Chapter 19 – NextZXOS and alternatives

Guide to NextZXOS

Until now, we have been talking about NextBASIC, the programming language with which you "talk" to your ZX Spectrum Next and get it to do things. Underneath NextBASIC however, lurks another program, one that allows your computer to communicate with the hardware devices connected to it and the world at large. It manages your computer's memory, makes sure your data is safe and accurate, that your programs behave as intended by their programmers and performs important "housekeeping" on your storage devices. This program is called an operating system and in the ZX Spectrum Next's case it is called NextZXOS.

NextZXOS, written by Garry Lancaster, is the direct successor to his +3e/IDEDOS, which in turn comes directly from the first proper Sinclair ZX Spectrum operating system called +3DOS which first appeared on the ZX Spectrum +3.

NextZXOS main features

NextZXOS extends +3DOS, +3e and IDEDOS and features the following:

• FAT16 and FAT32 support for industry-standard compatibility with mass storage devices while retaining IDEDOS/+3DOS compatibility for a full range of storage choices
• Long File Name (LFN)¹ support
• Proper subfolders/subdirectories
• Memory Management facilities
• Virtual (container) file systems in disk and tape images²
• Installable device drivers
• Menu-driven file manager with extensible filetype associations/launchers
• esxDOS emulation layer for interoperability across ZX Spectrum compatible machines and extended dot command support
• Automatic execution of software on boot
• Command-line interface
• Streaming support
• Virtual memory support (swap partitions)
• Timekeeping facilities
• Availability of disk and file management even on legacy (via dot commands), 48K modes
• Increased compatibility with previous models of ZX family of computers³
• Support for a variety of snapshot formats
• Multi-lingual and multi-font capabilities
• Extended windowing facilities
• Increased speed of operation compared to the previous versions
• Proper CP/M⁴ 3 compatibility

Unlike other operating systems, NextZXOS tightly integrates with the in-built programming language NextBASIC, to the point that it can be mistaken as being part of it. In reality however, NextZXOS provides two rich APIs (one being the native NextZXOS API and the other

¹ Long File Name support means that a filename under NextZXOS can be up to 255 characters long as opposed to the earlier 11 (8 for filenames +3 for extension/filetype) character limit. LFN capability is not reserved for files. Folders can also be up to 255 characters long. Longer file and folder names help with the organisation of your files as it is easier to use more descriptive names. ²: A container file system / disk image is a bit-for-bit copy of the contents of a mass storage medium contained within a single file. For example what used to be an entire floppy disk can be represented by one file, which NextZXOS will access with traditional disk and file management commands once this is attached (mounted) by the operating system. ³: NextZXOS is compatible –via emulators provided by Paul Farrow– with ZX80 and ZX81 while also being more compatible than its predecessor with Timex Sinclair as well as the 128K and 48K lines of ZX Spectrum machines. ⁴: CP/M is an older operating system for personal computers with a vast library of software.