Keyboard and Controllers

The host keyboard is the Spectrum’s keyboard, and gamepads and the mouse drive the emulated joysticks and the Next’s mouse.

Typed characters

Bizmuth reproduces the character a key types, not the key’s position. Typing " on the host presses SYMBOL SHIFT + P, which is the Spectrum’s double quote, so LOAD "" is typed as written. Letters, digits, space, ENTER and the punctuation printed on the Spectrum’s keys all work this way.

An upper-case letter is sent as CAPS SHIFT plus the letter. A character with no single Spectrum key combination, such as \, | or ~, sends nothing.

The shifted punctuation follows a US keyboard layout. On another layout, a shifted punctuation key sends its unshifted character.

Shift keys

Control is SYMBOL SHIFT on macOS, where the menu shortcuts use Cmd. On Windows and Linux, Control is the menu shortcut key and presses nothing on the Spectrum; every symbol is entered by typing its character, as in Typed characters.

Next keys

The Next keyboard’s extra keys are on host keys the Spectrum has no use for. Each sends the classic CAPS SHIFT combination as well as the Next’s own extended-key signal, so both 48K BASIC and NextZXOS see it.

Cursor keys

The Input menu sets what the host’s arrow keys do.

Next Navigation is the default on the Next, and Sinclair Joystick on every other machine. On the Next the arrows also send the extended-key cursor signals in every mode except Kempston Joystick.

A game that ignores one joystick mode reads another; Kempston and Sinclair are the two to try.

Gamepads

A connected gamepad drives an emulated joystick without configuration. The first pad connected drives the left port and the second the right port.

The left port is the Kempston joystick at $1F, and the right port the second joystick at $37. On the 16K, 48K, 128K, +2A and +3, only the left port is read.

Preferences ▸ Controller assigns a pad to a port, one pad per port, and rebinds each control by pressing it. See Preferences.

On the Next, what each port presents to software, whether Kempston, Sinclair, Cursor or MegaDrive, is set by Preferences ▸ Input and by NextZXOS, which may change it.

Mouse

The Next has a Kempston mouse, enabled by Preferences ▸ Input ▸ Enable mouse. Input ▸ Capture Mouse (Ctrl+M) hands the pointer to the emulated machine: it is hidden and its movement drives the guest. Ctrl+M again releases it.

Capture gives the guest the mouse’s movement, not a position on the host screen, so the pointer can move as far as the program asks in any direction.

Keyboard shortcuts

On macOS every Ctrl shortcut is Cmd, and full screen is the window’s green button.

The emulated machine does not see these shortcuts.

The Next’s own hotkeys are in the Machine menu: Ctrl+F1 to Ctrl+F9 on macOS and Windows, and Shift+F1 to Shift+F9 on Linux.

See also

• Preferences: controller configuration and joystick port types.
• Getting Started: the essentials in brief.

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