ZX Spectrum line

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Revision as of 23:37, 5 February 2014 by Newt (talk | contribs) (Emulators)
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The ZX Spectrum (Pronounced ZED-ex) is an 8-bit home computing platform developed by Sinclair in 1982. It was one of the three major home computer platforms that dominated the market in the United Kingdom during the 1980's, along side the Commodore 64 and the Amstrad Colour Personal Computer. The ``Spectrum" is in reference to its colour display, an innovation from the previous model, the ZX81. The Spectrum was released as eight different models, ranging from the entry level model with 16 kB RAM released in 1982 to the ZX Spectrum +3 with 128 kB RAM and built in floppy disk drive in 1987; together they sold in excess of 5 million units worldwide, not accounting for the numerous clones. The device was highly significant in British culture, so much so that its creator, Clive Sinclair, was actually knighted for services to the British industry, in 1983. Spectrum game development continues to this day, with over 100 new releases since 2012.

Emulators

There are hundreds of emulators, in the chart below are just a few I have personal experience with, if you have a favourite that I've left out, feel free to append it. A full list of emulators can be found here

Name Author Operating System(s) Latest Version Latest Release
ZXSpectrum4.NET Tim and Richard Butler Windows XP SP3 and up, requires .NET 1.0.4911 Direct Download
Free Unix Spectrum Emulator Philip Kendall UNIX and Likes (Linux, BSD, OSX, etc) 1.1.1 System Specific; Direct Download
X128 James McKay DOS 0.94 Direct Download
Speccy Marat Fayzullin Android 2.2 and above 3.0 Android Market
PSPectrum (Not a developer page, none seem to exist) HexDump Playstation Portable 1.0.4 Direct Download
GoldenEye 007 RARE Nintendo 64 007 Patch