Hob
Java™ Spectrum Emulator
FAQ
General
Why call it Hob?
Who's the character with the fly-spray?
Platform
What hardware is recommended?
How do I scale the screen?
How can I syndicate Hob using RSS/Frames?
Emulator
What snapshot formats are supported?
Why is there no sound?
How do you get extended keyboard characters?
How can I emulate a Spectrum Joystick?
Compatibility Tables
Have you got any further information on compatibility?
General
Why call it Hob?
'Hob' is a reference to The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. As well as being a good book it was also a good adventure game on the Spectrum. Being an early piece of software and me originally playing it at such an impressionable age I've always considered it a classic.
'Hobbit' is also the name of a Soviet Spectrum clone. Here are two Your Sinclair articles written on the subject:
Who's the character with the fly-spray?
The character's name is 'Robbie the Robot'. He's from a game called PSSST by Ultimate.
Platform
What hardware is recommended?
The JavaVM is supposed to be portable and platform independent, so no specific hardware should be recommended. A reasonable guide would be something around the speed of a mid-range Pentium (ie. P133/166). Your mileage will vary though and you may be satisfied on something slower.How do I scale the screen?
Your browser needs to have Javascript enabled. If you have Javascript then your screen resolution will be detected automatically.
90+% of browsers used today have Javascript support. Your problem may be that it has been disabled. If you disabled it then re-enabling will provide access to this extra feature. If you are sitting inside a corporation that has decided this for you then you may have to ask your sysadmin.How can I syndicate Hob using RSS/Frames?
The XML button at the footer of each page generates RSS output for use with feed aggregators.
The HOST button on each game page generates the appropriate html to embed the emulator in a remote web-page.
Example: Copy & Paste into a webpage<iframe src="http://twinbee.org/hob/play.php?output=frame" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" width="256" height="192"></iframe>
Emulator
What snapshot formats are supported?
SNA/Z80 in read-only are the only supported formats. In the emulator's applet form a save function would only have limited possibilities.Why is there no sound?
Java's audio support is rather primitive. Sound will be included when the implementation improves (and that implementation filters down into standard browsers).How do you get extended keyboard characters?
'\' - Caps Shift
'/' - Symbol Shift
Extended characters that are found in ASCII are accessible through normal typing.How can I emulate a Spectrum Joystick?
The spectrum's cursor keys are mapped onto your PC's cursor keys. Only the arrow keys are emulated though, so you will still have to use the '0' key as a fire button.
Compatibility Tables
Have you got any further information on compatibility?
Browser Version Platform JRE? JS? CSS? Comments Mozilla
SeaMonkey
Firefox1.0.x+ Windows Yes Yes Yes Requires J2SE 1.3.x+ Plugin. Linux Yes Yes Yes As above. Mac OSX Yes Yes Yes As above. Internet Explorer 3.0.x Windows No No No Unsupported. 4.0.x Windows Yes No No Works just fine. 5.0.x+ Windows Yes Yes Yes As above. Safari 2.0.x+ Mac OSX Yes Yes Yes Requires J2SE 1.3.1+ Plugin. 3.0.x+ Windows Yes Yes Yes As above. Chrome 2.0.x+ Windows Yes Yes Yes Requires J2SE 1.6.0_11+ Plugin. Opera 6.0.x+ Windows Yes Yes Yes Requires Java1.1+ JRE Plugin. Linux Yes Yes Yes As above. Sun J2SE 1.2.x+ Windows Yes NA NA As above. Linux Yes NA NA As above. Apple J2SE 1.3.1+ Mac OSX Yes NA NA Works fine.
Times change and errors creep in, so if you can find fault with this table then mail me.
