staticmem

uBee512 v5.2.0 An emulator for the Microbee Z80 ROM, FDD and HDD based microcomputers. New for this release: * Added sn76489an Digital Complex Sound Generator (DCSG) Programmable Sound Generator IC emulation. * Added the EA Compumuse board emulation as a parallel port peripheral device, this project was described in the August, 1983 issue and is based on the TI 76489 sound synthesiser IC. * Added arguments 'sn76489' and 'sn76489init' to the --hardware option to enable SN76489 sound IC emulation for the Premium model. * Added the Compumuse parallel port device argument of 'compumuse' to the --parallel-port option to select the new device emulation. * Added options --compumuse-init and --compumuse-clock for configuring the Compumuse peripheral device. * Added --disk-create option for the creation of disk images. Changes: * The dynamic creation of '.temp' disk images now attempts to use LibDsk if compiled in, if not available or it fails the built in disk image creation is attempted. LibDsk allows other disk formats and types to be created. Fixed: * Fixed creation of '.temp' file images by writing out the full size as determined by the raw format extension as the files were not growing as expected. * Fixed --db-dump* options to output all ASCII characters if in the range of 32-126. * Fixed call to dsk_xwrite() by passing '0' instead of '(int)NULL' for the last parameter. Download here http://freshmeat.net/projects/ubee512/

uBee512 v5.1.0 An emulator for the Microbee Z80 ROM, FDD and HDD based microcomputers. Changes: * A new 8x8 (Uni1-VGA8) font has replaced the 8x11 OSD font allowing extra lines to be displayed in the console. * Added official distribution information to the about box. Fixed: * Fixed a problem where the emulator crashes on a 'Power Cycle' when a tape input file is specified. * Fixed a problem when disabling turbo mode taking a long time to return to normal emulation speed. Download here http://freshmeat.net/projects/ubee512/

There is a new site to help preserve the Microbee and is known as the 'Microbee Software Preservation Project' (MSPP) and provides a forum specifically to discuss the Microbee with an emphasis on community involvement. Microbee Software Preservation Project (MSPP)

uBee512 v5.0.0 An emulator for the Microbee Z80 ROM, FDD and HDD based microcomputers. New for this release: * The new sound driver is now the default with the older code having been removed altogether. The new code produces excellent sound quality and has less drop outs. * Added an audio DAC parallel port device argument of 'dac' to the --parallel-port option to select the new 8 bit DAC emulation. * Added EMUKEY+PAGEDOWN hot key to emulate a Microbee 'power cycle'. This action has also been added to the OSD menu. * Added --powercyc option to perform a 'power cycle'. * Added joystick Hat events to generate pseudo button numbers. * Added --js-hat and --js-hatb options to set joystick hat parameters. * Added --js-kkb option to make defining mapped joystick keys easier. * Added --js-shift option to set the new joystick SHIFT button feature. * Added joystick SHIFT button functionality that effectively doubles the number of button actions to 255-511. * Added 'hd-teac' and 'hd-mscribe' hard disk formats to the 'libdskrc.sample' file. * Added Swedish PC85 ROM set (PC85S) aliases to 'roms.alias.sample' Changes: * Changed --js-ACTION options to take multiple button values. * Joystick shifted button numbers 256-511 can now be specified. * Added axis and Hat button numbers when using --modio=+joystick argument. * New default joystick buttons are used and enabled by default. See 'joystick.c' or 'games.ini.sample' for the joystick layout: JS E|O : Up (128|144). JS F|P : Right (129|145). JS G|Q : Down (130|146). JS H|R : Left (131|147). JS K|L|T|U|X : Fire (0|1|0|1|11). JS A|I : Player 1 (4|8 ). JS C|J : Player 2 (5|9). JS B|M|N|V|W : Spare (6|2|3|2|3). JS Shift : Shift is button 'D' (7). JS Shift+A : Mute sound on/off (4). JS Shift+B : Full screen on/off (6). JS Shift+C : Pause emulator on/off (5). JS Shift+Up : increases sound volume. JS Shift+Down : decreases sound volume. JS Shift+Right : increases window size. JS Shift+Left : decreases window size. * The BeeThoven device no longer requires an 'OUT 1,3' before using it. * Improvements in speed made to CRTC functions. * Major changes to the 'games.ini.sample' and 'ubee512rc.sample' scripts to make setting up the joystick easier and more flexible. Emulator commands now make use of a Joystick shift button. * Changes made to the 'ubee512rc.sample' file. Fixed: * Changes made to --varuset option so that 'varname', 'varname=' and 'varname=value' all work. * Fixed --setvar option when attempting to set a variable that had no '=' character. The variable was being set but could not be located without it so now one is appended if missing. '--setvar myvar' will get set and found. * Changes made to --setvar option to first check for an existing variable by the same name and removing it before setting the new variable. * The --js-axis option was doing nothing and has been fixed. * Fixed hard disk image type '.hd0' to have 306 cylinders, not 305. http://freshmeat.net/projects/ubee512/

