| Posted By
IstvanV
on 2008-08-28
11:20:52
|  plus4emu 1.2.9
OK, I know this will be ignored as usual, but anyway, here is the list of what changed since the previous version:
* added a C interface that allows using the emulator as a shared library in other programs; the library and header file can be found in the 'plus4lib' subdirectory of the binary packages, and a simple example program with compile instructions is also included
* implemented IEC level MPS-801 printer emulation, in addition to the previously existing hardware level MPS-802 emulation
* added a new button to the debugger GUI that makes it possible to break only when a branch is taken (i.e. the opposite of 'Step over')
* more accurate PAL emulation in OpenGL mode when the display quality is set to 3
* LED display is now also implemented for IEC level drive emulation
* the ROM images required by the emulator are included with the binary packages, and no longer need to be downloaded separately
* fixed a bug in the 'Step over' function of the debugger
* fixed/improved support for D64 error information; this allows some copy protected games that previously did not work to load correctly
* the 'compress' utility has two new compression methods, some new options, and the original method is 3-5 times faster now while producing identical files; also, compression support in 'p4fliconv' is improved somewhat
* various minor bug fixes, optimizations, and other improvements
The source code, and 32 and 64 bit Linux binaries are available at http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=192837&package_id=226942&release_id=622443. Due to the lack of interest, Windows packages are no longer built.
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Posted By
Chronos
on 2008-08-28
14:30:32
 | Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
heyy, no windows build?? why? i'm interested!! :D
the summer is over soon and when its getting colder more dudes want to try it.. and there is no windows build 
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Posted By
MMS
on 2008-08-28
16:31:22
 | Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
Yepp, the same I wanna say... Although I REALLY tried out several times Linux (first time in 1996  ) i never found it comfortable enough, even unbuntu, whwre all the "parasztvakítás" features are disabled on my HD2600, so XP remains with Aston shell.
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Posted By
IstvanV
on 2008-08-29
06:13:39
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
I thought everyone on Windows uses YAPE, and does not give a rat's ass about alternatives, so why waste my time building something that is not only not used by anyone, but is actually completely ignored, regardless of features, emulation quality, etc. ? Looking at recent releases, it is apparent that the utilities are not very popular, either.
In fact, the best thing to do would be to just discontinue all Plus/4 related tools and forget about it, but if for some reason I still decide to make new releases in the future, it is clear that I only do it for myself, and in that case there is no point supporting Windows which was done only in the hope that the program will actually be used by other people.
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Posted By
SVS
on 2008-08-29
08:38:50
 | Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
Istvan,
I hope you wrote these words only to obtain some reactions by this sleeping scene. I really understand what you feel, I was the one that before all did say "when one code for plus4, then he code for himself".
But hey, *this is* our hobby (yours too), then feedbacks are important (morally support) but not essential. This concept is valid for everybody.
Anyway your production (Plus4emu etc.) is appreciated by everybody. Yes Yape is faster, but Plus4emu has more features (and also Plus4forever has its own!).
Please return back, we neeeeed you
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Posted By
MMS
on 2008-08-29
12:06:01
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
Dear Istvan,
first of all, all people here respect at most your work and efforts. that is NOT true, that everyone uses YAPE. Eg. for painting, yes, but to view a demo, or play a game, I use your emulator. Because it is more accurate.
Yes, your emu is more CPU-hungry, it is valid, that my AMD3000+ has a 90-98% load in case I use our emu. If someone has a weaker CPU, really cannot use it, but come on, my CPU is 4 years old... So surely these people on the page have enough power to use your EMU.
Pls do not be demotivated that you have to fight with YAPE, YAPE reach a certain level of knwoledge over the years, you just started to gain. And there are other EMUs. yeah, it would be the best to run from Java on my Phone too, but anyone can dream... yes, it needs some time to gain knowledge, but it will worth the time...
If you listen to the comments, in some aspect your EMU is the best in the world, and NOT only on Plus/4 level, as I see.
Please keep up your excellent work!
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Posted By
nukem
on 2008-08-29
13:26:30
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
Yo Istvan!
I don't think that everybody really ignores your new upgrades and new features for your very cool emulator!!
In my case: I'm simply too stupid to realize and use them all. I just can use the pic converter (rulzzz!).
Definite, I am happy that there exists an emulator for Linux! I also used the plus4emu under Windows, 'coz it is most approach to the real machine!
Please, don't be huffish!! Keep on ruling!!!
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Posted By
Luca
on 2008-08-29
13:36:06
 | Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
Luca asks for windoze! 
