X68000 Beta - Updates and Releases

[clarkkent]

Hi,

I recently solved my problem with the Core, Games are running now, I just didn't wait long enough after booting the game.
As far as I am using d88-Files, loading times are very long. I would like to use hdf-Files instead, but I don't know how to change the d88-Files to hdf-Files or where to get hdf-Files.
Maybe anyone here could help me out?

Thanks a lot in advance!

Take this one, loading is a lot faster:
https://archive.org/details/mister_x68k

[GhostofSparta]

Thanks a lot!

[TimeWarpGamer]

First off, congratulations on making a relatively complex computer system and game format so playable. I found the latest core and .hdf games really easy to fire up and start playing. I was also really impressed with the overall compatibility.

I'm new to MiSTer, but a long-time X68000 fan via emulation (EmuELEC), and I've spent quite a bit of time playing/testing games and toying around with core settings. Playing through some .hdf games on the collection that was shared earlier, it looks like this core is currently locked to 16 Mhz? Is there a way to switch to 10 Mhz for some games, because certain games won't launch (i.e. Sabnack -- I've learned to recognize the Japanese test, lol), some play too fast, and others have glitches if forced to play at 16 Mhz. I found this page recently, and the results at least pass the eye test in what I've noticed through my own testing: https://pcbiroiro.blogspot.com/2015/06/ ... 16mhz.html.

I also have Midi-32 Pi parts on order and would be happy to help with any testing on that front.

Keep up the awesome work, and I'm totally pumped for future releases

[Edit] Not sure anyone is working on this fix, but I added it on Github: https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/X68000_MiSTer/issues/26 [/Edit]

[McNutts]

So I was never able to find the Tonton collection on the internet but I was able to finally find a collection that has every game in it's on .hdf format.

Does anyone know if I can combine them into one file?

Also, I assume I just start up the core, mount a .hdf file, and reset the core and I can play the game correct?

[thera34]

So I was never able to find the Tonton collection on the internet but I was able to finally find a collection that has every game in it's on .hdf format.

Does anyone know if I can combine them into one file?

Also, I assume I just start up the core, mount a .hdf file, and reset the core and I can play the game correct?

Check Pezz82's YT video from previous page and see it's description.

Maximum size for a SASI HDF file is 40 Mb, you can check the following link to get you started on how to install games on harddrive with X68000 core: https://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68 ... ndamentals.

[McNutts]

So I was never able to find the Tonton collection on the internet but I was able to finally find a collection that has every game in it's on .hdf format.

Does anyone know if I can combine them into one file?

Also, I assume I just start up the core, mount a .hdf file, and reset the core and I can play the game correct?

Check Pezz82's YT video from previous page and see it's description.

Maximum size for a SASI HDF file is 40 Mb, you can check the following link to get you started on how to install games on harddrive with X68000 core: https://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68 ... ndamentals.

Thank you for the information. I have been able to play games with the X68000 core. I’m loving it.

[Djiem]

So I was never able to find the Tonton collection on the internet but I was able to finally find a collection that has every game in it's on .hdf format.

Does anyone know if I can combine them into one file?

Also, I assume I just start up the core, mount a .hdf file, and reset the core and I can play the game correct?

I would be quite interested to know the directions to get to where you found this; I've had no luck in my search.

[Karmeck]

So I grabbed [MiSTerFPGA] Sharp X68000 Starter Pack when booting I get a blank screen. I notice the images are HDFs when the github asked for HDDs and FDDs. Does this matter?

So far all I have is the rbf in the usual folder and a bunch of HDFs. Is this like the AO486 where it needs a boot rom? Also, I'm running mine off of primary sd since a kind soul provided me with X68000-JT51_20200913.rbf I suspect the midi32 rbf works as well? What else might I need to get the core started and running some games, finally am I good to run all X68000 titles off my primary sd? I'd like to avoid getting a secondary sd for now since my primary is 1tb and it's yet to even touch half.

So i have this pack, on my computer and my mister. it's not that. But I cant find it, where did I get it? I would like to find it again.

oh, ti was on the previous page, https://archive.org/details/mister_x68k

I remember now, and I would like to share how I download all the files.

I used this app

https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... looper.idm


And then had my phone download it over night.

