The ready version of the ZX Spectrum emulator Glukalka 3.1 for desktop. What's new in this version:
- Full functionality on all versions of Qt 4-6 (supports loading games from the web).
- Functionality restored in OpenGL mode.
- Improved file segmentation algorithm when dumping music.
- Sound is played through OpenAL (Mac), QtMultimedia (with the plugin available), and Alsa (Linux).
- Minor fixes and improvements, Big Endian fixes.
- Binary builds for Windows (32 and 64 bit), Linux (build system — ASTRA 1.7.5, Qt5), MacOS (Intel and ARM64).
What is the ZX Spectrum emulator used for in 2026? To extract music from software for subsequent listening.
In the first screenshot — a player for tracker and converted music running on the emulator. This is Solaris 10, Sparc.
In addition to the original and well-known music for classic games, many original tracks and covers have been written for ZX Spectrum.
Such collections can be found by queries like 'ZX-Spectrum music collection.' Although the sound in the emulator does not claim precision, it is decent. And there is no standard sound; all chips and circuits sound differently.
Sometimes you can still play on the emulator. In the second screenshot, the game Videopool is running, one of the few
that is still playable today. OS — Astra 1.7.5, remote work. The emulator is functional and interactive during remote work via ssh -X.
The program runs on a wide range of platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux. Requires Qt libraries versions 4-6. 32, 64 bit. In reasonable limits, it is not demanding on hardware. It runs without restrictions and performance loss on computers with a frequency of about 1000 MHz.
Those wishing to build the emulator from source may need the libasound2 library and Qt extensions — opengl, network, multimedia. For those who are not very familiar with the specifics of ZX-Spectrum and its emulation but wish to try it, the recommendation is to load games in Z80 format — it is the most problem-free.
Source: linux.org.ru
