When the emulator is running, background applications get no time at all. This means that you can't use Power Spectrum to pass the time while waiting for e.g. a file transfer to finish.
Pressing the command key temporarily suspends the emulation in order to let you type keyboard equivalents of menu commands.
The window
Since Power Spectrum writes directly to screen memory, it's rather picky about the position of its main window. The active area of the Spectrum screen (the part inside the border) has to be completely on one screen. Also, it refuses to move the window to a screen that can't be switched to 256 colours/greys.
Because the size of the main window can exceed the size of the screen it's on, two special features exist to help you move the window exactly where you want it. Firstly, you can drag the window by command-clicking anywhere inside it. Secondly, a rectangle showing the active area is added to the usual window outline when dragging.
The function of the zoom box is slightly different from what's usual. Clicking it changes the window to the next larger size, while option-clicking it changes the window to the next smaller size.
Sound
Power Spectrum uses the sound output sample rate set in the Sound control panel. For the smoothest operation, select the highest sample rate.
Tape I/O
The usual 44 kHz sound hardware doesn't handle speedloading or low-quality recordings (translation: no tape-to-tape copies…). With slower hardware (e.g. in a Quadra with a PowerPC card) loading and saving will probably not work at all.
If you're loading from a mono tape player, you may need to not-quite-insert the plug in the Mac microphone socket. Hint: open the Sound control panel, select Sound In, click the Options… button, and check the Playthrough box. This makes it easy to determine if the signal is getting through.
Editing keyboard mappings
In the list dialog:
• To make a new empty mapping, type in a name and click on the New button.
• To make a copy of an existing mapping, select it in the list, type in a new name and click on the Duplicate button.
• To rename an existing mapping, select it in the list, type in a new name and click on the Rename button.
• To edit an existing mapping, select it in the list and click on the Edit button. Double-clicking on a mapping in the list works too.
• To delete an existing mapping, select it in the list and click on the Delete button.
In the edit dialog:
Select a Mac key by typing it on the keyboard or by clicking on the picture of the Mac keyboard.
Then select which Spectrum keys it maps to by clicking on the picture of the Spectrum keyboard.
This is what the built-in keyboard mapping looks like:
Letters and digits map to the corresponding Spectrum key.
Arrow keys map to 5, 6, 7, or 8 with caps shift.
Backspace maps to 0 with caps shift.
Escape maps to 1 with caps shift.
Shift and caps lock map to caps shift.
Option maps to symbol shift.
Number pad digits map to directions on a Kempston joystick.
Control and number pad 0 map to the fire button on a Kempston joystick.
Drag and drop
Power Spectrum supports these drag and drop operations:
• You can load a snapshot (or ROM) file by dragging it from the Finder to the emulator's main window.
• You can create a new snapshot file by dragging from the main window to the Finder. This is equivalent to either "Save as" or "Save a Copy as", depending on whether the option key is down. Note that this never overwrites an existing file.
• You can drag a snapshot directly to another emulator. This isn't very useful yet, since no other Spectrum emulators on the Mac support drag and drop.
Menus
Control
Run or Halt
The emulator starts or stops.
Exact speed
The emulator tries to run at the speed of a physical Spectrum.
Unlimited speed
The emulator runs as fast as it can. There is no sound and screen writes are always synchronous.
Sound
None
No sound.
Out
Sound from either the Spectrum speaker or the Spectrum tape output connector is emulated and fed to the default sound output device.
In
Sound is sampled from the default sound input device and fed to the Spectrum tape input connector.
From Speaker
The Spectrum speaker is used as the sound source when in "Out" mode.
From “Mic”
The Spectrum tape output connector is used as the sound source when in "Out" mode.
Screen
Small
One Mac pixel per Spectrum pixel.
Large
2x2 Mac pixels per Spectrum pixel.
Huge
3x3 Mac pixels per Spectrum pixel.
Enormous
4x4 Mac pixels per Spectrum pixel.
Synchronous
All writes to screen memory are executed immediately. Use this when the screen is more important than the sound.
Asynchronous
Writes to attribute memory are put in a queue and executed while the emulator is waiting for the next sound buffer. Use this when the sound is more important than the screen.
Keyboard
Edit mappings…
Opens the keyboard mapping editor (see above).
Built-in etc.
Selects another keyboard mapping.
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Spectrum Keyboard
Shows a window with a picture of a Spectrum keyboard.