Perfekt to use on archive pages that don't have a torrent.

[MrMister1985]

I'm sure others have commented here - but I've just got the latest core for this and all I get is a garbled type screen.

I can use an early 2021 version of the core and it's fine, but anything after about August and it's scrambled 'junk'. I can see the flashing cursor as scrambled output, so it's booting ok.

Any knowledge on why this would be?

X68000.jpg

yesterday I tried the core with the same problem in HDMI, I solved it by disabling in the mister.ini: forced_scandoubler = 0

God bless you and the others who have replied ... disabling forced scan doubler in the [x68000] section of my ini file fixed my VGA CRT computer garbled screen issues!

Hi anyone still getting any issue seeing the info on the loading screen? im cant see full words i can see a couple of letters then the rest is just seems scrambled! I Already had mine set on forced scandoubler = 0, do i need to change any other settings in the ini or would it be a good idea to redownload the core?

[notFound]

Hi anyone, I have issue about garbage between line when scrolling text while using XBasic or other editors. I tried many X68000 core version and all give me the same result except one, x68000_mt32pi_21.05.28 that I found somewhere on the net that show a clear scrolling "no garbage" but this version sometimes freeze and I can't use it often, also don't remember the last HDD used. Anyone else having the same issue?

[MrMister1985]

yesterday I tried the core with the same problem in HDMI, I solved it by disabling in the mister.ini: forced_scandoubler = 0

God bless you and the others who have replied ... disabling forced scan doubler in the [x68000] section of my ini file fixed my VGA CRT computer garbled screen issues!

Hi anyone still getting any issue seeing the info on the loading screen? im cant see full words i can see a couple of letters then the rest is just seems scrambled! I Already had mine set on forced scandoubler = 0, do i need to change any other settings in the ini or would it be a good idea to redownload the core?

Hi all, i solved it by also by doing the above but also switching "Gamma Correction" off.

[puu]

My X68000 core is updated.
http://fpga8801.seesaa.net/archives/20220713-1.html
FDD image format was changed from .d88 to .xdf .

[pgimeno]

My X68000 core is updated.
http://fpga8801.seesaa.net/archives/20220713-1.html
FDD image format was changed from .d88 to .xdf .

What can be used to convert floppy images to .xdf in Linux?

I've searched for documentation on the .xdf format, but I haven't found anything. I also don't know where to search for .xdf example files to try to figure out the format.

This page: https://86box.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ ... mages.html implies that .xdf is a raw image format (no headers, no metadata, just the sector data). Is that correct?

[wark91]

Thank you Puu-san. The load of floppy is very quick now ! Great improvement !
@pgimeno you can use the tool named vfic to convert floppies to xdf format.

[pgimeno]

What can be used to convert floppy images to .xdf in Linux?

@pgimeno you can use the tool named vfic to convert floppies to xdf format.

I can't find any vfic for linux, sorry. Can you point me to one?

[wark91]

you could use wine with vfic. It works for me.

[puu]

My X68000 core is updated.
http://fpga8801.seesaa.net/archives/20220713-1.html
FDD image format was changed from .d88 to .xdf .

What can be used to convert floppy images to .xdf in Linux?

I've searched for documentation on the .xdf format, but I haven't found anything. I also don't know where to search for .xdf example files to try to figure out the format.

This page: https://86box.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ ... mages.html implies that .xdf is a raw image format (no headers, no metadata, just the sector data). Is that correct?

If you want to convert from .d88 format to .xdf format in linux native environment, the spec about .d88 format is
https://boukichi.github.io/HuDisk/DISK.html
Since it is written in, I think that you can write a program in C that extracts only the data part in the sector with reference to this format. It's not that difficult.

[C-R-T]

Finally! A great gatekeeper has been slain.

[Chris23235]

I have no luck with the updated core, I just get a black screen, is the boot.rom the same as in the other versions of the core? Should it still go in the folder X68000?

[cyo.the.vile]

My X68000 core is updated.
http://fpga8801.seesaa.net/archives/20220713-1.html
FDD image format was changed from .d88 to .xdf .

Thank you.

I appreciate the explaination on your blog and also the keyboard transcoder.

