vbSpec ZX Spectrum Emulator

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Timex TC2048 Information

As of version 1.30, vbSpec emulates the Timex TC2048 in addition to the various Sinclair Spectrum models (48K,128K,+2). Whilst the TC2048 is almost completely compatible with the standard 48K Spectrum, it offers two very useful new display modes:-

• A hi-resolution (512x192 pixel) 2 colour display which is great for adventure games and text based programs as it can easily support 85 column text or, at a push, even 128 column text.
• A hi-colour display. This display mode goes a long way towards removing the irritating colour-clash that was the scourge of so many Spectrum games. In this mode, a 6144 byte attribute area is used in place of the standard Spectrum 768 byte one. This eliminates all colour clash in the vertical plane without having to resort to CPU-intensive tricks. If only the original UK Spectrums had this display mode!

Unfortunately, due to the lack of popularity of the TC2048, there are very few games or demos that take advantage of these modes. However, both myself and Andrew Owen have written some small demos to show off these modes which are available below. To use these snapshots/tape files with vbSpec, you must ensure that you are emulating a TC2048 before opening them (Options->General Settings...->Emulated Model)...

	Filename: 2048dmo1.zip Author: Andrew Owen Description: Slideshow of 5 hi-colour scanned images.
	Filename: hicols.tzx Author: Chris Cowley Descrpition: Small demonstration of some colour-bar effects using the TC2048 hi-colour display mode. Source Code: vbdemo.asm

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