Could somebody post a beginners guide to the ZX Next Core

[Paradroid]

I downloaded it via the Update All Script and I'm just getting an error. The github isn't that self explanatory. Could somebody help as I'd like to run the various Demos like Warhawk and Q-Bee plus I'd like to play the full version of Baggers In Space

[KnC]

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/ZXNext_ ... stallation
the git readme is clear
download the boot.zip from the release folder and extract it to the zxnext folder in games

[RetroP]

I'm just getting an error.

A description of the error would help.

As above, the github guide is fairly clear.

[aagstn]

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/ZXNext_ ... stallation
the git readme is clear
download the boot.zip from the release folder and extract it to the zxnext folder in games

This part made sense. The place I have always been lost of setting up the classic computers is how I can install additional games onto the VHD. There are quite a few games for sale on itch.io for the Spectrum Next, but I am lost on how I would install those on the Mister core.

[Fallon]

This part made sense. The place I have always been lost of setting up the classic computers is how I can install additional games onto the VHD. There are quite a few games for sale on itch.io for the Spectrum Next, but I am lost on how I would install those on the Mister core.

You can mount boot.vhd in Windows by double clicking on it and then browse the file structure via explorer and add files. Games seem to require a folder for each game. Copy boot.vhd back to mister once you are done.

[aagstn]

This part made sense. The place I have always been lost of setting up the classic computers is how I can install additional games onto the VHD. There are quite a few games for sale on itch.io for the Spectrum Next, but I am lost on how I would install those on the Mister core.

You can mount boot.vhd in windows by double clicking on it and then browse the file structure via explorer and add files. Games seem to require a folder for each game. Copy boot.vhd back to mister once you are done.

Thank you. That is such a major help.

[fraggore@sky.com]

I might be doing something wrong here but i can open the boot.vhd to add games everything i try says it currupted, tryed downloading it again but still the same any ideas.

I managed to extract the files from the vhd with 7zip and made a new .vhd and copyied all the files over to the new one but that wont boot in the core so i am proberly missing some step.

[antonie]

If samba is enabled on your Mister you can attach to the vhd directly. This is a trivial action in Windows (using Disk Management)

The below is for Macos. The remote vhd mounts as another filesystem

/usr/bin/hdiutil attach -imagekey diskimage-class=CRawDiskImage /Volumes/fat

[chanunnaki]

You can mount boot.vhd in Windows by double clicking on it and then browse the file structure via explorer and add files. Games seem to require a folder for each game. Copy boot.vhd back to mister once you are done.

It's also possible to just mount the vhd directly from an SMB share IIRC. I don't know how big the VHDs are on ZX Next, not very big I would imagine, but when you start talking about other cores like AO486, mounting directly from a remote share comes in really handy when the image size is in the GBs.

On a Mac, you have to rename the .vhd to .img (I think) before mounting and change it back to .vhd when done, but still rather more convenient than having to transfer back and forth the whole image.

[fraggore@sky.com]

right ok will give that a try thanks.

[JudgeDrokk]

I might be doing something wrong here but i can open the boot.vhd to add games everything i try says it currupted, tryed downloading it again but still the same any ideas.

I managed to extract the files from the vhd with 7zip and made a new .vhd and copyied all the files over to the new one but that wont boot in the core so i am proberly missing some step.

Odd - I know that you have to "detach the image" afterwards or it can corrupt but I don't know why it would show as corrupt to start with.
I used Disk managment in WIN7.

[fraggore@sky.com]

Yeah i still cant open it tried windows10 Disk managment, clone image drive, daemon tools the only thing that will open it is 7zip but only in read only mode really odd. maybe wondows 10 is the issue.

[stuckie]

I use ImDisk : https://sourceforge.net/projects/imdisk-toolkit/ which seems to work well over SAMBA

(Note: I haven't posted much so this needed approved first!)

[Newsdee]

I use ImDisk to mount VHDs:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/imdisk-toolkit/

[fraggore@sky.com]

Thanks that works must be a windows 10 thing who knows, the only other issue is you cant add much to the image as its only 126meg i put 4 games on there and there working so thats something.

finally get to play warhawk lol.

[aberu]

Thanks that works must be a windows 10 thing who knows, the only other issue is you cant add much to the image as its only 126meg i put 4 games on there and there working so thats something.

finally get to play warhawk lol.

I wonder what the file system requirements are for ZX Next? If it's FAT32 this is a needlessly small vhd, if it's FAT16, still too small as FAT16 can handle 4GiB volume sizes. ZX Spectrum was an 8-bit computer, but googling around the ATA interface could handle FAT-16 with the right firmware, so it all depends on how this is changed in Next. I'm looking around and the info on Next is super sparse lol.

[fraggore@sky.com]

its a fat32 file system i tried making a 2 gig setup with the latest official files and it wouldnt boot, also did one and copyied the files from this one and i still get error mounting sd card need to look more into making a vhd that will boot on the core.

[fraggore@sky.com]

Figured it out go here http://www.zxspectrumnext.online/ download the prepared image size you want then unzip the file and change.img to.vhd and it works, you can open it as a virtual drive i need to use ImDisk on windows 10 link in a post above thanks again and add games to it happy days.

[Torgo]

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/ZXNext_ ... stallation
the git readme is clear
download the boot.zip from the release folder and extract it to the zxnext folder in games

I disagree that it's "clear", especially when a lot of people have never used A Spectrum of any kind. It would be nice if this community could be more helpful to folks when they're asking for help. Answers like this just come-off as snarky. I'm excited for releases like this to finally get exposure to something that I've only ever heard of but have never used.

What might be "easy" or "Second Nature" to you is the polar opposite to someone trying to do something with a platform for the first time.

[8tpercent]

Here's a useful manual being updated for all cores https://github.com/adreeve/MiSTerManual ... Manual.pdf

[lordoftime79]

I am not sure if this is any help to people but I use the actual sd card from my next in the sd card slot on the IO board. works great!

[arromdee]

I'm an American who's never had a real Spectrum and am confused by this:

Since the .vhd cannot be written, does that mean there is no way to, for instance, save BASIC programs, or save games that have save game features, unless I use a secondary SD?

There's a Spectrum Next distro at https://www.specnext.com/latestdistro/. I assume that I want to use a version that doesn't contain a core, since Mister is using its own core. Should I download the emulator version (which I assume does not contain a core)? If so, how do I install it (since the instructions there only describe installing the complete version, not the emulator version). Does "Firmware" on that page refer to burning the system ROMs? Would that fail on a Mister since it can't burn the system ROMs? (People seem to describe using the firmware at viewtopic.php?t=4959 ). Would the whole thing fail anyway since the Mister core is too old? Do I need to use some older version of the distro, to match the version of the ZX Next core that Mister was forked from?

[arromdee]

If anyone's wondering, I did solve my problem.

The emulator image does work. Apparently "firmware" is not actually firmware. And it doesn't automatically install the core, so you can use it. The version I tried does not claim to have a mismatched core; I don't know if other versions would.

Copying files in Linux is harder to find out how to do than you'd think, but is done as follows:

Code: Select all

fdisk -l foo.vhd

Then multiply the sector size by the start sector to get the offset in bytes.

Code: Select all

mount -o loop,rw,offset=nnnnn -t vfat foo.vhd /mnt/path

[pgimeno]

Since the .vhd cannot be written, does that mean there is no way to, for instance, save BASIC programs, or save games that have save game features, unless I use a secondary SD?

As for saving BASIC programs, check this thread: viewtopic.php?t=2645

I think the issue reported there persists. There's a fixed core for download in the thread.