Amstrad Color Personal Computer

The Amstrad Color Personal Computer (CPC) is a line of computers developed by Amstrad. The first model, the CPC 464, was released in 1984.

Models released include:

  • CPC 464
  • CPC664
  • CPC6128
  • 464plus
  • 6128plus

And of course, the ill-fated GX4000 videogame console based on the plus series of computers.

It was one of the first computers to be sold as the “complete package” to the home market, including the keyboard, drive storage and monitor all in one (most home-oriented computers relied on the user having a domestic TV set). It predated the Macintosh by almost a year.

Infamously, Amstrad founder Alan Sugar wanted the machine to resemble a “real computer,” and not to look like “a pregnant calculator”.

It enjoyed a health community, even having multiple dedicated magazine lines in parts of Europe and Australia. Following the CPC's end of production, Amstrad gave permission for the CPC ROMs to be distributed freely as long as the copyright message is not changed and that it is acknowledged that Amstrad still holds copyright, giving emulator authors the possibility to ship the CPC firmware with their programs. 1)

This system scrapes metadata for the “amstradcpc” group and loads the amstradcpc set from the currently selected theme, if available.

Quick reference

  • Emulators: RetroArch or CLK
  • Core: libretro: cap32 or CLK
  • Folder: /userdata/roms/amstradcpc
  • Accepted ROM formats: .dsk, .sna, .tap, .cdt, .voc, .m3u, .zip, .7z

BIOS

CAP32 does not need a BIOS file to run.

Starting with Batocera 42, you can also use CLK as an Amstrad CPC emulator. CLK requires the following BIOS files:

MD5 checksum Share file path Description
25629dfe870d097469c217b95fdc1c95 bios/AmstradCPC/amsdos.rom Required - Amstrad Disk Operating System
2cc1ba759f835c98a480a152d786b877 bios/AmstradCPC/basic6128.rom Required - Locomotive Basic CPC6128
9ba1b052c77713024bf2eb224cad2062 bios/AmstradCPC/os6128.rom Required - ROM CPC6128

ROMs

Place your Amstrad CPC ROMs in /userdata/roms/amstradcpc.

Emulators

RetroArch

RetroArch (formerly SSNES), is a ubiquitous frontend that can run multiple “cores”, which are essentially the emulators themselves. The most common cores use the libretro API, so that's why cores run in RetroArch in Batocera are referred to as “libretro: (core name)”. RetroArch aims to unify the feature set of all libretro cores and offer a universal, familiar interface independent of platform.

RetroArch configuration

RetroArch offers a Quick Menu accessed by pressing [HOTKEY] + South button (B SNES) which can be used to alter various things like RetroArch and core options, and controller mapping. Most RetroArch related settings can be altered from Batocera's EmulationStation.

Standardized features available to all libretro cores: amstradcpc.videomode, amstradcpc.ratio, amstradcpc.smooth, amstradcpc.shaders, amstradcpc.pixel_perfect, amstradcpc.decoration, amstradcpc.game_translation

ES setting name batocera.conf_key Description ⇒ ES option key_value
Settings that apply to all cores of this emulator
GRAPHICS API amstradcpc.gfxbackend Choose which graphics API library to use. Vulkan is better, when supported.
⇒ OpenGL opengl, Vulkan vulkan.
AUDIO LATENCY amstradcpc.audio_latency In milliseconds. Can reduce crackling/cutting out.
⇒ 256 256, 192 192, 128 128, 64 64, 32 32, 16 16, 8 8.
THREADED VIDEO amstradcpc.video_threaded Improves performance at the cost of latency and more video stuttering. Use only if full speed cannot be obtained otherwise.
⇒ On true, Off false.

libretro: cap32

libretro: cap32 configuration
ES setting name batocera.conf_key Description ⇒ ES option key_value
Settings that apply to all systems this core supports
CPC MODEL global.cap32_model Choose which Amstrad CPC model to emulate.
⇒ 464 464, 6128 6128, 6128+ 6128+.
RAM SIZE global.cap32_ram CPC physical RAM size in kB.
⇒ 64 64, 128 128, 192+ 192, 512 512, 576+ 576.

Controls

To enable gamepad support, go in RetroArch menu with [HOTKEY] + South button (B SNES), then change Input → User 1 Device type: Retropad to “Amstrad Joystick”.

Here are the default Amstrad CPC's controls shown on a Batocera Retropad:

CLK

CLK aka Clock Signal is a multi-system emulator that is focused on low-latency emulation, that can be used for Amstrad CPC. CLK has been added to Batocera 42.

Troubleshooting

Further troubleshooting

For further troubleshooting, refer to the generic support pages.

1)
https://web.archive.org/web/20080510131526/http://web.ukonline.co.uk/cliff.lawson/cpchomec.htm
  • systems/amstradcpc.txt
  • Last modified: 4 months ago
  • by lbrpdx