Oct 022019
 

A new version of the Retro Virtual Machine by Juan Carlos Gonzalez Amestoy was released. It is a modern multi-platform emulator for Windows, Linux and MacOS. Currently it supports the emulation of an Amstrad CPC 464, 664 and 6128 and also different Sinclair computers. Besides that it is also feature packed with for e.g. realistic CRT emulation and devices like the X-Mem, the CPC Dandanator or the AMX mouse. Hopefully more will come in the future. Needless to say that it also supports tape and floppy emulation and features extended development features like debugger and integrated assembler.

But have a look by yourself:

The Retro Virtual Machine immediatly became my favourite emulator, so if you want to test it, too, head over to the Retro Virtual Machine homepage and download it for your favourite operating system.

Features:

  • Multiplatform
    • Windows (Vista+)
    • Linux
    • MacOs (10.9+)
  • Multi System
    • ZX Spectrum
      • ZX Spectrum 16k
      • ZX Spectrum 48k (issue2/3/+/+English)
      • ZX Spectrum 128k (eng/spa)
      • ZX Spectrum +2 (eng/spa/fr)
      • ZX Spectrum +2A (4.0eng/4.0spa/4.1eng/4.1spa)
      • ZX Spectrum +3 (4.0eng/4.0spa/4.1eng/4.1spa)
      • ZX Spectrum +2E (eng/spa)
      • ZX Spectrum +3E (eng/spa)
      • Inves Spectrum +
      • ZX-Uno (v4.1/v4.2)
    • Amstrad CPC
      • Amstrad CPC 464 (CRTC-0)
      • Amstrad CPC 664 (CRTC-0)
      • Amstrad CPC 6128 (CRTC-0)
    • Multi machine
      • Possibility of opening several machines in parallel
    • Virtual Cassette
      • Support TAP,TZX,PZX,CSW,CDT in playback or recording.
    • Floppy disks
      • Low level disc (mfm)
      • New implementation of upd765
      • HFE/DSK support
    • Monitor
      • Emulation of synchronism (H-sync/V-sync)
      • New Shader
    • Joysticks / Gamepad
      • Autodetection
    • Devices
      • ZX Spectrum
      • DivMMC
      • Kempston Mouse
      • Magic-AY
      • Turbo Sound
    • Amstrad CPC
      • X-Mem
      • CPC Dandanator
      • AMX Mouse
    • Supported file systems in the integrated explorer
      • FAT 16
      • FAT 32
      • CPM
    • SD Emulation (SPI)
      • SD (max 2GB)
      • SDHC (max 32GB)
    • Development system (ALPHA)
      • Editable hexadecimal view
      • Editable disassembly view
      • Multiple monitors
      • Assembler with LUA pre-processor
      • Command terminal

Sep 272019
 

You are currently working on your latest production and need a way to compose music for it? Then the Arkos Tracker might be a good choice for you. In the latest version, Targhan, the author of it, completely rewrote it, so it is available for your favourite operating system now. Besides the obvious support for the Amstrad CPC it also supports the Atari ST, ZX Spectrum, MSX, Oric, Apple 2, Vectrex and the Sharp MZ-700 and of course you can also import various chiptune tracker formats (e.g. from Soundtrakker, Arkos Tracker 1, Starkos Tracker, Wyz Tracker, etc.) but also MIDI or MOD files for easy music conversion. Let’s not forget that it also supports extra hardware that adds multiple soundchips to your system (like the PlayCity on the Amstrad CPC).

This is an example tune playing in the Arkos Tracker 2:

You got interested in it? Great! Head over to the Arkos Tracker 2 homepage and download it.

Features:

  • Cross-platform (Windows, Linux, Mac).
  • Manage both standard PSG sound and samples without any distinction!
  • Support of AY-3-8912 and YM2149F.
  • Unlimited PSG count! You can create standard 3-channel songs, or 6, 9, 32 or more if you want!
  • 4 columns of effects per channel, including Arpeggio (via a table or inline value), Pitch, slide, glide, change Arpeggio/Pitch/Instrument speed, etc.
  • Import from MIDI, AKS (Arkos Tracker 1), SKS (STarKos), 128 (BSC’s Soundtrakker), WYZ (Wyz Tracker), MOD, VT2 (Vortex Tracker 2), CHP (Chip’n’sfx).
  • 4 players, from versatile to extremely fast, or slower but less memory consuming.
  • Support of specific hardware: PlayCity (CPC), Spectrum TurboSound, SpecNext, MSX Darky and MSX FPGA (AKY player only).
  • Sound effect support, shared among songs.
  • ROM players available: no more auto-modifying code, a small buffer is used.
  • Exports can be assembly sources or binaries: it makes it easy to integrate the songs in your production.
  • Sources can be converted to any assembler.
  • Each PSG can have its own frequency (including custom ones).
  • Replay rate from 12Hz to 300Hz, or custom.
  • A song is composed of sub-songs, all sharing the same instruments. Helps you save even more memory!
Jul 262017
 

A new version of Sugarbox, a Amstrad CPC emulator for Windows, was released. The main features of the new version are emulation optimizations, support for the PlayCity and Multiface-II hardware, ZIP support and various other improvements (see changelog for more information).
Be sure to test the new version of the emulator and download the latest version from http://sugarbox.free.fr.