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Posted By
nukem
on 2008-08-29
16:41:02
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
[OT]btw: does anybody know if there exist an tool like +4ide under linux? sry...[/OT]
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Posted By
Litwr
on 2008-08-30
01:44:51
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
[--> SVS] Thanks for kindly words about my old project. However I am close to abandon it. I spent less than 10 hours for all +4 related things this year.
[-> IstvanV] Don't surrender to the problems so easy.  Your emulator is very good. However it can never be the best at all - it can't be used at old 400Mhz PC like mine. What do you think about voice card emulation as at Yape?
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Posted By
IstvanV
on 2008-08-31
13:48:00
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
Well, for now, I have added Windows binaries for this release; it is still to be decided if new ones are worth developing (so far it seems that probably not).
MMSZoli: the >90% CPU usage on your AMD 3000+ machine is not quite normal. If I recall correctly, you have an ATI card, and OpenGL support on those is not very good, so it is possible that the problem is related to video drivers; did you try running in software mode ? I also remember TLC having performance issues with an ATI card on Linux about 1.5 years ago, but only in single buffered mode, while double buffered mode worked correctly; it may or may not fix the problem in your case, but it is probably worth trying.
In general, if there is much more than 1.3-1.5 times slowdown compared to YAPE, then it may indicate a system specific problem.
Litwr: I did not implement voice card emulation because I do not have the hardware, and it is only used in very rare 364 prototypes anyway.
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Posted By
Chronos
on 2008-08-31
13:59:50
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
thx istvan, a downloadin' it right now!
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Posted By
MMS
on 2008-09-02
01:30:40
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
Thanks for the great support, and not letting those poor XP users in the mess )
Rgeraing the ATI hints: I will try it ASAP, the problem is that it is an AGP HD2600Pro, which is supported only in few new SW releases from ATI (AGP support is very limited now). In fact it performs very well under games and able to play back 720P movies with 15% CPU usage... Thanks for the hints
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Posted By
nukem
on 2008-09-02
05:58:55
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
P.S. Thanx for the included Rom images!! Good idea!
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Posted By
IstvanV
on 2008-09-04
12:41:45
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
SVS: did you try the MPS-801 emulation ?
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Posted By
SVS
on 2008-09-05
08:20:11
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
Istvan: I've my PC broken. During the last few weeks I've substituted a lot of pieces, the RAM, the Video card :-/
Yesterday night I've substituted the MB. After that I reinstalled XP, the system did work for some minutes, then all faults! Sincerely I don't know what else to try...
For this reason I'm sorry for not supporting the testing.
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Posted By
Chronos
on 2008-09-05
11:39:14
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
how? a faulty psu? (i'm just courius..selling and servicing pc's about 8 years)
its strange, the ram, and after a vga and then the mobo..
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Posted By
SVS
on 2008-09-05
12:12:29
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
No, it's a PC.
Only the AC supplier remains the same, but I measured the tensions and are right.
Now I'm at work and have connected one of my hard-disk: here it run fine (and *important* the Plus4 dedicated HD is integer!)
Then: who gonna call? Maybe the goshtbusters...
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Posted By
MMS
on 2008-09-11
13:25:54
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
Hi Istvan,
I made some comparisons compared to the older version I used, and I noticed, that the CPU load in the new version dropped to a 82% (together with SID emu) from the proevious 95-100%. I tried the buffer setting issue, but no difference, the biggest load I could notice is the Quality setting of Display, setting it to 3, the output looks real PLUS/4, but CPU is 100% ) I need a stronger one...
Reducing the Sound sample rate to 44Khz from 48, switch off quality setting, directly mapping to sound driver chip, having Quality setting as 1, the 82-85% is a good result.
By the way I switched of OpenGL, then the complete EMU become SOOOOO slow, that I decided to remains with OpenGL.
By the way, one of the best testers of EMU accurcy is the Genesis Project demo (very old one), when the raster scroller is fluently moving, then is is like on real Plus/4.
In your previous version I used -due to CPU load- it was stuttering a little, now it is perfect! Great job!!!
By the way, NO OTHER emu can show this corretly, just your Plus4EMU and Yape0.79. In fact I like this scroller effect SOOO MUCH. My favourite since years... I wish it would have origi SID music and some sprites, then would be PERFECT INTRO...
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Posted By
MMS
on 2008-09-11
13:27:34
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
So many By the Way... i just noticed it. Shame on me !
Bad habit, next time I won't use it...
