New version of emulator finally released! http://get.to/samcoupe I upload the files (emulator zip + new ROM set zip) to NVG as well.
Briefly: 128k emulation, new audio, joysticks, tape in ZX and Sam mode, new snapshots, cnfiguration file, new faq, fixed many bugs. 0.90 final - august 2001 ========== changes to the previous WIP version: * finally added main configuration file (ascd.ini) * added fuller joystick supprt & joystick emulation on arrows+ctrl * finished new joystick emulation layer, now any real joystick or arraws+ctrl can be mapped to any of kempston, sinclair 1/2, cursor or fuller joystick * cursor emulation on arrows is automatically turned off when using arrows for another joystick emulation, also cntrl and symbol shift emulation on ctrl is turned off whenever ctrl is used for joystick emulation (fire) * cursor joy on arrows doesn't use ctrl for fire, it is reserved for symbol-sh. * kempston emulation is now also in Sam mode * save tape emulation - configurable using -tape switch * tape emulation is now also present in Sam mode, max.file size is 65533 bytes * tape files are autoloaded in both ZX Spectrum and Sam Coupé mode * note: you can use Mr.Copy+ or other copiers to copy files between .tap files * note: first disk drive shares resources with tape files * new (WIP2) keyboard driver seems to be the first ever without repeat-key problems, which prevented all older versions from any real usage * fixed: sorting in file-open menu didn't work properly * UPPERCASE filenames are converted to Lowercase in Windows' style * can load .fux files (Fuxoft Emulator snapshots) (24 registers + 49152 memory) * fixed problem with audio buffers which caused crashes in plain DOS (hopefully) * emulation mode can be now switched from main menu 0.90 WIP 2 - august 2001 ========== changes to the previous WIP version: * massively reorganised source code (now use -include types.h when compiling) * huge changes in keyboard emulation * added Delete key handling (mapped to Shift+Backspace) * US and UK keyboards combined together, use -uk switch to activate US keyboard * huge changes in joystick emulation - now based on emulated->real connection * huge optimizations of video emulation code - 2 to 4 times faster in all modes! to do: * ZX keyboard doesn't seem to be finished yet * joystick emulation is in very basic stage - after rewriting it from WIP 1, it is now very poor, only emulating kempston on a real joystick 0.90 WIP 1 - july 2001 ========== what's new in this version: * completely new audio emulation code - saa1099.c taken from Mame * whole new graphics emulation code - now more compatible, more stable - based on Allegro * completely new user interface - the old shit (surely written by an illman) has been strangely large and absolutely malfunctional (exe is now 20% smaller!) * Sam disk images are autobooted - some people simply haven't know they should press F9 ;-) This feature is for sure turned on only for the very first disk image inserted. * F10=save PCX screenshot, Ctrl+F10=save PCX screenshot with border (to a numbered file) * F9=switch 50Hz sync on/off * OSD (on-screen display) info when using F-key commands * new smart "AutoScale" option to automatically switch between VGA-SVGA modes F5=switch scale (1x1-2x2), Ctrl+F5=switch autoscale feature (on/off) * scanlines option in 640x480 * a bit reworked CPU emulation, and many other details with regard to get better stability and compatibility with several hosting hardware * ROM images are loaded from exe's directory, not the current directory * CPU (and now also audio) synchronization changed back to 50Hz * heavily reworked CPU timing code * timed beeper emulation - can now play music and speech correctly * joystick emulation on real joystick (supporting whole Allegro set of joysticks) * removed -lib_dir switch (not needed anymore) * due to massive changes in system core, the emulator is now compatible with Windows NT/2000 * all files are now readed via zlib, so you can use gzip to pack ROM images, etc. (the only exception is .dsk, which is saved on-the-fly, so zlib is not applicable) * new switch -pallines <num> to change emulation speed by altering number of PAL lines * fixed: a very old bug, which caused errors in most upper line in mode 320x200 * fixed: emulator crashed when trying to format SAD image * fixed: "write multiple sectors" disk command wrote only single sector * note: many command line switches has been changed - type "ascd -help" for more information what's new - ZX Spectrum specific (see also above for general news): * ZX Spectrum 128 emulation - complete emulation with good CPU timing * new switch -128 to start in ZX Spectrum 128 emulation mode * added support of new 128k versions of .z80 and .sna snapshots * added AY8910 sound emulation - ay8910.c taken from Mame * port FF is now emulated more precisely, so games like Arkanoid started to work as well 0.82/AIR - apr 2001 ======== * tournament version with AIR support and SA codes * fixed many bugs in AIR library * screen snapshots (Ctrl+F10) can be now done in all video modes * yet more improved keyboard handler * better stability (problems were seen in 0.80 and later) * command line switch -rz renamed to -sa 0.81/AIR - apr 2001 ======== * tournament version with AIR support and RZ codes * improved keyboard handler * new command line switches: -rz <number>, -record <file>, -playback <file>, -novesa
