with my emulator i play speccy games and run programs such as the quill. i also keep one on a memory stick hung around my neck just in case i accidently go back in time to the eighties cos my money in my wallet will be too futaristic to be able to purchase a real spectrum.
Thanks to csscgc 2008 I use emulators to debug code. It's amazing what you can do with a powerful debugger. I've done things that I could never do with the original hardware. Setting breakpoints in the ROM or in tape loaders, modifying the ROM, changing bytes when a game is running - these are all things I wished I could've done with my humble Spectrum + many years ago. (I was too poor to afford a SoftROM or Multiface) (cue violins)
I also like to experiment with hardware / other models I've not used - such as the Timex display modes (that'll keep aowen happy!) I just wish somebody would emulate the RAM Music machine - the 8-bit DAC allowed some cool samples to be played and it's "proper" MIDI in/out/thru allowed some decent sequencing to be done.
@thx1138 - If you like BBC BASIC then you should check out JGHarston's Z80 BBC BASIC (at www.mdfs.net). Alternatively if you really want that original BBC BASIC feel with 6502 assembler and authentic BBC VDU/graphics then you'll have to wait a while for my BBC emulator. It can almost run Bat'n'ball. I was going to say it can't do MODE 7 yet, but as an Electron user you probably don't use it much anyway ;)
How can you develop hardware using emulators? I guess you can develop emulated hardware, but you can't develop hardware without using a bus emulator (I mean, something that replicates the bus output of the emulated speccy in a real connector).
I was there, too
An' you know what they said?
Well, some of it was true!
However, what I meant was that you can write/use software (drivers?) for hardware you've not used before. Take aowen's "colorprint" as an example as it uses the multicolour mode of the Timex display chip. I've never owned or even used a real Timex machine, so apart from using an emulator I have no other way of using it. I can also develop for that hardware, so I was able to test some code to ensure my UK101 emulator supports the 512x192 Timex display mode.
The same idea applies to me using the Currah Microspeech, Romantic Robot Multiface and even the MGT Disciple.
But you will be using an "ideal" version of the speccy and your hardware, not the nasty "true life" device (which can develop quircks that requires you to modify hardware or do software work-arounds).
I was there, too
An' you know what they said?
Well, some of it was true!
back when i was younger, games, games, games. i then started using basic and dabbled with assembly. then i bought a motorbike and started drinking beer and let the whole lot go to fuck.
I Agree with you. Playing with an emulator has the advantage of fast loading and saving option. Even you can select 'Black and White' color mode.
Classic way only for nostalgia...
For even better nostalgia get a recording of your mums voice shouting 'Can you get off that computer - you've been on it all day/your dinners ready/hope youre going to pay for the electricity/your eyes will be fried' etc
Plus every 10 minutes reset your computer because your sister/dog accidentally knocked the Speccy and reset it.
To create even more nostaliga play an 80's cd in the background while youre playing on the Speccy ;)
To create even more nostaliga play an 80's cd in the background while youre playing on the Speccy ;)
Tape, shirley? For even more authenticity, talk over the beginning and the end of each song, describing how the next song coming up is up 2 or down 5 from last week!
with my emulator i play speccy games and run programs such as the quill. i also keep one on a memory stick hung around my neck just in case i accidently go back in time to the eighties cos my money in my wallet will be too futaristic to be able to purchase a real spectrum.
And your memory stick will work in a non-USB era?
Anywho ... I use emus to map games ... that's basically it. Seeing as there is no "mapping games" option I am "forced" to choose "playing games" ;-) ... but I can't because the poll is closed :-( (EDIT: Never mind, it's probably still open, I had previously voted)
And I like PGD a lot and tinker with that hours on end, designing bricks, walls landscapes.
I still type in a few small BASIC programs from time to time, just for fun. Like those from The Spectrum Book of Games by Mike James. I remember sitting on the loungeroom floor in front of the TV typing those in :)
Comments
I might play a few games as well now and then.
I also like to experiment with hardware / other models I've not used - such as the Timex display modes (that'll keep aowen happy!) I just wish somebody would emulate the RAM Music machine - the 8-bit DAC allowed some cool samples to be played and it's "proper" MIDI in/out/thru allowed some decent sequencing to be done.
@thx1138 - If you like BBC BASIC then you should check out JGHarston's Z80 BBC BASIC (at www.mdfs.net). Alternatively if you really want that original BBC BASIC feel with 6502 assembler and authentic BBC VDU/graphics then you'll have to wait a while for my BBC emulator. It can almost run Bat'n'ball. I was going to say it can't do MODE 7 yet, but as an Electron user you probably don't use it much anyway ;)
An' you know what they said?
Well, some of it was true!
However, what I meant was that you can write/use software (drivers?) for hardware you've not used before. Take aowen's "colorprint" as an example as it uses the multicolour mode of the Timex display chip. I've never owned or even used a real Timex machine, so apart from using an emulator I have no other way of using it. I can also develop for that hardware, so I was able to test some code to ensure my UK101 emulator supports the 512x192 Timex display mode.
The same idea applies to me using the Currah Microspeech, Romantic Robot Multiface and even the MGT Disciple.
An' you know what they said?
Well, some of it was true!
I Agree with you. Playing with an emulator has the advantage of fast loading and saving option. Even you can select 'Black and White' color mode.
Classic way only for nostalgia...
For even better nostalgia get a recording of your mums voice shouting 'Can you get off that computer - you've been on it all day/your dinners ready/hope youre going to pay for the electricity/your eyes will be fried' etc
Plus every 10 minutes reset your computer because your sister/dog accidentally knocked the Speccy and reset it.
To create even more nostaliga play an 80's cd in the background while youre playing on the Speccy ;)
Tape, shirley? For even more authenticity, talk over the beginning and the end of each song, describing how the next song coming up is up 2 or down 5 from last week!
It has to be 12" extended mixes. the 80's WAS the era of the 12" single.
I thought that for you the 80's was the decade of the Hansom cab, Jack the Ripper and pea-souper fogs in London?
:razz:
And your memory stick will work in a non-USB era?
Anywho ... I use emus to map games ... that's basically it. Seeing as there is no "mapping games" option I am "forced" to choose "playing games" ;-) ... but I can't because the poll is closed :-( (EDIT: Never mind, it's probably still open, I had previously voted)
And I like PGD a lot and tinker with that hours on end, designing bricks, walls landscapes.