Software update: openMSX 0.7.2

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The MSX is a home computer from earlier times, but fortunately there are still a number of people who are fully engaged in the development of the MSX and also with the various emulators for this platform. The emulator openMSX runs on various operating systems, including Linux, Mac OS X and Windows, and according to the developers, it focuses on the perfection of the gaming experience. Version 0.7.2 with ‘IWCA approved’ as code name has been available for a few days with the following announcement:

Version 0.7.2

This is a quick fix for the 0.7.1 release. Due to a small bug in a Tcl script, openMSX wasn’t able to load savestates with paths that contain spaces, which is the most common case on standard Windows installations. 0.7.2 fixes that.

Version 0.7.1

This release comes mostly with good news for Windows users: we have a brand new installer with binaries which have been created in a brand new way, using Microsoft Visual C++ 2008. This means smaller binaries and also support for 64-bit Windows operating systems. Also, several long standing problems have been fixed in the Windows release of openMSX. Eg, it now includes full support for unicode!

For the rest we have mostly fixed smaller issues (see below) and added some cool demonstrations of what one can do with the combination of (Tcl) scripting, the debug command and the OSD.

New or improved emulator features:

  • Removed buggy SDLGL renderer (instead use SDLGL-PP)
  • Debugging:
    • implemented step_out
    • implemented skip_instruction
    • implemented general debug conditions (not bound to addresses anymore, but note: this is very CPU intensive!)
  • Speed ​​optimizations in the CPU emulation
  • Console now uses TrueType fonts, and can display localized text now (as long as the characters are in the used font), in other words: it supports unicode
  • Optimizations in ZMBV encoding cause openMSX video recordings to become smaller and the encoding to be faster
  • As is default in fMSX, it is now possible to automatically pause openMSX when the mouse pointer leaves the openMSX window (not enabled by default)
  • Added icons in the OSD for ‘pause’, ‘full throttle’, ‘debug break’ and ‘mute’ status
  • Added several improvements on the OSD, regarding features, bug fixes and speed
  • Fixed some long standing bugs on Windows:
    • ALT-SPACE no longer pops up a context window
    • Unicode is now fully supported (eg, no more problems with localized versions of Windows). Note: this means openMSX requires Windows 2000 or higher as of this release.
    • socket communication (eg with the openMSX debugger) is secure now. This does mean that older builds of the openMSX debugger will not work anymore with this openMSX release, you need an updated build!
  • Added the possibility to include OSD elements in screenshots, which are now no longer included by default (eg typing screenshot in the console no longer shows the console in the screenshot)
  • Added some scripts that demonstrate the OSD framework:
    • vu_meters: shows graphical VU meters for each channel of each sound chip in the currently emulated MSX
    • scc_viewer: shows current waveform and volume of the SCC channels
    • mog_overlay: help and extra information when playing The Maze of Galious
    • info_panel: a general information panel, similar to the DIGIblue v2 theme of blueMSX

MSX device support:

  • Several new machines were added, eg Sony HB-F700P, Panasonic CF-2700 (German), Talent DPC-200 (Argentinian), Yamaha CX5M, Sanyo PHC-28L, Sanyo PHC-28S, Yamaha YIS-503F, Sanyo MPC-25FD (thanks jltursan)
  • Added Sharp HB-3600 dual disk drive
  • Accuracy improvements:
    • Added difference between AY8910 and YM2149 PSGs when reading registers
    • Z80: added ‘ld a,i’ quirk
    • V99x8:
      • implemented sprite collision coordinate status registers
      • fixed detail of LINE command (fixing one problem in Syntax Infinity)
      • implemented VR bit (fixing another problem in Syntax Infinity)
    • Added a memory mirror device to properly emulate the Sony HB-10P
  • Fixed sound quality regression in YM2413 emulation
  • Fixed very long standing bug in vblank interrupt timing, resolving many problems like the Zanac title screen, Adonis music speed, Galaga slowdowns, Penguin Adventure start up, …
  • Added emulation of Nowind (mostly useful for Nowind firmware developers)
  • Added emulation of the Arkanoid pad, using the mouse

Build system, packaging, documentation:

  • Build support for Microsoft Visual C++ on Windows. As a result, we have smaller binaries for Win32 and we now also have support for 64-bit Windows.
  • New installer based on WiX on Windows
  • Added a super-opt flavor which does the most aggressive optimizations. This includes using “computed gotos” in the CPU code (which speeds it up by roughly 10%), but may need 1GB of RAM at compile time.
  • Added support for Hurd operating systems (tested on Debian GNU/Hurd)
  • Converted (most of) the build system to Python, so that it is a lot better maintainable and the Visual C++ build can also make use of it. Python (> 2.4 but < 3.0) is now required to compile openMSX.

And of course the usual various bug fixes.

In “doc/manual/index.html” you can find a set of HTML manuals for openMSX. Make sure you read this if you haven’t used openMSX before, but also to learn more about the new and changed features.

Have fun with your emulated MSX!
the openMSX developers

Version number 0.7.2
Release status Final
Operating systems Windows 2000, Linux, BSD, Windows XP, macOS, Windows Vista
Website openMSX
Download http://openmsx.sourceforge.net/
License type GPL
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