Q-emuLator for macOS - Versions history

Version 2.2

• Implement MAKE_DIR system call for QXL.WIN containers and floppy disks.
• Upgrade the included Toolkit II to version 2.34, which provides the SuperBASIC MAKE_DIR command.
• Update full screen code to work on macOS 13 or later.
• Fix QXL.WIN issue where sometimes empty directory entries were not reused when creating a new file.
• When loading SMSQ/e, check for an optional XTcc tag at the end of the file and ignore it if present.
• Fix for position file pointer relative, when the file is in a host directory and has a Q-emuLator file header.
• macOS 12.6 had a bug in its support of the BMP format that prevented Q-emuLator from starting. Apple fixed the issue in macOS 12.6.1, but Q-emuLator 2.2 is now using PNG instead of BMP just in case, and to also work on macOS 12.6.

Version 2.1

• TCP/IP driver improvements.
• Updated audio emulation to be compatible with OS X 11 Big Sur.
• Automatically install mouse driver when loading SMSQ/e.
• Support for SMSQ/e WIN_USE command.
• Allow option specifiers in SER device name to appear in any order.
• Fixed NBCD instruction emulation when the input is the value $FA.
• CPU emulation is slightly faster.
• Added support for QLay microdrive images to the unregistered version.
• Bug fixes.

Version 2.0.1

• Fixed file name encoding issue when creating file in Mac folder.
• Fixed possible screen corruption when exiting full screen or disabling the magnification filter.

Version 2.0

• Recompiled for Intel 64 bit OS.
• Compatible with recent macOS API changes.
• QDOS ompatility improvements:
  • TCP/IP driver improvements - part 1.
  • 'QL Speed' is slightly more accurate.
  • Fixed some 'level 2' subdirectory issues.
  • Fixed a sampled sound issue.
• Changed mechanism to override default configuration.
• System call to allow changing MDV slots.
• New Quick Start Guide.

Version 1.3.1

• Faster display FLASH frequency.
• Low level MDV driver option is now disabled by default to avoid slow access to MDV images. If a copy-protected program on MDV image fails to run, enable the option in the Configuration window.

Version 1.3

• Added support for "mdump version 2" microdrive images.
• mdump_task (QL utility to create microdrive images) now included in the QL Software directory
• Option to use the ROM microdrive driver to access microdrive images (Sinclair ROMs only). Enabled by default. Increases compatibility, but access is slower compared to the Q-emuLator driver - the emulated tape speed is about twice that of a real cartridge.
• Changed QL sound timbre to match the original.
• More accurate duration of BEEP commands.
• Improved QLay microdrive images handling to be compatible with images produced by the MDIDriver_cde driver.
• Don't stop emulation on Fxxx instructions. (Compatibility improvement for some buggy QL programs.)
• File system improvements and bug fixes:
  • Added support for floppy images where both sides are formatted but QDOS only uses a single side.
  • Correct the drive allocation sizes returned by IOF.XINF.
  • Allow some raw reads of partial floppy disk sectors.
  • ZIP file driver when the "level 2" driver is enabled: Avoid opening an incorrect file when the requested file doesn't exist but the filename is the prefix of the name of an existing file and the first character after the prefix is '_'.
  • Floppy image driver: Ensure unused parts of blocks are zeroed in all cases.
• Other bug fixes:
  • Fix QL display when opening configuration at standard resolution after running at Q60 or Aurora resolution.

Version 1.2

• Trial mode to allow unregistered users to run a feature-limited version of Q-emuLator.
• Compatibility improvements:
  • Return cartridge name in "get medium info" trap for microdrive images (*.mdv).
  • No error message for privilege exceptions (allows some buggy QL software to run).

Version 1.1

• TCP/IP driver (sck_ and tcp_ devices, implementation compatible with the one documented in uQLx, not all calls are implemented, but enough to support browsing with Lynx, email and FTP).
• Emulation of Q40/Q60 high color video modes:
  • 512x256x65536
  • 1024x512x65536
• Extended 1024x768x65536 video mode, with the same video memory format and base address as the Q40/Q60 1024x512x65536 mode.
• Emulation of the following three Aurora video modes:
  • 512x256x4
  • 1024x768x4
  • 512x480x256
• Major tweaks to precise QL speed emulation.
• Accept floppy disks and floppy disk images with non-standard number of tracks.
• Patch Minerva ROM to fix Minerva bug causing AUTO/EDIT to delete SuperBASIC lines after startup and when add-on ROMs like the Toolkit II are installed.
• UI changes:
  • Zoom 100% and Zoom 200% menu commands.
  • Microdrive slot menu: disable 'empty' command if slot is already empty.
  • Video card and TCP/IP options in the QL configuration dialog.
• File system bug fixes:
  • Show correct file length in Qram and QPAC2 for native host files.
  • Fixed QXL.WIN main directory access with QMENU's file_select$ command.
  • Fixed crash when built-in RAM disk is used in static mode (i.e. it has been formatted with a fixed preallocated size) and gets full.
  • Disallow overwriting a directory when creating a new file (to avoid inadvertent data loss).
• Other bug fixes:
  • QL mouse stopped responding after loading a .QCF file and temporarily switching to a different Mac application.

Version 1.0:
 
First version of Q-emuLator for OS X, emulating all of the QL hardware except for the QL LAN, and extending it with extra memory, mouse and RAM_ device drivers and file access to QL floppy disks, the OS X file system, QXL.WIN files, .ZIP and .QLPAK packages and microdrive and floppy images. Q-emuLator also supports subdirectories in the file system and can partially emulate the Gold Card hardware to allow loading the Gold Card version of SMSQ/E (not included).

© 2023 Daniele Terdina. All rights reserved.