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Posted By
Chronos
on 2008-09-11
14:46:31
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
or just spell it as "btw"
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Posted By
IstvanV
on 2008-09-11
16:52:12
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
> the CPU load in the new version dropped to a 82% (together with SID emu) from the proevious 95-100%. I tried the buffer setting issue, but no difference, the biggest load I could notice is the Quality setting of Display, setting it to 3, the output looks real PLUS/4, but CPU is 100% ) I need a stronger one...
Reducing the Sound sample rate to 44Khz from 48, switch off quality setting, directly mapping to sound driver chip, having Quality setting as 1, the 82-85% is a good result.
Well, for comparison, here are some CPU usages on my machine (Athlon64 3200+ (2000 MHz), nVidia 6500) running the 32-bit Linux build of the 1.2.9 release, which should perform similarly to the Windows version (at least it does for me): Disp. q. = 3, reSID, 1541/high accuracy, 48 kHz sound/high q.: 49% (280%)
Disp. q. = 1, reSID, 1541/high accuracy, 48 kHz sound/high q.: 40% (310%)
Disp. q. = 0, reSID, 1541/high accuracy, 48 kHz sound/high q.: 37% (315%)
Disp. q. = 0, reSID, 1541/high accuracy, 48 kHz sound/low q.: 34% (315%)
Disp. q. = 0, 1541/high accuracy, 48 kHz sound/low q.: 27% (415%)
Disp. q. = 0, 1541/low accuracy, 48 kHz sound/low q.: 25% (460%)
Disp. q. = 0, 48 kHz sound/low q.: 17% (690%)
No display, 48 kHz sound/low q.: 13% (825%) All the above were measured in single buffered OpenGL mode; the values shown in parentheses are the speed percentages in full speed (Alt+W) mode. Note that measuring CPU usages can be somewhat tricky, so I used a setting of a small number of very large sound buffers to minimize inaccuracies due to OS scheduling.
The 44.1 vs. 48 kHz sound sample rate should not make much difference, unless there are driver related problems. The default MME sound device is also normally OK, and I do not recommend using the DirectSound devices, because the timing is then done entirely by the sound output (= ugly jittery video), while in the case of the MME devices Sleep() is called to synchronize with real time, dynamically adjusting the speed so that the sound buffer is about 50% full on average, but the jitter is much lower.
Software video mode should not be much slower that OpenGL if the screen is not changing much; but when it does, then it can indeed be slow, and the speed depends largely on the resolution.
> By the way, one of the best testers of EMU accurcy is the Genesis Project demo (very old one), when the raster scroller is fluently moving, then is is like on real Plus/4.
Anything that does not do something really tricky or unusual should run exactly like on the real machine. In fact, I have tested reading and writing all TED registers in all possible cycles, and the modeling of hardware is based on the results of the tests (running similar tests on YAPE can easily reveal various small bugs). The main areas where there are still some inaccuracies compared to the real machine include writing to the $FF1E register at some specific times (it is mostly complete, though, and other emulators are worse), some "analogue" aspects of the hardware - including "random" behavior under some circumstances, DRAM losing data when not refreshed, etc., and the exact details of switching the TED off with the $FF07 register (it is implemented, but not 100% correct).
Here are a few very simple tests to try on various emulators . Type these in the TEDMON, each one after Run/Stop+reset:>FF06 9F
>FF06 3F 0F
>FF07 48
>FF07 28
>FF14 FF
>FB 0A In this program, the bright green dots should not move with the scroll: http://www.sharemation.com/IstvanV/scrolltest.prg.
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Posted By
IstvanV
on 2008-09-11
17:48:47
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
More on the 1.2.9 release: did anyone try using the included DLL interface (or just compiling the simple example program) ?
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Posted By
Bacon
on 2008-09-12
05:03:11
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
Just posting to say that I _really_ appreciate that someone is working on a really good Plus/4 emulator that runs under Linux. Sure, I can run Yape with Wine, but it's never the same as a native app.
Will try the new version out as soon as I have a chance.
Good work IstvanV!
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Posted By
Degauss
on 2008-09-12
05:49:44
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
For now i just read the Header-File. Cool stuff. Have to experiment with this once there is a little free time.
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Posted By
IstvanV
on 2008-09-25
12:19:02
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
Version 1.2.9.1 is now released, with these changes:
* some improvements and optimizations in the p4fliconv and compress utilities (see details below)
* a few minor bugs have been fixed
The 'p4fliconv' utility has new options for disabling dithering and interpolation (requested by Chronos), the compression type (0, 1, or 2) can be selected for "raw" PRG files, and it is possible to disable the image opening effect in FLI modes. Additionally, in hires modes, the invisible dithering effect reported by MMS is fixed. The compression efficiency of the 'compress' utility is slightly improved, and a bug has been fixed as well.
