Thanks to JetBrains for PyCharm License

A while ago, I applied for and got a free license for PyCharm from JetBrains (through their Open Source licensing program). It is now my preferred coding environment when working on FS-UAE Launcher and FS-UAE Game Center, I’m generally very satisfied with the code inspection and refactoring options (certainly the best I have seen in a Python IDE). So I just wanted to say thanks πŸ™‚

FS-UAE 2.3.5dev Released

A new development version has been released. Changes in FS-UAE 2.3.5dev:

  • Can open block devices as HDF files on OpenBSD [Edd Barrett / vext01].
  • Full stereo separation by default (was 70%).
  • Use “enhanced” audio filter when Amiga model is A1200 or A4000.
  • Fixed bug where the new FPS led status would overwrite floppy drive leds.
  • (Launcher) Fixed a bug where new A500 configs could refuse to start because “kickstart was not found” (2.3.4).
  • (Launcher) Better support for .7z (where available), but very inefficient, works best for having a few ADFs in each .7z archive, not WHDLoad archives.
  • (Launcher) Can start WHDLoad slaves from archives where the slave is in the root directory and not in a sub-directory.
  • (Game Center) Create a log file in a similar manner as FS-UAE Launcher.
  • (Game Center) Added python-opengl, python-numpy as Debian dependencies.
  • (Game Center) Was missing from suite installer for Windows (fixed).

FS-UAE 2.3.4dev Released

A new development version has been released. Changes in FS-UAE 2.3.4dev:

  • Support for multiple mice using ManyMouse library by Ryan C. Gordon.
  • New theme bundled: led-bars-edge.
  • Support for some theme digit overlays (cylinder numbers, fps).
  • Initial code for input recording.
  • Fixed a bug when looking up executable path on Unix-like systems.
  • When quitting from fullscreen mode, move cursor to bottom right (so transitioning to a full-screen launcher looks nicer).
  • (Launcher) Support multiple mice.
  • (Launcher) Preference to show downloadable games or not.
  • (Launcher) Don’t try to to checksum OS X/*BSD device nodes [vext01].
  • (Launcher) Fixed bug when closing the config dialog.
  • (Launcher) Support 7z archives when the 7z program is found on PATH.
  • (Launcher) Joystick config tool works with devices having axes with negative or positive rest values.
  • (Launcher) Don’t display “Amiga” in game list, only other platform names.
  • (Launcher) More restructuring and smaller changes (no changelog…)
  • (Game Center) Only show locally available games.
  • (Game Center) Only preselect the highest rated variant from local variants.
  • (Game Center) Nicer transition to FS-UAE (remove/reduce cursor flickering).
  • (Game Center) Use LSUIPresentationMode 4 for bundled FS-UAE for seamless transition to FS-UAE on OS X.

Development releases in the 2.3.x series have not been announced on fs-uae.net before, mostly because there has been somequite a bit of code reorganization, and the earlier versions have been somewhat more in flux. Development has been going on since FS-UAE 2.2 was launched, and here follows the changes for the earlier unannounced development versions.

Changes in FS-UAE 2.3.3dev:

  • (Launcher) Don’t reload images when changing variants (and same images should be displayed for the new variant).
  • (Launcher) Show joy_emu_conflict from oagd.net in statusbar if applicable.
  • (Launcher) More QT port improvements, almost full-featured now.
  • (Game Center) Locate correct kickstart ROMs via file database.
  • (Game Center) Fixed possible bug in font rendering code.

Changes in FS-UAE 2.3.2dev:

  • (Launcher) Fixed bug when loading files from archive in a folder named #.
  • (Launcher) Fixed bug when automatically looking up Amiga Forever roms [2.3.1]
  • (Launcher) QT port improvements.
  • (Launcher) Misc bugfixes and minor improvements.

