Getting Started with ZX Spectrum Development

Set up your tools for ZX Spectrum programming.

What You Need

To develop for the ZX Spectrum, you need two things: a way to compile your code, and an emulator to run it.

⚙️ Dev Toolchain

The course’s assembly sources are written in pasmo syntax, and two assemblers build them identically — pick either.

The 198x family’s own assembler: one small binary that covers every platform in the course. Install it with brew install asm198x/tap/asm198x, or download it for your machine from the releases page, then:

asm198x --dialect pasmonext --sna game.asm -o game.sna

PasmoNext

The enhanced Pasmo our dialect is named for, and the reference the Asm198x dialect is checked against. Build it from source if you want to compare:

pasmonext --sna game.asm game.sna

Both produce the same bytes.

BASIC

For the BASIC track, zmakebas turns BASIC listings into tape images. Build it from source, or install it from your distribution’s packages:

zmakebas -o game.tap game.bas

🖥️ Emulator

Install Fuse natively for the best experience.

macOS

brew install --cask fuse-emulator

Linux

sudo apt install fuse-emulator-gtk

Windows — Download from fuse-emulator.sourceforge.net

Run

fuse game.tap

Or drag the .tap file onto the Fuse window.

Ready to Build

Your tools are set up. Time to write some code.

Start with Assembly →