Introduction

You need to add vForth to the SD card image used by MAME to run the Spectrum Next.

Download and Setup MAME

Follow these instructions here to install MAME, add the boot ROMs and NextZXOS Images: https://wiki.specnext.dev/MAME:Installing

You should make sure the MAME image runs.

Download vForth

Get vForth-Next ... either by getting a zip of the latest (use the green Code button and select Download ZIP or by cloning the repo with Git. Get it from https://github.com/mattsteeldue/vforth-next

Alternatively the latest download vForth is here: https://github.com/mattsteeldue/vforth-next/tree/master/download - Download the zip, and extract it to a local folder. (This is in the download directory of the GitHub repository.)

Working with the Image

During installation of MAME, you will have got an image file named something like cspect-next-2gb.img maybe from https://zxnext.uk/hosted/

These files are disk images. This should have enough space to add vForth without increasing the size.

You can get most operating systems to mount the disk image. However I prefer to use hdfmonkey to edit it from the command line.

You can get HDFMonkey from Git, but I notice that the MAME install page above uses the hdfmonkey "jjjs build" which is a variant of hdfmonkey tool. https://www.specnext.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2604 - You should be able to use either.

Once install, first list the file:

path/to/hdfmonkey ls path/to/cspect-next-2gb.img

Replace the path/to with the actual path of the files. I'm going to assume they are both in the current directory (or in your search path) in the following commands.

The output of ls will be something like:

    5186	LICENSE.md
    [DIR]	apps
    [DIR]	demos
    [DIR]	docs
    812	.gitignore
    146	version.txt
    286720	TBBLUE.FW
    [DIR]	sys
    1722	README.md
    10256896	TBBLUE.TBU
    9662	CONTRIBUTING.md
    [DIR]	games
    [DIR]	dot
    [DIR]	machines
    [DIR]	home
    [DIR]	tmp
    [DIR]	nextzxos

I think there is no tools directory by default, so we are going to create one:

hdfmonkey mkdir cspect-next-2gb.img /tools

If you do an ls you will see it at the bottom

hdfmonkey ls cspect-next-2gb.img

    5186	LICENSE.md
    [DIR]	apps
    [DIR]	demos
    [DIR]	docs
    812	.gitignore
    146	version.txt
    286720	TBBLUE.FW
    [DIR]	sys
    1722	README.md
    10256896	TBBLUE.TBU
    9662	CONTRIBUTING.md
    [DIR]	games
    [DIR]	dot
    [DIR]	machines
    [DIR]	home
    [DIR]	tmp
    [DIR]	nextzxos
    [DIR]	tools

Update Directory with vForth

We then copy the from zip file contents to SD image - the summary of this section is:

1. the whole "vForth" directory to C:/tools/vForth, and
2. the dot commands into C:/dot

If you use vForth_18_NextZXOS_20260101.zip, then unzip it, and see:

• tools directory with vForth directory inside
• dot directory with two files inside

If you cloned (or get a ZIP) of the whole vForth directory then these folders are inside the SD/ directory.

I will assume the SD directory, but modify the source directories as appropriate to your case.

Copying

To copy the vForth directory:

hdfmonkey putdir cspect-next-2gb.img vforth-next/SD/tools /tools/

To copy the dot files:

hdfmonkey putdir cspect-next-2gb.img vforth-next/SD/dot /dot/

Check the files are there:

hdfmonkey ls cspect-next-2gb.img dot
hdfmonkey ls cspect-next-2gb.img tools

Use SD/MMC Card in the Emulator

You should have run this when originally install MAME...

On Linux or Mac, this would look like:

./mame tbblue -window -mouse_device none -hard1 cspect-next-2gb.img

Run vForth

Forth System is loaded and activated by the Basic program C:/tools/vForth/forth18_loader.bas or via dot command .vforth.

• Using the browser: Navigate to C:/TOOLS/VFORTH and select “Forth18_loader.bas”.

• Using dot comment: After this and restarting MAME then you should be able to launch vforth by typing .vforth in the “Command Line” of Spectrum Next.

Editing code

There are some tips about editing code when using an emulator on the page Editing Forth code

Mounting the disk image as a drive (ImDisk)

A very useful technique when working with the ZX Spectrum Next is to mount the .img file as a real drive letter in Windows. This allows easy file copying, massive updates, and editing of the SD card image without having to constantly uncompress/recompress files.

Download ImDisk ToolkitOfficial repository: https://sourceforge.net/projects/imdisk-toolkit/files/Download the latest 64-bit version (ImDiskTk-x64-....zip).

Example command (mount)bat

imdisk -a -t file -m W: -o rem -f cspect-next-2gb.img -v 1

Example command (unmount)bat

imdisk -D -m W:

Recommended .bat files

You can create two small batch files for convenience:

Mount_Next.bat

@echo off
imdisk -a -t file -m W: -o rem -f "cspect-next-2gb.img" -v 1
echo.
echo Image mounted as W:\
pause

Unmount_Next.bat

@echo off
imdisk -D -m W:
echo.
echo Image unmounted.
pause

Important: Always unmount the image properly before using it with MAME, CSpect or writing it to a real SD card.