Changes in FS-UAE 2.3.1dev:

  • On windows, read file name (as program parameter) with MBCS encoding (CP_ACP) so paths with non-ASCII characters are handled correctly.
  • Windows executables are digitally signed by “Frode Solheim”.
  • New portable zip file distribution for Windows, “plus” zip file removed, and emulator-only zip exists still with _emulator.zip name.
  • Logs dir is moved into Cache/Logs/, log file renamed to Emulator.log.txt.
  • Always write shader log, in case there’s GLSL warnings, etc.
  • (Launcher) New status bar with info about num players, languages, web links, copy protection and warnings.
  • (Launcher) Game variants (from oagd.net) you don’t have are also displayed, but greyed out.
  • (Launcher) Buttons to rate game variants on oagd.net directly from UI.
  • (Launcher) Implemented cancel in launch FS-UAE progress dialog.
  • (Launcher) Only add Cloanto “Amiga Files” to search path if directory exists (Windows).
  • (Launcher) Fix slash direction in default search directory on Windows so it does not look weird.
  • (Launcher) More space-efficient screenshot and cover sizes/formats.
  • (Launcher) Internal code rewrite (in progress) to support code sharing with Game Center.
  • (Launcher) Only have start menu icon for FS-UAE Launcher by default.
  • (Launcher) Support new option x_hdinst_args.
  • (Launcher) Better support for portable directory, launcher settings can be saved in portable dir.
  • (Launcher) Non-Cache launcher data files moved to FS-UAE/Data.
  • (Launcher) Download cache dir moved to FS-UAE/Cache/Downloads.
  • (Launcher) Initial support for auto-downloadable games from oagd.net.
  • (Launcher) Initial support for auto-downloadable games from 3rd-party sites.
  • (Launcher) Initial support for manually downloadable games.
  • (Launcher) Moved local file index into its own database file.
  • (Launcher) Extract empty directories as well when extracting archives.
  • (Launcher) Fixed bug when specifying window_width / window_height in custom settings.
  • (Launcher) Partial support for Python 3.x.
  • (Launcher) Partial support for using the Launcher with QT toolkit.
  • (Launcher) Moved file database into its own separate database, also made the file rows more space efficient, and the checksum index smaller.
  • (Launcher) Removed support for old XML game database.
  • (Launcher) Ignore file extension case when checking floppy list from online database.
  • (Launcher) Handle some potentially invalid configs from online database more gracefully.
  • (Launcher) Updated translations: it [speedvicio].

Changes in FS-UAE 2.3.0dev:

  • Show on-screen warning if OpenAL device cannot be opened, log OpenAL error code.
  • New option save_state_compression can be used to disable save state compression.
  • New option “log” which can be used to enable misc types of debug logging.
  • Queued input events are processed in hsync handler.
  • Use CD32 + FMV quickstart for CD32 model, update cd.device in cartridge ROM fixes problem with Pirates Gold intro.
  • Removed a couple of left-over / unnecesary log statements.
  • Support language option to override GUI language.
  • New translations: tr [Decypher].
  • With video_sync = auto, allow some slack when deciding to enable full sync or not (accept host refresh rate 49 instead of just 50, ..).
  • New option: assume_refresh_rate (int) to manually specify host refresh rate when refresh rate detection fails. This option in combination with video_sync = auto effectively replaces video_sync = full. video_sync = full is now an alias for video_sync = auto.
  • Fixed bug causing FS-UAE to hang when pausing with video_sync = off.
  • New model CD32/FMV (includes FMV ROM), CD32 model reverted to original.
  • Fixed compatibility issues in scanline GLSL shaders.
  • (Launcher) Warn when using A1200 model with < 2 MB chip RAM.
  • (Launcher) Fixed a bug where 0-byte screenshot / covers files could be stored if a network error occurs while downloading.
  • (Launcher) Better support for A3000 and A4000 with the game database.
  • (Launcher) Support hiding variants from the database based on _status.
  • (Launcher) Cycle-exact can be disabled from database if abs. necessary.
  • (Launcher) Support language option to override GUI language.
  • (Launcher) New translations: tr [Decypher].

FS-UAE on Ubuntu 13.04

I upgraded to Ubuntu 13.04 a while ago, and were curious to see how well FS-UAE runs on the current version of Unity (the default desktop in Ubuntu). Unfortunately, it does not run that well by default (same as 12.10).

The problem is really only in windowed mode. FS-UAE syncs to vblank by default, and in combination with the Unity compositing / indirect rendering, the performance is bad, with laggy / choppy rendering (1). When using video_sync = off, the performance is “normal”. On the bright side, full-screen performance seems to be improved when syncing to vblank.

Let’s hope Ubuntu / Canonical manage to fix the OpenGL support with Mir (though I would rather see them joining forces with Wayland). For the time being, I’m using the MATE desktop on Ubuntu. Without any compositing / desktop effects, OpenGL performance is nice, and FS-UAE frame rates are as smooth as can be (2) πŸ™‚

(1) With official closed-source Nvidia drivers.
(2) With monitor running @50Hz of course.

