REGARDING THE 1.0b RELEASE AND OTHER NEWS
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     We received tons of mail from all over the world and it's nice to  see
     that some extra FTP/FSP/WWW-sites, BBS's  appeared. We try to reply to
     all the mail we receive but it's possible that we missed some  of your
     messages  or didn't have the time to  reply. We can't send you the ROM
     files or any other (c)opyrighted program so please don't ask for it.

     Speaking of  ROM files: we pestered ASCII with  mail and E-Mail and we
     tried  other channels  for  information  but we  still  haven't got  a
     license to distribute the ROM files.

     We changed some things regarding registering the emulator:
     þ We won't send you a laser  printed bound manual because there was  a
       lot of confusion about it (what version, how many) and the prices to
       send them overseas are much to steep.
     þ There's no  difference anymore  between a  shareware and  commercial
       registration. This caused a lot of confusion too and since we're not
       planning on getting  rich on this product there's now  only one type
       of registration fee.
     For those  of you that think we're a  commercial company and that this
     is a big  time project: we're just  three guys programming on  a hobby
     project and the registration is merely a token of appreciation for our
     work and  to compensate  for the  expenses we  made on  developing the
     emulator. We're NOT making any profit whatsoever.

     The video code  took a lot of  time to write.  Many methods have  been
     tried and  many weren't  fast enough  or lacked features.  We are  now
     detecting your VGA card or VESA BIOS and we hope that it works for all
     VGA cards available. We have tested it on some cards (ET4000, Trident,
     Paradise  and Diamond) but  we can't  test it  on all  possible cards.
     That's another reason to release this beta version.

     The sound emulation  is becoming better and better, but we still can't
     start coding for  wave table soundcards (like GUS) if  we can't borrow
     one from someone.

     We thoroughly  experimented with  and studied  DOS 2.xx  emulation and
     decided  to  drop  it.  There's  a  simple  and  restricted  DOS  2.20
     emulation.  The  problems are  all  relates to  technical  details and
     problems.  It basically  comes  down  to this:  whatever  DOS 2.xx  or
     interface we would emulate (DOS  2.20, DOS 2.3x, BERT, other MSX-SCSI)
     there's  still  a limit  in the  diskROM  code of  16 bits  for sector
     addressing.  If the  sector  size stays  512  bytes (it  is  for every
     interface we  know) then there is a 32Mb  maximum of a partition. This
     would imply that you have to dedicate (or at least create) one or more
     32Mb  partition(s) of  your harddisk  to the  MSX emulator.  The other
     solution would be a 32Mb file on the harddisk.
     Because the  current code  already  supports harddisks  (in fact:  all
     devices using INT 021h (also  CD-ROM drives, high density disk drives,
     etc.)) we decided to drop the research and development on DOS  2.xx or
     SCSI interface emulation.
     The above mentioned simple DOS 2.20 emulation only works with DOS 2.20
     ROMs and on disk drives. The last  restriction is a result of the  DOS
     2.20 ROMs themselves that can only operate via the sector I/O routines
     in the original diskROM (you need this one too for DOS 2.20 to work).

     Bugs fixed:

     [ We've fixed a LOT of bugs and we didn't keep an exhaustive log of
       what we did or didn't (sorry :-( so this list is far from complete ]

     þ Symptom:
       We received a lot of bug reports on especially F1 Spirit that wasn't
       working like it  should. When we  fixed this bug  it did work.  Many
       other programs probably suffered from this bug too.
       Technical explanation:
       The code contained two wrong memory referencing instructions causing
       the emulation code to write in MSX memory.
       This  caused some  very unpredictable  and  confusing results.  Some
       people didn't suffer from the problem.  Some did, but not always and
       some people didn't get any program running at all.
     þ Symptom:
       Got some programs working like Riverraid and Zoids.
       Technical explanation:
       Fixed emulation of Z80A IM 2 mode.
     þ Weird timing problems on fast machines (80486DX2-66, Pentium) fixed.
       On  fast machines the  MSX (without /T)  wasn't running  at 100% but
       much faster.
     þ Sprites appearing  in the  corner regions of  the screen  while they
       shouldn't are now gone
     þ Better error handling at startup
     þ Better keyboard handling. E.g. CapsLock
     þ Added some more inofficial Z80A instructions. We now think we've got
       'm all (or at least nearly all of them :-)
     þ MSXDUMP.COM now works correctly with commandline parameters
     þ Extra program to  fetch ROM files. the GETROM.BAS  program still had
       some problems.
     þ Soundcard  detection routines  turned the CD-ROM  drive LED  on when
       using a soundcard with a CD-ROM connected to it. Probably fixed.
     þ Better  print routines  and detection  for  running PRINT.COM  print
       jobs.
     þ Doing a LOAD ""  in BASIC on a directory would  caus the emulator to
       lock up. This is in fact a MS-DOS bug but we worked around it
     þ Sound routines fixed and rewritten
     þ Optimized some code for 80486.
     þ and a lot more....

