X68000 Beta - Updates and Releases

[pbsk8]

on twitter some people saying the core was updated

any news if this is true and improvements were made?

[Fallon]

There was a small update. I tried out Phalanx hoping the garbled graphics would be fixed, but no improvement there.

[Atmosfear]

And XDF File Format was also changed back to D88 as it looks like. No Thanks , switching back to latest Beta from 13.07.2022.

[jca]

And XDF File Format was also changed back to D88 as it looks like. No Thanks , switching back to latest Beta from 13.07.2022.

Some history:
A long, long time ago there was an X68000 core which I think did not work very well and was abandoned. Due to the updates to MISTer it did not even work any longer.
At some point Puu developed a new core from scratch and this core can play quite a few games. This core is not official.
Later on developers made an official core based on the work of Puu, this core has quite a few improvements.
More recently Puu made some modification to his core which now supports XDF.
Porting these modifications to the official one is a big job, mainly because Puu does not use Git.
So at this time it is kind of a mess with one official core and Puu core.
To fix the mess would be first to port the mods from Puu to the official core and next for Puu to work on the official core or at least use Git.
What you call the beta is Puu core and the update script only updates from the official repository.
Place the core from Puu in the _Unofficial so it is not overwritten by the update script. I am not sure this _Unofficial folder exists, I may have created it to place cores which are not official like Sparc Station, Jaguar, X68000 from Puu and others.

[Atmosfear]

Thanks for clarification. I already have a folder called unstable where the puu core resides.

[C-R-T]

プーさん、ありがとうございます‼ I'm very happy to have a device I can play these old PC games on.

Just to report on my testing with some RPG disk images I happen to have on hand:

• Lagoon is crashing on boot for me. On emulator, it starts with a line drawing of the ZOOM mascot, as seen in the screenshot below. On the MiSTer, it freezes with just the yellow cursor in the corner and making a buzzing noise.
• Arcus Pro 68k loads and runs. Music and text play during the intro, but no images are rendered. It's trying to draw something, since there's a slightly darker black square where the image should be in the attached screenshot from the MiSTer.
• All four Dragon Knight games work fine.

Once again, thank you for your work, and I look forward to trying more titles on this platform in the future!

Hi! Did you ever get Lagoon running on the Mister core? I’ve been dying to try it but cannot even get to the Zoom mascot myself. It shows a line “X68000 version 0.02 copyright 1992 zoom” and the nothing else happens. What could the problem be? I used to play this on pc but I cannot remember how to disk juggle the game to boot. Maybe it’s because the core is unstable.

By the way, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for making this translation patch! This particular one is the one that means the most to me personally out of all translation ROM hacks ever made, and I’ve been around this scene since the very start in the ‘90s.

[Milspex]

have there been any updates to this core since the October release? Is there a patreon to back for it?

[cruz1383]

have there been any updates to this core since the October release? Is there a patreon to back for it?

Hope there is a no core left behind mentality with the x68000 core.. lots of great work has been done and we are super grateful but fingers crossed for this core to be fully completed.

[jd213]

Puu has been working on FM Towns stuff lately, maybe he'll come back to the X68000 core later, here's his Japanese blog:
http://fpga8801.seesaa.net/
I'd also like to see improvements to the X68000 core, but an FM Towns core would be nice to have as well, so whatever he feels like working on is fine with me.

[chimaera]

Puu has done some great work with the X68000, but I cannot say im looking forward to another near done abandoned core, even if i am very interested in a FM Towns core.

[cruz1383]

Puu has done some great work with the X68000, but I cannot say im looking forward to another near done abandoned core, even if i am very interested in a FM Towns core.

I can also second that. Wish he would have finished the 68000 before going to the fm towns. I have emulated the fm towns and it is a very good system but the 68000 should have taken center stage but who am I to say. I can't develop cores.

[gccw]

Can anyone make a rbf from qar?

release-F68k_MiSTer.240509.qar
http://fpga8801.seesaa.net/article/503244768.html

[Flandango]

Here you go. Found two versions, so I compiled them both without modification.

[gccw]

Thanks!

[pbsk8]

wow

new version?! nice! I will try castlevania right away and see if those small glitches were fixed.

what's the difference in FDC version?

