Android is now perfectly complete

#“Android is now perfectly complete”

You thought this post was going to be about turn-by-turn voice navigation on Google Maps for Ireland didn't you? Hah! (That's the next post).

No, this is far more important.

There is now a decent ZX Spectrum emulator for Android called Xpectroid and I've been running the games I wrote from 1984-1986 on it.

Here's a few screenshots of it in action. Having a few usability and sound problems but dammit, I can run Z80 assembler programs I wrote 25 years ago on my phone. Aren't computers great? As many Irish grannies would say.

My HTC G1 2ndHome screen

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Opening screen

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Main screen

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The Grid, my first published game in the Your Spectrum final issue December 1985. It's a clone of a few games of the time. Eat the dots, avoid the bullets. Like the rest of the games approx 4K of pure Z80 assembler that the magazine readers had to enter by hand on a rubber keyboard. Plays very well on the HTC G1. Not sure how the hell you play it (or the others) on an Android phone without a physical keyboard.

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Cent The Pete. I think this was published in Your Spectrum/Your Sinclair. Not 100% sure, must dig into the online issues.

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And finally The Cherry Run published in YourSinclairApril 1986. A mish mash of a few arcade games of the time. The most difficult coding of the lot due to falling rocks etc.

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I then started my magnum opus which was to be a funny platform/puzzle game in the style of Everyone's A Wally and Jet Set Willy. I wrote 10s of K of assembler on paper but never got it into a computer to try out. Many months spent writing edge detectionalgorithmsto sense items impacting each other.Then girls, college and drinkin got in the way.Some day I'll pay someone to type it all in and see what it does!

Conor O'Neill

Tech guy who likes running slowly

Bandon, Cork, Ireland https://conoroneill.net