CPCEMU v2.5 - The CPC Emulator for modern computer systems

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What is CPCEMU ?

  CPCEMU emulates an Amstrad CPC on your computer. You need at least an

  AT 386 with VGA graphics.  The CPC ROMs as shipped in UK are included.





Fast start:

DOS:

  Copy the archive CPCEMU15.ZIP into a directory of your hard disk and

  decompress it with  'PKUNZIP CPCEMU15.ZIP' .

  Then use INSTALL.BAT. Now run CPC6128.BAT to have a first look.

Linux:

  Copy the archive cpcemu-linux-*-2.x.tar.gz into a directory of your

  hard disk and decompress it with 'tar xvzf cpcemu-linux-*-2.x.tar.gz'.

  Then change the directory with 'cd cpcemu-2.x'. Now run './cpc6128' to

  have a first look. (replace * by arm, arm64, x86 or x86_64)

Windows:

  Copy the setup program cpcemu-win32-x86-2.x.exe into a directory of your

  hard disk and start it. Select a directory to install. Now use

  'CPCemu/CPC6128' in start menu to have a first look.

MacOS:

  Copy the Application to a folder of your hard disk and start it.

Android:

  Download the Application on your device and start it.

iOS:

  Download the Application on your device and start it.





  You can try the new online help by pressing F1.

  When questions arise, simply read the completely new documentation

  CPCEMU_E.TXT. No panic, it is shorter as it seems at the first glance.

  The user part ends with chapter 6.





New in v2.5:

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

  - Floppy LED

  - Virtual keyboard:

    * adjustable: position, size, transparency

    * persistent: saves position, size, transparency automatically (separately for portrait and landscape on Android and iOS)

    * visual und acoustic (switchable) feedback

  - Virtual joystick in two different sizes

  - Virtual mouse (selectable instead of joystick): AMX, Reisware/Gerdes or Symbiface II (PS/2)

  - Original sounds von disk drive, cassette relay and keyboard (switchable)

  - Zoom function (display without border), alternating with and without full screen; persistent (separately for portrait and landscape on Android and iOS)

  - Audio emulation deeply revised; output quality significantly improved (select between 4 output frequencies)

  - Vortex memory extension SP64...SP512

  - Jarek memory extension 576KB...4096KB

  - Bank-switching speed dramatically improved; correct emulation of C3 mode

  - IPv6-enabled web server similar to M4 board (upload and download into/from the emulator via web interface)

  - Autostart behaviour improved (automatic file selection and deactivation)

  - Minimale audio latency on Android (Oboe)

  - User interface improved on Android/iOS

  - Setup settings are saved immediately

  - First preparations for new user interface

  - Adjusted to SDL version 2.0.22

  - Fixed bugs: background-foreground-changing behaviour on Android, real-time speed, video output speed (in particular on Android, iOS and MacOS), memory leaks, M4 sockets, file access on Android and iOS





New in v2.4:

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

  - Original, but virtual CPC keyboard in 4 different languages

  - Loading firmware ROMs (0 and 255) from the running emulator

  - Upgrade to latest SDL version (2.0.18)

  - Correction of many errors (M4 file names, M4 sockets, sound output, restart of emulation,

    error tolerance, screen layout, Z80 R register)





New in v2.3:

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

  - Complete emulation of an M4 Board (http://www.spinpoint.org) using a host

    directory as drive C: (SD card; even for SymbOS), including network/internet

    connections, dynamic ROM simulation and (replaceable) Hack ROM (lower ROM).

  - CRTC emulation of type 0 (register 8) and type 1 (register 6) vastly improved.

  - HYSNC and VSYNC emulation improved even further.

  - Online help updated.

  - Mouse pointer visible on movements

  - Correction of many small and big errors (in particular, 576 KB RAM work

    correctly now for the first time after decades) and improved error reporting.





New in v2.2:

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

  - Setup option to use arrow keys as joystick

  - Main menu improved for small screens (Android, iOS)

  - Improved output in CRT-monitor mode ("Video mode=1", including

    better window behaviour for desktop versions)

  - Improved emulation of the HSYNC signals ("blacker than black",

    relevant for some demos as Dreamend)

  - Fixed errors: Folder sharing on Android, sound output,

    poke database (Android, iOS)





New in v2.1:

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

  - Runs also on Linux-x86 (32 Bit) and ARM64 (64 Bit)

  - Further features of CRTC (types 0 and 1) and Gate Array imitated

    (e. g. behaviour of register 6, and the colours)

  - User interface improved: text size on Android and iOS,

    Drag & Drop of DSK files on  Windows, MacOS and Linux

  - The versions for Android and iOS accept DSK and ZIP files

    from other applications (e. g. downloads from the browser)

