ZX Spectrum Next Discussion

[Alessandro]

Did your Next arrive @Alessandro?

I received an email from DPD three days ago, stating that my order had been dispatched. Right now, tracking information on their website says it should be due for delivery next Tuesday. I hope so!

[PeterJ]

Its odd that the one for [mention]Pegaz[/mention] arrived already, but maybe he did not have the accelerated model.

Fingers crossed.

[Alessandro]

My Next arrived today No problems to report, box and computer in great order, except for some nasty glue traces left from the round stickers at the sides of the lid

I hooked it to an old VGA monitor I normally use with the +2A and a GBS-8220 RGB-to-VGA card. For now I just browsed through the various menus and updated system and core to v1.23 and v.3.01.00 respectively. In the next few days I will do some more tests and try some old and new Spectrum software, and some specific for the Next as well.



From the initial impressions, the machine looks very sleek and retains the heritage of the old Spectrums, both in appearance and functionality, but expands it to new directions, which I am eager to explore I like the glossy finish of the keyboard layout; it creates a nice contrast with the matte keys and case. The 4-color lines on the right and the curved right side are a pretty sight too. A testament to the genius of the great, late Rick Dickinson.

(Edit: corrected a couple of typos)

[PeterJ]

Fantastic that it arrived safely. Already looking forward to see what you can do with the machine [mention]Alessandro[/mention].

I guess the gourmet cooking will be on hold for a few days!

[PeterJ]

By the way, thank you [mention]garryl[/mention] and [mention]TheSMoG[/mention] (I'm assuming one of you created this) for linking to us from the FAQ. The cheque is in the post

https://wiki.specnext.dev/FAQ#Where_can ... F_roms_.3F

Are you planning any option to download games on the fly from websites, like some 'emulators' do (as well as the excellent ‘Interface 1bis' from [mention]Dan Antohi[/mention]? It would be good to involved with this. [mention]kolbeck[/mention] has created an open API for querying ZXDB:

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=505

[Seven.FFF]

I was thinking of linking to [mention]Alessandro[/mention]’s divMMC TAP page too, as the subject of why custom loaders don’t work with ROM traps comes up quite often.

[PeterJ]

I was thinking of linking to @Alessandro’s divMMC TAP page too, as the subject of why custom loaders don’t work with ROM traps comes up quite often.

Good stuff!

[Alessandro]

I guess the gourmet cooking will be on hold for a few days!

I already bought some speck and gorgonzola for this Saturday's pizza, and plan to prepare beef bites a là Voronoff this week - the arrival of the Next must be celebrated with special treats

[mention]Seven.FFF[/mention], feel free to link to the TAP files as you please, I am glad to know they will be of use to fellow Next users as well

[TheSMoG]

By the way, thank you @garryl and @TheSMoG (I'm assuming one of you created this) for linking to us from the FAQ. The cheque is in the post

https://wiki.specnext.dev/FAQ#Where_can ... F_roms_.3F

Are you planning any option to download games on the fly from websites, like some 'emulators' do (as well as the excellent ‘Interface 1bis' from @Dan Antohi? It would be good to involved with this. @kolbeck has created an open API for querying ZXDB:

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=505

Well downloading LEGAL stuff on demand is in the plans and actively being worked on. That doesn't mean the system won't be extensible if you know what *cough* I mean. The software being developed currently is/will be open source so....

[Swainy]

Got to say I’m very imp with RAMS for the Next.

https://youtu.be/OgI_rqUh71M

[redballoon]

I tell you, the Galaxian sound is the sound of the arcade for me.
This looks so good!

[DouglasReynholm]

Congratulations [mention]Alessandro[/mention]! I wonder if they have all shipped now?

[Ralf]

Some new info about new Dizzy game for Next:

http://www.indieretronews.com/2020/07/w ... to-zx.html

The included graphics actually look like they are for standard Speccy however. But they are great anyway !

[Seven.FFF]

My understanding is that it will be a standard 128K game design, with perhaps some Next-specific enhancements written after completion to float hardware sprites over the top of the player and characters to eliminate attribute clash without fundamentally changing the visual character of the game.

Although an approach like that isn't making anything close to full use of the machine's new features, it's just as valid as an artistic choice for devs, and will also likely be very popular with end users, many of whom would rather not play games that appear "too 16bit" (a subjective perception people form from seeing 256 colours per pixel on the entire playfield).