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A-CPC ===== A-CPC is an Amstrad Colour Personal Computer emulator for any Amiga with Kickstart 2.0 or better. The Amstrad CPC was designed by Amstrad plc. There were 5 models. The first 3 models appeared from 1984 and were called "CPC". The last 2 models appeared in 1989 and were called the "Plus" range because they had enhanced hardware to display hardware sprites and a larger colour palette. The CPC464 had a cassette recorder on the right of the keyboard, and 64k of memory. The CPC664 had a disk drive on the right of the keyboard and 64k of memory. The CPC6128 had a disk drive on the right of the keyboard and 128k of memory. The 464+ had a cassette recorder on the right of the keyboard, enhanced hardware, different design and 64k of memory. The 6128+ had a disk drive on the right of the keyboard, enhanced hardware, different design and 128k of memory. The CPC models share the same hardware: - Z80A CPU running at 3.3Mhz - General Instruments Ay-3-8912 sound generator. - 3 channels of tone - 1 channel noise - simple hardware envelopes with fixed waveforms - Intel 8255 Parallel Peripheral Interface (general interface chip) connected to the sound generator, keyboard, cassette hardware, and for miscelaneous information - uPD765-A or INTEL 8272 Floppy Disk Controller - support for 2 drives - double density recording - 3" discs with two sides (the disc must be turned over to use the other side) - 40 or 80 disks - support for double sided disks - 6845 Cathode Ray Tube Controller - This chip produces the information to create the display - hardware scrolling, page flipping - Gate Array - Chip designed by Amstrad - translates data from CRTC into graphics and adds colours - 27 colour pallette (3 levels of Red, Green and Blue) - 3 modes - 160x200x16 - 320x200x4 - 640x200x2 There are 2 versions of this emulator package. The demo/evaluation version and a registered version. The demo/evaluation version is freeware but the program code is (c) copyright Kevin Thacker. It may be freely copied, provided that the archive contents remain intact and you must not charge more than a small fee to cover copying and the price of the disk. It may be uploaded to a ftp site or BBS (as long as the BBS doesnt claim copyright on uploaded material) or put into a PD library. If you would like to put it onto a magazine coverdisk or cover CD then contact me first. (Permission is given to Aminet to distribute this archive on their CD). The code remains copyright to myself except for the ROM images which are copyright Amstrad plc and Locomotive Software Ltd. The demo/evaluation version has been restricted. However, you can still try out software on the net. It supports loading of Snapshots and disk images and tape files only. The full version is NOT freeware it is (c) copyright Kevin Thacker. It may not be put on a magazine coverdisk, ftp site, cd collection, copied, hired, distributed without my written permission. The full version can be obtained by contacting me, and it costs 10 UK Pounds or equivalent in your money, please add enough money to cover postage if you want the registered version to be sent via mail, otherwise just pay the 10 UK pounds and I will send you the archive by e-mail. Please send the money to my Postal address preferably in UK pounds, or as an international money order. (I may experience problems trying to convert the money into my own currency if you do not follow this advice, and as such you may not recieve the emulator). On receipt of the money, I will either send a disk in the post, or if you prefer I could email the archive to you. The full version has the following features: - current version of the emulator archive - read and write to disk images (.DSK) - read and write snapshots - read from CPC disks directly - Make_DSK utility to transfer CPC disks to disk image - CPC+ emulation - Joystick emulation - Multiface 2 emulation (Multiface 2 ROM not included in the archive) - a collection of utilities to help you use your CPC software with the emulator Updates of the emulator will be available as they are written. If you already own the emulator, and you would like the update, then send the disk with money to cover return postage to my address, or I can e-mail the new archive for free. When a update is available, I will post a message to comp.sys.amstrad.8bit. See the history file for details of updates in the emulation. NOTE: You use this emulator at your own risk. I cannot be help responsible for any damage caused from the use or mis-use of this product. As far as I am aware, there are no fatal bugs that will crash your system. