New CPC 464 emulator

[chernandezba]

Hi


I'm the author of a ZX-Spectrum emulator:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/zesarux/


Which adds CPC 464 emulation in the last beta version, that can be downloaded from:


https://sourceforge.net/projects/zesarux/files/Beta_and_Snapshot_versions/


I must say that CPC 464 emulation is experimental, so there are some features not well emulated:
-Experimental hardware scrolling support
-No scanlines effects
-Only supports .cdt file formats or pure audio files (wav, smp, rwa)
-No disk emulation


ZEsarUX started as a Sinclar machines emulator, these are the machines I know best.
But on September last year I thought on adding some non Sinclair/Spectrum related machines, like CPC 464 and Jupiter Ace. I didn't know technical information about CPC before September and most of this information I got from CPC Wiki.
So think this is a experimental CPC emulation, but I will improve it in next versions.


You can take a look at features and machines emulated on the web site, all that information is for the last stable 3.1 version. The new beta version 4.0 (which I will release a stable version in the next weeks) adds the following new machines:


-Jupiter Ace
-Chloe 140 SE
-Chloe 280 SE
-Timex TS 2068
-Prism
-Amstrad CPC 464


You can take a look at the full Changelog file here:


https://sourceforge.net/p/zesarux/code/ci/master/tree/Changelog


ZEsarUX runs in Linux, Windows, Mac OS X and Raspberry pi. These plattforms are supported by me. There are also other ports supported by third party:
-Arch Linux:
AUR (en) - zesarux


-Retropie / EmulationStation
EmulationStation
The RetroPie Project – petRockBlog


-Open Pandora
Release - ZEsarUX 3.1.0.2 | Official Pyra and Pandora Site




So, please take some minutes to test it and tell me suggestions


Thanks,
Cesar

[Kris]

Interesting idea to have a ZX & a CPC into the same emulator; I think it's a the 1st time I heard about this kind of mix (even if CPC & Zx are cousins).

[TotO]

MESS? 

[chernandezba]

Yes, Mame/Mess are the kings of multi-machine emulator. My goal is not to create such thing.
I wanted only to reuse some parts of the emulator for cpc (z80, AY chip, cdt/tzx tape format).
Maybe in the future I will add MSX and QL emulation...


Cheers

[Bryce]

QL emulation is easy. Just disable the keyboard keys to get a true QL experience

Bryce.

[Morn]

-Arch Linux:
AUR (en) - zesarux

Unfortunately the Arch PKGBUILD (zesarux 3.1-1) does not compile with gcc 5.3:

gcc  -march=x86-64 -mtune=generic -O2 -pipe -fstack-protector-strong -Wall -Wextra -fsigned-char -c menu.c
menu.c: In Funktion »menu_about_statistics«:
menu.c:14353:16: Fehler: expected expression before »)« token
   ,LINES_SOURCE);
                ^
Makefile:97: die Regel für Ziel ,,menu.o" scheiterte
make: *** [menu.o] Fehler 1
==> FEHLER: Ein Fehler geschah in build().
    Breche ab...
==> FEHLER:Makepkg konnte zesarux nicht erstellen.

P.S. And the zesarux-git PKGBUILD compiles fine but fails during packaging...

P.P.S. Now it runs. Something weird happens to the aspect ratio when you switch to the CPC on Linux, see screenshot. Otherwise it looks pretty nice; I really like the menu system.

[chernandezba]

Hi


I don't maintain the arch linux package, I suppose with next version 4.0 will be fixed that error, thanks for telling me
About window size... the emulator tries to start a sizex2 window. If it doesn't fit, it normally scales to sizex1. Sometimes it fails and resize that way (horizontal x2 and vertical x1).
You can resize the window using the mouse as usual or from the emulator menu "GUI Settings->Window Size Zoom".


I'm glad you like the menu It's like the Spectrum 128k/+2 menus. Some people like much, some others don't (because they find them very simple)


Thanks for testing it


Cheers
Cesar

[Morn]

About window size... the emulator tries to start a sizex2 window. If it doesn't fit, it normally scales to sizex1. Sometimes it fails and resize that way (horizontal x2 and vertical x1).
You can resize the window using the mouse as usual or from the emulator menu "GUI Settings->Window Size Zoom".

Yes, as soon as I resize it with the mouse, the window snaps to its proper aspect ratio. And when I subsequently switch between different machines, the aspect ratio stays correct.

I'm glad you like the menu It's like the Spectrum 128k/+2 menus. Some people like much, some others don't (because they find them very simple)

I guess I'm a bit used to these kinds of menus from MAME now. Simple is good.