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Posted By
MMS
on 2008-09-25
16:34:11
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
Holy shit! So many improvements within one single release! Thanks for the improvements, I will try out, how it converts the 4-greyscale comics now...
BTW, why raw PRG file is compressed? how you can handle them on Plus/4? Ppicture with viewer I understand that option, as the viewer can unpack the picture,but for raw image? I mean I know how JPG is working, but Plus/4 has no similar program capable to show or edit such pictures as it is very time consuming. I do remember how slowly my 286 (16MHz!) showed those JPGs even with low resolution. Or I am wrong again?
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Posted By
Chronos
on 2008-09-25
16:41:16
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
thx! thats what i need! :D
i've just tested and everything is cool ..all my complaints gone.. thx again!
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Posted By
IstvanV
on 2008-09-25
17:14:45
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
MMS: the compression of PRG files is optional and disabled by default (it is enabled only if the compression level slider is set to a greater than zero value), but if you do save a raw PRG file in compressed format, then the decompressor routines included with the source code (src\util\compress\*.s) can be used to decode the data. The Árok 10 slideshow disks do use this feature, all images are stored as raw PRG files compressed with the -m2 method.
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Posted By
IstvanV
on 2008-09-26
10:46:21
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
Since I found a really stupid bug in the compress code - it was fixed by changing only two lines, but prevented the output from being usable - I have replaced all packages with a new 1.2.9.2 version. The emulator is identical to 1.2.9.1 other than the version change. Hopefully everything works now
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Posted By
IstvanV
on 2008-09-28
12:31:30
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
Chronos: do you still have plans to create new icons ?
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Posted By
IstvanV
on 2008-09-28
12:34:02
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
By the way, there seems to be a minor bug in the forum: the number of messages displayed for this thread does not include those that were posted after the emucamp.com domain name problem.
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Posted By
IstvanV
on 2008-09-30
07:36:39
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
Any feature requests or bug reports ? For example, would it be useful to add support for CA65 labels in the debugger ?
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Posted By
gerliczer
on 2008-10-01
01:51:26
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
Yesterday I tried 1.2.9.2 with a Voodoo 5 5500. It was unable to display anything in OpenGL mode, yet the program run without any warning. I think it would be beneficial to display some error message when someone tries to run it with hardware lacking the necessary capabilities.
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Posted By
IstvanV
on 2008-10-01
06:36:21
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
That looks like a fairly old card, but it should still be possible to get it to work somehow, since it theoretically does have more than enough capabilities to run the emulator, even if not at the full quality setting. What driver are you using ? Did you try changing the display quality (0, 1, or 2) and single/double buffered mode ? Is the display problem a black screen, or a HOM effect if you move other windows above the emulator window ?
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Posted By
SVS
on 2008-10-01
15:15:26
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
Hello Istvan!
Finally I DLed last version of plus4emu and I use it (only now with a new PC because my old one had a new problem every day).
Well I have to admit that this version of plus4emu works fine, very fine 
I only have a question: how could I to set, thru keyboard configurator, a PC key with SHIFT?
On other hand, if I want to set "=" on the key "0" but SHIFTed?
Thank you and congrats.
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Posted By
Chronos
on 2008-10-01
16:16:51
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
yap, i still have icon plans, but: i'm swimming through yet my promises :D i promised for you some icons, to skoro some logo's and gfx.. and besides i started to reorganize our page too.. and finally, october has arrived and my workplace and our customers opened his eyes too.. the last two weeks was busy and the next two too but im trying to steal some freetime and keep my promises..
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Posted By
IstvanV
on 2008-10-01
16:32:21
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
SVS: yes, if I recall correctly, you did request symbolic keyboard map support earlier, sorry for forgetting about that. It can be implemented in the next version, although I think the mapping would not be configurable for now; the original positional and the new symbolic mode could be toggled in the menu, and in the latter case, the text typed on the PC keyboard should be translated to Plus/4 key combinations (ignoring the configuration), but all keys that are mapped to the joysticks in the configuration would still be processed as in the positional mode. Would that solution be OK ?
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Posted By
SVS
on 2008-10-02
02:19:30
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
OK Istvan, but listen:
now with the current version 1.2.9.2, how can I set a character to be inserted by pressing on the PC keyboard, say SHIFT-0 ?
