v0.35.0

[JetSetIlly]

I've put together a new release. Mainly bug fixes reported by Andrew Davie.

https://github.com/JetSetIlly/Gopher2600/releases/tag/v0.35.0

This release also contains small changes to the audio system, as discussed in this AtariAge thread https://forums.atariage.com/topic/370460-8-bit-digital-audio-from-2600/

[JetSetIlly]

v0.35.2

Support for FA2 and BF. The addition of BF means the the new 256k game "The Realm of Riesig" is now supported

https://github.com/JetSetIlly/Gopher2600/releases/tag/v0.35.2

Also note the new entry on the current status

[alex_79]

Also note the new entry on the current status

Great!
I noticed (and tested a bit) the branch in the repository with the new CRT stuff in the past week already, and I'm glad to hear an official announcement about it.

[JetSetIlly]

Also note the new entry on the current status

Great!
I noticed (and tested a bit) the branch in the repository with the new CRT stuff in the past week already, and I'm glad to hear an official announcement about it.

Thanks :-)

Note that I've not merged the colour generation code yet. I'll finish that off next week

Out of interest, what platform are you running on?

[alex_79]

Out of interest, what platform are you running on?

Linux.

[JetSetIlly]

That's good to know.

I've had an issue with monitor VSYNC in X11 since the very beginning of the project. I had no idea what was going on for a long time and added all sorts of mitigating code, which may have made the problem worse.

I've finally tracked the problem down to the use of modern compositors in X11. By default SDL bypasses the compositor for performance reasons but I've found that it really doesn't help in our case. For best results, especially with ROMs that use flicker kernels, we have to allow the compositor to work.

The following SDL hints solve the problem I've found.

Code Select Expand

sdl.SetHint(sdl.HINT_VIDEO_X11_NET_WM_BYPASS_COMPOSITOR, "0")
sdl.SetHint(sdl.HINT_VIDEO_X11_NET_WM_PING, "0")
That said, I occasionally get issues with the Muffin window manager, which is what I've been using day-to-day with the Cinnamon desktop. The problem is nowhere near as bad though and so long as I know about it I can at least document it and alert Cinnamon users to what's happening.

What desktop environment are you using? I'd be interested in hearing what your experiences are.

[alex_79]

I use Arch Linux without a full desktop environment installed: I only use a window manager on top of X11.
I've started using i3 a few months ago and I'm liking it so far (never used a tiling wm before), so I might stick with it. Before that, I used fluxbox for many years. I don't remember experiencing any display issue with Gopher2600.
Note that my PCs are pretty old ("ancient" is probably the correct term) and struggle to run Gopher at full speed, so that fact might hide some issues.