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Requirements ============ To use A-CPC you will need the following: - asl.library in your libs/ directory (comes with Workbench2.0 and above) - Kickstart 2.0/Workbench 2.0 or better A-CPC supports the following minimum specification: (This does not mean mean the emulation will be fast) - 68000 CPU - OCS chipset - 1mb RAM - single disk drive To have a fast emulation, I suggest that you need the following: - 68020 CPU or better (an accelerate machine) - 1mb of true FastRam - a harddrive If you have a fast machine I would be interested to hear how fast it runs at. Speed comparisons ================= One guy at Glasgow University who has a A1200 with a 68020-28Mhz accelerator card and fastram says that the emulation goes at about 2 thirds of the speed of a real cpc. He also reports that the 68020 specific version is 5% faster than the 68010 version. In these speed comparisons, the following simple BASIC code was used: 10 for i=0 to 200 20 print "hi!" 30 next i A500 - 68000 7Mhz - 1mb Chipram (my machine): 4 mins 09 seconds NOTE: 1. The emulator requires the following paths to be specified: SNAP: directory path for snapshots DSK: directory path for disk images TAPE: directory path for tape files A-CPC: directory path for A-CPC code and subdirectories. If you are installing A-CPC to a harddrive, and A-CPC is not in the root, you will need to add the following lines to your system-startup file. Alternatively, the A-CPC_Init file can be modified to setup the paths, and you can double-click on the icon to set them up. A-CPC_Init requires IconX to run. assign SNAP: <path to snapshots> assign DSK: <path to disk images> assign TAPE: <path to tape files> assign A-CPC: <path to a-cpc files> e.g. assign A-CPC: DH0:Utils/emulators/A-CPC/ 2. There are 6 versions of A-CPC in the registered version - A-CPC standard emulation for 68000 processor, (A-CPC_68000) - A-CPC standard emulation for 68010 or greater, (A-CPC_68010) - A-CPC standard emulation for 68020 or greater, (A-CPC_68020) - A-CPC plus emulation for 68000, (A-CPC_68000_plus) - A-CPC plus emulation for 68010 or greater, (A-CPC_68010_plus) - A-CPC plus emulation for 68020 or greater, (A-CPC_68020_plus) The registered version also contains two special versions for 68020 or better processors. It takes advantage of some of the extra commands available on these chips and the code is slightly different to minimise delays from writing to memory. If your Amiga has a 68020/68030/68040/68060 choose this version in preference. I believe there is about 5% speed increase over the standard 68010 version. There are 3 version of A-CPC in the demo/evaluation version - A-CPC standard emulation for 68000 processor, (A-CPC_68000) - A-CPC standard emulation for 68010 or greater, (A-CPC_68010) - A-CPC standard emulation for 68020 or greater, (A-CPC_68020) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Running the Emulator ==================== The emulator can be run from CLI or from Workbench. It requires a config file. 5 Configuration files have been supplied which define the CPC type that will be emulated: cpc464.config - CPC 464 cpc664.config - CPC 664 cpc6128.config - CPC 6128 464plus.config - 464+ (registered version only) 6128plus.config - 6128+ (registered version only) At the CLI type: A-CPC_68000 <config_filename> e.g. A-CPC_68000 cpc464.config Or from Workbench you can double click on the config icons themselves and the emulator will automatically be loaded. The config files have been set to load the 68020 version of the emulator. If you wish to change this select the icon, choose "Information" from the menu and change the Tool to "A-CPC_68000". Or, you can double click on the A-CPC icon and enter a config file after the A-CPC filename. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some games crash... why? ======================== The emulator cannot run 100% of games. Many programmers have used special features of the z80 which are not documented officially. I have had to try and find all these features, so that I can produce an accurate emulation. So, if a game uses some of these instructions, and I have not emulated them correctly, then they will not work properly. Also, not all instructions have been emulated correctly, and there are still some hard to find bugs. Some games will work, but you need to change the interrupt count value. These games rely on the time between interrupts, and if the time is too short, they start to corrupt themselves. To solve this change the interrupt count to a larger value and try the game again. One game which has this problem is Elite. On 68000 change INT_SPEED to 1000 and try running it again. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Running Games ============= Snapshots: Snapshots are simply a dump of the memory with the information about the state of the hardware which are used to restart a program at the point the snapshot was saved. The file format is the same as used by CPCEMU and CPE and they have the ".SNA" extension. Almost all snapshots should work, except for Alien Highway. Disk images: Disk images are a file containing a copy of the data on a disk. They can be created using CPCTRANS.EXE with CPCEMU on the PC, or with Make_DSK which is provided in the registered version of this emulator. The file format is the same as used by CPCEMU and CPE. As in CPCEMU you can write to disk images (registered version only!). Disk images have the ".DSK" extension. To use a disk image you need to "Insert the disk into drive X". Select the option from the Files menu and choose the disk image file. Tape files: These are files on an Amiga disk. Binary and Basic files must have an Amsdos header to be recognised. To use Tape files you must select tape operation (|TAPE), then you can run the files. Loading from Disk Images or Tape files: With Disk or Tape files you will need to use Amsdos commands and Basic commands. If you have not used an Amstrad before the following commands should help you to run software. (The "|" symbol is obtained by pressing SHIFT and @ key on the CPC keyboard) |TAPE Choose to load from tape |DISC Choose to load from disc |CPM Boot CPM from a CPM disk or this will run some games that do not have files in the directory. CAT or |DIR This will display a list of files on the disc or tape. RUN"<filename>.<ext> This will RUN a file on the disc or tape. If the file doesnt have a ". ", ".BAS" or ".BIN" extension then you will have to specify it. e.g. RUN"NEBULUS LOAD"<filename>.<ext> Load a file into memory. It will not run it. Basic files can be shown by typing "LIST". |ERA,"<filename>.<ext> Delete a file on the disc |REN,"<newfilename>.<newext>","<oldfilename>.<oldext>" Rename a file on the disc. |A Choose drive A |B Choose drive B ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Keyboard ======== The following Amiga keys are used as a short cut: F1 - Load Snapshot F2 - Save Snapshot F8 - Multiface Stop Button (registered version only) F9 - Reset CPC F10 - Quit emulator The Amiga keyboard has a different layout than the CPC, and the keys are not marked the same, so you may find a problem trying to find the CPC key. Here is a list of CPC keys and their Amiga equivalents: CPC Amiga !1 !1 "2 "2 #3 #3 $4 $4 %5 %5 &6 ^6 '7 &7 (8 *8 )9 (9 _0 )0 -= _- ^ pound += CLR |\ or DEL f0 keypad 0 f1 keypad 1 f2 keypad 2 f3 keypad 3 f4 keypad 4 f5 keypad 5 f6 keypad 6 f7 keypad 7 f8 keypad 8 f9 keypad 9 f. keypad . small keypad enter enter Q-P Q-P A-L A-L Z-M Z-M @| {[ [{ ]{ :* :; +; "' ]} <RET> (key cut out of RETURN on International keyboards) \' <SHIFT> (key cut out of SHIFT on International keyboards) <, <, >. >. ?/ ?/ SPACE SPACE DELETE BACKSPACE TAB TAB RETURN RETURN ESC ESC CLR DEL SHIFT LEFT OR RIGHT SHIFT CTRL CONTROL COPY LEFT ALT ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Configuration file ================== The emulator needs a configuration file to run. The configuration filename and path is specified in the commandline: e.g. a-cpc_680x0 <device:path/filename of config file> The configuration is used to define the CPC model and characteristics that A-CPC will emulate. The minimum configuration file MUST contain the following: - the location of a Operating System ROM (OS_ROM=) - the location of a BASIC ROM (ROM=0 PATH=) - size of the CPC RAM (RAM_K=) The lines of the configuration may be in any order, and a line of configuration can be added by loading the configuration file into a text editor. The configuration will initialise the emulator to your prefered setup when it starts. Some of these options can be changed