The recreated sinclair zx spectrum for pc

#The recreated sinclair zx spectrum for pc Patch#
#The recreated sinclair zx spectrum for pc code#
#The recreated sinclair zx spectrum for pc ps2#

The things we enjoyed as children often lose their sheen over time, particularly when it comes to anything electronic. Fitbit Versa 3ДЄ fun, funky, cool piece of retro art, the Recreated ZX Spectrum lets you play 8-bit games like they were designed to be played, across almost any platform.

#The recreated sinclair zx spectrum for pc code#

The next step is to write some Arduino code to see just what we can achieve. This all makes adding a man in the middle hardware solution relatively easy to implement.

#The recreated sinclair zx spectrum for pc ps2#

Also crucially, all key presses are detected in emulator mode, there are no dead keys combination problems such as in the 'CAPS SHIFT + 9' issue discovered in PS2 mode. The Recreated ZX Spectrums Mode 'A' Key MappingДЄs can be seen from the table, the key code order is layed out in a very neat and predictable manner. There is not a single key that sends just the expected letter.

Instead, when you press 'q', for example the keyboard sends the code for 'u' being pressed, however on release the keyboard send the code for 'v' being released. The codes the Recreated Spectrum is sending in emulator mode do not follow that pattern. A PS2 style keyboard will normally send codes stating when a key is pressed, and a similar code indicating that a particular key has been released. So this leaves us with Mode 'A', the emulator layer. What this means to those who have not already guessed, is that you can't set the keyboard to graphics mode. I found one glaring issue that puts a stop to tapping into the PS2 mode however the keyboard does not send any codes for the combination of 'CAPS SHIFT + 9'. With all letters and combinations of 'shift' and 'Alt' key presses being sent in a seemingly standard manner. Firstly, the standard PS2 layer (Mode B), was sending exactly what would be expected. To do this easily I pulled out an Arduino USB host shield to read the key codes are being sent. The PS2 mode would be the logical mode to tap into for signal / code modification, we need to see what the Spectrum keyboard actually sends out across the USB cable. That leaves option 3 as a pretty good alternative. Frankly I don't want to ruin the look of the Recreated Spectrum with a hatchet job. Option 2 is the most problematic, as to replace the board in a non case destroying way would be difficult (not impossible) to achieve. I guess option 1 would be the easiest, at least from a general user perspective, though unless your favorite emulator is open source, this could take a while.

Come up with an external hardware solution to adjust the key codes sent back to the host computer.

Rip out the existing control board and build up a new version.

That's no guarantee that other emulators will support it I'd wager manyВ graduallyВ will, though you never know. Apparently the some patches exist for the FuseВ Emulator, adding compatibility for the Recreated Spectrum.

#The recreated sinclair zx spectrum for pc Patch#

Patch an Emulator, or wait for support to be added.

There would seem to be 3 ways in which to adjust the Recreated Spectrum for usage with Emulators, other than the designated but pulled Elite variants. There seemed to be some rather odd mapping going on, leaving the emulator mode a little useless. If you switch to mode A (the emulator layer) on the keyboard, the key presses register anything but what you'd expect. As mentioned last post, the keyboard works perfectly in the standard PS2 mode, it's the emulator 'layer' that has usage issues.