CPCEC Amstrad CPC emulator
and its ZX Spectrum sibling ZXSEC
1344 hits

Foreword

CPCEC is an emulator of the family of home microcomputers Amstrad CPC (models 464, 664 and 6128) whose goal is to be loyal to the original hardware and efficient in standard modern systems. Thus it brings a faithful emulation of the Z80 microprocessor and it replicates the behavior of the CRTC 6845 and Gate Array video chips, the PSG AY-3-8912 sound chip, the remaining circuits found in the original hardware, and the tape deck and floppy disc drive that made possible loading and running software.

ZXSEC is an emulator of the Sinclair Spectrum family (48k, 128k, +2/Plus2 and +3/Plus3) based on the components it shared with the Amstrad CPC family: the Z80 microprocessor, the PSG AY-3-8192 sound chip, the tape system and the NEC765 disc drive controller.

CPCEC requires a Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system or later. The minimal hardware requirements are those fitting the operating system, and it's advised that the main microprocessor runs at 400 MHz at least. Screen resolution in pixels must be 800x600 at least. A sound card is optional. Using a joystick is optional, too.

The source code of CPCEC and its binaries follow the GNU General Public License v3, described in the file GPL.TXT within the package. Source code is located at the UNED project archive; it's also available on request.

Gallery

Arkanoid 2 (1988 Imagine), CPC 464 Skweek (1989 Loriciels), CPC 6128 Cobra (1986 Ocean), Spectrum 48k

Mega Phoenix (1991 Dinamic), CPC 464 Beast Preview (1992 Overflow), CPC 6128 Starion (1985 Melbourne House), Spectrum 48k

Mission Genocide (1987 Firebird), CPC 464 Logon's Run (2017 Logon System), CPC 6128 Vectron (1985 Firebird), Spectrum 48k

Samurai Trilogy (1987 Gremlin), CPC 464 PhX (2018 Condense), CPC 6128 Zub (1987 Mastertronic), Spectrum 128k

Acknowledgements

This emulator owes its existence to a series of people and societies that are listed as follows:

• The firmware files included in the package are Amstrad's properties, who allows the emulation of their old computer systems and supports the distribution of their firmwares as long as their authorship and contents are respected, and whom I wholeheartedly thank the creation of those magnificent computers and the good will towards their emulation.
• This emulator was my final project for the Computer Engineering postdegree at the Distance-Learning National University (Universidad Nacional de Enseñanza a Distancia, UNED), a project directed by professor José Manuel Díaz Martínez and ultimately awarded a 100% and the right to a honorable mention.
• The documentation about the system comes from cpcwiki.eu, cpc-power.com, cpcrulez.fr and quasar.cpcscene.net.
• The alpha tests were handled by the faithful and loyal Denis Lechevalier.

Version log

• 20190419 -- eighth public release. Added options for image and sound interpolation; tape automatically rewinds itself when it reaches the end (à la FUSE); fixed a bug in TZX files that store 0 instead of 8 in the "used bits" field, another bug in CUSTOM INFO blocks in TZX files, and another one when ZXSEC loads a 48K SNA file in Plus3 mode (users should manually switch to a safe model beforehand anyway). INI files now remember the names of the last used files.
• 20190408 -- seventh public release. Fixed a bug in the YM3 file recording, another one in the ZXSEC internal timings, and one more in the debugger commands with optional parameters.
• 20190404 -- sixth public release. Fixed a Z80 emulation bug in IRQ logic. Configuration (computer model and file paths) is kept across sessions in a INI file.
• 20190331 -- fifth public release. Tapes can be browsed, either by file position (WAV and CSW) or by block (CDT, TZX and TAP).
• 20190325 -- fourth public release. Onscreen indicators (hide them with -O); fixed bugs in ZXSEC that slowed emulation down when the frameskip wasn't zero, and another bug in audio recording on WAV files.
• 20190318 -- third public release. By default the window shows a menu; new option -+ hides it.
• 20190317 -- second public release. Fixed Win32 joystick bugs: JoyGetPos returns ZERO on OK, not on ERROR.
• 20190314 -- first public release.