Update v1.3.2

System/Next v1.3.2

Off Downloads, Drivers, Firmware, Games & Apps, General, Hero Article, News, Utilities,

This update is recommended to ALL that receive their Nexts right now and to users of ZX DOS with a Next Core

I just want to play! Show me how to do it quickly!
(aka: Quick Start)

If you’re just receiving your ZX Spectrum Next and you want the quick-and-easy way of updating to the latest and greatest this is what you’ll need:

  1. Feel free to watch this video showing the process in full (optional but handy).
  2. Download the latest distribution by clicking here
  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 may need an SD card reader; most laptops/notebooks have one already otherwise get hold of one
  4. IF YOUR NEXT IS BRAND NEW OUT OF THE BOX: FORMAT THE CARD AGAIN with the tool provided by the SD Association which you can find at this location (WARNING YOU WILL COMPLETE ERASE ALL THE FILES ON YOUR CARD SO BACKUP ANYTHING YOU MAY NEED NOW) : https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/ (If you have performed this step with the Zero Update you can skip the format)
  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 (This 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!

SD Card Images site

SD card images suitable to dump straight on an SD card as well as use in ZX Spectrum Next emulators (#CSpect and ZEsarUX) are updated and can be found here http://www.zxspectrumnext.online/cspect/(together with some other goodies)

Latest distribution is always found at https://www.specnext.com/latestdistro/

So here’s the latest distribution with everything you need to get your Next updated and running!

OBLIGATORY DISCLAIMER: READ THIS POST IN ITS ENTIRETY BEFORE ASKING FOR HELP

KIND REMINDER

We also now have a git repo which means you can always find the latest and greatest changes to the distribution (sometimes things change by the minute too!) and also contribute (but first read the readme.md file in the git regarding that!). Switch to the proper branch as it contains the files for each distribution version.


Git repo is located here at gitlab.com :

In the links below you will find the System/Next v.1.3.2 SD card distribution containing the following changes over System/Next version 1.3:

System Software & Hardware Features

Let’s start easy shall we?

  • New Core v. 3.01.05 which several improvements and the introduction of a I/O mode for joystick ports!
  • New Firmware file 1.29b with improved multiple cores support!
  • Updated NextΖΧOS 2.06H with several bug fixes especially in the loaders for older games AND better support for the Pi Accelerator. As always in two versions: one with Geoff Wearmouth’s Looking Glass v. 1.07 48K ROM and one with the standard ZX Spectrum 48K ROM.

Tools

  • Updated NextraMon (Intelligent Monitor/Disassembler) by Simon N Goodwin together with FULL Documentation
  • New NextGUIDE by Matt Davies, which provides an Hypertext document viewer in the style of AmigaGuide (and partial support for it)

Documentations

  • Updated Next Register, Pinouts, Extra Cores, ZXDOS, config.ini documentation (under C:/DOCS/)

Installation

Prepare the card as per the instructions here. Firmware file will be replaced.

*****BIG LETTER WARNINGS******

USERS OF FlashAir CARDS are advised to perform ALL file copy operations locally on their PC/MAC and NOT over the air.

WARNING: Board-only backers should use the links marked “Board Only” as they carry a small modification in the config.ini file that sets up the PS/2 port as “Keyboard first” unlike the cased Nexts for which the PS/2 port functions as “Mouse first”

*******IMPORTANT NOTES**********

  • If your current CORE is older than 1.10.10 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 or the quick instructions on step #2 below. (Try the instructions below first and if you get stuck check the previous versions)
  • Default config.ini settings instruct the ZX Spectrum Next to enter “Testcard” mode. If your machine doesn’t immediately produce an image, wait (or press N on the keyboard) until an image shows..  YOU ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO EXPERIMENT WITH DIFFERENT DISPLAY SETTINGS (Display modes 0 to 6 and 7 that is) TO ACHIEVE THE BEST RESULTS FOR YOUR DISPLAY. HDMI mode (7) ALTERS THE TIMINGS SLIGHTLY AND CERTAIN -OLDER- PROGRAMS MAY NOT DISPLAY PROPERLY (especially certain Demos). VGA modes (Settings 0…6) ARE  timing accurate although the user may experience faster execution as each setting with the exception of 0 makes things faster (but keeping timings relative)

Flashing the new core

Let the machine boot normally, then press and hold U on your keyboard, then press the RESET button on the left side of your computer (while still holding U) and release U when you see the updater module. Press Y, wait until all flashing is completed, then power down the Next and REMOVE ALL CABLES. Wait a little and then plug everything back up again.

Download the distribution

System/Next distribution v.1.3.2 WITH source code files (zip format) (Download Here)

System/Next distribution v.1.3.2 WITH source code files (7z format) (Download Here)

System/Next distribution v.1.3.2 WITHOUT source code files (zip format) (Download Here)

System/Next distribution v.1.3.2 WITHOUT source code files (7z format) (Download Here)

System/Next distribution v.1.3.2 LITE VERSION (zip format) (Download Here)

System/Next distribution v.1.3.2 LITE VERSION (7z format) (Download Here)

BOARD-BACKERS VERSIONS

System/Next distribution v.1.3.2 WITH source code files (zip format) *BOARD BACKERS’ EDITION* (Download Here)

System/Next distribution v.1.3.2 WITH source code files (7z format) *BOARD BACKERS’ EDITION* (Download Here)

System/Next distribution v.1.3.2 WITHOUT source code files (zip format) *BOARD BACKERS’ EDITION* (Download Here)

System/Next distribution v.1.3.2 WITHOUT source code files (7z format) *BOARD BACKERS’ EDITION* (Download Here)

System/Next distribution v.1.3.2 LITE VERSION (zip format)
*BOARD BACKERS’ EDITION* (Download Here)

System/Next distribution v.1.3.2 LITE VERSION (7z format)
*BOARD BACKERS’ EDITION* (Download Here)

NextPI Distribution

NextPi v.0.99D RTM (Download Here)

Credits

Core 2010-2018: Victor Trucco
Core 2019-2020: 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.co.uk/) / 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.co.uk/) / Distributed under License
Nextoid!: Lampros Potamianos  (WASP –  http://www.wearespectrumprogrammers.co.uk/) / Distributed under License
Angry Bloaters!: Lampros Potamianos  (WASP –  http://www.wearespectrumprogrammers.co.uk/) / 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
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 (www.simon.mooli.org.uk)
PS/2 keymap: Phoebus Dokos  (WASP –  http://www.wearespectrumprogrammers.co.uk/)
NextZXOS: Garry Lancaster (http://www.worldofspectrum.org/zxplus3e/)
Looking Glass: Geoff Wearmouth (https://twitter.com/warmtoffee)
ZX80/81 Emulators: Paul Farrow (http://www.fruitcake.plus.com)
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, Tim Gilberts, Jim Bagley, Garry Lancaster, David Saphier, Gari Biasillo, Victor Trucco, Marco Varesio, D. Rimron-Soutter