I'm searching for the best Spectrum emulator to run on my GPD XD, which runs Android. I've got several thousand TZXs on a flash card (I own all the originals, hhhhonest!), so whilst everyone else argues about the Vega+ I'd like to get on with being able to play any one of those that takes my fancy.
However, I've been a bit disappointed with the emulators available:
Spectaculator is great: it's easy to configure (especially per-game keys, which is great for devices like the GPD with lots of hardware buttons to map to Spectrum keypresses) and it runs great. However, it doesn't support Gamesome or any other ROM launcher, which means that every time it starts I've got to let it scan through those thousands of ROMs. Worse still, I can't see any way of searching for a particular ROM - which means lots of scrolling up and down to try and find the ultimate version of Manic Miner. It doesn't allow me to browse file paths - only one static path can be configured at a time, which is then used to populate the game list.
Spectacol works with Gamesome, but doesn't have per-game keys, and also crashes more often than a ZX81 on a wobbly table. The game browser is rotten; very difficult to use and again, no searching.
Speccy - again, OK with Gamesome but no per-game keys. I can't get the "fast forward" option to work reliably (it's difficult to tell when it is working, and it doesn't want to "flash load" games, or even load Renegade at all.
Finally, the venerable Marvin - also OK with Gamesome, no per-game keys. I can't seem to get it to display the virtual keyboard in landscape mode (despite the "swipe to show keyboard" option being turned on), and the menu in general seem to come and go at random.
Does anyone have any answers to any of the above: am I being unfairly harsh on any of those emulators, and I'm missing something obvious? Spectaculator is easily my favourite out of the above, but it's practically unusable in it's current state: starting it up means a few minutes waiting for it to read the file system. If only I could get it to hook into Gamesome (or any other ROM launcher)... I've tried contacting the author, but it seems the project is dormant at the moment :(
However, I've been a bit disappointed with the emulators available:
Spectaculator is great: it's easy to configure (especially per-game keys, which is great for devices like the GPD with lots of hardware buttons to map to Spectrum keypresses) and it runs great. However, it doesn't support Gamesome or any other ROM launcher, which means that every time it starts I've got to let it scan through those thousands of ROMs. Worse still, I can't see any way of searching for a particular ROM - which means lots of scrolling up and down to try and find the ultimate version of Manic Miner. It doesn't allow me to browse file paths - only one static path can be configured at a time, which is then used to populate the game list.
Spectacol works with Gamesome, but doesn't have per-game keys, and also crashes more often than a ZX81 on a wobbly table. The game browser is rotten; very difficult to use and again, no searching.
Speccy - again, OK with Gamesome but no per-game keys. I can't get the "fast forward" option to work reliably (it's difficult to tell when it is working, and it doesn't want to "flash load" games, or even load Renegade at all.
Finally, the venerable Marvin - also OK with Gamesome, no per-game keys. I can't seem to get it to display the virtual keyboard in landscape mode (despite the "swipe to show keyboard" option being turned on), and the menu in general seem to come and go at random.
Does anyone have any answers to any of the above: am I being unfairly harsh on any of those emulators, and I'm missing something obvious? Spectaculator is easily my favourite out of the above, but it's practically unusable in it's current state: starting it up means a few minutes waiting for it to read the file system. If only I could get it to hook into Gamesome (or any other ROM launcher)... I've tried contacting the author, but it seems the project is dormant at the moment :(