uBeeDisk v1.5.0 A command line tool for copying floppy disks and images from one to another. The program is intended for Microbee disks but is also useful for other formats and is based on the LibDsk library. Changes: * The retry1 value when copying now defaults to 30 or to 1 if the input type is set to 'remote'. The --retry-l1 option has been fixed and can now be used to override this. A low value for 'remote' is required as too many retries were being used on native hardware when it wasn't really needed and slowing up the process on bad sectors. * The retry1 value when scanning now defaults to 5 or to 1 if the input type is set to 'remote'. * The --retry-l1 option can now be used to override the retry1 value when the 'scan' command is used. Fixed: * The retry1 value was always being set to 30 when copying regardless of the --retry-l1 setting and has now been fixed. http://freshmeat.net/projects/ubeedisk/

uuBee512 v4.7.0 An emulator for the Microbee Z80 ROM, FDD and HDD based microcomputers. New for this release: * Added BeeThoven emulation. The Microbee BeeThoven peripheral is based on a General Instruments AY-3-8910 Programmable Sound Generator chip. * Added BeeTalker emulation. The Microbee BeeTalker peripheral is based on a General Instruments SP0256-AL2 speech synthesiser chip. * Added --parallel-port option to connect addon parallel port peripherals. * Added --sdl-putenv option to allow SDL environment variables to be set. This can be used to change the behaviour of SDL. The variables supported depends on the SDL version and the SDL documentation should be consulted. * Added the current SDL-1.2.14 DLL to the Windows distribution packages. Changes: * Improvements to speaker sound synchronising with the Z80 when using the BeeThoven or BeeTalker peripheral. * Changes to the printer port, this can now be set to peripheral devices. A printer (to file) is now just another peripheral that can be connected. * OpenGL video support handling has changed on Windows systems when SDL-1.2.14 or later is detected. As SDL has fixed some OpenGL bugs in that release some of the existing work arounds are now bypassed at run time. Older SDL versions should operate as before. Improvements on Windows systems may be noticeable. * Added some SDL environment variables examples in ubee512rc.sample. * Added --parallel-port=joystick to games.ini.sample. * Added the required SP0256 ROM alias entry to roms.alias.sample. * Changes to the volume coding required the default volume percentage to be increased from 15% to 45% to compensate. * Build platform for Linux binaries upgraded to Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx. Fixed: * Lock keys up/down bug is now fixed in SDL-1.2.14 when the SDL environment variable SDL_DISABLE_LOCK_KEYS is set to "1". This is done internally by the emulator when SDL-1.2.14 is detected. Games such as Micro Defender should now work. * SDL-1.2.14 has some issues with false mouse movement events when the mouse cursor is disabled. This has been worked around, this has also fixed some existing issues with the mouse cursor in full screen mode. Full screen mode can now start-up with the mouse cursor disabled. * On Unix builds the time in milliseconds was not being calculated correctly as a 64 bit value. * The mouse double click detection had the wrong size timer variable which had the potential to cause problems. Get it here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/ubee512/ http://freshmeat.net/projects/ubee512/

