System/Next 22.10

IF YOU ARE USING A KS2 ZX SPECTRUM NEXT DO NOT DOWNLOAD THIS SOFTWARE AS IT’S OLDER THAN THE DISTRIBUTION YOU RECEIVED WITH YOUR MACHINES!!!

This page (https://www.specnext.com/latestdistro/) is where the latest distribution is always found. Distributions are now named by the year and month of their release (eg 22.10 was released in October 2022).

If you would like access to new “bleeding-edge” features not yet released as part of the official distribution, please visit our gitlab repository here: https://gitlab.com/thesmog358/tbblue. This also includes tracking of any known current issues.

Table of contents

What’s new

System/Next 22.10 contains the following enhancements:

  • NextZXOS v2.07l:
    • New Tools submenu with utilities for helping setup and adjust your system, with:
      • Set clock
      • WIFI setup
      • Updater (for updating to future distro releases)
    • NextBASIC editor now has full support for entering extended UDGs and keyword tokens (with new menu options and editing keys for control)
    • Line editor (used in INPUT command, and elsewhere) now supports graphics and token entry, as well as the following editing keys (mostly in common with the NextBASIC editor):
      • Cursor left/right/up/down: Move cursor
      • EXTEND,cursor left: Move to start of input
      • EXTEND,cursor right: Move to end of input
      • TRUE VIDEO: Move left one word
      • INV VIDEO: Move right one word
      • DELETE: Delete character
      • EXTEND,DELETE: Delete character right
      • EXTEND,TRUE VIDEO: Delete word left
      • EXTEND,INV VIDEO: Delete word right
      • EXTEND,9: Delete to start of input
      • EXTEND,0: Delete to end of input
      • EDIT: Delete entire input
      • EXTEND,1: Toggle symbol/token input for ASDFGYUQ
    • various bugfixes
  • New guide for the .QE text editor
  • CP/M is now automatically set up when launched for the first time, thanks to the recently-clarified license terms which now allow the CP/M system files to be freely distributed
  • NextBASIC Profiler under tools/dev (includes a special driver)
  • ZX80 Shop Steward game for use with the ZX80 Emulator

As always, full details can be found in the docs directory of the distribution (for reading on a PC or Mac). Additionally, guides detailing many of the NextZXOS features can now be accessed directly from the menu system.

Distribution downloads

22.10a update

NOTE: The original 22.10 downloads had a bug in the CP/M loader. This is now fixed in the updated 22.10a downloads listed here. However, if you already downloaded the original 22.10 and are not able to start CP/M, you can fix this by downloading the following file and placing it on your SD card. Then choose “Updater” from the “Tools” submenu to update your card:

sn-update-cpm1.7.dsu

Updates from last distribution

If your SD card was previously updated to the last distribution (22.09) you can simply unzip the appropriate update onto it. This contains only the changes between 22.09 and 22.10.

NOTE: The file “obsolete.txt” contains a list of files that are no longer used and can safely be deleted from your SD card to save space.

Full distribution downloads

These downloads contain all files in the distribution, suitable for writing to a newly-formatted SD card, or an old card that has not been recently updated.

Other downloads

  • System/Next distribution for emulators (2GB image): sn-emulator-22.10a.zip
  • NextPi distribution for Raspberry Pi accelerator (NOTE: this has not changed and doesn’t require updating; it’s provided here for users that are just getting a Pi0 or require to rebuild their cards): NextPi v.0.99D RTM

How to update

  1. Feel free to watch this video showing the process in full (optional but handy).
  2. Download the latest complete distribution above. If your card already contains the previous distribution, you can download the appropriate distribution update, which has just the changes.
  3. Before plugging in your Next, get the Next SD Card (see the image below for how the Next Distribution SD card should look like) and insert it to your PC (or Mac). You will need an SD card reader; many laptops/notebooks have one built-in.
  4. If your Next is brand new out of the box, first re-format the card using the tool provided by the SD Association which you can find here: https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/
    (WARNING: This will completely erase the contents of the SD card, so make sure you have backed up anything you have previously added to it).
  5. Navigate to the place you downloaded the distribution and double-click it to unzip.
  6. Select ALL files in the distribution and copy them to the root folder of your Next SD Card. (If you’ve formatted with the SD Formatter previously and you didn’t again, you will be asked about overwriting; reply “YES”
  7. Using your PC or Mac’s EJECT option, make sure you EJECT the card before removing it from the reader.
  8. Insert the card in your Next. Normally you can wait until the TestCard appears like the picture below but it’s recommended that you force the selection of display after you power up by pressing D for Digital (if you have a DVI or HDMI display), V for VGA or R for RGB (RGB requires an aftermarket SCART Cable):
  9. Select a mode that suits your display by pressing Enter and IF your core is too old, your screen will change to the following:
  10. Press U, until you see a prompt asking you to proceed. Type Y then wait until you’re told to power off your machine.
  11. Power off, disconnect all cables, wait a bit, then reconnect all cables and power on the machine again. That’s it, you are DONE!

