Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

[breiztiger]

Lol it’s my dump for Loco script (maxit is my nickname on cpc-power)

I have some dump i have just sent to pcw wiki (pcw paint and an assembler)

[steddyman]

Do you need a full-size keyboard with a numpad for this core? I could not find the controls in a lot of games, or the controls listed (azop etc) did not work.

Currently for some applications, yes. For example I have found some games that will only take the Enter on the numpad rather than the one on the main keyboard. Also, some games support the arrow keys and others need you to use the numpad. The PCW has a full sized keyboard very similar to an IBM PC. I will find ways to map them across shortly.

[steddyman]

Lol it’s my dump for Loco script (maxit is my nickname on cpc-power)

I have some dump i have just sent to cpc wiki (pcw paint and an assembler)

Well I really appreciate you sharing it PCW software hasn't been easy to come across for testing.

[steddyman]

Just tested Locoscript and it is working fine for me. I suspect it isn't a version for the 8256 you are trying?

The version I tested has the following disk name: PCW 8256 [A] LOCO SCRIPT [MAXIT][SamDISK][Original]

Yes yes, this is what I said. Locoscript works and I do confirm with the 180k disks. The issue I had was with the LoGo application. (The well known program with a small turtle to draw by using basics commands) but did not had time yet to check for another version as I suspect my disk image.

Back to SymbOS, it seems according to their website that 128kb is enough to run it. But I've just noticed is that for the PCW the remarks applied for the CPC are also valid which is this case, deleting the file SYMBOS.INI could help for starting with the minimal configuration.
Will try later on.

Anyway, what a great core, it is one of my favorite one. Being more interested by running, applications than games on vintage computers, this core is really a perfect choice, I'll never thank you enough for it.

Thanks. I 'm not really good at reading your messages am I. I keep mixing up little details that matter

I'll try and work out what is going on with SymbOS then now you've confirmed 256k should be enough. Just fixing up the 2nd disk support.

PS the core doesn't and probably never will support formatting new disks, not without a major rewrite. I am using a modified version of the Spectrum and CPC cores u765 controller with added Interrupt, NMI and TC handling. Neither of those cores support formatting due to how complex it would be manipulating DSK files on the FPGA logic.

[steddyman]

I just tried Logo on the PCW9512CPM Master disk in drive B (720k) and it worked fine. Sorry, I'm not trying to tease

[kathleen]

I tried also another disk version of the logo and I confirm that it works as it should. My thoughts were true, my previous disk image of logo was corrupted.
Yesterday, I also, went back to my PC to run Symbos on the CP/M 86box emulator just to be sure that my disks were ok and they were (really amazing OS for such a computer).

By doing this exercise, I realized that the CP/M 86box emulator has an interesting add-on that I'm wondering if this could be implemented to your core.
This add-on is the share folder, it is very useful, I used PIP to copy the 3 Symbos disks to the share folder and started it from there, ran fine but still need to figure out how to tell the OS to go to the drive M: and not the A: for loading the additional files but that's another story.

It will help also to transfer files created by Locosript for instance to the PC (as there is an application converting them to Word)
Etc etc...
Do you see @steddyman a possibility to have this share folder option added to your core as already implemented for the AO486 & Minimig cores ?
Thanks. Kathleen.

[steddyman]

Not quite sure what you mean by Share Folder. MiSTer itself is network enabled, so you can copy new files to the Games folder at any time using FTP or SMB.

Are you talking about the External drive option under the Emulator / Mapping setting?

[kathleen]

What I mean by having a share folder it is more to use the benefit of having a folder created on the SD of the mister which could be mapped as drive M: for instance, like it is the case with CP/M86 box on PC (or as it works with the core Minimig and AO486). So, the core could access to it like if it was a storage device. you'll have a the end A:, B: (when the 2nd drive will be implemented) and M:

This for sure will help to transfer files directly from the PC to the Mister (I say files, not .DSK images) and also to save your work directly on this folder without the need of saving it on a .DSK or even copy software in it to get rid of the .DSK

I'm pretty sure that there is other benefits of having it implemented but is this possible ? It is my question

PS: Very sorry if I'm not always clear but the English being not my native language, it doesn't help .

[akeley]

I've just tried it on a 15Khz CRT TV via Direct Video (VGA DAC-SCART). Got highly unstable, rolling image. Any ideas?

[steddyman]

Ok, I see what you mean. Yes, I'll add that to the backlog of features I am building. That would be useful. PS you English is perfect.

[steddyman]

I've just tried it on a 15Khz CRT TV via Direct Video (VGA DAC-SCART). Got highly unstable, rolling image. Any ideas?

I haven't been able to test that myself, but I thought others above said they had tested it. I have an Amiga 1801 monitor coming in a few weeks at which point I can test. The PCW is a bit of an unusual resolution for the time at 720x256 but it is roughly in the same frequency range of a regular 15khz signal.

[akeley]

Great, thanks. It could be something on my side since I also have some similar problems with ST core and others have reported it to be working.

[breiztiger]

@steddyman can you make keyboard layout for different language (french for example ...)

[steddyman]

@steddyman can you make keyboard layout for different language (french for example ...)

I could if I know what is involved. How would it need to handle the keyboard differently?

[steddyman]

RAMTEST is now running and passing. Also, got it successfully booting PCW9512+ 720 3.5" disks when set to PCW9512+ mode. I had to create a fake daisywheel device for it to boot.

RAMtest.jpg (93.84 KiB) Viewed 2550 times

[breiztiger]

very good !!!

for french keyboard, it seem you don't have anything to do, it's just systems disks must be for french

[steddyman]

Yes, a lot of the system disks I have are French or Spanish. It was a very popular system in Europe.

Day of no progress todays. Had lots of hardware issues with one of my SSD's. Finally sorted (I think).

[steddyman]

Hi Breiztiger

I just found this. It looks like you can create your own keyboard mappings in MiSTer:
https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_Mi ... i/Keyboard

[steddyman]

Ok major progress today. I have implemented CPC Paging mode now, and Hero Quest, Head over Heels and Abadia are now all working!

I've tested SymbOS again and it doesn't even attempted to the boot. So I tried the same disks in CP/M Box and Joyce, and it is exactly the same. Looking at the boot sector it is a standard CP/M Boot sector, but the directory does not contain an EMS file. The CP/M Boot sector looks for .EMS files and loads the first one it finds. Therefor this disk cannot possibly work.

Edit: It looks like you need to boot a CP/M disk first, and then boot SymbOS, which is odd because SymbOS does have a boot sector on it. I can then get it to load from drive B but it doesn't show the background and the Apps don't load.

[steddyman]

I'm pleased to report version 2 of the Amstrad PCW MiSTer core is now available with the following new features:

* Support for PCW9512+ Mode and 3.5" drives
* Support for two disk drives
* SDRAM support to provide upto 2MB memory
* Colour mode with configurable starting point
* CPC paging mode. Fixes issues with various games (e.g. Abadia, Head over Heels)
* Mouse movement improvements
* Daisywheel port emulation to allow PCW915+ CPM to boot
* Fixed issues with disk corruption and boot errors
* Fixed corruption issue with RAMtest
* F2/F4/F6/F8 no longer require you to press shift

More information is available in the following features video:
https://youtu.be/z-IoDr81xjE

[ron]

Great improvements, congrats !!!!
Testing , having nice time. Thank You

[Lodovik]

Great job! This computer can do so much more that I thought.

[kathleen]

Thank you so much @steddyman, you're amazing!.
Will try it this evening, I cannot wait.

[bazza_12]

brilliant core, congrats

[Nodoyuna]

Hi
Does this core supports 15KHz? If not, any plan on making it 15KHz compatible?
Thanks in advance

[steddyman]

Yes, it does support 15khz. I use it on an Amiga 1081 monitor.

Glad you all like it.

Thanks

[breiztiger]

hi

this dsk work on cp/m box emu but not in mister core

[Hodor]

hi

this dsk work on cp/m box emu but not in mister core

Uncompressed file works fine on my Mister. At least loads the menu, I haven´t gone further.

[steddyman]

Yep... I've played Batman on the MiSTer core many times. Works perfectly.

This was me playing it nearly a month ago, on the release 1 of the core: https://youtu.be/1IrI-LB45WU

[breiztiger]

i'm sorry i know that batman work but with this dsk and last build of core i have title screen, after some flash screen and 4 bips

i have delete config files but good at all