uBee512 v4.6.0 An emulator for the Microbee Z80 ROM, FDD and HDD based microcomputers. New for this release: * Added Quickload mechanism for 8-bit systems. Options --ql-list, --ql-load, --ql-x, --qla-arc, --qla-dir, --qla-list and --qla-load are used to support this new feature. * Disassembly of Z80 code now makes use of the z80ex_dasm library code. * Added Z80 instruction t-states to disassembly output. * Added --debug-open and --debug-close debug file capture options. When enabled all commands in the debug group will be captured to a file with time and date stamping. * Added --dump-header option to enable/disable the header when memory dumping. * Added --dump-lines option to determine the default number of lines for a memory dump. * Added --dasm-lines option to determine the default number of lines for disassembly. * Added --find-count option to determine the maximum number of matches for the new --db-find* options. * Added --reset option to reset the emulator. * Options --bp, --bpr, --bpclr, --bpc now have a corresponding prefixed '--db-' name for consistency with the new '--db-' options. * Added --db-bp-port option to set a port r/w break point. * Added --db-bpclr-port option to clear a port r/w break point. * Added --db-bpr-port option. to set a repeatable port r/w break point. * Added --db-bp-rst option to set a Z80 RST n break point. * Added --db-bpclr-rst option to clear an RST n break point. * Added --db-bpr-rst option. to set a repeatable Z80 RST n break point. * Added --db-break (--break) option to stop Z80 code execution (pause). * Added --db-cont (--cont) option to continue Z80 code execution (pause off). * Added --db-dasm option to disassemble Z80 code between start and finish addresses. * Added --db-dasml option to disassemble Z80 code at starting address for a specified number of lines. * Added --db-dump option to dump memory between start and finish addresses. * Added --db-dumpb option to dump bank memory between start and finish offsets for main and video banks. * Added --db-dumpl option to dump memory at starting address for a specified number of lines. * Added --db-dumplb option to dump bank memory at starting offset for a specified number of lines. * Added --db-dumpp option to dump current state of i/o ports. * Added --db-dumpr option to dump current value of all Z80 registers using 'all' output settings. * Added --db-fillb option to fill a type of banked memory with a specified type, bank and value. types are attribute, colour, main memory, PCG, and screen. A video type is also provided to fill all video RAM. * Added --db-fillm option to fill memory between start and finish addresses with a specified value. * Added --db-findb option to find occurrences of a sequence of bytes, words and ASCII stings in banked memory starting at a specified bank and offset. * Added --db-findm option to find occurrences of a sequence of bytes, words and ASCII stings in memory between a specified start and finish address. * Added --db-go option to execute code at a given Z80 address. * Added --db-loadb option to load banked memory from a file. * Added --db-loadm option to load a file into memory. * Added --db-move option to move (copy) memory from source to destination addresses for a specified amount. * Added --db-popm option to restore state of memory from an earlier --db-pushm option. * Added --db-popr option to restore state of Z80 registers from an earlier --db-pushr option. * Added --db-portr option to read a Z80 port with optional A or B register. * Added --db-portw option to write a value to a Z80 port. * Added --db-pushm option to save state of memory between a specified start and finish address. * Added --db-pushr option to save state of Z80 registers. * Added --db-saveb option to save banked memory to a file. * Added --db-savem option to save memory between start and finish addresses to a file. * Added --db-setb option to set bank memory location(s). * Added --db-setm option to set memory location(s). * Added --db-setr option to set a Z80 register value. * Added --db-step option to step for a specified number of lines or to start/stop continuous stepping. * Added 'off', 'debug10', 'debug20', 'piopoll' and 'tstate' arguments to the --debug option. * Added 'all' argument to --modio arguments and use prefixing. * Added EMUKEY+L for quick repeats of --db-dasml * Added --edasm option which can be used as an alias for the --pak0 option. * Added binary number output to debugging functions. * Added 'UBEE_MODEL' and 'UBEE_RAM' variable. * Added Windows 7 (W7) to options_init() system detection. Changes: * The 256TC key code has been improved allowing faster key entry and eliminating lost key presses. * When using 'roms.md5.auto' and the 'roms.alias' files the ROMs directory will automatically be re-scanned for MD5s when a ROM file can not be located before retrying again. * Changes to the option module to allow run time only options. * Changed all prefixed (+abcd) type arguments to use '+' and '-' prefixes. The new '-' prefix has the opposite affect to '+' where this is supported. The arguments are now also checked for errors. * Changed 'clear' and 'none' arguments to 'all' for --regs, --keystd-mod, --osd, --status and --output options. These use the new +/- prefixes. * --pak(n) options can now also specify 4K ROMs for A and B. * The 2mhz model can now load 4K EPROM images by default. * Changes to vdu_init() function to clear the colour RAM with 0s to prevent the checker board pattern on start-up. This is only a temporary work around and the real solution may need some type of 6545 initialisation delay to make it work like a real model. * Changes to make the console much more responsive when emulator is paused. * Configuration files may now use trailing '\' line append characters. * Improvements made to detect errors in option argument conversions. * Improvements made to --help option to provide better information. * Changes made to the 'ubee512rc.sample', 'games.ini.sample' and 'roms.alias.sample' configuration files. Fixed: * The Teleterm model is now working after some changes and bug fixes to the TC key and PIO interrupt code. * 256TC code that used TC key interrupts should work much better. * Fixed a regression bug introduced in v4.0.0 that had originally been fixed earlier in v2.8.0 concerning calling the rtc_poll() function. The 256TC boot ROMs now updates the time again. * Fixed --varuset option as was incorrectly removing a variable entry resulting in segmentation error when creating a new variable. * Fixed -if-* compare options as an incorrect result was being returned in some circumstances. * Fixed a problem loading a Basic ROM image on the '2mhz' model when a 16K image was not available and 4K images were available instead. * The --modio reporting on a port access should now show the correct Z80 PC address where the i/o instruction occurred instead of after completion. * Fixed bug in ubee512 API that was causing or had the potential for HOSTDIR and HOST2CPM tools to crash. Get it here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/ubee512/ http://freshmeat.net/projects/ubee512/

