A new version of ZeXcel, freeware Spectrum 48k/128k emulator for QDOS/SMSQ systems running under the extended environment, is available for download from my web page:
www.geocities.com/dsantachiara just scroll down a few lines till you get to the "latest news" section. Then click on the "download" link where the news about the new ZeXcel version is shown. or direct link to: http://www.geocities.com/dsantachiara/zxemulators.htm Below are the release notes Best Regards Davide -------8<-------8<------8<------8<------8<------- [] Notes about 2003 Italian QL Meeting special edition This version is now compatible with QPC2/QXL 65k colours mode (mode 32) and Q40/Q60 65k colours mode (mode 33). Currently ZeXcel does not support Aurora 256 colours mode and we do not foresee to support that mode. This version has been specially written by Marco Ternelli and me for the 10th Italian QL meeting that has been held on 26th of October 2003 in Reggio Emilia. It was not easy after 8 years to be able to modify and compile the source codes. The 1995 version of ZeXcel was compiled with QLiberator under Minerva. This new version has been ported on SMSQ/E with slights amendements on the basic code. The current basic source is 110k of text and more than 3100 lines of code. The assembly code (400k of text files and around 14000 lines of code) has been again compiled on the incredibly fast Hisoft assembler (thanks Simon Goodwin for suggesting and getting this wonderful package). [] Ideas for future improvements The graphic conversion routine for 65k colours mode is all but optimised. This means that it is much slower than the 4/8 colours routines. Hence ZeXcel is slower when used with high colours than with the standard Mode 4 / Mode 8. Unfortunately after so many years it seems almost impossible to perform an optimisation because it would be a very long task to understand the design behind the old routines and then make new routines for 65k colours mode. However the slowness of the 65k colours ZeXcel mode should not be a major problem and instead could become an important feature. Especially because if you run ZeXcel with QPC2 on a quite modern PC (eg. Pentium/Athlon with frequency higher than 1000 MHz) most probably the ZX games will run too fast. For this reason the fact that the graphic routines are not optimised for speed could become useful in order to be able to play games. If the speed is still to high I advise to set high compatibility on and video sync on. Linked to the speed factor one further possible improvement would be a slow down option for fast system. During the modifications that were performed on the basic code a minor problem when loading Z80 snapshot has been found. The real source of this problem has not been found so a workaround has been used. For this reason it could happen that after having loaded the Z80 snapshot the ZX screen will not be updated. Anyway as soon as you enter emulation mode the ZX screen will be immediately redrawn So this is a very minor esthetic problem. [] This is a ZX emulator for Sinclair QL and compatible machines/emulators Funnily I have received in the last years some emails from angry PC users that were not able to run ZeXcel (on Windows of course). So I remind that this Spectrum emulator will not run natively on a PC but if you are interested why not try a QL emulator on the web? Ciao a tutti Davide Santachiara November 2003 Reggio Emilia Italy
