Alternatives

There are also other solutions that provide Microdrive hardware emulation:

ZXPicoMD

This project by Tom Dalby offers a Microdrive emulator for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, based on a RaspberryPi Pico. It uses an SD-card for cartridge storage, and an OLED display + hardware buttons for user interaction with the device. The hardware design is offered under an open source license, the software is closed source, but partly documented.

vDrive ZX and vDrive QL

These two hardware emulators for Sinclair ZX Spectrum and Sinclair QL are sold by vRetro Design. They use SD-cards as storage media and are controlled via toolkit software to be loaded onto the Spectrum/QL. Hardware design and software are closed source.

Note: The vRetro Design store lists OqtaDrive and ZXPicoMD as products, but does not actually sell them. Maybe SEO?

MicroPicoDrive for the QL

This project is an internal Microdrive emulator for the Sinclair QL, built around a RaspberryPi Pico. It uses an external module with an SD-card for cartridge storage, and an OLED display + hardware buttons for user interaction with the device. This module is plugged into the slot of the drive that should be operated. Hardware design and software are offered under an open source license.

ZX Spectrum Expansion System, Recreated

This project by Derek Fountain is an Interface 1 + Microdrive emulator for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. It uses three RaspberryPi Pico, SD-card for cartridge storage, and an OLED display + hardware buttons for user interaction with the device. Hardware design and software are offered under an open source license. Note that the Interface 1 emulation does not cover the serial and network ports.

Interface 1bis

This is a complete recreation of the Interface 1, covering all of the original features, while adding many new ones. This also includes emulation of Microdrives. User interaction with the device is via screen dialogs on the Spectrum, or via USB from a PC. Hardware design and software are in the public domain. Hardware documentation and source code can be received upon request from the author.

Comparison Tables

Below are a few tables that might help when comparing the different available solutions.

General

	OqtaDrive	ZXPicoMD	vDrive^ZX/QL	MicroPico Drive	ZX.SESR	IF1bis
Spectrum	●	●	●^ZX		●	●
QL	●		●^QL	●
max. drives	8	8	8	2	8	8
combine with h/w drives	●¹	●¹	●²	●³
internal	●		●^QL	●
external	●	●	●		●	●
networked	●⁴					●
cartridge de-fragmentation	●	●
CP/M support	●
license	open source	open source	closed source	open source	open source	public domain

¹ h/w drives can be dynamically assigned to different slots and turned off
² assigning h/w drives to different slots requires vMap, a product by vRetro Design
³ drive assignment is fixed, with MicroPicoDrive required to be in first slot
⁴ includes Sinclair Network over Internet

User Interfaces

Below table shows what kinds of user interfaces are provided. From client here means that you can control the device from the Specturm/QL.

	OqtaDrive	ZXPicoMD	vDrive^ZX/QL	MicroPico Drive	ZX.SESR	IF1bis
display & buttons		●		●	●
from client	●¹		●²			●³
remote	●⁴					●⁵

¹ using standard BASIC commands
² via software toolkit to be loaded from drive 1
³ onscreen menus
⁴ web UI, command line client, REST API
⁵ via USB from PC

Supported Spectrum Formats

A format is considered to be supported if a file of this format can be directly loaded into the device. The MicroPicoDrive is not included in this table since by design, it does not support the Spectrum.

	OqtaDrive¹	ZXPicoMD	vDrive^ZX	ZX.SESR	IF1bis
MDR	●	●	●	●	●
SNA	●	●
Z80	●	●
TAP	●	●
MDVT	●

¹ all formats can also be directly loaded in compressed form (zip, gzip, 7z)

Supported QL Formats

A format is considered to be supported if a file of this format can be directly loaded into the device. The ZXPicoMD, ZX Spectrum Expansion System, Recreated, and Interface 1bis are not included in this table since by design, they do not support the QL.

	OqtaDrive¹	vDrive^QL	MicroPicoDrive
MDV	●	●	●
mDump	●	●
MDI	●	●
QDOS ZIP	●