May 1st 2005. A new test version of RS32 is available for download from the "Latest development builds" box above.
Build 0.97.31 finally brings back the long missed RealDisk feature for all modern Windows operating systems, including
Windows 2000, XP and 2003. The functionality is completely equivalent to the DOS version,
with the ability to read, write and format both standard and copy-protected disks.
In order to access RealDisk, you must first download and install the free FDRAWCMD driver; more information about the driver
can be found at the author's homepage, where a 64-bit version is available too.
Please check that the type of your PC disk drive matches the one reported in the ALT-F6
control panel (default: 3.5" 1.44MB). If it's different, move the cursor over the line
labeled "Realdisk drive" and press SPACE repeatedly until the description matches your
actual configuration.
This build is highly experimental, so please report any problems to the usual address.
November 11th 2004. The MSDOS version of RealSpectrum has been updated to v0.97.26 too.
November 6th 2004. Oops, in the last release the tape saving option in ALT-F7 didn't work anymore after the update to
the menu layout (forgot to change a menu index, thanks Andrea!). Make sure that you download the refreshed version 0.97.26. Sorry for the inconvenience! The DOS version is coming next week
around Wednesday.
November 2nd 2004. A micro-update of RS32 is now available (R14B), which corrects a small bug in the
RZX options menu which could cause a crash with external snapshots not placed into the same
directory as the RZX file itself. As a bonus, we have also added support for the CodeMasters CD,
so you can now load the games of this collection into the emulator; read the changelog or chapter 6
for more details.
The DOS version of RealSpectrum will be updated in the next days.
RealX is progressing, please be patient a little more. The Linux version of RealSpectrum, instead,
is still starving in our to-do list because of lack of time :-(
July 21st 2004. RealSpectrum R14 is finally out, and we're a bit sad to announce that this is the last release planned
for the glorious v0.xx series. We have dedicated so much time, passion and resources to this project over the past
four years and it's now very difficult to put all this behind of us. Personal computers have changed a lot during this time:
now everybody use Windows 2000/XP and a DOS-minded application like RealSpectrum, which was great at the Windows 98 era,
now just looks inadequate for today's GUI standards, although it still provides many unique functionalities.
That's why we have started RealX, a brand new emulator built upon all the good and bad things that we have learned with
RealSpectrum. RealX now requires all of our time, so we have to stop to support RealSpectrum; of course you can still
send us bug reports and comments and we might release a small update for urgent things, but don't expect anything for sure.
The version counter has stopped at 0.97.23, just a little below the fatidic v1.00: this is just a way to remind ourselves
that we couldn't manage to achieve the goal of the "ideal emulator" with all the features that we wanted and most importantly
without all the bugs that we didn't want ;-) All our expectations are now for RealX.
Ok, now don't forget to check out the release notes to see what's new in R14. Happy Speccying! :-)
Linux version: Now that RealSpectrum has reached the end of its development cycle, we'll try to make a quick
conversion of R14 to Linux during the summer.
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The most complete and up-to-date list of features is available into the manual.
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| Video |
Probably you have already realized that RealSpectrum is offering the
best video rendering accuracy to date. Read on:
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World's first 100% exact multicolor renderer! We have digged out
all the ULA secrets (pant!), so we are now able to show all the amazing
raster effects like on the real Spectrum!
-
Super-fine MCR. The multicolor renderer is clock-precise, so it
reproduces all the horizontal raster effects exactly (see the border in
DOE and MDA for example).
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Selectable resolution. RealSpectrum can run at any (S)VGA resolution
and supports all VESA1/2/3 modes and tweaked X-Mode. Depending on the screen
size, the number of upper/lower and lateral border lines is automatically
adjusted.
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Video recorder. Produce AVI movie files recording your favourite games and demos, including both audio and video or video only. There are several settings to play with to achieve the best quality / file size balancement.
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Scanlines. At high resolutions we enable scanlines rendering to
make the image more similar to the TV output.
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Graphic interface. All user interaction happens through a graphic
windowing system which we are currently developing.
Video resolution can be changed on the fly from the GUI, as well as the other settings like gamma and VGA synchronization.