Thanx
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Posted By
IstvanV
on 2008-10-02
05:57:25
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
Unfortunately, that is not possible yet, you can only map single PC key or joystick events to single Plus/4 key or joystick events, and not combinations. However, in the next version, I will implement a symbolic keyboard map mode as described above.
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Posted By
SVS
on 2008-10-04
05:42:29
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
BTW in next version should be possible to set a summary of:
- last .prg file loaded (start-end addresses)
- D64 image linked (which drive#)
This list could be located in the bottom border of screen.
Thank you!
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Posted By
IstvanV
on 2008-10-05
09:11:08
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
Yes, status messages are another old request that I forgot about Well, I do not know yet where they would be printed - I do not really like the idea of writing to the emulation display area - maybe a separate small window, like in the case of drive head positions, although that is probably not very convenient to use (although older messages could also be seen on the other hand).
Does anyone else have any suggestions ? How about improvements to the debugger ? Or the utilities ?
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Posted By
Chronos
on 2008-10-14
15:46:04
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
some toughts: the converter is just perfect now for me..
the emu is good too, but on my notebook (with ati x1100, and 2ghz turion) it not enough fast yet. Running around 94%-100% so its almost good
and lastly, csekk your email mate
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Posted By
IstvanV
on 2008-10-14
16:08:57
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
Hi Chronos ! Sorry for not replying to the mail. The icons look good, thanks for sending them. If you do want to make more, then similar ones to those that already exist, but better quality / more detailed would be OK; basically, I use separate icons for the various windows of the emulator (main window, display settings, etc.), and for the file types that can be associated with the program, like .prg and .d64.
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Posted By
IstvanV
on 2008-10-14
16:34:01
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
> some toughts: the converter is just perfect now for me..
Well, it can never be perfect, but it is nice to hear that some people find it useful. There are some areas where it could be improved eventually, such as better quality and/or faster conversion algorithms, more video modes, improved user interface, etc.
By the way, did anyone try the compress utility ? There has been not much feedback about it, but I do not know if this is because it is not useful, or was just not noticed.
> the emu is good too, but on my notebook (with ati x1100, and 2ghz turion) it not enough fast yet. Running around 94%-100% so its almost good
These performance problems on some machines are really strange. The emulator runs fine for me on a 1.3 GHz Pentium III Celeron with 256 MB RAM, so I think the above CPU should be fast enough as well. So, it could be the ATI video (I only tested NVidia), or maybe some notebook power saving feature (e.g. variable CPU speed), or perhaps the sound device that is causing the slowdown.
In any case, you may want to try turning on the full speed mode (Alt+W), and see if the percentage displayed is much more than 100%, like it should be (if yes, then the CPU speed is obviously not an issue). Try this in both software and OpenGL video mode. To rule out audio related problems (which could possibly be solved simply by setting a larger buffer size), uncheck "Enable sound output" in the settings, and see if that allows for a stable 100% speed.
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Posted By
Chronos
on 2008-10-14
17:43:43
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
More Details:
i'm running Vista as op.system. The Emu runs around 380-410% at turbo mode so the cpu performance is not an issue. i'll try to finetune it and i'll be back soon
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Posted By
Chronos
on 2012-05-19
13:35:38
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
of course my "not enough fast" was totally crap.. it will be some sync problems, so sorry for that..
--
I'm not double posting but i cant post a new record.. :D
So, strange things happens around.. i've using plus4emu 1.2.9.x and one day the video window left black. If i start plus4convgui there is no output too. If i reinstall the whole stuff it remains the same. What can i do, to reset it or dunno.. i tried several config options, reinstall plus4emu but it wont help.. any idea?
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Posted By
Litwr
on 2012-05-24
05:52:01
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
I've got this black window under Linux many times. It appeared after plus4emu stayed idle several dozen minutes. This situation is fixed by restart of the emulator.
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Posted By
Chronos
on 2012-05-24
12:34:53
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
It happens under my Windows 7 64 bits machine. It was fine earlier.. I've restarted it several times, reinstalled it etc.. and still.. (plus4emu stores anything in the registry somewhere?!) my other box runs Win7 32 bits and there are no problems.. Its annoying because i using the converter a lot of times and cannot see what im doing 
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Posted By
MMS
on 2012-05-24
16:34:11
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
WOM effect: Write Only Memory
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Posted By
Chronos
on 2012-05-26
05:28:07
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
Mind1 is.. majd dibággolom someday
| Re: plus4emu 1.2.9
Doesn't matter anyway... I'll debug it someday
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