Changelog:

  • [Gate Array]: Fix mode changing : Imperial Mahjong now looks better!
  • [Expansions]: Add support for the Playcity
  • [Expansions]: Add support for the Multiface II cards.
  • [Z80]: Complete recoding of the Z80 core. It now use the real M and T states, and handle WAIT states correctly. More accurate.
  • [General]: ZIP support (only zip file at the moment) for tape and disks
  • [IPF]: IPF created is striclty equivalent to the original dump (in term of MFM track)
  • [IPF]: Minor fixes in IPF reading
  • [DSK]: Fix some wrong behaviour. Dsk reading should be more reliable (and will no longer crash)
  • [DSK]: Fix a bug in saving DSK file. It should no longer crash (anyway, if you can avoid using it, prefer HFE or IPF format !)
  • [Emulation]: All peripherals are now running in the correct timings.
  • [FDC]: Index detection fixed on Sector writing (Imperial Mahjong is able to save its configuration)
  • [FDC]: Dump with missing tracks will no longer crash Sugarbox
  • [FDC]: Fix wrong behaviour for double sided dumps that needs flipping of disk (fix altered beast double sided CTRaw)
  • [FDC]: Fix wrong status than can set « Seek end » incorrectly in some cases

 

May 262017
 

Kevin Thacker released a new work in progress version of his Amstrad CPC emulator called Arnold. For this release he did a huge amount of testing, especially for the FDC routines, and wrote a lot of tests to ensure that the emulator behaves just like the real machine.

You can get a precompiled version here: http://www.cpctech.org.uk/setup.zip

And for the Linux and Mac users (and Windows users :-)) – you can get the source code here: http://www.cpctech.org.uk/arnoldsrc.zip

Here is the changelog for this version (be prepared… it is huuuuuuge):

Continue reading »

Jan 032017
 

A new version of Sugarbox, a Amstrad CPC emulator for Windows, was released. The main features of the new version are emulation optimizations, command line switches, sound emulation improvements and various other improvements.
Be sure to test the new version of the emulator and download the latest version from http://sugarbox.free.fr.

Changelog:

  • [Emulation]: Add some optimizations. MAX speed should be faster (about 100% gain from v0.26).
  • [Emulation]: Remove memory leaks in IPF writing process.
  • [Config files]: Fix the ‘-’ and ‘_’ for french keyboard: « From scratch » now autorun properly.
  • [Display]: Screenshots are fixed: No more unwanted black line at the top.
  • [Dump support]: Fix the code used to compute multi revolution dump, to be more reliable (when a revolution is wrecked, dont use it).
  • [FDC]: Lots of fix in the FDC: The ‘acid tests’ of arnoldEmu are almost all corrects now.
  • [FDC]: Fix some bugs when reconstructing the tracks (fix some dump of « Le Necreomancien », and various CTRaw files also).
  • [FDC]: The ‘Flip’ fonction (used to flip double sided dumps) is now working correctly. Double faces IPF are now working.
  • [FDC]: ’10′ bits used for bit synchronisation can be in a smaller number: 40 bits are enough to consider the PLL as correctly fixed between clock/data bits.
  • [General]: Fix a deadlock that occurs when a command is used during a dump disk is read.
  • [General]: Fix the autotype feature : the feature is more relevant. Also, the « | » character is correctly rtanslated to ‘ù’ on french keyboard.
  • [General]: Add a function to recording every frame into a screenshot.
  • [General]: Autorun feature is a bit more reliable (more rules added).
  • [General]: Added some command line switches: -sn xx (load xx as a Snapshot file), -drivea xx to set xx into drive A, -driveb (same for drive B), fullscreen to start in full screen mode, -config xx to load xx as config file, -command xx to run xx as basic command at start.
  • [GUI]: Fix the incorrect update of « Save as.. » menu when inserting a disk.
  • [Multiface II]: Add preliminary support for Multiface II (no config yet).
  • [PPI]: Rewrite most of the 8255 implementation. Now run the ‘acid test’ properly (when it have meanings).
  • [PSG]: Correct lots of bugs (sound is now a LOT better, and digitized sound works correctly). Fix Dick tracy, Antiriad, Crazy cars 2, and probably a lot more!
  • [PSG]: Also run the ‘acid test’ of PSG correctly.
  • [Z80]: Support for NMI added.

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