            *********************************************************
            *  NOTES ABOUT THE WINDOWS BUILD OF REALSPECTRUM (RS32) *
            *********************************************************

                          RELEASE 15 "10th Anniversary"
                           (v0.98.14 - Dec 31st 2009)


----=[ Introduction ]=---------------------------------------------------------------

RS32 is not a new emulator; it's just the good old RealSpectrum recompiled to run
under Windows natively, without the need for MSDOS. Therefore, it does not contain
any significant changes respect to the classic RS. You will find the same features
and, most importantly, the very same user interface and look-and-feel.

For the complete documentation about RealSpectrum, please refer to the user manual
of the DOS version. This file only contains some additional notes about the
peculiarities of the Win32 adaptation.

We made this special version of RealSpectrum as a temporary solution to the DOS
compatibility problems on modern operating systems, namely Windows 2000 and XP.
Since RS32 is now fully a Win32 program, it uses regular Windows functions for sound
and graphics, eliminating all the well-known troubles arising with MSDOS programs.
Another thing that will now work also on NT-based systems is the high-precision
timer (TSC), the lack of which was the cause for speed violation errors during
compo-mode input recordings and other synchronization problems.
RS32 uses the Windows port of the Allegro library, which in turn relies on DirectX.

In general, bear in mind that RS32 still behaves like a DOS-minded application, so
don't expect any advanced interactions which are typical for Windows programs.

SINCE IT'S JUST AN EXPERIMENT, DON'T EVEN EXPECT IT TO WORK ON YOUR SYSTEM AT ALL.
However, if you experience troubles and bugs please report them to us and we'll try
to release fixes and patches as needed.

If you have no problems running RealSpectrum for DOS (e.g. you have Windows 98/ME),
we recommend you to keep using it since it is probably more stable and tested.
Unless you prefer RS32 because it runs windowed and it is more Windows-friendly,
of course :)


----=[ Usage notes ]=----------------------------------------------------------------

You can start RS32 by double-clicking over its icon (or a link to it), or from
the command prompt as in DOS. You can also drag snapshot and tape files over
the icon, which will be loaded/inserted on startup. We haven't tried to associate
the supported file types to RS32, but that could work too.
When you drop a tape file over the RS32 icon, AutoLoading will be implicitly enabled
for that tape, and so the program will be loaded automatically on startup; by the way
remember that you can disable the welcome message box in the INI, if it hurts you :-) 

Quit by clicking on the close button of the window, or by pressing the usual F10 key.

If you are running several other applications at the same time, RS32 might slow down
a bit. You can increase the priority assigned to RS32 by the operating system by
rising the "ThreadPriority:" setting in the [GENERAL] section of the INI file.
The higher the number, the higher the CPU time that will be dedicated to RS32 to the
detriment of other applications. See the comment in the INI for more information.

Also, the DOS-minded main loop of the emulator eats all the CPU time to adjust speed
to 50 fps. You can attempt to mitigate this problem by setting "ThrottlingMode: 1" in
the INI file, however you might incur into undesired effects such as audio stuttering.
In this case, revert to the original behaviour by setting the option to "-1" (not 0).
On dual core systems, RS32 might suffer from even more synchronization problems.
If you notice that the CPU speed (in MHz, reported when RS32 is launched in a console)
is incorrect, try setting "UseTSC: 0" in the INI.

The Debugger now shows a highlighted box around the panel which currently has the
focus. Besides that, you can finally use the mouse to set the focus, just left-click
inside the desired panel as you would normally do in a windowed GUI.
This new feature can be controlled using the "DebuggerFocusMode:" variable in the iNI.


----=[ New emulated hardware ]=------------------------------------------------------

Respect to the DOS version, RS32 additionally emulates the following peripherals:

 o  ZXMMC+ by A. Poppi - http://www.zxbada.bbk.org/zxmmcp/index.htm

    MMC/SD card adaptor interface with IF1 network and RS-232 support; runs ResiDos.
    To enable it, press CTRL-F4 and select "ZXMMC+" device. Dip-switch settings are
    available by pressing F3 when the ZXMMC+ name is displayed.
    ZXMMC+ media are supported both via HDF image files and direct access to mounted
    disks (e.g. USB pens, multi-card readers) with the new RealDrive feature
    (select "Physical-Device" in the fileselector when opening media from CTRL-F4)
    RS-232 and IF1 network are not emulated. Besides, memory write passthrough is
    not emulated (write-enable with Spectrum ROM paged mode).
    RealDrive works on Windows XP only (it will fail in Windows Vista and 7).

 o  ULA Plus (64-colors palette) - http://sites.google.com/site/ulaplus/

    To enable the ULA Plus feature, open the Extra Video Options menu (ALT-F11)
    and select it in the "ULA FX" line.
    ULA Plus is currently emulated only on the following computers: 48K, 128K and +2.


