Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

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tontonkaloun
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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by tontonkaloun »

:D we can't wait to try :D
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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by kathleen »

tontonkaloun wrote: Thu Aug 13, 2020 8:44 pm :D we can't wait to try :D
Same here :-) I've even already took out of my shelf the original Amstrad PCW book

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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by steddyman »

Cool.

Kempston and Keymouse now working.
Sorting out dual drive support now.
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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by kathleen »

In Belgium we say "you whet our appetite..." :-)

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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by ron »

kathleen wrote: Fri Aug 14, 2020 9:56 am In Belgium we say "you whet our appetite..." :-)
I'm turning on my physical PCWs while we wait to see if Steddyman is going ( or not ) to release the PCW core for dinner time :mrgreen: . Lunch choked a little. :D
steddyman
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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by steddyman »

I'm happy to report that the first release of the Amstrad PCW core is now available on the main MiSTer site.

If you run the update script on your MiSTer, then it should automatically download and install.

Alternatively you can download it from the 'releases' folder.

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Amstrad-PCW_MiSTer

I hope you like it. Let me know any problems you find.

Thanks
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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by NML32 »

Thank you. :D
So far every game I loaded worked. I wasn't really able to play many games as it appears most require a Numpad that my Keyboard doesn't have.

Great job on the Core!!
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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by WolfgangBlack »

Booted it up and ran a text adventure game.
Thanks! Great core!
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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by bazza_12 »

Not had chance to test all these yet, but thought this looked like an invaluable reference
http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/nc100-nc200 ... s-archive/

many thanks for a incredible core
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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by kathleen »

Thank you so much @steddyman, I'm so happy to see this new core on the Mister. You did an incredible job. I've ran it and what a good surprise to see Locoscript on the Mister. Have tried also several games and they worked like a charm, I just got a black screen when I launched the LOGO application but it is probably my .DSK which is corrupted. Will play with it this evening and will try more disks. It is really amazing to see how this core runs for the 1st release. Big big thanks for your hard work.

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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by breiztiger »

hi

very good to retrieve this computer, ahhh bob winner, batman ...

http://www.habisoft.com/pcwwiki/doku.ph ... st_program
seem to crash the core
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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by tontonkaloun »

@Steddyman
Thank you so much !!!
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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by skywalky »

Thank you @Steddyman
Very good core.
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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by Nat »

@steddyman

Many thanks for this new core very much appreciated! :D
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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by kathleen »

breiztiger wrote: Sun Aug 16, 2020 8:40 am hi

very good to retrieve this computer, ahhh bob winner, batman ...

http://www.habisoft.com/pcwwiki/doku.ph ... st_program
seem to crash the core
@Breiztiger, thank you anyway for this link where a lot of applications can be found. I've even seen a French book to learn the Basic on PCW. Very nice.

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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by breiztiger »

you're welcome ;-)
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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by steddyman »

I'm glad you all like it.

Batman shouldn't crash the core. I play Batman on mine and it works fine. Might be worth getting a fresh DSK image.

Might also be worth checking that the disks you have tried like Locoscript, are on CF2 disks (about 180k). I'm adding support for CF2DD (720k) and two drives now. It is a bit tricky because the second drive is usually seen as a CF2DD drive, with a CF2 disk, which causes issues. Working on a fix.
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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by kathleen »

@steddyman,

You're right, Batman works perfectly but Breiztiger was talking about RAMTEST program V1.4.
I did try it also on my side and it freezes the screen with strange lines at the bottom of the screen.

Will check which version of Locoscript I used and will let you know but I'm pretty sure they were the 180K on 2 disks.
Will be great to have 2 disks working, especially for the "productivity' programs more than for games.

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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by steddyman »

Oh great. Thanks for that, I'll see if I can find a copy to test, and thanks breiztiger for surfacing the issue.

Is there a PCW Diag program I can download for fully testing the keyboard layout? I've been struggling to find that kind of program to test.
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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by kathleen »

The archive of it is in the link provided by breiztiger :-) just scroll down to the end you'll see a .rar file containing it.

If I can add something that I've just tested which does not work..., But I do not want you to think that I'm complaining, because it is not the case at all, I just want to report issues to help improving the core.

The SymbOS Z80 does not work neither, it starts than hang to the desktop, I guess it is the desktop. The mouse is not responding neither but maybe because the software crashed.

http://www.symbos.de/download.htm

At 2/3 of the 1st page there is the PCW version available.

かすりん

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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by ron »

Congratulations for steddyman and his core.-
I love it-.
Have you thought about the possibility of adding a switch in the OSD to change the ratio from 4:3 to 16:9?
Having a deep test now!
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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by steddyman »

Yes, I've tried SymbOS and it didn't work for me either. I need to troubleshoot that some more. I wasn't sure if that was compatible with only 256K of memory. I tried Find that Mine which runs on top of the Samurac GUI and that worked fine.

No, not considered a 16:9 switch. I'm not sure why you would need that, the original machine is 4:3 only. You can just use the scaler built into MiSTer and a widescreen mode to scale it to 16:9.
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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by 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]
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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by owlnonymous »

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.
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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by kathleen »

steddyman wrote: Sun Aug 16, 2020 10:11 pm 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.

かすりん

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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by 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)
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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by steddyman »

owlnonymous wrote: Mon Aug 17, 2020 2:50 am 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.
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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by steddyman »

breiztiger wrote: Mon Aug 17, 2020 8:10 am 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.
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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by steddyman »

kathleen wrote: Mon Aug 17, 2020 4:22 am
steddyman wrote: Sun Aug 16, 2020 10:11 pm 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.
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Re: Incoming new core: Amstrad PCW

Unread post by 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 :)
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