  - Further features of the disk controller (FDC) imitated

   (Orion Prime in the 4 disk version loads correctly now)

  - Multiple improvements (e. g. autostart, green monitor, cassette relay)



New in v2.0:

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

  - Runs on MacOS, Android, iOS, Linux (x86 and ARM, in particular on

    Raspberry Pi) and Windows

  - Graphics engine overhauled, introducing border, overscan, dynamic 

    horizontal synchronisation (not perfect yet), scan doubling and 

	some optional CRT blurring

  - Completely new CRTC (CPC's graphics chip) emulation, quite accurate 

    and selectable between CRTC types 0, 1 and 2 (most demos work as on a 

	real CPC)

  - Realistic timing of CPU instructions and interrupts

  - Sound emulation significantly improved, now able to play digitized 

    sounds (such as speech and special effects)

  - Different accelerated modes of operation ("Turbo", with and without 

    CRTC synchronisation)

  - Debugger with optional CRTC single-stepping alongside the CPC screen, 

    including crosshairs indicating the current electron beam position

  - Graphical menu (in addition to function keys)

  - Virtual on-screen joystick on Android and iOS

  - Support for ZIP archives without external "unzip"

  - Support for V3 "SNA" Snapshot files

  - Keyboard configuration improved, enabling easier customization

  - Many small improvements and bug fixes



New in v1.7:

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

  - Keyboard layout is adjustable and, in cpcemu.dat, configurable



New in v1.6:

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

  - Changes for a wider spectrum of operating systems and CPUs

  - first versions for Linux/x86 and Windows/x86 (yes, there are

    indeed versions of Windows for Non-x86)

  - other plattforms are being planned (Linux/Alpha, FreeBSD/x86)

  - whole user interface converted to graphics mode (1 window)

  - same for debugger and other user inputs

  - completetly new graphics and sound routines

  - hence, better multimodes are depicted better (without flickering colours)

  - whole RAM access converted to linear addressing mode

  - file and directory access generalized for unixish OSes

  - help file adjusted and independent from character set

  - besides of "descript.ion", now "00_index.txt" is used

  - small bugfixes

  - unfortunately, some limitations (keyboard layout hard coded etc.)





New in v1.5:

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

  - perfect Soundblaster sound support by Ulrich Doewich

  - complete Spanish documentation thanks to Gerardo Briseno

  - updated French documentation thanks to Jean-Pierre Marquet

  - autostart of BASIC programs from disk images

  - 4DOS descriptions in file selection menus

  - online help now allows topics including spaces

  - path names in configurations are saved relative

  - file selection: now up to 1500 directory entries (formerly 500)

  - direct printer port access when using PRINTER=""

  - set data rate with CPCTRANS v2.3g

  - SNA2GIF v1.2: user-configurable colour palette, better auto-scale

  - CPCPARA v1.2: possible to disable fast sending (e.g. for Vortex)

  - extended poke database

  - some minor changes





New in v1.4:

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

  - GUS sound support by Ulrich Doewich

  - online help system in English, German, French and Spanish

  - complete French documentation

  - support for 2 joysticks

  - VESA videomodes for higher resolutions

  - improved setup menu and configuration file

  - load and save configurations from setup menu

  - improved FDC routines for non-standard formats

  - Extended disk format

  - user-configurable colours and keys

  - improved CPCTRANS (v2.3)

  - new SNA2GIF (v1.1): grab screens from snapshots





New in v1.3b:

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



  - Since v1.3 there was no Soundblaster sound with some (non Pro)

    cards.





New in v1.3a:

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



  - With v1.3 of CPCEMU, the interrupt mode 2 of the Z80 did not work

    (try Boulder Dash).





New in v1.3:

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

  - realtime CPC: In this mode CPCEMU tries to be as fast as a real CPC.

  - the ROMs are (c) by Amstrad and Locomotive Software

  - French documentation

  - menu system with mouse support

  - poke database for easy "poking"

  - re-format disk images with CPCEMU

  - insert disk images with read-only DOS attribute

  - debug menu: 'find' added

  - 'fast Z80': does not crash the computer when using Z80 instructions

    with word access at 0xffff

  - parallele adapter: new PCPARA, CPCPARA with up to 19000 baud

  - CPCTRANS: compiled for 8086 to use it also on an XT

  - ...







  You can find further information in the English, German, French or

  Spanish documentation CPCEMU_E.TXT, CPCEMU_D.TXT, CPCEMU_F.TXT,

  CPCEMU_S.TXT respectively.





Write your comments to:



        Marco Vieth

        Auf dem Uekern 4

        33165 Lichtenau

        Germany



        or by e-mail:

          cpcemu@hotmail.com

          (ali@uni-paderborn.de  only valid until 10/01/98)



        or to:

        Rainer Loritz

        (rainer@loritz.net)



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