Note for PS/2 keyboard users

If you are a board-only Next owner and only use a PS/2 keyboard, you may find that the keyboard doesn’t work after booting into NextZXOS (or one of the other Spectrum personalities). This is because the distribution assumes only a mouse will be plugged into the PS/2 port. To fix this, allowing a keyboard instead (or a splitter with both keyboard and mouse), follow these steps:

  1. Power-off the Next completely.
  2. Power on again, and press SPACE when the firmware selection screen (with the Sinclair Spectrum Next logo) appears.
  3. Press SPACE again to enter the firmware options editor.
  4. Press SPACE with the flashing highlight on the PS/2 option, to change it from “Mouse” to “Keyb.”.
  5. Press ENTER to save the change.
  6. Press ENTER to start the currently-selected personality.

NOTE: If you have a joystick or controller with at least 2 different fire buttons, you can use the main fire button (or controller button B) instead of SPACE, and the secondary fire button (or controller button C) instead of ENTER.

Troubleshooting tips

  1. Users of FlashAir cards are advised to perform ALL file copy operations locally on their PC/MAC and NOT over the air.
  2. If your current core is older than v1.10.10 you may experience issues with your keyboard and/or display. Please follow the expanded instructions in the previous versions of the TBBLUE distributions and the Quick Start guide here to flash your core.
  3. At the testcard screen, you are strongly advised to experiment with different settings to achieve the best results for your display. For optimum results, use a VGA cable and ensure you select a VGA mode (0 to 6) and 50Hz frequency; this will ensure the Next display is perfectly timing-accurate. Selecting HDMI timing (mode 7) or 60Hz frequency may cause inaccurate displays with some standard Spectrum software (particular demos/games with special multi-colour effects).

Credits

Core 2010-2018: Victor Trucco
Core 2019-2022: Allen Albright
Contributors: Charlie Ingley, Jim Bagley, Fabio Belavenuto, Garry Lancaster, Mark Smith

NextPi: D. Rimron-Soutter

Next CP/M BIOS: Garry Lancaster

Dreamworld Pogie: Lyndon J Sharp/Phoebus Dokos (WASP –  http://www.wearespectrumprogrammers.com/) / Distributed under License
Orb Run: Matt Davies (https://github.com/next-dev/nx)/ Distributed under License
Spectron 2084: Robin Verhagen-Guest / Distributed under License
Nxtel2: Robin Verhagen-Guest / Distributed under License
nextDAW: Gari Biasillo (http://nextdaw.biasillo.com)
Warhawk: Michael Ware, Jim Bagley, Lobo Trans, Space Fractal / Distributed under License
The Hollow Earth Hypothesis: Lampros Potamianos  (WASP –  http://www.wearespectrumprogrammers.com/) / Distributed under License
Nextoid!: Lampros Potamianos  (WASP –  http://www.wearespectrumprogrammers.com/) / Distributed under License
Angry Bloaters!: Lampros Potamianos  (WASP –  http://www.wearespectrumprogrammers.com/) / Distributed under License
3D Monster Maze, 3D Defender, Trashman: Malcolm Evans / Distributed under License
Hibernated1: Stefan Vogt (http://8-bit.info/) / Distributed under License
cave81: Marco Varesio / Distributed under License
Knight Night: David Saphier / Distributed under License
Halls of The Things: Simon Brattel / Distributed under License
ZX80 Shop Steward: Simon N Goodwin / Distributed under License (http://simon.mooli.org.uk)
baSnake: Marco Varesio / Distributed under License
Santa’s Chimney Challenge: Paradise Games / Distributed under License
Mouse driver: Tim Gilberts and Chris Cowley
UART driver: Tim Gilberts
RTC driver: Tim Gilberts
PAW (Disk version): Tim Gilberts / Distributed under License
ZEUS Assembler: Neil Mottershead and Simon Brattel (modified by Jim Bagley) / Distributed under License
SPED: César Hernández Bañó (with Tim Gilberts) / Distributed under License
Nextramon: Simon N Goodwin / Distributed under License (http://simon.mooli.org.uk)
NextBASIC Profiler: Simon N Goodwin / Distributed under License (http://simon.mooli.org.uk)
PS/2 keymap: Phoebus Dokos  (WASP –  http://www.wearespectrumprogrammers.com/)
NextZXOS: Garry Lancaster (http://www.worldofspectrum.net/zxplus3e/)
NextZXOS keyboard map screens: Richard Hallas
Looking Glass: Geoff Wearmouth (https://twitter.com/warmtoffee)
ZX80/81 Emulators: Paul Farrow (http://www.fruitcake.plus.com)
NextGuide: Matt Davies
ZXDB-dl: David Saphier, D. Rimron-Soutter, Remy Sharp
Demos: David Saphier (http://zxbasic.uk/), Geoff Wearmouth, Michael Ware, Jim Bagley, Gari Biasillo, Robin Verhagen-Guest, D. Rimron-Soutter,
Mike Dailly (http://www.cspect.org)
Utilities: Jim Bagley, Geoff Wearmouth, John M Kerr,(http://mycodehere.blogspot.com), Kev Brady, César Hernández Bañó, D. Rimron-Soutter, David Saphier, Simon Brattel, Robin Verhagen-Guest, Simon N. Goodwin, Rusty Pixels, Peter Ped Helcmanovsky, Matt Davies
Dot Commands: Allen Albright, Jim Bagley, Gari Biasillo, Matt Davies, Johan Engdahl, Tim Gilberts, Garry Lancaster, Peter Ped Helcmanovsky, D. Rimron-Soutter, David Saphier, Einar Saukas, Remy Sharp, Victor Trucco, Marco Varesio, Robin Verhagen-Guest