Annotation of previous/readme.previous.txt, revision 1.1.1.3

1.1       root        1: 
                      2: 
1.1.1.3 ! root        3:                                  Previous 2.0
1.1       root        4: 
                      5: 
                      6: 
                      7: Contents:
                      8: ---------
                      9: 1. License
                     10: 2. About Previous
                     11: 3. Compiling and installing
                     12: 4. Known problems
                     13: 5. Running Previous
                     14: 6. Contributors
                     15: 7. Contact
                     16: 
                     17: 
                     18:  1) License
                     19:  ----------
                     20: 
                     21: This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
                     22: the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Soft-
                     23: ware Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any
                     24: later version.
                     25: 
                     26: This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
                     27: WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS
                     28: FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
                     29: 
                     30: You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
                     31: this program; if not, write to the
                     32:  Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
                     33:  51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston,
                     34:  MA  02110-1301, USA
                     35: 
                     36: 
                     37:  2) About Previous
                     38:  -----------------
                     39: 
1.1.1.2   root       40: Previous is a NeXT Computer emulator based on the Atari emulator Hatari. It 
                     41: uses the latest m68k emulation core from WinUAE and the i860 emulator from 
                     42: Jason Eckhardt. Previous is confirmed to compile and run on Linux, Mac OS X 
                     43: and Windows. It may also work on other Systems which are supported by the SDL2 
                     44: library, like FreeBSD, NetBSD and BeOS.
1.1       root       45: 
                     46: Previous emulates the following machines:
                     47:  NeXT Computer (original 68030 Cube)
                     48:  NeXTcube
                     49:  NeXTcube Turbo
                     50:  NeXTstation
                     51:  NeXTstation Turbo
                     52:  NeXTstation Color
                     53:  NeXTstation Turbo Color
1.1.1.2   root       54:  NeXTdimension Graphics Board
1.1       root       55: 
                     56: 
                     57:  3) Compiling and installing
                     58:  ---------------------------
                     59: 
                     60: For using Previous, you need to have installed the following libraries:
                     61: 
                     62: Required:
1.1.1.2   root       63: - The SDL library v2.0.5 or later (http://www.libsdl.org)
1.1       root       64: - The zlib compression library (http://www.gzip.org/zlib/)
                     65: 
1.1.1.3 ! root       66: Optional:
        !            67: - The libpng PNG reference library (http://www.libpng.org)
        !            68:   This is required for printing to files.
        !            69: - The pcap library (https://github.com/the-tcpdump-group/libpcap or 
        !            70:   https://www.winpcap.org)
        !            71:   This is required if networking via PCAP is preferred over SLiRP.
        !            72: 
1.1       root       73: 
                     74: Don't forget to also install the header files of these libraries for compiling
                     75: Previous (some Linux distributions use separate development packages for these
                     76: header files)!
                     77: 
                     78: For compiling Previous, you need a C compiler (preferably GNU C), and a working
                     79: CMake installation (see http://www.cmake.org/ for details).
                     80: 
                     81: CMake can generate makefiles for various flavors of "Make" (like GNU-Make)
                     82: and various IDEs like Xcode on Mac OS X. To run CMake, you've got to pass the
                     83: path to the sources of Previous as parameter, for example run the following if
                     84: you are in the topmost directory of the Previous source tree:
                     85:        cmake .
                     86: 
1.1.1.3 ! root       87: On Windows MinGW/MSYS is recommended for building Previous. CMake needs an 
        !            88: extra argument for generating the makefiles:
        !            89:  
        !            90:        cmake -G "MSYS Makefiles" .
        !            91: 
1.1       root       92: If you're tracking Previous version control, it's preferable to do
                     93: the build in a separate build directory as above would overwrite
                     94: the (non-CMake) Makefiles coming with Previous:
                     95:        mkdir -p build
                     96:        cd build
                     97:        cmake ..
                     98: 
                     99: Have a look at the manual of CMake for other options. Alternatively, you can
                    100: use the "cmake-gui" program to configure the sources with a graphical
                    101: application.
