ti-emu: TI-86 Virtual, a new emulator for the TI-86
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ti-emu: TI-86 Virtual, a new emulator for the TI-86
I'm announcing a new emulator to the TI calc community, because now it
actually runs the ROM. (I've told other places about it, but my
emulator didn't quite work with the TI rom, so it wasn't worth bothering
you guys.) But, now it works. The emulator is called TI-86 Virtual
(TI86v for short) and it supports a lot of stuff. It supports every
command of a Z80 processor correctly, (this information is based on
Zilog's offical documentatio) and support for every undocumented opcode.
(I found these through the Programmers Resource thingy, and then
thoroughly tested each on my TI-86) My emulator also supports a
moveable graph port, but grey scale still flickers A LOT. Contrast is
supported, and you can change it to suit your preference. Port $3 is
supported in it's entirety, except for bit 0 on OUT. (Because I have no
clue what it does.) The screen is drawn per line, not per screen,
meaning it gives real retrace feedback, and you can turn the emulator
off just like a real calculator. Memory management is fully supported,
and ROM is protected, and if you have two pages of ram loaded to two
different pages of accessable memory, then changing one automaticly
changes the other. The linkport is supported for Parallel ports, and
there is a speaker option on it to output to the PC speaker.
Appart from what it does exactly like a TI-86, you can save your state
when you quit, so you can return to the same place you were, when you
quit. You can also change a lot of little features like the refresh
rate, and the retrace time. I also have support for changing the LCD
colors of the Emulator by using OUTs, so you can write a program which
sets the colors to whatver. (These OUTs are to two ports, which are
unused, and don't crash a real TI-86)
Soon, I'm going to be releasing a new version, which locks the
processor to a number of megahertz, and not to a number of operations
per second. The next version will also have the ability to send ROM86
to your calculator (ROM86 is internally embedded in TI86v) and to have
your ROM image dumped to your computer through ROM86. So, if you have a
TI-86, and a link cable, all you need is TI86v, and you can get your ROM
image. (This is a nice bonus for those, who don't want to search around
for stuff) I'll also support the Graph-Link and an COM port link cable,
just as soon as I get a hold of one.
As for compatability, it should work with every game, and stuff. (ja,
lots of TI emulators do) but my Z80 emulator isn't by Marc Kogel, I
wrote my own.
Well, sorry to fill up your mail with this LONG message, but this is a
first notification of release after all. TI86v can be found at its
official webpage:
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Station/7142/?startpage=ti86v.html
(Sorry for the length of the address, I'm gonna try and get a shorter
address)
Daniel "Krach" Foesch
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com