ZX Spectrum Next

[Stainy]

These type of stretch goals annoy me. They sometimes put back the original ship dates. I, for one went for the bare board ( Delivered in Aug )
Hope these stretch goals don`t fcuk with that :/

 

[erico]

I have to agree with you. I don´t like stretch goals at all, sounds unprofessional to me, either put everything up front or profit and make revisions and versions after delivery.
I don´t even like the gifts, like shirts, mugs, etc.

 

[Ian J]

From what people are saying on the comments the larger FPGA is a straight swap, no changes to the main board.

 

[pmprog]

Not sure what the larger FPGA would do for the project though. If they can fit the ZX core in the smaller one, all they'll be doing is increasing power consumption... Unless they're hoping for a tonne of "unofficial" cores to come out.
I don't see a "manual" as a problem goal, though the memory upgrade change sounds like it would require changes to the board, but it also seems a bit redundant, especially if you're supporting a Pi as a co-accelerator (and thus using it's on-board memory too)

 

[levi]

£550,000 – The Holy Manual
A wire bound printed manual upgrade, with a sci-fi cover to invoke warm feelings on those in the know.

I never realised the ZX Spectrum user manual picture was meant to be a sci-fi scene, but then my copy is so dog eared all I can really say about it is that it's brown.

 

[Gren]

500 more Pi zeroes are now available in another accelerated tier. About 250 left as I write this....

I've upgraded my pledge

 

[Ian J]

500 more Pi zeroes are now available in another accelerated tier. About 250 left as I write this....

140 When I pledged for one this morning.

95 Now.

 

[Stainy]

Weird... people going for this accelerated version :/

 

[Ian J]

Might as well get the full speck model to future proof it.

I could solder in the extras if required but I would rather just get the machine ready to go.

 

[Ian J]

Email update:

Not only that, but the first stretch goal has been reached, and the Next now features a larger heart beating inside it, meaning more features and expansions will be added to the machine by default, including extra sound chips, video modes and... Whatever else our engineers (Victor and Fabio) can cram in it. The list is growing with the feedback of the backers on Kickstarter.



Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[FBnil]

Weird... people going for this accelerated version :/

You can turn the acceleration on and off. Some games were a bit slow, and are very enjoyable if just a bit faster... sometimes useful, for example, if you have things that calculate things (voice synthesizers, for example, or math... a faster designer pencil, for example....).
And maybe... somebody will make a new game which only works on the new speed.... could be awesome...

 

[Stainy]

Some games were a bit slow?? you mean on the original Spectrum?? because it runs twice the speed of the original without the pi zero. So I don`t see why you need acceleration.

 

[Ian J]

I think there is some confusion regarding the term accelerator on the campaign.

The main CPU can be run at the standard 3.5mhz or at 7mhz, to me that is the accelerated side of the machine, nothing that can't be achieved in emulation.

As I see it the Pi Zero is there as a slave board, simply using the Spectrum Nexts keyboard and IO ports.

If all you want to do is run existing Spectrum titles then the basic model for £175 is more than good enough.

I thought though as I'm getting a new Speccy (first time in 33 years) I'd get the specced out (no pun intended) model and treat myself.

 

[ZXDunny]

Any software that relied on the 50hz interrupt to synchronise the game logic will benefit from a boost in CPU speed - just take any emulator that can run at 7/14/28/50Mhz and run a Freescape game for example. Programs written in BASIC will get a welcome speed boost. The ROM would likely need to be modified though; loading from tapes won't work with an accelerated z80.

 

[Gren]

Any software that relied on the 50hz interrupt to synchronise the game logic will benefit from a boost in CPU speed - just take any emulator that can run at 7/14/28/50Mhz and run a Freescape game for example. Programs written in BASIC will get a welcome speed boost. The ROM would likely need to be modified though; loading from tapes won't work with an accelerated z80.

Hi Dunny,

How many games used the interrupt though?
Would love to see Starion, starstrike, elite, gyron, Tau Ceti and others running with more CPU.
Which emulators support the higher clocks? I may have to do some testing in preparation for the Next

 

[Ian J]

Would love to see Starion, starstrike, elite, gyron, Tau Ceti and others running with more CPU.
Which emulators support the higher clocks? I may have to do some testing in preparation for the Next

The video on the campaign shows 3D Starstrike 1 & 2 running at 7mhz.


Fuse lets you select the CPU percentage, I just tried it at 200% for things like Chase HQ & others.

 

[Gren]

The video on the campaign shows 3D Starstrike 1 & 2 running at 7mhz.


Fuse lets you select the CPU percentage, I just tried it at 200% for things like Chase HQ & others.

Cheers Ian. I'll have a play with FUSE later.

 

[FBnil]

Some games were a bit slow?? you mean on the original Spectrum??

Yes, see Ian J's post... Castlevania, Robocop... those games...

 

[Ian J]

With the larger FPGA there is talk on Face Book of a QL core.

I own a QL and never use it as there is very little software for it, it would be nice to have an extra core for the Next though.

 

[ZXDunny]

As long as the emulator still times the interrupt correctly, you're good to run the CPU at whatever frequency you choose. If the interrupt frequency moves to 25Hz when the CPU doubles then you'll get faster games but they will become unplayable.