Retro: Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48k on Ubuntu 64 Bit

So, I have a state of the art Notebook (well, almost state of the art), with a Duel Core 64 Bit AMD Processor, 2Gb RAM, and a 64 Bit Operating System (Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon) – but, whatever… because I’ve found a Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48k Emulator! What better use for such a system than to play classic 8 Bit games from my childhood?! Yes, I could drag the old 48k machine along with the Dixons tape deck from my parents’ attic, and hook it up to the TV – but that would involve a trip half way around the world. I can’t afford that, so instead, I ran

sudo apt-get install spectemu-common spectemu-x11 spectrum-roms

which installed the Spectemu (xspect) command line Speccy Emulator, along with a few Speccy ROMs. Searching for some of my old favourite games (Skool Daze, Back to Skool, Lords of Chaos, Spy Hunter, Saboteur, Elite – also see the Oolite post), led me to World of Spectrum, where I downloaded a bunch of TAP tape image files, and dumped them in ~/Speccy

Spectemu is CLI, so from a terminal window, I ran
cd ~/Speccy

and extracted the games I’d just downloaded

tar -zxvf SkoolDaze.tap.zip

then ran the Emulator itself

xspect

which brought up the age old “© 1982 Sinclair Research Ltd” Speccy interface in a new window. In this window, I had to press Enter, and run

Load ""

by pressing the Speccy shortcut “j” followed by two double quotes “” which outputs Load “”, followed by Enter. Pressing Ctrl+p outputs a prompt back in the Terminal window to enter the tape file path, which was simply

SKOOLDAZ.TAP

followed by return. Back in the Speccy window, Skool Daze began loading. And loading… and loading… It’s as if I was back in the ’80s – a few minutes later, the game had loaded to memory (without crashing, or needing to adjust the volume of the tape player etc.!), and I could enjoy a blast from the past…

Quick loading of tapes is also possible. Before typing Load “” simply press Ctrl+y in the Speccy window, and the Terminal window reports “Quick Load on” (it can also be switched off with Ctrl+y). After entering Load “” follow the same procedure of entering the .TAP file name, and the game loads into memory much faster, bypassing the Speccy ROM’s load routine. Nice!

To quit – just press “Ctrl+c” in the Speccy window. More on the Speccy commands can be found at http://www.inf.bme.hu/~mszeredi/spectemu/README

Transcend 32 GB microSDHC Flash Memory Card TS32GUSDHC4E [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging] $21.99 SDHC Class 4 and SD 2.0 compliant, a speed of 4MB/s is guaranteed…

Cooler Master Notepal X2 Notebook Cooler R9-NBC-4WAK-GP $23.99 With efficient functional and superb silent concept in mind, the NotePal X2 creates optimal comfort for laptop users. Either on a desk or on the lap of an on-the-go user, the NotePal X2 takes air from a bottom intake and cools down high temperatures with its 140mm silent fans, dissipating the high temperatures generated by the CPU and GPU trapped inside the laptop housing….

Logitech M305 Wireless Mouse (Black) $18.99 The contoured shape and soft rubber grips keep your hand comfortable, even after long hours at the computer. Automatic sleep mode turns the mouse off when you’re not using it Power indicator light eliminates surprises…

Case Logic Laptop Case (Black) $0.01 Professionally-oriented functionality and materials with relaxed styling to protect your laptop and ensure all of your business essentials are organized….

Cosmos ® Pink Neoprene/Cotton 15 15.6 inch Laptop notebook computer case/bag/sleeve for Dell HP Acer Asus Sony IBM Gateway Toshiba samsung + Cosmos cable tie $12.99 Ipad with case , please buy 10″; T400 cannot use 14″; Asus G53/N53 cannot use 15″, please buy 17″; Asus G73, cannot use 17″: Apple Macbook PRO 15.4″ , please buy 17″….

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.