from within the emulator. The following config command-lines are supported: OS_ROM = <device:path/filename> [NOPATCH] This line defines the location of the file containing the operating system data. The file must NOT have a AMSDOS header. The keyword NOPATCH is optional. When a rom has been found, the emulator will attempt to find a file of the same name but with a ".patch" extension. The patch file can be used to remove code to speed up the emulation in places. If the keyword NOPATCH is present, the patch file will not be loaded. This line must be present for the emulator to work. e.g. OS_ROM=A-CPC:roms/cpc6128-os.rom ROM = <rom number> PATH=<device:path/filename> [NOPATCH] This line defines the rom number and the location of the file containing the data. The file must NOT have a AMSDOS header. This function allows the user to add extra roms in addition to BASIC and AMSDOS in a rom position of their choice. (rom position is in the range 0..15 for 6128 emulation, and 0..7 for 464 emulation so that the operating system will notice it's existance) ROM 0 must be present for the emulator to work. The demo/evaluation version will only support BASIC and AMSDOS ROMs. e.g. ROM = 1 PATH=A-CPC:roms/protext.rom NOPATCH DRIVE_A = <device:path/filename> This line defines a disk image (DSK) that will be automatically "inserted" into CPC drive A, when the emulator is started. This function is not available on the demo/evaluation version of the emulator. e.g. DRIVE_A=DSK:stormlord.dsk DRIVE_B = <device:path/filename> Same function as DRIVE_A, except the disk image will be "inserted" into CPC drive B. RAM_K = <size of CPC memory in decimal> This function defines the size of CPC memory. This value must be divisible by 64. It's value must be in the range 64-576. This line must be present for the emulator to work. PPI_PORT_B = <decimal value> PORT B of the 8255 PPI has the following bits: 7 Tape read data 6 Centronics Busy 5 Expansion port device present 4 Screen refresh (50Hz/60Hz) 3..1 Machine name (Amstrad, Schneider etc) 0 Frame Flyback pulse You can specify this byte and change the name of the computer. The CPC was created by Amstrad, but sold by different companies in Europe. With this byte you can have their name instead. INT_SPEED = <decimal value> This function defines the number of opcodes that is counted before a z80 interrupt is triggered. If this value is reduced, then interrupts will be faster, if it is increased, then interrupts are slower. On faster Amigas, this value will need to be high (about 1500). You may find that some games will not work. The reason may be that the interrupts are too fast for the game. Try changing this value, and you will find the game will work. The default value is 800. MULTIFACE_ROM = <device:path/filename> To use the Multiface II emulation you need a file containing the ROM data. This line specifies the location of the file, and if the file is found, the emulation is enabled. The ROM must NOT have a AMSDOS header. See the section on the Multiface emulation for more information. This function is not present on the demo/evaluation version of the emulator. e.g. MULTIFACE_ROM = A-CPC:roms/multiface.rom SOUND = <decimal value> This function will enable (0) or disable (<>0) the sound before the emulator has been started. On slow Amigas music and sound effects are not easy to recognise, so this option is provided to turn off sound. Many times I have found it annoying to listen to the sound. You can turn the sound off or on from a menu in the emulator. e.g. SOUND = 0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ROM Patch file ============== When the ROM data is loaded during configuration, A-CPC will attempt to load a patch file (this will not happen if the NOPATCH keyword is present). The patch file is used to modify the ROM data to improve compatibility with A-CPC or to speed up it's operation in A-CPC. It has been provided so that the main code of the emulator does not need to be changed specifically. The patch file contains any number of entries. The entries have the form: 1 word offset in ROM data in bytes 1 word low byte contains byte to poke at offset, high byte is ignored. NOTE: If you wish to use ROMDOS with A-CPC, then you can use the same patch file as used with CPC AMSDOS. