreal Speccy	x128, r80, Shalaev
Layer #2 - Crossplatform		wine (Windows on Linux)	dosbox (MSDOS on Linux)
Layer #1 - Common VM OS	-//-	Ubuntu 20.04 Desktop	-//-
HOST OS - VirtualBox	-//-	any OS capable of running VirtualBox	-//-

HOWTO Start

Any platform

Open in web browser jVGS or use command line jvgs.sh) or Qaop.

Then open image from your local file system. (with Google Chrome use google-chrome --allow-file-access-from-files)

Linux

Build from sources and start Unreal Speccy Portable

linux-usp.sh

Install from packages and start Fuse

linux-fuse.sh

Start UnrealSpeccy with wine

wine-unrealspeccy.sh

Windows

Start UnrealSpeccy

win-unrealspeccy.bat

DOS or any OS that has dosbox emulation layer

Start r80 via dosbox

dosbox-r80.sh

Start Shalaev via dosbox

dosbox-shalaev.sh

Start x128 via dosbox

dosbox-x128.sh

Navigation hotkeys for common actions

Action	Unreal Speccy	USP	Fuse	r80	x128	Shalaev
Open image	F3	Escape/ Open	F3	F8, F4	F12, F5
Reset	F12, Ctrl-F12	F12	F5	F2	F3	F3, F4
Hardware settings	Shift-F4, Shift-F7		F9, F4	F2, F12	F3,F4,F11, Shift-F11
Exit	Alt-F4	Alt-F4	F10	F10	F10	Escape, Alt-X
Menu		Escape	F1	F1	F1	Escape

USP notes

To build from sources on debian linux:

sudo apt install cmake g++ libcurl4-openssl-dev libsdl2-dev

git clone https://bitbucket.org/djdron/unrealspeccyp.git usp
cd usp/build/cmake && mkdir build && cd build

cmake .. -DUSE_SDL2=ON -DUSE_SDL=OFF -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
make -j4

cp -r ../../../res .
./unreal_speccy_portable

Checkout BROWSE WEB option in Main Menu for huge online software catalog maintained by vtrd.in community.

UX NOTE: change JOYSTICK option from KEMPSTON to CURSOR in order to TRDOS menu to work

CREDITS

• https://vtrd.in for Virtual TR-DOS archive and comunity
• http://dlcorp.nedopc.com for Unreal Speccy emulator
• https://viva-games.ru/ for jVGS emulator
• https://sourceforge.net/u/ladyeklipse/profile for largest collection
• https://www.worldofspectrum.org for the Mission