uBeeDisk v1.4.0 A command line tool for copying floppy disks and images from one to another. The program is intended for Microbee disks but is also useful for other formats and is based on the LibDsk library. New for this release: * Added --verbose option to set console output reporting level. The default level is 1 which makes all console messages active like previous versions. If set to 0 then only error messages, interaction prompts and processes intended to convey information will be output. * Added batch and shell scripts for common tasks involving disk images. * Added SLAX package to the distribution packages. Changes: * No disk description prompting if the output type is not a disk image, this includes types: floppy, ntwdm, remote, rcpmfs. * Added more types to be excluded when creating 'info', and '.err' files. Only output types that are images will be able to create these files. * Option parameters converted to lower case for --itype, --otype, --format, --datarate, --detect and --disk. Fixed: * Fixed problems with sector ID, read and write functions failing because of unsupported functions in the driver type in use. The changes will make use of an alternative function appropriate for the driver to be used instead. This has fixed issues when using the 'raw' and 'remote' driver as an input and possibly other driver types. Get it here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/ubeedisk http://freshmeat.net/projects/ubeedisk/

uBee512 v4.5.0 An emulator for the Microbee Z80 ROM, FDD and HDD based microcomputers. New for this release: * Added automatic creation of the ROMs MD5 file (roms.md5.auto) for ROMs found in the default location. Users should rename the old 'roms.md5' file to 'roms.md5.user' if a manually created MD5 file is required. * Added --md5-create option to force the creation of the 'roms.md5.auto' file to replace the existing one. Normally 'roms.md5.auto' will only be created when it is not found or a later ubee512 version is run for the first time. * Added --bpclr option to clear a debugging break point. * Added SLAX package to the distribution packages. Changes: * Removed roms.md5 from the distribution as this file is now auto generated. * Changes to roms.alias.sample (notes) * Added 'remote' disk type macros to ubee512rc.sample. Fixed: * Fixed problems with sector ID, read and write functions failing because of unsupported functions in the driver type in use. The changes will make use of an alternative function appropriate for the driver to be used instead. This has fixed issues when using the 'raw' and 'remote' driver as an input and possibly other driver types when using the LibDsk interface. * Fixed an issue when attempting to use LibDsk's 'remote' driver. The fix should allow the file name specification to work when it does not point to an actual file, this should also apply to the 'rcpmfs' driver. (not tested) Fixed account creation to correctly report when a ROMs alias configuration file has been created. Get it here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/ubee512/ http://freshmeat.net/projects/ubee512/

