Dingoo Native O/S ZX-Spectrum Emulator

[Another World]

Dingoo Native O/S ZX-Spectrum Emulator
NEW Homebrew

A group of developers have released a ZX-Spectrum emulator for the Dingoo Native Operating System. Please read the spoiler below for more information.

Spoiler: ZX-Spectrum EMU Information

Portable ZX-Spectrum emulator supports Z80 128K (Pentagon) AY/YM, Beeper, Beta Disk, Tape, Kempston Joystick/Mouse, Snapshots.
Based on UnrealSpeccy 0.37.3 by SMT
Created to be ported to many platforms such as Windows/Linux/Mac/Symbian/WinMobile/Dingoo/...

Authors : SMT, Dexus, Alone Coder, deathsoft.
Portable version : djdron, scor.

Homepage: http://code.google.com/p/unrealspeccyp

first released dingoo version 0.0.7 for native os supported
images: sna tap tzx csw scl trd
no config file currently supported
reset only in service rom (madrom by AXLR)

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Discuss

 

[Pliskron]

Nice something the Dingoo can actually handle.

 

[Arm73]

Nice something the Dingoo can actually handle.

I don't know, we already have a nearly perfect ZX Spectrum emulator on the DS ( ZXDS by Patrik Rak ).
The DS is the perfect machine to emulate the Spectrum, given the nature of the emulated microcomputer, having the keyboard available at all times on the touch screen is a God send.
Also the exact same resolution ( 256 x 192 ) of the DS makes it perfect because you utilize the whole screen for maximum viewing pleasure without having to stretch or modify the aspect ratio of the pixels.
Only the border isn't properly emulated, but nothing really important happens there in 99.99% of the cases.
From the screenshot above, it looks like the aspect ratio on the Dingoo isn't quite there, and also, the lack of a virtual keyboard makes it much harder to use, and a clumsy button based interface has to be implemented to simulate keyboard presses just like on the GP32X.
I don't know, I'm desperately looking for a reason to buy a Dingoo, but I can't find any, and even when it comes to emulate one of my most beloved computer from the 80's ( even though by today standard should be fairly easy to perform flawlessly ), there are better alternatives already available.......

 

[tk_saturn]

I'm suprised people outside of UK have an interest in the Speccy.

 

[Another World]

From the screenshot above, it looks like the aspect ratio on the Dingoo isn't quite there

thats just some random screen shot i found for the news post.

-another world

 

[Seicomart]

I'm suprised people outside of UK have an interest in the Speccy.

There was a version of the dear old speccy that got released in North America, and from memory also ended up in various parts of South America also. Can't for the life of me remember the name of it, but would LOVE to hear some of Arm's recollections of it (or are you an expat?) that really would make my day ; )

 

[Another World]

personally i'm interested in ANYTHING from my childhood. i was, luckily enough, born at the right time to have grown up with video games. my roots are in the atari systems, apple II computers, amiga 500, c64, nes, etc. zx-spectrum is a logical step in emulation on my handhelds.

Seicomart: is this what you are thinking of?

Sinclair licensed the Spectrum design to Timex Corporation in the United States. An enhanced version of the Spectrum with better sound, graphics and other modifications was marketed in the USA by Timex as the Timex Sinclair 2068.

-another world

 

[Arm73]

I'm suprised people outside of UK have an interest in the Speccy.

Well I live in the States , but I just moved here 12 years ago.
I was born and raised in Italy, and up until 1985 we had an official distributor of Sinclair products.
Unfortunately, I never saw a ZX Spectrum 128K on shelves anywhere in Italy around 1986, but after Amstrad took over and released the +2, I was lucky to get one.
Years later I regretted never getting my hands on an original 128K model, it looks so much sexier, and who really needed a tape recorder that didn't even have tape counter ?
The +3 looked even sexier but a 3" disk drive when 3.5" was the universal standard at the time ?
So many missed opportunities.
That's why I'm grateful I can play it on the DS now.
But those games can be so terribly hard.......even with save states and all.
I'm actually waiting for an update of ZXDS that will allow the input of cheat codes directly from the emulator.
As of now I load up a game on the PC emulator, apply the cheat, save a snapshot and transfer it over, but is so inconvenient that I did it only once or twice.
One nice cheat that I added was actually more of an improvement then a cheat.
In Robocop ( by Ocean ) , it was so frustrating that Robocop would freeze for a few seconds when shot, that most times i would quit out of frustration.
Then the cheat I added, simply removed the animation freezing and now I can keep on moving and shoot back, making the game a bit easier but still challenging.
I'm actually enjoying ZXDS on the DSiXL every once in a while, and I doubt that any handled in the world could top that experience of having that large screen completely filled up by spectrum games at perfect 1:1 aspect ratio and resolution.
The PSP has an even larger screen , it's true , however the resolution is much superior, which in case of emulating a spectrum is a bad thing because you end up with a little square in the center of the screen ( if you want to maintain 1:1 AR ), and if you stretch it, given the nature of monochromatic games that used different filling shades to simulate different colors and textures, you get a mess of pixelated garbage.
It has to be seen how comfortable is the Dingoo to hold, and how the emulator actually looks like in motion.
Now given the power of the Dingoo, I'd be more happy to see a full speed MSX2 emulator, with full screen ( no scaling ) and joystick/cursor remapping.
That would be worthwhile.......