     What's new:

     þ Telephone number of main support BBS and E-mail address have changed
     þ MSX-2 emulation (that's a huge one !)
     þ Both 'Sony' and 'Philips' memory/slot layouts selectable: /S switch
     þ SCC now both in slot 1 and 2.
     þ DOS 2.20 emulation.  BUT: only with DOS 2.20 ROMs and only on disks:
       /2 switch
     þ MSX keypad (not on all MSX keyboards) emulation via numerical keypad
     þ Activating NumLock  with the  [NumLock] key  enables numeric  keypad
       cursor keys (and disables the MSX keypad emulation for 8, 6, 2, 4).
       Most keyboards don't  support pressing two or more  (cursor) keys at
       once. This is  very irritating in games when two or more cursor keys
       have to be pressed at once. Activating NumLock and using  the cursor
       keys on the numerical keypad fixes this.
     þ Slow speed LED now on ScrollLock LED
     þ The [Pause] key now stops the emulator temporarily (pause). Pressing

                                        3


       [Pause] again resumes it.
     þ Slight speedup of megaROM emulation
     þ Updated documentation. More addresses, BBS's, etc.
     þ New commandline switch /P, /5, /N, /G and /Y
     þ With shift-alt you can make a screendump to MSX2PICT.BMP .
     þ Some people had problems with their VGA card: with the new /U option
       only standard VGA modes are used.
     þ With the /W command line option you can save PSG-music to a file.
       Players are coming up soon. This fileformat is compatible with the
       format of Marat F.
     þ With the /I command line option you can use .DDI files as drive A:.
     þ By pressing Shift and Alt, a screendump is made (MSX2PICT.BMP). This
       only works in the 256/512 resolution modes (NOT with the /U option).

     Known bugs:

     þ Using DOS valid device names like CON,  PRN, AUX, etc is not trapped
       properly in high level disk I/O mode. Doing a
       COPY filename CON
       in the emulator will dump <filename> to stdout of DOS.
     þ It's possible that  the diskdrive rotation speed has  to be adjusted
       for some disk formats in low level disk I/O mode.
     þ GETALLO  does  not   return  ALL  parameters  (impossible   in  some
       situations).
     þ The low  level disk I/O  routines have been optimized  to read/write
       more sectors at a time. It's possible  that this doesn't work on all
       BIOS-es.  We've had  this experience  with  another program.  Please
       report on this if you have any problems.
     þ Some old  konami's such as tennis  and hypersports act  real slow in
       the intro-screen but do work when you wait for the game.
     þ Bug in VDP copy-commands (sometimes the requested data is not copied
       completely)

     Not working (yet):

     þ The mouse emulation still doesn't  work. We've tried several methods
       and one did work for programs that seem to do the same thing as  the
       BIOS does, but others (like EASE) don't work.
       Because we've  tried several methods the current method doesn't work
       at all. We will fix this later.
     þ The keyboard is fixed on a international or USA keyboard layout.
     þ Magnified sprites (bit 0 in VDP register 1) not implemented.
     þ Sound emulation is not completely finished:
       þ PSG envelopes won't work
       þ Incomplete MSX-AUDIO/Philips Music Module support (no sample-ram).
       þ SCC emulation doesn't support samples and it doesn't sound like we
         would
         want it to.
     þ Joystick support not finished yet
     þ Sprites in screen 6 and 7
     þ VDP status register 0 bits 0-4 : fifth/ninth spritenumber
     þ PSG register 14 bits 0 to 5 (joystick/mouse)
     þ PSG register 15 bits 5 & 4 (puls 1, puls 2: joystick/mouse)

     Not emulated (mostly because it's not necessary/usefull):

     þ PPI-poort &HAB is  not emulated (no use to emulate: can't be changed
       in MSX architecture).
     þ VDP status register 1 bit 7,6 (FL,LPS): lightpen
     þ VDP status register 2 bit 1 (EO): display field flag
     þ VDP status register 3,4,5,6: sprite collision location, lightpen
     þ VDP register 8 bit 7,6,4,0 (MS,LP,CB,BW): color-bus settings
     þ VDP register 9 bit 5,4,3,2,1,0 (S1,S0,IL,EO,NT,DC): various settings
     þ VDP register 18: display adjust register
     þ VDP register 19 does not work in screen 0,1,2 and 3
     þ Hardware tile function (sprites/background in screen 6)
     þ PSG  register 7  bit 7,6  (port-direction (CAN'T  be changed  in MSX
       architecture)
     þ PSG register 14 bit 6 (keyboardmode)
     þ PSG register 15 bit 7 (kana led)
     þ Tape support is not working properly because of new timing


     Programs that don't work properly (yet) as we know of:

     þ Space manbow    : weird   behaviour.   There   are   more   than   1
                         splitscreen-points on the screen
     þ Breaker         : garbage on the screen (VDP copy-command bug)
     þ Quarth          : garbage on screen (VDP copy-command bug)
     þ Baseball        : pitcher-sprites are not displayed correctly
     þ King's Valley 2 : crashes during game
     þ T. of Usas      : sprites are nog displayed correctly
     þ Unkn. reality   : problems with split-screen emulation
     þ Aleste          : Another VDP copy bug problem