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| Sound |
In our opinion, audio is no less important than video so we are paying
a special attention to the sound quality. Even if the work is not yet finished,
RealSpectrum is already sounding pretty good as you may guess from the
specs already implemented listed here:
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Digital mixing AY38912 and YM2149 emulator. Good envelopes reproduction.
All the digital modplayers (such as DigiSynth, Morpheus, Soundtracker 2
and so on) are working well.
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Mono/Stereo and 8/16-bit sound output. If your soundcard supports
stereo playback, RealSpectrum can work in stereo mode enabling some amazing
effects.
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256-steps stereo panning. Each channel can be panned independently
to 256 positions ranging from extreme left to extreme right. There are
three presets: NONE (centered), ABC and ACB stereo modes, plus you can
define your own custom settings.
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Surround sound! The surround effect enhances the sound depth very
nicely, even when the channels are all panned to center! Surround is obviousely
available on stereo soundcards only.
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Beeper vs AY loudness balancement. You can choose the relative power
of the AY respect to the beeper's volume (256 steps), so you can boost
your favourite AY songs! :-)
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Sound recorder. You can dump the audio to a WAV, YM or AZX file for your Speccy
tunes CD :-)
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Digital sound interfaces RealSpectrum emulates Covox, Stereo Covox, Soundrive, Music Machine and SpecDrum using a 4 x 8-bit stereo interpolated digital mixer for high quality.
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AY-LPT circuit support. With just a few ICs and resistors you can
connect a real AY-38912/10 chip to any LPT port of your PC and get the
perfect sound quality of the "real thing"! (To do: 4-bit speech quality
improvements).
All these settings can be changed in realtime from the sound control panel
(GUI).
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| Z80 core |
The CPU emulation is ultra-accurate, fruit of our own investigations
into the Z80 architecture. Our Z80 core is extremely stable and almost undistinguishable from the real chip.
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Undocumented features. Not only all the unofficial instructions
are emulated, but we have also reproduced the undocumented behaviour of
the flag register in all circumstances.
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Clock-precise emulation. Everything happens at the exact moment
when the real Z80 does it (hopefully :-)); the bus lines accesses, interrupt
sensing and processing, data transfers and so on are perfectly calibrated
and distributed into the various internal machine states.
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I/O side effects. We have emulated the floating bus behaviour and
the issue-3 port 254 oscillations. We are also able to reproduce the famous
"snow effect", although it's not very useful and we have not yet decided
whether to include it or not.
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| Other features |
Some more aspects:
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File formats. Click here for a detailed list. Snapshots: Z80 and SNA (all versions, both read/write). Tapes: TAP, WAV, CSW, TZX and real tape recorder connected to the soundcard (all for both reading and writing). Audio disk-writer: WAV, YM and AZX. Music player: AY. Videorecording: AVI. Disks: MGT/IMG, TRD/SCL, DSK/DSK+, MBD, OPD, D80 and real floppies inserted into PC drive (to do: FDI). IF-1 cartridges: MDR. Input recording and playback: AIR. Cheats: POK. Custom ROMs and IF-2 cartridges: ROM.
- TZX FlashLoading. When tape loading becomes the same thing as disk loading! Most commercial turbo-taped games can be loaded in zero time, levels included. Works with all Alkatraz, Speedlock, Bleepload, Paul Owens, Softlock, PowerLoad and Digital Integration games (more to come).
- FastLoading. An alternate loading acceleration technique which reduces loading time down to the lowest value possible regardless of the speed of your PC.
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Peripherals. RealSpectrum emulates a wide range of interfaces: all Multifaces (I/128/III), Multiprint, Interface-1, Kempston joystick and mouse, DISCiPLE and +D, TRDOS, +3DOS, MB-02+, Opus Discovery, D80/D40, Scorpion SMUC and support for various IDE interfaces.
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Spectrum models. RealSpectrum supports a very wide range of Speccy models: 16K, 48K, 128K, +2, +2A, +3, Didaktik, Pentagon and Scorpion.
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Networking. Emulates the Sinclair Network of the Interface-1 and MGT DISCiPLE via TCP/IP over the Internet! Includes a live chat, a file exchange system and the NetPlay feature for multiplaying.
- Action recorder. You can record and playback all the keypresses and joystick movements into AIR files, great for creating collections of game solutions that anybody can watch like a movie, and for taking part in the online game tournaments.
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