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Multiface 2 Emulation (registered version only) ===================== A-CPC has built in support for Multiface 2 emulation. To use this feature you will need a copy of the Multiface 2 rom data. (A program has been provided for you to run on your CPC which will do this). The Multiface 2 ROM is (c) copyright Romantic Robot Ltd, UK, and so I cannot include it. The emulation will work just like the real thing. Programs can be frozen at any time and you can enter pokes or look at the memory. You can even save the memory out to a disk image (similar to a snapshot), and re-load it later to start from the same position. If you have a utility for the Multiface such as Tearaway or Insider, this will work too. You will need a disk image of the utility. In the emulator, you activate the multiface by pressing F8 or by selecting "Multiface Stop" from the menu, you should then see the familiar Multiface menu. You will need to do the following to use this feature: 1) Transfer the two files MULTSAVE.BAS and MULTSAVE.BIN to a CPC disk, 2) With the CPC turned off, connect the Multiface 2 to the expansion port, 3) Switch on the CPC, and insert the disc with the files on it and type: RUN"MULTSAVE 4) The program will save the Multiface rom data to a file called MULTFACE.BIN 5) Transfer MULTFACE.BIN from the CPC disk to an Amiga disk, and copy it into the roms/ directory of A-CPC. 6) Load a text editor and add the following line to any of the config files: MULTFACE_ROM=A-CPC:roms/multface.rom 7) Now run A-CPC.. NOTE: I have successfully run this feature using the rom data from my own Multiface. This feature may or may not work with older versions of the Multiface. The Multiface for the CPC will not work with the Plus emulation because of differences in the disk roms. The multiface assumes the location of routines in the disk rom, and will crash if run with the wrong CPC. (If you own a Plus machine with a Plus compatible Multiface, I would be very interested to hear from you so that I can add support for Plus Multiface). The CPC version of the Multiface will only work with the 464/664 and 6128. The Plus version of the Multiface will only work with the 464+ and 6128+. Some protections will prevent programs from working if the Multiface is enabled. To reduce the chance of this happening, the Multiface is made invisible when the emulator is reset. I have found that the Multiface emulation does not work with some games. I do not know what is causing this, this may occur on the original Multiface. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- A-CPC Utilities =============== Format_DSK (registered version only) ========== This utility will create a blank disk image in the format you specify so that you can save your own programs on it. COMMAND FORMAT: Make_DSK WRITE Dsk_filename FORMAT disk_format dsk_filename = Filename and path of DSK image to write disk_format = Name of the format e.g. Make_DSK write df1:programs.dsk format data NOTE: The following formats are supported: DATA SYSTEM D1 (ROMDOS/RAMDOS) D10 (ROMDOS/RAMDOS) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Make_DSK (registered version only) ======== Make_DSK will read any CPC format disk, even copy-protected discs, and attempt to make a disk image. (The disk image is compatible with CPCEMU). It has been designed so that you can use all your software with A-CPC. If you have copy-protected software which you would like to use on A-CPC, then you must connect a 3" disc to your Amiga, or copy the disks to 3.5". (Please contact me if you have been successful with connecting a 3" drive). But, make sure that the copy you make does run on your CPC, otherwise it will not run on A-CPC either. However, this does not mean that the software will work. The emulator doesnt emulate the CPC perfectly there are still some hard to find bugs which may prevent the disk from loading correctly. This probably applies to disks with heavy copy-protection. Some protected software relies on error codes returned from the fdc. A-CPC supports some of these errors, but at this date, neither CPCEMU or CPE do, but I have been talking with the authors about it. So, if you create disk images from Make_DSK they may not work with CPCEMU or CPE. Please Note: I do not authorise or condone the use of this program for backuping copy-protected software. You will need to obtain permission from the copyright holder before converting any disk. COMMAND FORMAT: Make_DSK Unit_Number Destination_FileName No_of_tracks No_of_sides Start_Side