blueMSX 2.3

A new version of the popular MSX emulator for Windows called blueMSX has just been released. Main improvements concern printer support and the debugger.

Improvements related to printer support:

MSX printer and Epson FX-80 printer are emulated
MSX Printer output can be written to a text file
The printer port can be used as sound device (SiMPL/Covox DAC)

Improvements related to the debugger:

Added symbol file support in debugger (tniASM, asMSX, ...)
Symbols can be shown/hidden in the disassembly window
Symbol names can be used to look up an address in the memory window
Added stack window
Added 'step into' feature
Added 'step out' feature
Added more options to enable/disable breakpoints
Added a goto dialog to jump to a specific address or symbol in the disassembly window
Made visible memory writable in debugger
Added support for asMSX DEBUG command (shown in trace logger window)
Added support for BiFi's BREAKPOINT command (set bp from assembler)
Fixed hotkey handling in debugger

Apart from these changes related to printer emulations and the debugger, the following things were changed in this new release:

Added German and Polish languages
Updated Italian language support
Updated C-BIOS machines to version 0.21
Corrected the Brazilian MSX1 and MSX2 machines (1 physical drive and 2 logical drives)
Improved MSX-MUSIC support by implementing Mitsutaka Okazaki's new YM2413 core
Added FDC Audio samples
Added support for Tetris 2 special edition copyright protection dongle
Added keyboard lock handle for Japanese function keys
Corrected frequency of MSX-AUDIO (runs now at 50 Khz)
Corrected noise support in the ColecoVision console
Fixed Hq2x and Hq3x palette bug
Fixed VDP horizontal scroll bug (Tetris 2 special edition)
Fixed VDP addressing bug (F-Nano 2)
Fixed sprite collision detection bug
Fixed screen 2 addressing bug
Fixed bug that made joystick config to resets to NONE after reboot
Fixed bug related to subdirectory when running on read only media

With all these updates, it looks like blueMSX is to increase its lead in the MSX Emulator Comparison, which will be updated in the near future.

Relevant link: blueMSX website

Comments (24)

By Vampier

Prophet (2413)

18-06-2005, 19:00

With all these updates, it looks like blueMSX is to increase its lead in the MSX Emulator Comparison, which will be updated in the near future.

With the release of openMSX 0.5.2 soon I wouldn't be so sure yet

btw you forgot to mention the 199 cheats

By ARTRAG

Enlighted (6935)

18-06-2005, 20:02

Actually I can ear very loud a noise due to the floppy disk controller !!
This isn't a very nice feature !!
Can I disable it ?

By mars2000you

Enlighted (6483)

18-06-2005, 20:05

You can disable it in the Options/Sound menu.

By pitpan

Prophet (3155)

18-06-2005, 20:11

Cool!

By dvik

Prophet (2200)

18-06-2005, 20:15

It is a pretty cool feature but I have it turned off too

By Bart

Paragon (1422)

18-06-2005, 20:26

Woohooo Great news!

By flyguille

Prophet (3031)

18-06-2005, 20:44

and when will be the emulation of the "this cassete-game don't loads every time that comes friends at home".?

By mars2000you

Enlighted (6483)

18-06-2005, 20:50

A randomly feature ? :wink

By dvik

Prophet (2200)

18-06-2005, 20:53

We'll add support for a new cassette database probably in next version (or the one after depending on timing) and in that database there is an info field you can use for this type of info

By NYYRIKKI

Enlighted (6067)

19-06-2005, 10:30

FDC controller sound!!! Cooool!!! I had to update right away. I have asked this feature, but I had no glue, how important feature this was emotionally until I heard it.

First time I actually felt for a second, that I'm using real MSX and not PC+emulator! Also loading times now feel much more natural and not just "why it is hanging". I'm definately not going to disable this feature!

Hope, that in future we can hear head movement a bit better.

By dvik

Prophet (2200)

19-06-2005, 11:06

I actually had a little bit of problem to make a good sample so if someone have good recording equipment it would be great if I could get a sample of when you type 'files' in basic or 'dir' in dos. Then I can cut it up in the pieces I need.

I actually would like samples from different kind of FDC's so if someone can help it would be great !

By flyguille

Prophet (3031)

19-06-2005, 19:57

there must be 4 sound's stages

3 head starting moving
1 head moving (as long as # tracks moved)
2 head sopping
4 writing/reading interference sound

and the sounds are different for 3 1/2 than 5 1/4

I not knows the others, but atleast I can identify when the MSX hungs just listening the diskdrive.

By Samor

Prophet (2174)

20-06-2005, 10:58

Yeah, no offence as I like the feature, but it sounds a little like a flushed toilet now ^^;

I'll see if I can record some; I happen to have a bad loading Greatest Driver disk, so I can record the drive hanging too ;p
(note, it still works, but barely)

By sjoerd

Hero (609)

20-06-2005, 13:13

What is a BiFi BREAKPOINT command?

By Samor

Prophet (2174)

20-06-2005, 13:48

dunno, but if I take the funny interpretation, it sounds like a command to take a break and eat a sausage.

By dvik

Prophet (2200)

20-06-2005, 18:12

It would be great if someone could make some better FDC samples.

The breakpoint command is a way to set breakpoints in the debugger from assembly code. More information will come in a week or so.

By iamweasel2

Paladin (713)

22-06-2005, 05:49

Hmmm, are the samples appended to the executable file? I can record some samples here with files in different positions in the disk, but it would be nice to be able to replace the samples being used in blueMSX to try the new ones.

By dvik

Prophet (2200)

22-06-2005, 10:01

Yes they are embedded in the executable. Its using two samples, one motor on loop and one read loop. If you want I can cut the samples and add them to the emulator.

FYI, the samples are stored as 44.1kHz (I think) 16 bit raw data in the file Src/IoDevice/FdcAudio.c.

By dvik

Prophet (2200)

22-06-2005, 10:02

I could add some interface to be able to use external files too if you think it would be useful.

By dvik

Prophet (2200)

22-06-2005, 10:04

( Would be nice with an edit feature in forum replies )

The easiest I guess is to try to load two files from the same directory as blueMSX.exe is located. I'll see what I can do.

By dvik

Prophet (2200)

22-06-2005, 10:17

If you want to listen to the two samples I have now you can find them at:

http://www.bluemsx.com/read.wav
http://www.bluemsx.com/motor.wav

As you'll hear it would be very nice to get new ones ;)

By iamweasel2

Paladin (713)

22-06-2005, 14:40

dvik,

Yes, it would be nice to have the option to load a different sample file to use with BlueMSX. It wouldn't hurt regular users because they would be using the default sample already present in the executable file. Only people who likes to try new samples would use that function.

If you make available a version that can reads samples stored on disk, it will make easier to record some samples, test them, and when we feel confortable with them, send it to you. Once you make available this version that loads samples, I'll bring my MSX to my desk and make him "sing". ;-)

By dvik

Prophet (2200)

22-06-2005, 21:28

iamweasel,

If you send me a mail, I'll send a link to a version of the emulator that reads the sampes from a file.

By mars2000you

Enlighted (6483)

25-06-2005, 23:15

blueMSX 2.3.1 is available !!!!

Some additions to the debugger and bugfixes.

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