FS-UAE for Ubuntu 13.04 is available from a PPA.

SegTracker in FS-UAE’s Debugger

Lallafa has added an interesting new feature to FS-UAE (for Amiga developers), available from his code repository. From Lallafa’s blog:

I do most of my Amiga development now in a cross-dev environment on my Mac and then the FS-UAE emulator is the runtime environment to test and debug code. While it is possible to use the same Enforcer setup inside FS-UAE I really like the built-in debugger of the emulator: It allows to freeze the whole Amiga and inspect the full state. Furthermore, memory watchpoints and breakpoints are available, too. The only thing that was missing: a SegTracker feature that tells me where my application/driver code is loaded and a FindHit feature to get detailed infos on the associated source.

Thanks to open source of both FS-UAE and Enforcer I was able to add both features without too many effort

See http://lallafa.de/blog/2013/06/added-segtracker-in-fs-uaes-debugger/ for more information and examples for this feature πŸ™‚

FS-UAE 2.2.3 Released

An update to FS-UAE 2.2 has been released. Changes in FS-UAE 2.2.3:

  • On windows, read file name (as program parameter) with MBCS encoding (CP_ACP) so paths with non-ASCII characters are handled correctly.
  • Windows executables are digitally signed by “Frode Solheim”.
  • (Launcher) Only add Cloanto “Amiga Files” to search path if directory exists (Windows).
  • (Launcher) Fix slash direction in default search directory on Windows so it does not look weird.
  • (Launcher) Updated translations: it [speedvicio].

New Domain Name

The FS-UAE project has its own domain name now: fs-uae.net πŸ™‚

http://fengestad.no/fs-uae/ will redirect to http://fs-uae.net/ for the foreseeable future (possibly forever), but if you do have permanent links to the FS-UAE home page / download page on your web site, I would appreciate it if you would update those links (either now, a bit later, or at least eventually :)). Please also let me know if you find an old URL which is not redirected properly.

FS-UAE 2.2.2 Released

An update to FS-UAE 2.2 has been released. Changes in FS-UAE 2.2.2:

  • With video_sync = auto, allow some slack when deciding to enable full sync or not (accept host refresh rate 49 instead of just 50, ..).
  • New option: assume_refresh_rate (int) to manually specify host refresh rate when refresh rate detection fails. This option in combination with video_sync = auto effectively replaces video_sync = full.
  • video_sync = full is now an alias for video_sync = auto.
  • Fixed bug causing FS-UAE to hang when pausing with video_sync = off.
  • New model CD32/FMV (includes FMV ROM), CD32 model reverted to original.
  • Fixed compatibility issues in scanline GLSL shaders.

FS-UAE 2.2.1 Released

An update to FS-UAE 2.2 has been released. Changes in FS-UAE 2.2.1:

  • Show on-screen warning if OpenAL device cannot be opened, log OpenAL error code.
  • New option save_state_compression can be used to disable save state
    compression.
  • New option “log” which can be used to enable misc types of debug logging.
  • Queued input events are processed in hsync handler.
  • Use CD32 + FMV quickstart for CD32 model, update cd.device in cartridge ROM fixes problem with Pirates Gold intro.
  • Removed a couple of left-over / unnecesary log statements.
  • Support language option to override GUI language.
  • New translations: tr [Decypher].
  • (Launcher) Fixed bug when specifying window_width / window_height in custom settings.
  • (Launcher) Warn when using A1200 model with < 2 MB chip RAM.
  • (Launcher) Fixed a bug where 0-byte screenshot / covers files could be stored if a network error occurs while downloading.
  • (Launcher) Better support for A3000 and A4000 with the game database.
  • (Launcher) Support hiding variants from the database based on _status.
  • (Launcher) Cycle-exact can be disabled from database if abs. necessary.
  • (Launcher) Support language option to override GUI language.
  • (Launcher) New translations: tr [Decypher].

FS-UAE 2.2.0 Released

Screenshot-FS-UAE Launcher

Screenshot of FS-UAE launcher, which is an optional part of FS-UAE providing many new and convenient features!

I am pleased to announce version 2.2.0 of FS-UAE, the multi-platform Amiga emulator for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD and OpenBSD! FS-UAE 2.2 can be downloaded here.

