ZX Spectrum emulators

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Overview of emulators

List of all emulators

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Explanation of used terms

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Tests of emulators:

	Klive	Ver. 1.1 author: Steve Snake, 2002. For Windows.
	Spin	Ver. 0.6T authors: Spin team, 2006. For Windows.
	ESpectrum	Ver. 0.6 beta author: Javier Chocano, 2001. For Windows
	EmuZWin	Ver. 2.5 author: Vladimir Kladov, 2004. For Windows
	Fuse	Ver. 0.7.0 author: Philip Kendall, 2005. For Unix, Linux, Mac OS
	ZXSP	Ver. zxsp_qt-0.7.1 Author: Guenter Voigk, 1999. For Linux
	XZX-Pro	Ver.4.5 Author: Erik Kunze 2005, For Linux, Sparc, PPC, older V. for Windows
	X128	Ver. 0.8s Author: James McKay 1997. For DOS
	FBZX	Ver 1.3 Author: Sergio Costas Rodriguez 2004. For Linux
	SpecEmu	Version 2.4beta, Author: Woody, 2005. For Windows
	Win Z80	Version 4.00 , Author: Gerton Lunter, 1999. For Windows & DOS
	RealSpectrum	Version 0.97.23 , Author: Ramsoft staff, 2004. For Windows & DOS
	Qaop	Version 1.1 , Author: Jan Bobrowsky, 2005. For Java - test it online!
	Spectrum Anywhere	Version 1.0 , Author: Jaan Cid, 2003. for Pocket PC, Windows CE
	EightyOne	Version 0.43 T.b , Author: Michael D Wynne, 2006. for Windows

Overview of emulators

Name

P
r
i
c
e

O
S

V
E
R

1
2
8

+
3

T
A
P

T
Z
X

S
N
A

Z
8
0

W
A
V

C
S
W

R
Z
X

A.
R
E
C

V.
R
E
C

S
C
R

P
O
K
E

D
E
B
U
G

C
.
R
O
M

M
U
L
T
C

I
F

1

I
S
S
2

J
O
Y

C
E
F
F

D
O
C

ASpectrum	F	L,W	0.1.8	+	+	+	-	+	+	-	-	-	-	-	+	-		-	-	-	-	-	-	2
AllSpec	F	L,W	?	-	-	-	-	+	-	-	-	-	-	-	+	+	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0
Delphi Spec	F	W	0.3	+	-	-	-	+	+	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+	-	-	-	-	8	1
DSP	F	W	0.4	+	-	+	-	+	+	-	-	-	-	-	+	+	-	-	-	-	+	-	5	2
EightyOne	F	W	0.43	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	-	-	-	-	+	-	+	+	C	+	+	-		2
EMUZ	F	D	?	+	-	-	-	+	+			-	-	-	-	+	+	-	-	-	-	-		1
EmuZWin	F	W	2.7	+	-	+	+	+	+			+	+	-	+	+	+	+	C	+	-	+	8/3	3
Es.pectrum	F	W	0.6b	+	+	+	+	+	+	-	-	-	-	-	+	-	+	-	C	-	+		-	2
FBZX	F	L	1.3	+	+	+	+	-	+	-	-	-	-	-	-	+	-	-	-	+	+	-		3
Fuse	F	L,M	0.7.0	+	+	+	+	+	+	+		+	-	-	+	+	+	+	C	-	+		/5	5
Glukalka	F	L		+	-	+	+	+	+	-	-	-	+	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6	3
JPP	F	D	1.0	-	-	-	-	+	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+	-	-	-	-		4
Klive	F	W	1.1	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	-	-	-	-	+	+	-	-	C	-	+		/9	3
M.E.S.S.	F	W	1.01	+	+	-	-	+	+	-	-	-	-	-	+	-	-	+	-	-	-			4
Qaop	F	J	1.2	-	-	+	-	+	+	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+		+	-	-	8	4
RealSpectrum	F	D,W	1.4b	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+		+	+	+	/4	5
SpecEmu	F	W	2.4	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	-	+	+	+	+	+	+		-	+	-	/7	0
Spectaculator	30$	W	6.25	+	+	+	+	+	+			+	+	+	+	+	+	+		+	+	+	/8	5
Spectemu	F	L	0.84	-	-	+	-	+	+	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4
SpectrumAnyWhere	F	W,P	1.1	-	-	+	+	+	+	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	9	0
Spin	F	W	0.6b	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+		+	+	+	5/5	3
vbSpec	F	W	1.8	+	-	+	+	+	+	-	-	-	-	-	+	+	-	+	-	-	-	-		0
Warajevo	F	D	2.51	+	+	+	-	+	+		-	-	-	-	+	+	+	+	-	+	-	-		5
Win Z80	F	W,D	4.0	+	-	+	+	+	+	+	-	-	+	+	+	+	+	+	-	+	+	-	10	5
WinZX32	F	W	0.1	+	-	-	-	+	+	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+	-	-	-	-	8	0
X128	F	D	0.84	+	+	+	+	+	+	-	-	-	-	-	+	-	-	+	-	-	+	-		4
XZX-Pro	S	L+	4.5	+	+	+	+	+	+	-	-	-	+	-	+	-	-	-	-	+	+			1
YaSe	F	D	0.8a	+	-	+	-	+	+	-	-	+	-	-	+		+	-	-	+	-	-	-	4
ZX32	F	W	2.0b	+	+	+	+	+	+	-	-	-	-	-	-	+	-	+	-	-	+	-	4	5
ZXSP-QT	F	L	0.71	+	-	+	-	+	+	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+	+	-		3
ZXSpectr	F	D	3.1b	-	-	+	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+	+	+	-	-	-	+	-		5

Legend: F - freeware, S - shareware. D - Dos, L - Linux, W - Windows, M - Mac OS, J - Java, P - Pocket. C - Close

In table are only serious emulators, mostly newer ones. Some famous oldies are here too. Will be not V <0.1's, 'smallest' and similar.
CEFF: Code efficiency - scale 1-10. After / is value for multicolor mode. Win Z80 is fastest, on P200 it can run with 2000% speed. From newer, multicolor capable emu's Klive is best, it can reach 5000% speed on 2 GHz machine, with pretty accurate multicolor emulation. But much depends from video card, screen size, OS, etc.

Explanation of used terms in emulator tests:
Issue 2: old version of Spectrum (1983). Keyboard port has some slight differences to later models. There is only couple program which requires Issue 2 emulation - Abu Simbel Profanation, Rasputin 48K....
Contended memory: called also 'multicolor emulation' - there are some slowdowns when CPU accessing part of memory where framebuffer (display RAM) is. It is quite complex, but best emulators emulate it well. For average user it means that then some fancy border and multicolor (more than 2 colors in one 8x8 pix. block) demos and effects will look exactly as on Real Spectrum. Example is countdown in Starion, where we have big digits, spread in border. Maybe best demo is MDA_DEMO. I made long time ago program BBG (border bar generator) for testing it. There are separate versions for 48K & for 128K Speccy, later is in Z80 format because of problems with TAP load by some emulators (contention changes from some reason). It must show correct standard TV bar in whole screen area, including border: