#95 More Spectrum models ?

[BogDan Vatra]

Some Spectacol users aked for support for more Spectum models in FUSE:
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/forums/discussion/comment/857672/#Comment_857672
-Sam Coupe

http://www.worldofspectrum.org/forums/discussion/comment/854352/#Comment_854352
-ULAplus support
-Spectra video modes
-Prism support
-ZX80/81 emulation

[Fredrick Meunier]

Ticket moved from /p/fuse-emulator/bugs/334/

[Fredrick Meunier]

See [patches:#323] for status of ULAplus.

[Philip Kendall]

My 2p: every machine type we add to Fuse is a maintenance burden. Even if the contributor who adds support for the machine is initially keen, that doesn't last and it falls back on the "core team" to support the machine in the long-term. Therefore we should be conservative when adding new machines (and possibly even consider removing some of the ones we have).

As such, I wouldn't be particularly keen on adding ZX80/ZX81 support or (particularly) Sam Coupe support; the latter would be a huge piece of work. (There's also been a lot of political difficulties around Sam Coupe emulation in the past. Probably worth checking with SImon "SimCoupe" Owen what the current status of all that is).

Of the other stuff, ULAplus is obviously something we've been interested in for a long time.

[maverick74]

Allow me to comment and ask a few things:

First I am all in favor of adding not only ZX80, ZX81 but also Sinclair QL (which is actually very difficult to find a decent emulator to - why don't anyone ever mentions QL?!?!?! I wonder...).

My humble idea is this: Emulate all Official Sinclair Machines.
This includes: ZX80, ZX81, ZX Spectrum 16K, ZX Spectrum 48K, ZX Spectrum 128K, ZX Spectrum +2, ZX Spectrum +2A, ZX Spectrum +3 and Sinclair QL.

EDIT: (I believe ZX Spectrum +2B and ZX Spectrum +3B don't have any significan't difference in terms of software or hardware when compared to ZX Spectrum +2A or ZX Spectrum +3 respectively, to justify adding the rom. Or, in another words, from an emulator point of view, i believe they would be exactly the same (SEE: http://faqwiki.zxnet.co.uk/wiki/ZX_Spectrum_%2B2A/2B,_%2B3/3B#.2B2B_and.2B3B ) - but correct me if i'm wrong...
ZX Spectrum +, as far as i know, is just a 48K with a new keyboard...)

So, from the 9 models, 3 are not currently supported: ZX80, ZX81 and QL. The first 2, i believe are not very difficult to maintain (again, correct me if i'm wrong!), which would left the difficulty to QL.

But this way we could set a line: Only Sinclair machines are in.

I never understood the reason of having Timex's (which were originally spectrum clones made in Portugal) Pentagon's, Scorpion's, Spectrum SE or Spectrum +3e............

Ok, i would be willing to have one Russian clone rom that would allow FUSE to run TRD disk images... but only for the sake of being able to run TRD...

Comments please... (no killings allowed) :)

[windale]

I sort of agree, i've never used Timex ever, it's just a clone.For the Russian models I would just like Scorpion as it's more compatible than Pentagon IMO, with an AUTOBOOT feature to run all SCL and TRD formats without troubles

Then theres the other argument that all the models are already included and would be silly to just delete all the code for no real reason.

[Philip Kendall]

I think I can safely say the QL is out - it's a completely different machine (68008-based rather than Z80 based) and I really don't want to be supporting two CPU cores in Fuse.

As for everything else, I'm not going to remove machines which are already emulated and people are willing to support.

[maverick74]

Well, I always thought QL was a long shot, but i still tought it would be nice - that's why i mentioned it ;)

I also not saying to remove any supported machines, but since you mentioned that there should be a consideration about removing some machines, i added my 2p on the subject.

To me, Sinclair machines are the important "core". The rest are very-nice-to-have extra's... :)

[Arki55]

Some machines are just clones with basically the same functionality, but different ROMs, maybe built in Kempston support, maybe different ULA, etc. Plus some people might want to use their entire setup as it was before (+ Melodik, + some disk drive, etc..). So I think what we're missing here are PROFILEs. Meaning combinations of HW machine base, ROMs and connected peripherals. There could be basic built in profiles (existing supported models), while users could create their own.
When I load a snapshot, it switches off my connected HW. Having profiles would allow quicker reconfiguration for next game load/usage of emulator.

Another example. I had a very special Didaktik M 128K machine. It's like 128K clone + HW patch for allowing usage of D40. I will try to research/debug this paging conflict, hoewever the point here is that once done, it would be convenient being able to name such combination of HW/ROMS/Peripherals its right name.