[pgimeno]

If you want to convert from .d88 format to .xdf format in linux native environment, the spec about .d88 format is
https://boukichi.github.io/HuDisk/DISK.html
Since it is written in, I think that you can write a program in C that extracts only the data part in the sector with reference to this format. It's not that difficult.

I do not have a problem with .D88 format. I already made converters from several formats (DIM,FDI,FDD and HDM) to D88 and they are working.

I have a problem with .XDF format. I do not have information about XDF.

Is XDF it the same as HDM? I already know HDM, it's a raw format of 77 cylinders, 2 heads, 8 sectors per track, 1024 bytes per sector, and the files are 77*2*8*1024 = 1,261,568 bytes because it is raw.

[shira]

Yes XDF looks to be the same as HDM. Your format description matches what I have.

Code: Select all

    uint8_t TRACK_COUNT = 77;
    size_t TRACK_SIZE = 8 /* sectors */ * 1024 /* sector data size */;
    size_t MAX_DATA_SIZE = TRACK_COUNT * 2 /* disk sides */ * TRACK_SIZE;
    size_t XDF_STD_SIZE = MAX_DATA_SIZE;          //size of XDF format 1261568 bytes

[puu]

My X68000 core was updated.
http://fpga8801.seesaa.net/archives/20220716-1.html

The keyboard layout is now variable.
MiSTer(executable file) was updated.(support Japanese keyboard)

[jca]

Thanks Puu for this update.
Now the problem is this XDF format. wark91 mentioned vfic but I had no luck finding this thing. On the good side I just found Sharp_X68000_Collection on archive.org with FD images in the HDM format. I made a quick test by renaming HDM to XDF and it seems to be working. Floppies load fast. The archive also contains cheats.
One thing I noticed is that on HDMI the display area is no longer centered but flush with the top of the screen.

Edit: I started to type my post before Puu posted a new update.

[mapf]

wark91 mentioned vfic but I had no luck finding this thing.

https://www.vector.co.jp/soft/win95/util/se151106.html

[Kitrinx]

@puu
Thank you for some updated code. I will at some point attempt to add clock enables to it like the rest of the code from the mister project, so that it can be merged upstream. Is there any chance you could use some kind of version control system like github to make tracking code changes easier? We use the more accurate fx68k CPU for this, which required the project to have clock enables. It is making merging code upward very difficult to have strongly diverging source code. I am afraid this core cannot mature if contributions have no graceful way to be merged.

[jca]

@ mapf
Thanks. When I was looking for it I found this page but was confused by the layout of the page.
Now that I found this archive with HDM files I guess the work involved to convert D88->XFD and rename HDM->XFD will be similar. May be I will find some goodies in this archive.

[_javi_]

My X68000 core was updated.
http://fpga8801.seesaa.net/archives/20220716-1.html

The keyboard layout is now variable.
MiSTer(executable file) was updated.(support Japanese keyboard)

Following the link i can read
"Please refer to keymap.xlsx in the Doc directory to find out which key of the PC key was assigned the X68000 key."
I guess the Doc directory to find keymap.xlsx is inside the .qar file ... but i find it impossible to open it.
Puu, can you post that file here?

Thanks again for your awesome work with this core!!

[jca]

Something I did not mention previously:
There is something really bizarre when I try to download the rbf. When I click on the link the address bar in the browser shows
https://fpga8801.up.seesaa.net/image/X6 ... 220716.rbf
but instead of downloading the rbf it opens a media player which fails to play the rbf as expected. The only way I found was to right click on the link and use Save as which instead of showing xxx.rbf shows xxx.mp3. Renaming it to xxx.rbf works. This happens both with Firefox and Chrome. What is going on?

[puu]

My X68000 core was updated.
http://fpga8801.seesaa.net/archives/20220716-1.html

The keyboard layout is now variable.
MiSTer(executable file) was updated.(support Japanese keyboard)

Following the link i can read
"Please refer to keymap.xlsx in the Doc directory to find out which key of the PC key was assigned the X68000 key."
I guess the Doc directory to find keymap.xlsx is inside the .qar file ... but i find it impossible to open it.
Puu, can you post that file here?

Thanks again for your awesome work with this core!!

https://fpga8801.up.seesaa.net/src/keymap.xlsx
See here.