                    102: 
                    103: After cmake finished the configuration successfully, you can compile Previous
                    104: by typing "make". If all works fine, you'll get the executable "Previous" in 
                    105: the src/ subdirectory of the build tree.
                    106: 
                    107: 
                    108:  4) Status
                    109:  ---------
                    110: 
1.1.1.2   root      111: Previous is stable, but some parts are still work in progress. Some hardware 
                    112: is not yet emulated. Status of the individual components is as follows:
                    113: CPU            good (but not cycle-exact)
1.1       root      114: MMU            good
                    115: FPU            good
1.1.1.2   root      116: DSP            good
1.1       root      117: DMA            good
1.1.1.2   root      118: NextBus                good
1.1       root      119: Memory         good
                    120: 2-bit graphics good
                    121: Color graphics good
                    122: RTC            good
1.1.1.2   root      123: Timers         good
1.1       root      124: SCSI drive     good
1.1.1.2   root      125: MO drive       good
1.1       root      126: Floppy drive   good
                    127: Ethernet       good
                    128: Serial         dummy
                    129: Printer                good
1.1.1.2   root      130: Sound          good
1.1       root      131: Keyboard       good
                    132: Mouse          good
                    133: ADB            dummy
                    134: Nitro          dummy
1.1.1.2   root      135: Dimension      partial (no video I/O)
1.1       root      136: 
                    137: 
                    138: There are remaining problems with the host to emulated machine interface for
                    139: input devices.
                    140: 
                    141: 
                    142:  5) Known issues
                    143:  ---------------
                    144: 
1.1.1.2   root      145: - Un-emulated hardware may cause problems when attempted to being used.
                    146: - NeXTdimension emulation does not work on hosts with big endian byte order.
                    147: - The MO drive causes slow downs and hangs when both drives are connected, but 
                    148:   only one disk is inserted. This is no emulation issue but a bug in NeXTstep.
                    149: - DSP sound has timing related issues. playscore under NeXTstep 0.9 sometimes 
                    150:   produces bad audio in variable speed mode. ScorePlayer under NeXTstep 2.x 
                    151:   produces distorted sound in normal CPU mode.
                    152: - Shortcuts do not work properly or overlap with host commands on some 
                    153:   platforms.
                    154: - CPU timings are not correct. You may experience performance differences 
                    155:   compared to real hardware.
                    156: - 68882 transcendental FPU instructions produce results identical to 68040 FPSP.
                    157:   The results are slightly different from real 68882 results.
                    158: - Changing network connection settings while a guest system is running sometimes
                    159:   causes permanently lost connections, especially under NeXTstep 2.2.
                    160: 
1.1       root      161: 
                    162: 
                    163:  6) Release notes
                    164:  ----------------
                    165: 
                    166:   Previous v1.0:
                    167:   > Initial release.
                    168: 
                    169:   Previous v1.1:
                    170:   > Adds Turbo chipset emulation.
                    171:   > Improves DSP interrupt handling.
                    172:   > Improves hardclock timing.
                    173: 
                    174:   Previous v1.2:
                    175:   > Adds support for running Mac OS via Daydream.
                    176:   > Improves mouse movement handling.
                    177:   > Adds dummy Nitro emulation.
                    178:   > Improves dummy SCC emulation.
                    179: 
                    180:   Previous v1.3:
                    181:   > Adds Laser Printer emulation.
                    182:   > Introduces option for swapping cmd and alt key.
                    183: 
1.1.1.2   root      184:   Previous v1.4:
                    185:   > Adds NeXTdimension emulation, including emulated i860 CPU.
                    186:   > Improves timings and adds a mode for higher than real speed.
                    187:   > Improves emulator efficiency through optimizations and threads.
                    188:   > Improves mouse movement handling.
                    189:   > Improves Real Time Clock. Time is now handled correctly.
                    190: 
                    191:   Previous v1.5:
                    192:   > Adds emulation of soundbox microphone to enable sound recording.
                    193:   > Fixes bug in SCSI code. Images greater than 4 GB are now supported.
                    194:   > Fixes bug in Real Time Clock. Years after 1999 are now accepted.
                    195:   > Fixes bug that prevented screen output on Linux.