Notable changes since version 2.0 include:

  • Much-improved FS-UAE Launcher UI.
  • Updated emulation code from WinUAE 2.5.1.
  • Better stability, better performance.
  • More keyboard shortcuts.
  • Improved support for directory hard drives.
  • Initial support for the Open Amiga Game Database.
  • More input options.
  • Amiga PAL/NTSC mode switching.
  • Better shader and theme support.
  • Improved WHDLoad support.
  • LHA archive support.
  • Improved support for Amiga Forever.
  • More platforms and more languages supported.
  • And many other improvements and fixes.

Please see the release notes for more information about this release and a detailed list of changes. Also, many thanks to translators, contributors, and everyone who has been testing the development versions and reported bugs and issues!

A list of contributors is available. If you wish to donate to FS-UAE development, I have set up a donation page via PayPal.

FS-UAE 2.1.32dev Released

A new development version has been released. Changes in FS-UAE 2.1.32dev:

  • New option notification_duration (ms). Does not apply to warnings.
  • Fixed bug in IPF handling causing Buggy Boy to not load.
  • (Launcher) Scan entire directory tree for dirs with .slave files.
  • (Launcher) Make sure usernames are converted to unicode.
  • (Launcher) Base screenshots prefix on configuration name.
  • (Launcher) Updated translations: cs [spajdr].

It is always tempting to always improve just one more thing – thereby keeping the development cycle going – but the development versions provide several advantages over the current stable version, and it is time to bring the improvements to the users of the stable version.

Please report problems if you find any. I plan to release a 2.2 release candiate soon, and a new 2.2 stable release shortly thereafter.

FS-UAE 2.1.31dev

A new development version has been released. Changes in FS-UAE 2.1.31dev:

  • Shortcuts F12 + P or Pause/Break key to pause the emulation.
  • Left and right mouse buttons are aliased to joystick port 0 fire and 2nd button (unless joystick_port0_mode is nothing, or mouse is already used in a port).
  • Disabled automatic port 0 joystick switching for mouse, alias mouse buttons instead.
  • Disabled automatic port 0 joystick switching for emulated joystick.
  • Warn, if necessary, when joystick/gamepad has no config for CD32 game pad.
  • Fixed scanline code for PPC.
  • Support for a more advanced viewport syntax.
  • Updated bitmap font with new character.
  • Updated translations: pl [grimi].
  • (Launcher) Retry database download operations several times on failure.
  • (Launcher) Support floppy_list field from online database, as well as new database fields.
  • (Launcher) WHDLoad versions can be selected via the new x_whdload_version option.
  • (Launcher) Added WHDLoad versions 16.0 – 16.9 [TheCyberDruid].
  • (Launcher) ADFFileExtractor module [TheCyberDruid].
  • (Launcher) SetPatch is extracted using the new ADFFileExtractor module instead of the old hack.

Changes in FS-UAE 2.1.30dev:

  • Make the volume function more sane.
  • Check/respect GL_MAX_TEXTURE_SIZE for text cache texture.
  • Make the scanline shaders more standards-compatible, fixes compilation errors which occured with some GL drivers.
  • Write shader compiler log to log file on shader compilation failure.
  • Updated translations: cs [spajdr], de [nexusle].
  • (Launcher) Updated translations: cs [spajdr].

FS-UAE 2.1.29dev

A new development version has been released. Changes in FS-UAE 2.1.29dev:

  • Fixed a bug with notification replacing earlier notifications of the same type.
  • F12 + w to toggle warp mode (no frame limit, no audio).
  • F12 + m to mute the sound (was implemented in 2.1.28).
  • F12 + comma to decrease the volume.
  • F12 + period to increase the volume.
  • Updated translations: fi [GoingDown], sr [Milanchez].
  • (Launcher) Updated translations: sr [Milanchez].

FS-UAE 2.1.28dev Released

A new development version has been released. Changes in FS-UAE 2.1.28dev:

