both set the NextBASIC Editor colours to green ink on black paper. You can see how the second one is derived by doing the following calculation: (128*0)+(64*0)+(8*0)+4

SPECTRUM PAPER 1:SPECTRUM INK 6

or

SPECTRUM ATTR 14

set the NextBASIC Editor colours to yellow ink on blue paper. Try to figure out how the second variation works!

The colour scheme applies to the standard 32-column editing mode as well as the hi-resolution 64/85 column modes. However, since Layer 1,2 only allows 8 different colour schemes, the scheme used is the one with the same PAPER colour as standard mode.

SPECTRUM can also be used with the CHR$ modifier to set the number of columns in the NextBASIC editor. Its syntax is:

SPECTRUM CHR$ n

where n is one of 32, 64 or 85 for the available column modes. To switch for example to 64 column mode you should type:

SPECTRUM CHR$ 64

Attempting to enter a value other than 32, 64 or 85 as parameter will produce an Integer out of range, 0:1 error.

Finally, SPECTRUM used with the modifier SCREEN$ can control the NextZXOS screensaver behaviour. The syntax is as follows:

SPECTRUM SCREEN$ n,t

where n is the type of screensaver (0 = bouncing box, 1=blank screen) and t is the timeout in minutes from 0 to 127. If t is 0 then the screensaver is disabled until the next reset. The screensaver will activate (after the selected timeout) whenever the machine is waiting for a key to be pressed under the following circumstances:

• In menus, Browser, Calculator, NextBASIC Editor or while in the Command Line
• During INPUT statements
• During PAUSE 0 statements
• When NEXT #n,var is waiting for a keystroke from the K, S or W channels
• When executing machine-code software that uses the IDE_BROWSER call, or the IDE_STREAM_IN call (accessing K, S or W channels) or an IDE_BASIC call accessing the previously listed NextBASIC statements.

The screensaver will not activate when games are being run (unless they use the API calls listed above), or in 48 BASIC.

Speed Control

The ZX Spectrum Next has a much faster CPU than its predecessors operating in one of the following speeds: 3.5MHz (same as the original ZX Spectrum), 7MHz, 14MHz and finally 28MHz. NextBASIC by default will set the CPU to execute at 3.5MHz, a setting which can be changed using either the left and right cursor keys while in any NextZXOS menu or directly from NextBASIC by using the RUN AT command. The syntax of the latter is as follows:

RUN AT s

where s is a number from 0 to 3 (0=3.5 MHz, 1=7 MHz, 2=14 MHz and 3=28 MHz). For example, to execute a program at 28 MHz begin the program with a: