News via http://psx-scene.com/forums/content/...s-released-40/

After 2 1/2 years of silence, Jimmikaelkael today officially released the FMCB1.8c-Loader, which is the first released PS2-MC-KELF generated from scratch.
The new MC-KELF-Generation was invented by Jimmikaelkael and a source/hacker, which prefers to remain anonymous.

-you can now install FMCB from a PC to MC with these MC-Adapters!
-You can sign MC-KELFs to your MCs directly from PC!
-you can make multi-region-installs!
-The FMCB1.8c-Loader finally includes the V0-Kernel-Fix for those old SCPH-1x000-Consoles (this gives users of those old models the ability to run a few homebrew-apps, which were previously incompatible to those versions)!


That means: Nearly everone on this planet can install himself and friends FMCB, regardless of regional restrictions.

I suppose this new release is especially good for countries like brasil, which imported their consoles from different MagicGate-Regions.

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News via http://www.emucr.com/2011/06/news-ga...-20110620.html

GameBoy Online is a Game Boy and GameBoy Color emulator written in Javascript. It strives to be efficient and try to have a perfect compatibility. Currently the execution speed is not optimal even on browsers. For example on Chrome, which is nevertheless deemed to run Javascript faster on a PC running Windows 7 64-bit version with a double heart 2 CPUs at 2.2 GHz, games run at normal speed but almost skipping some frames.

The sound production is still experimental and rather poor quality. The video portion is by HTML5 or by creating images with BMP string URI. State backups are implemented using the object window.localStorage and are serialized / deserialized JSON. Ditto for backup SRAM.



Recent Changes:
- Worked around a problem of incorrect timing of setInterval in Google Chrome JavaScript engine V8.
- Update the algorithm automatically jump frame.
- Remove mozBeforePaint as Mozilla miscalculates the maximum rate of frames per second supported on newer operating systems.
- Changing the timing of the internal loop of the interpreter to 17ms 16ms.
- Added library support swfobject 2.2 for Internet Explorer.
- Update the default color of the background when it is cut and the boot ROM is disabled and the emulator is not in CGB.
- Remove unused characters in the code.
- Fixed a regression in the opcode ADC A, A '.
- Small update of the HALT opcode.
- Ensuring that the way the special case of the HDMA HALT is taken into account instead of the normal path when necessary.

http://www.grantgalitz.org/gameboy/ ...

News via http://www.emucr.com/2011/06/desmume-svn-r4045.html


DeSmuME SVN r4045 is released. DeSmuME is an open source Nintendo DS(NDS) emulator for Linux, Mac OS and Windows. DeSmuME supports save states, the ability to increase the size of the screen and it supports filters to improve image quality. DeSmuME also supports microphone use on Windows and Linux ports, as well as direct video and audio recording. The emulator also features a built-in movie recorder.

DeSmuME SVN Changelog:
r4045
metaspu: support the PCSX-2 Synchronizer in the Cocoa port

From rogerman, #3320757

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News via http://www.emucr.com/2011/06/jagulator-v201.html

Jagulator v2.0.1 is released. Jagulator is an Atari Jaguar console emulator. Jagulator is designed to be run on the Microsoft Windows range of Operating Systems and uses OpenGL as the graphics subsystem.

Jagulator v2.0.1 Changelog:
- now setting the correct video screen sizes and not clipping the right hand size of the screen.
- Long filenames are not supported so you will need to ensure any rom images you attempt to load do not have 'spaces' in the name.
- Jagulator has a command window style interface (what no fancy GUI!!!)
- Typing help will show you the available commands.
- To load a rom from the command line, type; rom ; For example; rom tempest
- To start the rom executing after it is loaded, press F5.
- Homebrew roms are supported but must be absolute binary files. File types with headers are not currently supported. To load these you will need to know the hexadecimal load address. Those of you who have used tools such as the Skunkboard will be familiar with this. For example, say we have a binary file of BadCoders 4m(Metal) demo with a filename of 'badcode4m' and we know the load address is $4000, we would type; rla 4000 badcode4m.
- Again, to start a homebrew binary, press F5.
- I have included a compatibility list of the roms/homebrews I have tested against here in the zip distribution and on the Status Page of this site. If you would like software tested against Jagulator then please send me your binary.
- Video windows are currently a set size and I know they are not all accurate but work for now.
- The debugger is not present in this build.
- There is no audio or CD emulation in this build.
- Oh, before I forget, there are not commercial or homebrew rom images supplied with this distribution. Those you will have to obtain for yourself.
- Controller 1 is supported only in this release and it is currently a non-configurable set of keys, as follows;
A, B, C Buttons - 'A', 'S' and 'X'
Option Button - 'O'
Pause Button - 'P'
Joypad Numeric Buttons - '0' thru '9' on the numeric key pad
# and * Buttons - '/' and '*' on the numeric key pad

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News via http://www.emucr.com/2011/06/pcsx2-svn-r4751.html

PCSX2 SVN r4751 is released. PCSX2 is an open source PlayStation 2 (PS2) emulator for the Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems. With the most recent versions, many PS2 games are playable (although speed limitations have made play-to-completion tests for many games impractical), and several games are claimed to have full functionality.

PCSX2 SVN Changelog:
r4748
onepad:
* test the reading of the configuration file (will be safer with the previous configuration format).
* bump the version
r4750
onepad:
* fix forcefeedback. It works now, albeit it slow down the emulation...
* Add an option hack for ds3 usb drivers
r4751
cmake: * improve gtk hack to be compatible with previous cmake version.
* Add some number to the plugin .so file.



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News via http://www.emucr.com/2011/06/halfnes-v0036.html

HalfNES v0.036 is released. HalfNES is an open-source emulator for the Nintendo Entertainment System, written in Java. Currently, it only runs as a standalone Java SE application.

Current Features:
-Now cropping off the top and bottom 8 pixels of the video output, since these are
not visible on most TVs and a lot of games render garbage on those lines.
-Added volume slider to options dialog (and rewrote the sound output code as well.)
-Fixed a lot of sound bugs. Crystalis, Zombie Nation, A Boy And His Blob etc. all sound right now.
-Fixed Twin Cobra

HalfNES v0.036 Changelog:


-Added Mapper 9 (Punch-Out!!)
-Fixed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (leftover bug from last PPU rewrite)
-Fixed Jurassic Park (same problem as Twin Cobra, changed the code so both worked)
-Increased audio volume
-Added greyscale and color emphasis to PPU
(Noah's Ark is maybe the only game this is visible in)
-Fixed off-by-one error causing scanline 261 to be run twice
(fixed some timing issues, maybe caused a few more)
-Completely changed the way the PPU renders sprites - broke some games (Guardian Legend and
some Codemasters games that never looked right anyway) but fixed screen shaking and
single scanline glitches in a LOT of games.
-Also, sprite flicker is back from the old days.

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News via http://www.emucr.com/2011/06/my-nes-v25125.html

My Nes v2.5.1.25 is released. My Nes is a portable open source NES/FAMICOM emulator written in C#. it cannot emulate 100%, it still a primitive one and needs a lot of work. however it has been tested and support over 200 games, 100 playable perfectly.

My Nes v2.5.1.25 Changelog:
* Update SlimDX (June 2010) to SlimDX (March 2011).
* Fixed: My Nes require SlimDX SDK instead of Runtime to run.
* Fixed: When you pause the emu for a while then resume, the
sound delay.

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News via http://www.emucr.com/2011/06/bsnes-v07904.html

bsnes v079.04 is released. bsnes is an emulator for the Super Famicom and SNES video game systems. The purpose of the emulator is a bit different from other emulators: it focuses on accuracy, debugging functionality, and clean code.

bsnes v079.04 Changelog:


bsnes v079.04 - Cx4 LLE support2011-06-20
Back from vacation. We were successful in emulating the Cx4 using LLE during my vacation. We finished on June 15th. And now that I'm back, I've rewritten the code and merged it into bsnes official. With that, the very last HLE emulation code in bsnes has now been purged.

I still have some more plans for bsnes v080, so I'm not going to bump the version number just yet. Plus I would like it if we could thoroughly test the new Cx4 LLE support to ensure it is bug-free. To that aim, if you have some time and would like to help test: please download bsnes v079.04 and cx4.bin. Place cx4.bin in the same folder as "Mega Man X 2 (U).sfc" and "Mega Man X 3 (U).sfc", and then do your best to play through the entire games with no cheat codes, and uncover all of the secrets that you can.

If you find any bugs, or if the console window prints "invalid opcode" at any time, please send me a note on my forums. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help test this.

Well then, moving on ... all that's left is the ST-0018. Dr. Decapitator is currently busy with the N64 CIC, but after that we should hopefully make some progress in dumping its internal ROMs.

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Phew, I finally find the time to summarize everything that has happened during the last weeks.
Forgive the delay, I've got so much work currently that I don't know where to start...

Anyways, now that I submitted the newest testing equipment to CircuitCo, I've got a bit time to make a post telling you guys what's going on right now.

Production

You might've seen that there was a WiFi issue last month. A few boards with non-working WiFi slipped through, however, nearly the full batch of 300 PCBs had this issue!
This was totally unexpected. Each shipment from CC brought as different issues, however, only about 10 - 15 boards out of the 300 they sent us were affected. This time, it were a LOT more.

What exactly happened?
Well, these boards had the issue, that the WiFi module initialized fine but didn't connect to any WiFi networks (some did manage to connect with a speed of 1kB/s...)
The module basically handles WiFi completely itself, basically you just communicate with it and connect an antenna. That's all.
Therefore, CC only tested if the modules initialize. If communication works, WiFi should work as well. Well, that worked fine for the first 2000 PCBs. Then it looks they adjusted some parameters in the production leading to a very bad RX. Their test didn't find that issue, as the initialization of the module was fine.
It just seems to not have a proper connection to the antenna - maybe the module is misplaced a bit.

That issue caused the following:

1. New PCBs could not be produced, until the issue had been found. Producing a few hundred boards more where most fail will just lead to much more work, time and money to fix them as well.
2. We had to create enhanced test equipment for CC so they could quickly test various aspects of the PCBs that haven't been tested before.


So what has been done?

I built four testing rigs two weeks ago. These are modified cases mounted on solid ground where CC can just plug in the PCB and click the keyboard on top.
These arrived last week Wednesday.

Additionally, with notaz' help (and thanks to WizardStans post here), I created a new testing setup that CircuitCo will now be using to do all tests.
This should detect almost every issue a PCB has before it gets shipped to us!

The test-SD Card automagically runs the following tests:

1. Send a text on Serial Out
2. Switch on all LEDs
3. Enable TV Out
4. Flash the battery gauge
5. Connect to an SD Card inserted into slot 2 via mass storage mode and USB Host / USB OTG. Create a random testfile on the SD Card and check with md5sum it's correct.
6. Connect to the internet via WiFi and download a file.
7. Flash the bootloader on the NAND.
8. The only not fully automagic test: Test every key, nub, button, touchscreen, etc. Also check the speaker output and the headphone port.

I submitted this final testing card yesterday night.
They now have four complete testing rigs including an SD Card which tests most parts of the Pandora fully automatically.
The already had one that did the WiFi test for two weeks, so they could work on that.


What's the status with CircuitCo?

They started to investigate the WiFi issue a few days ago. I also asked for a status report to find out how many PCBs they have already produced that only needed testing and if they already found something out about that WiFi issue.
Hopefully it's just a bad connection to the antenna, as that would be a quick and easy fix for them.
I'll post more updates as soon as I get them from CircuitCo. You never know with them, though. Sometimes I get replies within one day, sometimes it takes a few days just to get simple questions answered. I'll keep eMailing them as much as I can.


What about the deliveries?

While they have not stalled, they slowed down. So far, we put aside any Pandoras with issues to take care about them later and ship as many properly working ones as possible.
As we had the stallment in the production due to the WiFi issue, Craig finished all the easy-to-build Pandoras last week and is now building the Pandoras that need more work. This is a lot slower, of course, but hopefully CC will have found the WiFi issue and will resume production now that they can properly test every PCB!

My customers also had to wait a bit longer during the last weeks. While I have about 80 Pandoras at home I just need to test and build right now, my main priority were the testing rigs and new testing routines so that CC could start to work as soon as possible on them! Combined with a lot of work in my main job, I had very little time to work on building the Pandoras. 50 of those 80 PCBs need to get new nubs (they still have the old ones on them), the rest is testing and assembling.
As the testing rig is now behind me, I finally have time to continue building the units. And if we're lucky, I already have the next batch of boards from CC when I'm finished with these 80!


What's our conclusion?

Well, we learnt two things for sure:

•Don't try to go to China to get stuff cheaper. It's not worth the hazzle. Yes, it's cheaper, but it also takes a lot longer and in the end, it's not cheaper if you sum everything up.

•If possible, try ...