[Flandango]

I'm not sure what the difference is since I haven't looked into it further than what is on the website/article posted up above with the QAR files.
Here is a translated snippet:

Code: Select all

DE10-nano MiSTer version: release-F68k_MiSTer.240509.qar
DE10-nano MiSTer FDC emulation version: release-F68k_MiSTerFDC.240509.qar
[Related articles]

 DMA error flag fix
 Error corrected version
 tg68 modified version
 Keyboard layout variable version
 FDC emulation version
 FDC, FD emulation modification
 DMA related/screen related fixes
 Screen processing and disk emulator update

When I brought up both cores, they both had the option to load what seemed to be floppies.
Clearly the FDC version is larger so I figured it's best to compile both and make them available.
Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

[pgimeno]

About how to extract QAR files without Quartus:

.qar files are Quartus archive files (collection of files, kinda like ZIP). The RBF is contained inside. If you can install Python you can use this extractor: https://github.com/makigumo/unqar/blob/master/unqar.py

[puu]

wow

new version?! nice! I will try castlevania right away and see if those small glitches were fixed.

what's the difference in FDC version?

FDC version is emulate Floppy disk controller.
not FDC version emulate Floppy disk drive.
FDC version faster floppy access, but not FDC version is high compatiblity.

[Retro-Nerd]

@puu

Thanks for the new beta. Your core is locked to 800x600@60Hz for now. It's probably ok for the most time, but have you any plans to support the native game resolutions at some point? Like the older official Mister core? I would love to use my 4K Retrotink with direct video over HDMI (with great looking CRT filters).

[jd213]

Ah, haven't tried this out yet, but the blog seems to indicate better MIDI compatibility, so great news if that's the case.

[gpevede]

Hello Everyone,

I'm a new mister pi owner and have a question;

I downloaded the x68k core from fpga8801_seesaa_net (240509), extracted using unqar.py
, got the .rbf file, renamed to x68000_20240509, placed it on the mister-root of the sd-card: /media/fat,
created a folder 'X68000' and placed the boot.rom

However, when it try this version, i only get a black screen, also no access to the mister menu.
When i try the version from github_com_MiSTer-devel_X68000_MiSTer it just works...

Can anyone help me out with this ?

Many tnx!

[gpevede]

Hello again,

I got the puu core working on a lcd. I didn't read that the puu core is locked on 800x600, thats why i couldn't get it to work on my crt...

However i do have another issue now...
I have no sound whatsoever, not 'internal' midi and not via mt32-pi...

I connected an lcd using a hdmi to dvi cable.
In mister.ini i had to set dvi_mode=1 and video_mode=4 (res of the lcd is 1280x1024)
I know that dvi does not transmit audio, but i have the mister fpga connected directly to my speakerset...
other cores (including 'official' x68k core) do work with video via hdmi->dvi + audio via analog out.

When connecting to my other lcd using hdmi only, i do get audio...

So have no clue here... Can anybody help me out?

[akeley]

Hello again,

I got the puu core working on a lcd. I didn't read that the puu core is locked on 800×600, that's why I couldn't get it to work on my crt...

Just for the record, you can actually display this core on a 15KHz CRT, but you have to use modelines.
The results are not always pretty, because of this machine's wide range of display modes, but they work ok for quite a few games.

[gpevede]

@akeley,

Tnx for the reply,
I'm indeed running the official x68k core on a crt (800x240), but i was curious if the midi fixes by puu solved some gamecrashes (when enabling mt32)
Think i'm gonna be have to be patient

[CHR$]

Hello again,

I got the puu core working on a lcd. I didn't read that the puu core is locked on 800x600, thats why i couldn't get it to work on my crt...

However i do have another issue now...
I have no sound whatsoever, not 'internal' midi and not via mt32-pi...

I connected an lcd using a hdmi to dvi cable.
In mister.ini i had to set dvi_mode=1 and video_mode=4 (res of the lcd is 1280x1024)
I know that dvi does not transmit audio, but i have the mister fpga connected directly to my speakerset...
other cores (including 'official' x68k core) do work with video via hdmi->dvi + audio via analog out.

When connecting to my other lcd using hdmi only, i do get audio...

So have no clue here... Can anybody help me out?

Is it your first time trying the analog audio output jack on the Mister ?
If yes, did you changed the Mister output switch to "analog" from "digital" ?

=> be aware that once done, there will be no more sound via HDMI if you connect the mister to a TV later, you will need to reverse that switch

[gpevede]

Tnx for the tip @CHR$,
Sorry i didn't react earlier.
Just read your awnser today.
I didn't change any switches on the analog io board, will check that!