No longer is emulation limited to offline work, now you can play your favourite games at work, college or during those long train rides with your lap top by your side (watch out for enemy spys though - hehehe). Hob is the first working ZX Spectrum emulator designed for the Web in Java, users can now play over 20 of their all time favourites while surfing the net or on a lunch break at work or college without the need for any emulator loading, plug-in downloads or anything even remotely time consuming - click the game and away it goes.

Hob also gives you a brief description of the game you are playing and the keys to use during play, take a look at the screen shot of Hob running Sabre Wulf.

The emulator itself if very compact and very neat, the overall speed is amazing providing your connection is 56K or faster. You can read a full review on hob in our Emulators section.

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HOB - The Java Based Spectrum Emulator

Well what can we say, this is the most original Spectrum emulator available because you can actually play your games online - from anywere - even at work. Hob is simply great, select the game you want to play, read the keys you need to press and have a good laugh - GREAT.

Malc	Hi Nigel!
Nigel	Hi Malc!
Malc	When did you own or do you own a Spectrum Computer?
Nigel	I got hold of my first spectrum during XMAS'83, a rubber keyed 48K model, and later (when that broke) I bought a +2.
Malc	What made you decide to code a Spectrum emulator?
Nigel	Nostalgia. I saw an increasing number of emulators appearing and thought I'd just 'have a go'.
Malc	What made you decide to use Java?
Nigel	Blended with the Interent Java is the perfect on-demand environment to deliver applications with a small footprint. A 'mouse click' is so much easier than having to download/install things. The delivery of newer versions can also be transparent.
Malc	How long have you been developing software?
Nigel	I'm a full-time programmer during the day, Hob is just a part-time hobby. I've had around 5 years professional experience.
Malc	Are there any other projects you are working on, either emulation based or otherwise?
Nigel	Not at the moment, no time I'm afraid.
Malc	Did you create Hob from scratch or did you use other emulation projects for ideas?
Nigel	The Spectrum is a fairly well documented piece of hardware. Early pioneers have certainly helped modern authors over the first stumbling blocks. My main points of reference were: - Programming the Z80, Rodney Zaks. SYBEX 0-89588-094-6 - comp.sys.sinclair FAQ, maintained by Philip Kendell. http://www.kendalls.demon.co.uk/cssfaq/
Malc	How accurate would you say the Spectrum emulation with Hob is?
Nigel	Emulators are rarely as good (or accurate) as the real thing. The Spectrum's CPU and ULA are probably 95+% complete. One of the most fiddely parts to get right was the ULA timing. The comp.sys.sinclair FAQ mentioned above was probably invaluable in this area.
Malc	For our technical friends out there, we know you used Java programming for Hob but which application did you use and roughly how long did it take to get the program running?
Nigel	I used a standard JDK1.1.x under Linux1.3.x. The JDK port was produced by http://www.blackdown.org/. IDEs' like JBuilder are fine for UI oriented applications, but where you have a lot of back-end code and straightforward output (like Hob), all you really need is a text editor (GNU Emacs, BTW). It took about a month to get a basic (very basic) Z80 and ULA emulation up and running. Watching the Sinclair copyright appear for the first time made it all worth it, and probably motivated me to take the project on to where it is today.
Malc	Would you say emulating the Spectrum is an easy task to perform?
Nigel	Judging by the numbers of emulators out there for the spectrum (70+), I'd say the hardware is probably one of the most understood; it's certainly the most well documented
Malc	Is Hob still in development and can we expect to see more classic games running on the emulator?
Nigel	Hob is still in development, but going through a hybernation period.
Malc	How do you feel about the legalities surrounding the distribution of early software as "rom" images?
Nigel	Rather hard to answer that one. Rather too hard actually.
Malc	How do you feel about the current state of the emulation scene (fake emulators etc)?
Nigel	I didn't know that fake emulators were that relevent. Writing an emulator is a worthwhile project I'd recommend to anyone.
Malc	How would you feel if the Spectrum computer made a come back with modern technology?
Nigel	With desktop systems the software has become more important than the hardware. An updated desktop Spectrum would probably loose too much of the original feel and become lost in the crowd. An updated Spectrum is a romantic view that would never catch on commercially. A Spectrum handheld (like a Gameboy) could be interesting though.
Malc	What is your favourite Spectrum game?
Nigel	'Jet Pac', 'The Hobbit', 'Manic Miner', 'Ant Attack', 'Uridium', etc. (such a narrow question). I tend to go for the 82-84 period.
Malc	What is your most memorable Spectrum game?
Nigel	'Knight Lore', by Ultimate. I remember playing it for the majority of XMAS'84. Apart from 'Alien 8', Ultimate started to go a bit crap after that point, the last of the greats.
Malc	What is the name of the first game you ever played?
Nigel	'Jet Pac', by Ultimate (The first and the best).
Malc	Have you ever developed software for any machine other than the PC?
Nigel	Professionally, No. Academically I'm a bit of an old Unix hack.
Malc	Thanks Nigel. Now as I mentioned earlier if you haven't seen Hob in action yet then I suggest you head over there NOW and get playing those classics.