The Sinclair ZX Spectrum was a home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research. Based on a Zilog Z80 A CPU running at 3.50 MHz, the Spectrum came with either 16 KB or 48 KB of RAM. The hardware designer was Richard Altwasser of Sinclair Research and the software was written by Steve Vickers on contract from Nine Tiles Ltd, the authors of Sinclair BASIC. Sinclair's industrial designer Rick Dickinson was responsible for the machine's outward appearance. Originally dubbed the ZX82, the machine was later renamed the "Spectrum" by Sinclair to highlight the machine's colour display, compared to the black-and-white of its predecessors, the ZX80 and ZX81.
The Spectrum's video display, although rudimentary by today's standards, was perfect at the time for display on portable TV sets, and did not present much of a barrier to game development. Text could be displayed using 32 columns × 24 rows of characters from the Spectrum Character Set, with a choice of 8 colours in either normal or bright mode, which gave 15 shades (black was the same in both modes). The image resolution was 256×192 with the same colour limitations. The Spectrum had an interesting method of handling colour; the colour attributes were held in a 32×24 grid, separate from the text or graphical data, but was still limited to only two colours in any given character cell. This led to what was called colour clash or attribute clash with some bizarre effects in arcade style games. This problem became a distinctive feature of the Spectrum and an in-joke among Spectrum users, as well as a point of derision by advocates of other systems. Other machines available around the same time, for example the Amstrad CPC, did not suffer from this problem. The Commodore 64 used colour attributes, but hardware sprites and scrolling were used to avoid attribute clash.
More on [ ZX Spectrum ]

Amiga Spectrum Utilities - Emulators, converters and other utilities for handling ZX Spectrum using Amiga.
ASp - A freeware 48K/128K/+2 emulator for the Amiga.
ASpectrum - An open source 48k emulator for DOS, Linux, and Windows.
Meta Description: [ The world's largest development and download repository of Open Source code and applications ]
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BeZX - Spectrum emulator for BeOS.
DreamSPEC - Spectrum 48/128 emulator for the Sega Dreamcast.
Meta Description: [ Dreamcast emulation software and development. Gameboy, Nintendo, Super NES, Playstation, MSX, Neo Geo emulation and much more for the dreamcast. Mp3, DivX and more all on your dreamcast. ]
DSP - An open source emulator designed in Delphi 6.
E++ - A portable object-oriented emulator that emulates Space Invaders, Phoenix, Centipede and ZX Spectrum (aka Timex-Sinclair 2000).
EmuZWin - A freeware 48 and 128 emulator for Windows.
FBZX - An open source 128K, +2, +2A emulator for Linux/SDL designed to work at full screen using the FrameBuffer.
FooN - Spectrum Emulator for the GameBoy Advance - Freeware Spectrum emulator for the GameBoy Advance.
Fuse - An open source 48K/128K/+2 emulator for MacOS X and Unix.
GLECK - Emulates 16K, 48K, 128K, +2, +2A, +3, Pentagon, Scorpion 256K, TK90 and TK95 on Windows 95/98. Handles the most common file formats. [English/Spanish]
Glukalka - An open source 128K emulator for Linux.
Ian's ZX Spectrum page - Contains his ZX Spectrum emulator for Unix and X11, xz80, and some other Spectrum-related stuff.
Jasper - A Java ZX Spectrum emulator.
Jontydog's Spectrum Emulation Station - Emulators and games for download.
JX-Speccy - A ZX-Spectrum 48K emulator written in Java.
Mac Spectacle - A Sinclair ZX Spectrum emulator for the Macintosh.
Nuclear ZX - Emulates Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K on IBM PC.
PocketClive - Emulates ZX Spectrum 48k and 128k on PocketPC.
Point Of Good Origins ZX Spectrum Nostalgia - Offers the chance to play classic ZX Spectrum 48k games through an online Java emulator.
Meta Description: [ Ambient Electronica from the Point Of Good Origins. Currently Unsigned. Free Ambient samples to Download. ZX Spectrum 48k Java emulator. Play the following games : Manic Miner, Alien 8, Airwolf, Atic Atac, Underwurlde, Formula 1, Sabre Wolf, Bombjack, Fat worm blows a sparky, Horace goes ski-ing,... ]
PsiXZX - A port of the XZX ZX Spectrum Emulator to the EPOC 16 platform.