Unit_Number = Amiga drive containing the CPC disk e.g. 0, 1, 2 or 3 Destination_Filename = Filename and path of DSK image to write e.g. ram:dsk_images/north_and_south-1.dsk No_of_Tracks = Number of tracks to read from CPC disk e.g. 40, 42 or 80 NOTE: Some demos and games use track 40 and 41 to store more data on a 40 track disk. If you are not sure of the number of tracks used, enter 42. No_of_Sides = Number of sides to read from CPC disk e.g. 1 or 2 Start_Side = Side to start reading from. (e.g. if you have a side switch on your CPC to use both sides of a 3.5" disc using AMSDOS, you can choose the side to read with this parameter) e.g. 0 or 1 e.g. Make_Dsk 0 df1:dsk_images/north_and_south-1.dsk 40 1 0 NOTE: For AMSDOS disks: - 40 tracks (possibly 41 or 42 for copy-protected disks) - 1 side For ROMDOS disks: - 80 tracks - 2 sides If you want to convert a CPC disk which needs a special program (on CPC disk or CPC ROM) to read the format, such as ROMDOS or any other DOS, then you will need a copy of this program to read the disk image and run it on A-CPC. For ROMDOS use SAVEROMS to save a copy of the rom data, and add a line to the config file. I have successfully converted the following to disk image from my originals (these had some copy-protection): North & South Road Runner (US Gold version) Nightbreed Target Renegade Run the Gauntlet Short Curcuit Barbarian Mr.Heli ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SAVEROMS.BAS (registered version only) ============ This is a program to run on your CPC. It will display a list of ROMs that are connected (e.g. PROTEXT,UTOPIA, ROMDOS etc). You can choose the name of the ROM and enter a filename, and it will save the rom data. To use this program, transfer it to an Amstrad disk and run it from AMSDOS. You can use the ROM data with A-CPC by modifying A-CPC config file. When you transfer the files to the CPC, make sure there is not a AMSDOS header, otherwise the rom will not work. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SAVEMULT.BAS (registered version only) ============ This is a program to run on your CPC. It is used to save a copy of the Multiface 2 rom data. To use this program: 1) Copy the files onto a CPC disk, 2) Attach your Multiface to your CPC, 3) Switch on the CPC and run the program from AMSDOS If everything works well, a file will be saved to the disc called MULTFACE.ROM. See the section on the Multiface emulation for more information. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SAVEBURN.BAS (registered version only) ============ This is a program to run on your CPC+. It is used to save the game Burning Rubber from the cartridge supplied with the Plus. Since the game is copyrighted, I cannot include a copy with this emulator, so I have provided this utility to save it, so you can play Burning Rubber on A-CPC. To use the program: 1) Copy the files to a CPC disk, 2) With the Burning Rubber/BASIC cartridge inserted run this program from BASIC, 4 files will be written and they will be called: BURNROM.1, BURNROM.2,BURNROM.3 and BURNROM.4. 3) Copy these files to an Amiga disk and run the Make_Burning_Rubber program. (This will create a Burning Rubber cartridge image suitable to be used with the emulator). 4) To play burning rubber select "Insert Cartridge" from the files menu on the Plus version of A-CPC. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Using CPC disks (registered version) =============== If you want to use 3" or 3.5" disks that have CPC software on them without converting them into disk images then use this feature. Please note, that the speed of loading depends on the complexity of any copyprotection (if present) and the speed of your machine. On my vanilla A500 reading CPC disks under AMSDOS is slighly faster than reading disk images, purely due to the fact that I am only using 2 drives and the AmigaOS has to search through the disk image file and back again in these circumstances. It will allow you to use all your CPC software, so you can then decided which games you want to convert to disk later to and store them on your harddrive. As with the disk images, if a special program or rom is required to read a format on the CPC, this must be used in the emulator to read the format. This feature will load some copyprotected software. Since much copyprotected software relies on undocumented commands or features and/or specific error codes from the Floppy Disk Controller, they may fail to load. I been successful with the following disk formats: - all standard AMSDOS (DATA,SYSTEM etc) - all standard ROMDOS (D1,D10 etc - using a ROM image) - some copyprotected disks including Get Dexter Jack Nicklaus' Golf Target Renegade didnt run, probably because the copyprotection was very complicated. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other emulators =============== During the development of this emulator I have discovered that other CPC emulators exist: PC: CPCEMU v1.3b by Marco Vieth (ali@uni-paderborn.de) (It can be found on Simtel mirrors) micros.hensa.ac.uk/pub/ CPE v5.0 by Bernd Schmidt (crux@Pool.Informatik.Rwth-aachen.de) ftp.nvg.unit.no/pub/cpc/incoming/cpe50.zip ftp.nvg.unit.no/pub/cpc/incoming/cpe50src.zip A CPC emulator by Herman Dullink, currently in beta. It doesnt use the same kind of emulation as in CPCEMU and CPE and it does support direct reading of CPC disks. SIMCPC emulates a CPC (not very well) in black and white. It is not really meant as a serious emulation attempt, however it is a good laugh to look at. There is also one other called CPCEMUII but I dont know anything else about it. Amiga: CPE by Bernd Schmidt (a very early version, Bernd doesnt plan to update this emulator. It comes with source) ftp.nvg.unit.no/pub/cpc/incoming/acpe_new.lzh AMI-CPC by a french guy known in the scene as Hypnom. He doesnt have internet access. It runs on 68020. Unix: (Unknown) by Mark Conmy (mpc@scs.leeds.ac.uk) The emulator supports snapshots and disk images to a useable degree. This has not been released yet. Mac: (unknown) by (unknown) Aparently a CPC emulator for Mac is being developed. I dont know any more than this. It is being written by a guy on compuserve. Archimedes: !CPC by Mark Rison (rison@hep.cam.ac.uk). A good emulator, at the moment it only supports Snapshots. He has had some difficulty with the disk emulation. (unknown) by "Face Hugger" Aparently, a famous CPC demo coder has written a CPC emulator for the Archimedes. This may just be a rumour. I have not seen the emulator so I dont know about it's status. If you are writing an emulator please contact me. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sources of CPC software and information ======================================= Firmware Guide by Bob Taylor and Thomas Defoe. ftp.ibp.fr/pub/amstrad/misc/firmware.zip Now in electronic form. WWW: Unofficial Amstrad CPC WWW Resource http://www.cs.cf.ac.uk/User/K.E.W.Thacker/Amstrad/index.html and soon a mirror at http://www.nvg.unit.no It contains Amstrad related links and especially the CPC Guide which contains documentation on the CPC chips and more documents essential for emulator authors. Newsgroups: There is an Amstrad 8-bit specific newsgroup for talking about emulators and all things Amstrad related. comp.sys.amstrad.8bit FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions): There is a official FAQ for the Amstrad newsgroup. It is posted twice a week, and it can also be found at: ftp.ibp.fr/pub/amstrad/amstrad.faq It is maintained by Emmanuel Roussin Anonymous FTP: At the prompt enter "anonymous" or "ftp", and your e-mail address for the password. ftp.ibp.fr /pub/amstrad The files are mirrored from "Genesis the 8bit generation BBS" run by Emmanuel Roussin. (roussin@blaise.ibp.fr). This site contains a huge selection of public domain and shareware software for the CPC and much much more. This site is very busy during the day. There is no incoming directory. You must contact Emmanuel to sort out how to get the files to him. ftp.nvg.unit.no /pub/cpc/ This site has lots and lots of games in snapshot and disk image format. It also has much more. Check out /pub/cpc/incoming for the latest uploads. This site can be busy during the day. You can put uploads into the /pub/cpc/incoming directory. sunshine.informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de /pub/joscho/cpcemu mirror of the ftp.nvg.unit.no site. Limited ftp access. ftp.demon.co.uk /pub/cpm Software for CPC C/PM. Limited set of files. BBS: Aspects (2:250/107) +44 1617920260 (UK) Genesis the 8bit Generation (2:320/220) +33 1 39 50 54 11 (France) Razormaid (2:2471/6009) +49 711 4204329 (Germany) ZNODE 51 +49 89 961 45 75 (Germany) ========================================================================== Please contact me if: - you find a bug. Please supply this information: Amiga model, CPU, hardware