uBeeDisk v1.3.0 http://freshmeat.net/projects/ubeedisk/ Changes: * Added data rate and encoding mode detection and reporting to the disk scanning process. * Changes to the disk scanning command so that scanning will only occur on one side of the disk when specifying an --iside option. If not specified then both sides are scanned. * Major rewrite of the Makefile. Fixed: * Fixed a problem when using batch mode (--count=n) the seeked count in the unattended mode was not being set back to 0 for the next copy operation. * Fixed the disk copy process to set 'mbee' detection based on input and not output driver types. * Fixed the disk info command. Get it here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/ubeedisk

uBeeDisk v1.2.0 New for this release: * Added --retry-l1 and --retry-l2 retry options. The existing --retry option is the same as option --retry-l2. * Added --unattended option to enable/disable automatic handling of errors. This mode is now enabled by default. See the global section of the ubeedisk.ini.sample if disabled is required by default. * Added --unattended-rab option to set number of sector errors allowed before aborting the copy process when the unattended mode is in use. * Added --unattended-rps option to set number of retries per sector allowed when the unattended mode is in use. * Added --unattended-seek option to set the maximum number of error seeks per disk read allowed when the unattended mode is in use. * Added another option to the recovery options: '[T] ReTry (don't seek T0)' * Added Atari ST 80T Single/Double sided and some MSDOS formats to ubeedisk.ini.sample. * Added --diskdesc option so that a disk description can be passed. * Added --diskdescf option for a disk description contained in a file. * Added --force option to bypass confirming requested actions. * Added --append-error to append the error log (if created) to the 'info' file instead of creating an error file. * Added a win32 binary installer to the distribution. Changes: * Changed method used for reading sectors as was causing many soft retries to show up in the '.info' file and likely to have caused problems on some disks because of a too low retry value at the LibDsk level. * Disabled error checking for disk writing as this was failing when writing to disk images following certain disk read errors. This will be looked at further at another time. * Changes and additions to the generated '.info' files. * Changed error logging to now go to a '.err' file by default unless --append-error has been specified. Get it here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/ubeedisk

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroBee their was a game called Wumpus for the Microbee. I have not seen the game myself or know anything of it.

Hi, just thought i'd let other Microbee enthusiasts know about my new website devoted to this classic Australian microcomputer. The site is very basic at present but will be expanded on as time permits. EDIT 2010/11/24: The old site no longer exists and has been removed. The site is now located here and is known as the 'Microbee Software Preservation Project' (MSPP) and provides a forum specifically to discuss the Microbee with an emphasis on community involvement. Microbee Software Preservation Project (MSPP)

uBee512 v4.4.0 New for this release: * Added PC85B model for Standard PC85 models that use a combination of 8/16K Pak ROMs. Changes: * Changes to roms.alias.sample, roms.md5, and ubee512rc.sample to accommodate the PC85B model. Existing installations will need the working versions of these files updated. Fixed: * Fixed --pak and --pakx index bug, incorrect index was being used. Get it here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/ubee512/

uBee512 v4.3.0 New for this release: * Added Dreamdisk model emulation. * Added '2mhzdd' model parameter for 2MHz Dreamdisk model. * Added 'dd' model parameter for 3.375MHz Dreamdisk model. Changes: * The --side1as0 option now only has an affect used when formatting a disk. * Changes to libdskrc.sample to include the Dreamdisk formats. * Inclusion of patches for LibDsk and z80ex. * roms.alias, roms.md5 and disk.alias updated to reflect Dreamdisk model addition. Fixed: * Fixed --hddx-close options, incorrect index was being used. Get it here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/ubee512/