Spectrum Computing

I don't want to spend more than 30-40 euros... any suggestion?

If you can get hold of one for a good price, then something from the Nintendo DS range would make a decent little console, when paired with an inexpensive flashcart and Patrik Rak's ZXDS emulator. Flashcarts tend to cost about £9 on the UK market, and you'll need a microSD card to store its data on too - any card will likely be big enough for your needs.

The advantage of ZXDS over emulators for other platforms is that, through some software trickery, the DS is coaxed into refreshing its LCD screen at the Spectrum's native 50Hz, giving a smooth and jitter-free display.

Yes, an early DS is a good bet. Which model is not quite so easy to decide, as each has strengths and weaknesses.

The original DS doesn't have a particularly bright screen, but can play GBA games as well as DS ones, if that's remotely interesting.

The DS-Lite is smaller and has brighter screens, but the lid hinge is weaker and can crack easily, leaving it to fall open rather than stay at a fixed angle. It can also play GBA games, but the cartridges will stick out at the front.

The DSi is the first where downloads could update the firmware, so began a tit-for-tat match with trying to block the R4 Flash cards, but these days the R4 cards should be sophisticated enough to get round any security updates that may remain in a second-hand DSi. But the DSi can't play GBA cartridges.

There's a DSi-XL that has larger screens, although still the same 256x192 pixels resolution. That has the best display, but again, only a DS slot, no GBA cartridge slot.

Probably best not to try a 3DS as then you have to check closely which version of firmware it has compared to what version of R4 card you're using, as it's smarter at blocking attempts to hack it. And they're not as cheap as an old DS anyway. And the 3DS-XL has a different resolution on the top screen, so it's not such a good emulation.

tnx so much

Joefish wrote: ↑Thu Mar 28, 2024 5:15 pm Probably best not to try a 3DS as then you have to check closely which version of firmware it has compared to what version of R4 card you're using, as it's smarter at blocking attempts to hack it. And they're not as cheap as an old DS anyway. And the 3DS-XL has a different resolution on the top screen, so it's not such a good emulation.

I agree that using a 3DS with a DS version via the R4 or similar card is suboptimal for the reasons you mention. BUT there is now a native 3DS version with unique features such as border emulation, RZX recording and, most importantly, rollback. The last one alone is IMO worth it. And you don't even have to have a flash card, it all runs from the builtin SD card. So IMO the 2DS XL or New 3DS XL is the way to go nowadays (albeit at a higher price, that's for sure).

I use Fuse on my old jailbroken Playstation Portable it's great, but obviously it's no good for text adventures as it only has an on-screen keyboard.

I fancy trying one of the new budget handhelds, good video on them here



The R36S uses ArkOS which has a Spectrum emulator, the others probably do as well but not checked.

TomD

Patrik Rak wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2024 1:20 pm I agree that using a 3DS with a DS version via the R4 or similar card is suboptimal for the reasons you mention. BUT there is now a native 3DS version with unique features such as border emulation, RZX recording and, most importantly, rollback. The last one alone is IMO worth it. And you don't even have to have a flash card, it all runs from the builtin SD card. So IMO the 2DS XL or New 3DS XL is the way to go nowadays (albeit at a higher price, that's for sure).

Guessing you need to homebrew crack your 3DS for that to work though. Whereas an R4 card can boot on a standard handheld.
Although at some point in the future I'm going to have to set the date on the DS back as for some annoying reason the authors of the R4i firmware seem to have added a date timeout to it, to force you to update to a version that they've never delivered.

Joefish wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2024 2:16 pm Guessing you need to homebrew crack your 3DS for that to work though. Whereas an R4 card can boot on a standard handheld.

Yes, you do need to mod the 3DS, but it seems to be quite easy these days - there's a comprehensive website which guides you steo-by-step (not linking directly to it due to forum rules, but it's near the top of the Google listings).

As an aside, with the DSi, you might not need a flashcard there either, as you can mod it to run applications straight from the SD card (again, there's a modding guide quite high in the Google listings). I've not tried it with ZXDS, but I don't see why it wouldn't work that way.

Joefish wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2024 2:16 pm Although at some point in the future I'm going to have to set the date on the DS back as for some annoying reason the authors of the R4i firmware seem to have added a date timeout to it, to force you to update to a version that they've never delivered.

You could try replacing the stock firmware with YSMenu (specifically "RGF's YSMenu Fork") - that's what I use with my R4i to get around the timeout.

PROSM wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2024 4:29 pm As an aside, with the DSi, you might not need a flashcard there either, as you can mod it to run applications straight from the SD card (again, there's a modding guide quite high in the Google listings). I've not tried it with ZXDS, but I don't see why it wouldn't work that way.

I could not get ZXDS to work from the SD card slot on the DSi. After much tinkering and frustration I bought an R4 card and it worked flawlessly.

Joefish wrote: ↑Thu Mar 28, 2024 5:15 pm
Probably best not to try a 3DS as then you have to check closely which version of firmware it has compared to what version of R4 card you're using, as it's smarter at blocking attempts to hack it. And they're not as cheap as an old DS anyway. And the 3DS-XL has a different resolution on the top screen, so it's not such a good emulation.

The 3DS is pricey but it's such a great bit of kit and you don't need an R4. Just an SD card and the instructions to do it.

I've got ZXDS on mine.