connected, how the bug was generated. - you find a game that does not work Some games will not work because they rely on undocumented features of the chips. But I might be able to improve the emulator if I can find bugs and fix them. - you know about the "KC Kompact" computer made by a German firm - e-mail addressess of CPC demo coders - e-mail addressess of game companies who made games for the CPC - information about other emulators - connecting a 3" drive to the Amiga - if the program supplied to save Plus cartridges works and if you have successfully had a cartridge image running on the plus emulation (this does not include the Burning Rubber cartridge) All your comments are welcome. Especially ideas about increasing the performance of the emulator. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- About the Author and the Program ================================ I am a 20 year old male studying Computer Science at Cardiff University in Wales in the United Kingdom. I am now in my 3rd year. The whole of the emulator package was written on a vanilla A500 with 2 disk drives and 1mb of Chip Ram, running Workbench 2.0. It has taken me about a year and a half to write so far and it is my first ever program using the Amiga Operating System, and it is actually my 2nd program I have written on the Amiga. (The first being an unfinished Zool clone). I am beginning to loose count of the number of times that a disk has decided to become corrupted or the number of times the computer has crashed, and I have had to reboot. Believe me that trying to develop a program of this size on a A500 is a headache. The whole program actually uses 3 disks. 1 disk for Devpac, 1 disk for Includes, 1 disk for the source code and rom data. About another 30 disks hold snapshots and disk images which I use to check the emulator is working correctly. Thankfully, I am not used to a harddrive and the luxurys like large amounts of memory after writing many programs on a CPC. (I wrote a Windows system on the CPC and it took over half an hour to assemble!) The source code takes about 15 mins to assemble. Not bad for about 700k of source code. The emulator should be 680x0 compatible. I have read through documentation of other emulators and worked out what is needed for bare compatibility, and when I can afford a new Amiga I will probably add 68020 enhancements and more. Until then I will stick with the A500 and add as much as I can. At least with the A500, when I change the code to speed things up, it is noticeable. I have only owned a A500 for two years now, previously I owned a CPC6128. On the CPC I hacked lots of protections so I could transfer tapes to disc, wrote a disk copier, a windows system, a windows-style help system, picture converters, converted 100's of tunes from the Atari ST, wrote some demos (many not complete), wrote a program to read PC and Archimedes disks and with all this information I wrote the CPC Guide which is available on the Unofficial Amstrad CPC WWW Resource. I can still remember one Speedlock protection which had over 70 continuous de-protection loops (all involving the dreaded R register!). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Credits and Contributions ========================= Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to the emulator and the WWW pages. They are (in no specific order), sorry if I have missed you out: Bernd Schmidt, Marco Vieth, Jim Boulton, Emmanuel Roussin, Herman Dullink, Christian Emre Lysel and all the others. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact: Postal Address: Kevin Thacker, Fairhaven, Whiteway, Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL6 7EP England E-Mail: K.E.W.Thacker@cs.cf.ac.uk (until June 96) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Acknowledgements ================ The ROMs included in this package (cpc464-os.rom, cpc464-basic.rom, cpc664-os.rom, cpc664-basic.rom, cpc6128-os.rom, cpc6128-basic.rom, cpc-amsdos.rom, plus-os.rom, plus-basic.rom and plus-amsdos.rom) are (c) copyright Amstrad Plc and Locomotive Software. Permission has been obtained to distribute them with the demo version and release version of this emulator. Many thanks to Cliff Lawson and Richard Clayton. The Multiface 2 is (c) copyright Romantic Robot Ltd. Burning Rubber cartridge is copyright (c) Ocean Software, and Amstrad plc. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------