                    196:   > Fixes bug that caused NeXTdimension to fail after disabling thread.
                    197: 
                    198:   Previous v1.6:
                    199:   > Adds SoftFloat FPU emulation. Fixes FPU on non-x86 host platforms.
                    200:   > Adds emulation of FPU arithmetic exceptions.
                    201:   > Adds support for second magneto-optical disk drive.
                    202:   > Fixes bug that caused a crash when writing to an NFS server.
                    203:   > Fixes bug that prevented NeXTdimension from stopping in rare cases.
                    204:   > Fixes bug that caused external i860 interrupts to be delayed.
                    205:   > Fixes bug that prevented sound input under NeXTstep 0.8.
                    206:   > Fixes bug that caused temporary speed anomalies after pausing.
                    207:   > Improves dummy RAMDAC emulation.
                    208: 
                    209:   Previous v1.7:
                    210:   > Adds support for twisted-pair Ethernet.
                    211:   > Adds SoftFloat emulation for 68882 transcendental FPU instructions.
                    212:   > Adds SoftFloat emulation for i860 floating point instructions.
                    213:   > Improves 68040 FPU emulation to support resuming of instructions.
                    214:   > Improves Ethernet connection stability.
                    215:   > Improves efficiency while emulation is paused.
                    216:   > Improves device timings to be closer to real hardware.
                    217:   > Fixes bug in timing system. MO drive now works in variable speed mode.
                    218:   > Fixes bug in 68040 MMU that caused crashes and kernel panics.
                    219:   > Fixes bug in 68040 FPU that caused crashes due to unnormal zero.
                    220:   > Fixes bug in FMOVEM that modified wrong FPU registers.
                    221:   > Fixes bug that sometimes caused hangs if sound was disabled.
                    222:   > Fixes bug that caused lags in responsiveness during sound output.
                    223:   > Fixes bug that caused a crash when using write protected image files.
                    224: 
                    225: Previous v1.8:
                    226:   > Removes support for host keyboard repeat because it became useless.
                    227:   > Fixes bug that caused FMOVECR to return wrong values in some cases.
                    228:   > Fixes bug in timing system that caused hangs in variable speed mode.
                    229: 
1.1.1.3 ! root      230: Previous v1.9:
        !           231:   > Adds support for networking via PCAP library.
        !           232:   > Improves 68030 and 68040 CPU to support all tracing modes.
        !           233: 
        !           234: Previous v2.0:
        !           235:   > Adds support for multiple NeXTdimension boards.
        !           236:   > Improves i860 timings to be closer to real hardware.
        !           237: 
        !           238: Previous v2.1 (unreleased):
        !           239:   > Improves emulation efficiency.
        !           240: 
1.1       root      241: 
                    242:  7) Running Previous
                    243:  -------------------
                    244: 
                    245: For running the emulator, you need an image of the boot ROM of the emulated 
                    246: machine.
                    247: 
                    248: While the emulator is running, you can open the configuration menu by
                    249: pressing F12, toggle between fullscreen and windowed mode by pressing F11 
                    250: and initiate a clean shut down by pressing F10 (emulates the power button).
                    251: 
                    252: 
                    253:  8) Contributors
                    254:  ---------------
                    255: 
1.1.1.2   root      256: Previous was written by Andreas Grabher, Simon Schubiger and Gilles Fetis.
                    257: 
1.1       root      258: Many thanks go to the members of the NeXT International Forums for their
                    259: help. Special thanks go to Gavin Thomas Nicol, Piotr Twarecki, Toni Wilen,
1.1.1.2   root      260: Michael Bosshard, Thomas Huth, Olivier Galibert, Jason Eckhardt, Jason 
                    261: Stevens, Daniel L'Hommedieu, Vaughan Kaufman and Peter Leonard!
1.1       root      262: This emulator would not exist without their help.
                    263: 
                    264: 
                    265:  9) Contact
                    266:  ----------
                    267: 
                    268: If you want to contact the authors of Previous, please have a look at the 
                    269: NeXT International Forums (http://www.nextcomputers.org/forums).

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