Getting Started

From a fresh install to a running machine.

Requirements

Bizmuth ships without ROMs: they are Sinclair and Amstrad copyright. You supply them.

Machine	Files
16K, 48K	48.rom
128K	128-0.rom, 128-1.rom
+2A, +3	plus3-0.rom, plus3-1.rom, plus3-2.rom, plus3-3.rom
ZX Spectrum Next	tbblue_loader.rom

The Next also needs an SD card image. It boots from the card as the hardware does: the firmware, NextZXOS and the machine ROMs are on the card, not in Bizmuth.

First-run setup

When Bizmuth cannot find the ROMs, it offers to set them up.

Download fetches a starter set and, for the Next, a bootable SD card image.
Locate points Bizmuth at files you already have.

The choice is saved. The default folder is Documents/Bizmuth in your home folder, or Bizmuth in your home folder where there is no Documents folder.

File ▸ Preferences changes it later. On macOS, Preferences is in the Bizmuth application menu.

Machines

The Machine menu switches machine at once, with no restart.

The ZX Spectrum Next runs Next software. Classic games expect the 48K or the 128K.

Opening a file switches to the machine it needs: a .nex selects the Next and a 128K snapshot the 128K. See Loading Software.

Software

File ▸ Open takes snapshots, tapes, disk images and Next programs. A file dragged onto the window opens the same way.

Type	Extensions
Snapshots	.z80, .sna, .snx
Tapes	.tap, .tzx
Disks	.dsk, .edsk (+3)
Next programs	.nex

Inserting a tape sets the loading mode from its format. A .tap loads at once, through the ROM’s loading routine. A .tzx loads at the speed of a real tape, since it carries the custom loaders commercial games used.

To hear a .tap load at tape speed, insert it, then choose Media ▸ Tape ▸ Real Time. Inserting another tape sets the mode from its format again.

Opening a tape with File ▸ Open while the Next is running switches to the 128K. Media ▸ Tape ▸ Insert Tape plays a tape into the Next itself, at tape speed: the Next has no instant mode.

Next software

The Next boots into NextZXOS, as the hardware does. Its Browser finds programs on the card, and ENTER runs one. It is the real operating system, so what works here works on a Next.

Keyboard shortcuts


Ctrl+O	Open a file
Ctrl+R	Reset
Ctrl+S	Save a screenshot
F5	Pause or resume
F11	Full screen
Ctrl+Q	Quit
Ctrl+,	Preferences

On macOS every Ctrl shortcut is Cmd: Cmd+O opens a file. The View menu has no Full Screen item there; the window’s green button gives macOS full screen. The full list is on Keyboard and Controllers.

Troubleshooting

A black or blank screen on the Next is the SD card. Check that one is attached in Media ▸ SD0 and that it is a bootable Next card: a data-only card reports SD Card Missing TBBLUE.FW.

“Missing ROMs” names the files Bizmuth could not find and where it looked. Help ▸ Run Setup downloads or locates them.

A file that will not open raises a dialog giving the reason. A file that raises nothing at all is a bug to report.

A window that stays empty while the rest runs, with sound playing, is the graphics driver. Bizmuth draws through the graphics card where it can, and in software where the card refuses; a driver that accepts the work and draws nothing falls between the two. BIZMUTH_NO_GL=1 makes Bizmuth draw in software from the start:

BIZMUTH_NO_GL=1 bizmuth

The picture is the same; software drawing uses more CPU, the more so on a large window. A driver this fixes is worth reporting, so Bizmuth can recognise it.