ZenZX — haitch's Zen Spectrum Project

In action

Tape loading in progress — screen-control keyboard shortcuts keep working while a tape loads.

Command-line usage and flags, alongside a 128K BASIC session actually running.

A period graphics utility running unmodified — compatibility with real Spectrum software.

The on-screen Spectrum keyboard, with a short BASIC colour demo running behind it.

Wonderful Dizzy (Codemasters / The Oliver Twins, 1989) rendered in ZenZX — shown for colour and rendering fidelity, not distributed with or by this project.

Running on Windows: the console startup log (audio backend, ROM load, controls) behind the emulator window, with the View menu open showing FPS counter, border display, and zoom-level options.

Chase H.Q. (Ocean Software / Taito, 1989) loading in ZenZX — shown for rendering fidelity, not distributed with or by this project.

Chase H.Q. (Ocean Software / Taito, 1989) running in ZenZX, with audio — shown for compatibility and sound fidelity, not distributed with or by this project.

Switching between emulated models at runtime — 48k, 128k, +2, +2a, +3, the Spanish variants, and TS2068 — each booting to its own real ROM.

The Floppy Disk menu on a +3: opening a DSK image, inserting a blank disk, and saving.

Articles

One emulator, every Spectrum
Real +3 disk support
Tape loading, on your terms

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Documentation

ZenZX Manual

A reference for building, running, and driving ZenZX -- a ZX Spectrum emulator in Go, built on the zen80 Z80 CPU core. This manual is the organised reference; README.md…

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Hardware accuracy — 2026-08-25/26 changes

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Timex SCLD extended video modes

Reference notes for -ns-graphics mode-timex-NNN-. The Timex Sinclair 2068 / Timex Computer 2048 replaced the standard Spectrum ULA with the Timex SCLD ("Standard Cell…

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Pluggable video rendering

How -ns-graphics modes plug into ZenZX's display, in both the live (GUI) and headless builds. Landed 2026-08-17, replacing a design where the standard bitmap+attribute…

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ZenZX — known limits and dormant guards

Intentional limits, invariant boundaries, and recorded decisions. Defects and gaps that are meant to be fixed belong in TRACKING.md, not here.

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zenscript (.zen) reference

zenscript is a small, line-oriented automation format for driving ZenZX. A .zen file is a timed list of actions performed on the virtual Spectrum, modelled loosely on a…

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