Mac Speccy 1.0 is a pre-release version of a Timex/Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48k. This version loads *.sna files, and seems to run most I've downloaded. Future versions will support the *.z80 format as well. The program also allows you to "copy" the spectrum screen as a PICT to the clipboard.
SPECTRUM KEYBOARD:
Only a minimal emulation of the spectrum keyboard is provided. This will also change in future versions. Control is symbol shift, and Shift is caps shift. No shortcuts have been provided for punctuation marks. Results on keyboards other the QWERTY keyboards may be real wierd.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
Most of this program is written in C. It therefore requires a 68040 based Mac to run at acceptable speeds. It probably will run on a 68020 or better, but is real slow. (Tried it on an LC and almost cried at the results). Your monitor must be set to 256 colors/greys before running the program. There's no code in there to check you do this, so you'll just get strange results if its not.
Please make sure that the application and ROM file are kept in the same directory. The emulator won't find it otherwise.
CURRENT LIMITATIONS & FUTURE PLANS:
• The flash attribute is not supported yet. Means menu selection can be a bit hairy, but does't affect that many games.
• The border drawing routine needs some work, doesn't always seem to behave.
• Critical routines are being coded in assembly to try and get more speed. Hopefully this means some day it'll run on slower Macs :-)
• Should support more file types.
• Should support saving snaps.
• Should have some way of changing how often screen is updated.
• Sound would be nice, but real difficult
• Should trap the load/save routines so that you can load/save to disk.
(• If you've lots of background stuff running performance isn't too good)
FINDING SNAPS:
I've included my favorite game Knight Lore in the archive. I see that Doomdark's Revenge is popular so that's there too, and just had to put Jetpac there aswell.
There are a number of ftp sites that keep snaps.
Try these two:
ftp.ijs.si /pub/zx
ftp.nvg.unit.no /pub/sinclair
Most of the snaps are zipped so you need an unzip program.
I believe one exists (shareware) for the Mac called ZipIt by Tommy Brown. I don't know where it's available from by ftp, but I'm sure your local archie server will point you in the right direction, various other versions are available for the PC and UNIX boxes.
LEGAL STUFF:
This software may be distributes freely, as long as this read me, the application and the ROM file are kept together. You are free to use it for up to one month, after which time if you decide to keep it you must send £10.00/$15.00 whichever currency is easiest, to the author at the below address. Please support the shareware concept, this is a small amount of money, and the continued maintainence of this product is reliant on the receipt of fees.
This software is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.