  • For directory hard drives, save file attributes in .uaem files (permissions, timestamp, file note).
  • Fix for directory hard drives so correct case is reported back to the Amiga when the Amiga opens a file with another case than what’s stored.
  • Report local time for files in directory hard drive.
  • Use re-entrant / thread-safe variants of time functions.
  • Reverted the scanline function to its older / simpler behavior, use the shader “scanlines-nonlinear” instead.
  • New shaders included: scanlines-classic (same as scanline CPU filter), and scanlines-nonlinear (a scanline filter which varies with pixel intensity and also introduces some pixel blending).
  • Text cache texture size is now 2048×2048 (was 1024×1024).
  • For automatic directory hard drive volume label, only use the part before an opening parenthesis (if it exists).
  • New options to configure what screenshots to save and where to save them.
  • A bit more compact naming of screenshots, and reset sub-minute counter for each minute (makes sorted names always cronological even with large number of screenshots).
  • Can now bind keys to action_screenshot, notification replaces previous notification (of same type).
  • Lua scripts can be used to read/write Amiga memory, position the output video rectangle, change shader (experimental feature).
  • Support /dev/tty as the serial output [Jason S. McMullan].
  • Patch for Linux CD ioctl support [Jason S. McMullan].
  • Removed a some useless stubs printed to stdout, removed several printf statements logging stuff to stdout.
  • Updated translations: fi [GoingDown], cs [spajdr].
  • (Launcher) Make sure the nickname is a valid IRC nickname (net play).
  • (Launcher) Fixed problem where .fs-uae configurations could in some cases disappear from the configuration list when refreshing the online database.
  • (Launcher) Fixed a bug where config name was saved in config file if based on a config from online database.
  • (Launcher) Automatically set screenshots_output_prefix based on floppy name.
  • (Launcher) If A500 kickstart is not found on startup, look for Amiga Forever in default location and add kickstarts to database if found (Windows).
  • (Launcher) Add Amiga Forever shared documents directory to search path.
  • (Launcher) Index files in .rp9 archives, contained disk images can be used with the online database (when match is found).
  • (Launcher) Support file comments for WHDLoad slave files when using the online database, comments are stored in .uaem files. Fixes Embryo.
  • (Launcher) Allowing selecting .lha files as hard drives.
  • (Launcher) Fixed an issue with selecting Amiga 1000 (2.1.26).
  • (Launcher) Updated translations: cs [spajdr].

Changes in FS-UAE 2.1.27dev:

  • Added lua (sandboxed), (possibly) to be used as a scripting engine.
  • Added freetype as a build dependency, will be used for truetype fonts.
  • Some changes to the build system, fs-uae binary now linked in root dir.
  • Updated translations: fi [GoingDown].
  • (Launcher) Index content in .lha files if lhafile python module is found (implemented earlier, but not announced).
  • (Launcher) Added lhafile module to Windows / OS X binary distributions.
  • (Launcher) Updated translations: it [Speedvicio], pl [grimi], de [nexusle], fi [GoingDown].

Live Support

For live support, you can connect to the IRC support channel directly from your web browser: Enter live support channel. The most likely time to get help is during the evening (UTC+1), but there may be people around to help at other times as well.

You can also use a regular IRC client – joinΒ channel #FS-UAE on server irc.abime.net.

FS-UAE 2.1.26dev Released

A new development version has been released. Changes in FS-UAE 2.1.26dev:

  • Implemented options hard_drive_x_priority.
  • Renamed FS-UAE.log to FS-UAE.log.txt for easier upload to EAB.
  • Better method to override directories (e.g. base_dir), old ones deprecated.
  • Added translations: cs [spajdr], fi [GoingDown].
  • Updated translations: it [Speedvicio].
  • (Launcher) Added refresh button to update list of connected joysticks.
  • (Launcher) Added support for the recently added A3000 FS-UAE Amiga model.
  • (Launcher) Improved memory widgets, you now see the current default value.
  • (Launcher) A new simple ADF & HDF Creator dialog is included.
  • (Launcher) Display name first, then directory in media selectors.
  • (Launcher) Fixed a bug where you could get an error message about missing kickstart after just having imported kickstarts and tried to start the emulation.
  • (Launcher) Do not expose database username/password in FS-UAE logs.
  • (Launcher) Added main menu button, moved scan and settings to this menu.
  • (Launcher) Also add menu entries to application menu on OS X.
  • (Launcher) Moved custom options and custom settings to new dialog accessible from the new menu.
  • (Launcher) Moved kickstart import to new kickstart import dialog, removed the “setup” / wizard tab.
  • (Launcher) New “kickstarts are missing” notification in the top tab area.
  • (Launcher) Marked some additional text for translation.
  • (Launcher) Added new about dialog.
  • (Launcher) Database: Game variants can specify that an empty HD or a HD with Workbench must be added to the system.
  • (Launcher) Preselect variant with personal rating = 5, or else highest rated game variant when selecting a game from the database.
  • (Launcher) Respect new base_dir override.
  • (Launcher) Updated GUI layout in several places, minor improvements here and there.
  • (Launcher) Added translations: cs [spajdr], fi [GoingDown].