RealSpectrum - A freeware 16K, 48K, 128K, +2, +2A, +3, Pentagon, and Scorpion emulator for DOS and Windows. Also emulates Multiface 128, Interface-1, Kempston joystick and mouse, DISCiPLE and +D, TRDOS and +3DOS support, and the Sinclair Network of the Interface-1 and MGT DISCiPLE via TCP/IP over the Internet.
Spec128 - Freeware Spectrum 128 emulator for the Acorn Archimedes.
SPEC256 - An emulator for ZX Spectrum that is capable of running modified games with 256 colours.
Speccy.F9 - Emulators and games.
Speccyal - A 48k/128k Speccy emulator for Windows/DirectX and GP32. Supports joystick and has an integrated debugger.
Meta Description: [ Speccyal - The Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48k/128k emulator for Gamepark GP32 and Sega Dreamcast ]
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SpecEmu and SPIN - Two freeware emulators for Windows.
Spectaculator - A freeware emulator for Windows.
Meta Description: [ Spectaculator is a Sinclair ZX Spectrum emulator for PCs running Microsoft® Windows® 95, 98, ME, NT 4, 2000, XP and Vista. Spectaculator emulates the 16k/14k/128k/+2/+2A/+3 Spectrums and some addtional hardware. ]
Spectemu - A Sinclair ZX Spectrum emulator for Linux/UNIX
Spectrum Emulator - A spanish Spectrum emulator for 48K and 128K. Runs under DOS.
Spectrum for Java - A Spectrum emulator for Java.
Spectrum Magic - Spectrum emulators and games. Play some of the best games of the past and compete to get on the Hi-Score table.
Meta Description: [ download ZX spectrum games, emulators, remakes, and everything else in the world of the sinclair spectrum. Get help on classic games in the maps section, and compete with spectrum games players to get on the hi-Score tables. ]
TapeFIX - PC program that recovers old and damaged ZX Spectrum tapes.
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TeZXas - ZX Spectrum emulator for TI89 and TI92+.
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The Sinclair ZX Spectrum - Emulators, games and information.
Meta Description: [ The Sinclair ZX Spectrum - The easy and free way for anyone using Windows 95 or later. ]
The Spectrum Tape Loader - A Win32 to convert real tapes to .tap or .tzx files.
The Spectrum Tape Reader - A program for any win32 OS and a sound card that reads Spectrum tapes into emulator formats.
Unnamed ZX Spectrum Emulator for DOS/Linux - 48kb and 128kb/+2 ZX Spectrum emulation.
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vbSpec - An open source 128 an +2 (with both beeper and AY sound) emulator for Windows written in Visual Basic.
Warajevo - Freeware emulator for DOS.
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WinXZX - Emulates ZX Spectrum 48K/128K/+3 under Windows. Port of XZX.
X128 - A freeware 48, 128, +2, +2A, +3, Pentagon, and Scorpion emulator for DOS. Also available is an older open source Unix port.
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XZX - A shareware ZX Spectrum 48K/128K/+3 emulator for Linux/i386 and Unix.
Meta Description: [ Erik's ZX Spectrum Pages ]
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YaSE - An open source emulator for DOS and Windows.
ZX Planet - Emulator site for the ZX Spectrum. Has a large collection of emulators, games and utilities.
Meta Description: [ ZX Planet is a retro site dedicated to the Sinclair ZX Spectrum range of computers. There are no games or covers to download, but you will find emulator reviews, interviews with major spectrum players, history on your favourite home computer, emulators to relive those classics and much more. ]
ZX Plus - Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K and 128K emulator written for Windows 95 / 98 using Direct X.
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ZX Spectrum Emulator - Spec (DOS) and SpecX (UNIX).
ZX-Emul - A freeware emulator for Windows.
ZXemul - Freeware ZX Spectrum emulator for Psion 3 series.
ZXSP - ZX Spectrum emulator for all PowerMac and Linux with X11 windows system.
ZXSP-Mac - A Sinclair ZX Spectrum emulator for the Macintosh.
ZXSpectr - An open source 16K/48K/128K/+2/+2A/Inves Spectrum + emulator for DOS.
Meta Description: [ The world's largest development and download repository of Open Source code and applications ]
ZZ Spectrum - 16/48/128K Spectrum emulator written in Java.
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