----=[ Video ]=----------------------------------------------------------------------

RS32 can run both in a window and fullscreen. You can toggle between the two modes
using the new option in the F11 menu. The INI file contains a new setting called
"Fullscreen:" which determines the visualization mode used at startup; it can be
overridden with the command-line switch "-fullscreen".
Besides, the F11 menu contains an option to activate special blitter effects to
render differently the Spectrum image to the PC screen; at the moment the available
choices are "Standard 1x" (normal size display), "Pixel Scaler 2x" (2x zoomed display
with simple pixel doubling) and "Vector Scaler 2x" (2x zoomed display with a special
interpolation). The blitter effect can be selected in the INI file ("BlitterFX:")
and with the command-line switch "-blitterfx N" (N=0-2).


----=[ Sound ]=----------------------------------------------------------------------

The default master volume is set to half-way in the INI (128) to prevent clipping,
while it was set to max (255) in RSDOS. Just a precaution to accomodate certain
sound drivers.
Feel free to increase the volume if it sounds too low on your system.


----=[ RealDisk ]=-------------------------------------------------------------------

RS32 offers complete RealDisk support under Windows 2000/XP/2003/XP64 and above,
with the ability to read, write and format both standard and copy-protected disks.
In order to access RealDisk, you must first download and install the FDRAWCMD driver
by Simon Owen, which is freely available from http://simonowen.com/fdrawcmd/
Choose the appropriate version for your system (32 or 64-bit Windows) and run
"FdInstall.exe" to install or remove the driver.
Please check that the type of your PC disk drive matches the one reported in the ALT-F6
control panel (default: 3.5" 1.44MB). If it's different, move the cursor over the line
labeled "Realdisk drive" and press SPACE repeatedly until the description matches your
actual configuration.


----=[ MP3, OGG and WAV support ]=---------------------------------------------------

In addition to all the file types supported for tape loading by the DOS version,
RS32 allows to load tape files compressed in MP3, OGG and generic ACM WAV format.
From our tests, reliable loading of fast turbo loaders can be guaranteed by the
following minimum bitrates: 64Kbps mono (or 80Kbps stereo) for MP3; 80Kbps mono
(or 128 stereo) for OGG Vorbis. The Codemasters turbo (14000 baud!) loads back
perfectly from an MP3 file compressed with LAME at 112Kbps stereo.
Note: generic WAV files can contain data compressed with any codec, e.g. Windows
Media Audio (WMA), AC3, MP3, etc. Of course you need to have proper ACM codec
installed on your system to decoded them. Be aware that some codecs may be
unsuitable to compress computer tapes; we have successfully tested MP3 and OGG,
others untested.


----=[ Input Recording ]=------------------------------------------------------------

The Input Recording menu is now located in ALT-F8 instead of ALT-F4.

RS32 supports the new RZX format instead of AIR. The RZX specifications are still
being developed, so this feature must be considered experimental. If you don't know
what RZX is (and you really should), check out our RZX development page at this URL:
http://www.ramsoft.bbk.org/rzx.html


----=[ Known limitations ]=----------------------------------------------------------

The following functions have been temporarily disabled in this version, because they
contain some DOS-specific code which cannot be recompiled under Windows without
requiring some additional work:

* RealTape
* Networking

In the light of recent findings, the following features are not emulated by the core:

* Z80 internal register MEMPTR
* ULA ink/paper delay (aka "four bright levels")
* Some other ULA "bugs" (probably)


Changelog since Release 14:

- ZXMMC+ emulation (with restrictions)
- RealDrive (Windows XP only, no Vista and above)
- Support for memory breakpoints in debugger (R and ALT-R)
- GUI is now properly centered and zoomed at all resolutions
- Got rid of the infamous black DOS window
- Reduced CPU usage when certain GUI dialogs are active
- ULA Plus emulation (64-colors mode)
- Ugly hack to attempt to reduce CPU usage (read "Usage Notes")
- Debugger focus is clearly shown and it can be changed with the mouse



Goodbye,

The Ramsoft guys      <xxxxxxx@xxx.xxx>
---------------------------------------
RAMSOFT - ZX Spectrum demogroup    ////
   http://xxx.xxxxxxx.xxx.xxx     ////
Home of RealSpectrum and MakeTZX ////
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