OpenMSX 0.6.1 released

[Robert]

MSX emulator.

 

This is an overview of the changes that were incorporated into past releases.

 

openMSX 0.6.1 (2006-07-30)

---------------------------------

 

This release includes major internal changes, although many are not visible from the outside.

 

It is now possible to switch from one MSX machine to another while openMSX is running. This will reset the MSX of course.

 

Also, it is possible to insert or remove cartridges (extensions or game ROMs) while openMSX is running. This does not reset the MSX, but the MSX system was not designed to support insertion or removal of cartridges while the machine is on. Although doing so will not damage openMSX (unlike a real MSX), it is possible the MSX will hang if hardware is removed that was being used, or that newly inserted hardware will not function properly until you reset the MSX.

 

A new advanced video renderer was added: SDLGL-PP. This renderer requires OpenGL 2.0 and uses pixel shaders to postprocess the image. For new video cards, this is a very efficient way of scaling the image. For old video cards, please stick to the SDL or SDLGL renderer. Not all scalers are implemented yet:

"simple" and "ScaleNx" work, as well as the new "TV" scaler, which is exclusive to SDLGL-PP.

 

New or improved emulator features:

- Run-time switching of machines:

    change:        set machine

    query:        set machine

- Run-time switching of extensions:

    insert:        ext

    remove:        remove_extension

    query:        list_extensions

- Run-time switching of ROMs:

    insert/change: carta

    remove:        carta -eject

    query:        carta

- New command "hda" to change the IDE harddisk ("hdb" for second drive etc). This is allowed only when the power is off, for the safety of your data.

- SDLGL-PP renderer (OpenGL-2.0), with the following exclusive features:

  * scale factor 4

  * TV scaler: brighter pixels are drawn bigger

  * 3D monitor effect: (arcade look)

    set display_deform 3D

  * horizontal stretch: (MSX aspect ratio)

    set display_deform horizontal_stretch

- Monochrome monitor effect:

    monitor_type

- Video noise effect:

    set noise

  Low amounts of noise (for example 2.5) can make the video look better, high amounts are just a gimmick.

- Brightness and contrast control: "set brightness " and "set contrast ", where 0 is neutral. A small decrease in contrast will make the noise look better.

- Preload disk image: avoids repeated spin-ups when loading from PC CD-ROM.

- TCL procedures can now have a help text and TAB completion. We also added help and completion to the TCL scripts that ship with openMSX.

- New console command "about" which searches for commands (built-in or TCL scripts) that seem to be about the given keyword. Useful if you forgot the exact name of a command.

- Watchpoints for I/O port and memory access:

    debug set_watchpoint

[] []

    debug remove_watchpoint

    debug list_watchpoints

  Where type is one of "read_io", "write_io", "read_mem" or "write_mem".

  Address is in range 0..255 for I/O ports and 0..65535 for memory. Condition and command are the similar to the "set_bp" command.

- Detection of DI/HALT (hanging MSX).

- Detection of Undefined Memory Reads (UMRs). When memory is read that was never written to, a TCL procedure is called. You can make your own, or use the included procedure named "umrcallback":

    set umr_callback umrcallback

  This is "valgrind" for MSX

 

MSX device support:

- IDE CD-ROM support: the "ide" extension now contains a CD-ROM drive in addition to a harddisk. You can insert ISO images with the "cda" command, or "cdb" for the second CD-ROM etc. There is no support yet for audio tracks. Note that you have to run IDECDEX in the emulated MSX before you can use CD-ROMs; you can download it from Sunrise (http://www.msx.ch/sunformsx/).

- Support for V9938 with only 16kB VRAM, as used in the SVI-738.

- Major V9990 improvements.

- Minor sound differences between two different PSG types (AY8910 and YM2149).

- Added Ninja-tap, a joystick port expander.

- Added DDX-3.0, a port-based external floppy interface.

- Small bugfixes in various devices: VDP, RTC, FMPAC, MegaRAM, IDE.

 

Build system, packaging, documentation:

- OpenGL support now depends on GLEW (http://glew.sourceforge.net/). GLEW is a library which allows us to conveniently use of GL extensions.

- Build fixes for Intel Macs.

>> Get it HERE.