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[clinton/Virtual-Jaguar-Rx.git] / docs / README

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Virtual Jaguar v2.1.3 Rx GCC/Qt release README\r
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- DISCLAIMER -\r
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Or, "O liability, I do disclaim thee!"\r
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Ported by SDLEMU (Niels Wagenaar & Carwin Jones) and is based upon the\r
original work by David Raingeard of Potato Emulation. For requirements please\r
consult the INSTALL file for more information about supported OS's and\r
software requirements.\r
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The use of this software is entirely at your own risk. While it won't rape\r
your dog, it might do other nasty things. We can't be held responsible for\r
damage done to your hardware and/or software. You may only use the ROM images\r
if you own the cartridges itself. The use of commercial ROMs without owning the\r
original cartridge is illegal in most countries and could result in fines\r
and/or legal actions.\r
\r
The products, trademarks and/or brands used in these documents and/or\r
sourcecode are owned by their respective companies and/or successors in\r
interest.\r
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This software is released under the GPL v3 or later. For more information, read\r
the LICENSE file.\r
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- IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT JAGUAR FILE FORMATS--READ THIS OR ELSE! -\r
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There seems to be a lot of confusion surrounding the various file formats that\r
Jaguar programs come in, and a lot of this confusion seem to come from\r
Cowering's GoodJag renaming tool. Note that it simply gets some files wrong,\r
and it also incorrectly renames cartridge images with an extension that\r
belongs to an already established extension (.jag is a Jaguar Server\r
executable--read on). To clarify, there are basically fith major types of\r
Jaguar binary images that are NOT cartridge images:\r
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    .abs\r
    .jag\r
    .rom\r
    .bin\r
    .elf\r
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The first type, the .abs file, is a DRI/Alcyon format absolute location\r
executable. These come in two different flavors and contain load and run\r
addresses in their headers. Note that some files which have an .abs extension\r
are really incorrectly labelled .bin files with no header information\r
whatsoever.\r
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The second type, the .jag file, is a Jaguar Server executable. These files\r
contain header information that tells you where to load and run the file's\r
executable code. Note that as of this writing (8/5/2005) that the GoodJag ROM\r
renaming tool by Cowering incorrectly renames Jaguar cartridge ROM dumps to\r
have a .jag extension (a better choice, and the one supported by Virtual\r
Jaguar, is .j64)--if you're trying to run a ROM image with a .jag extension on\r
VJ, it will misinterpret it as a Jaguar Server executable and likely fail to\r
run.\r
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The third type, the .rom file, is an Alpine Board/ROM Image file. These files\r
have no header, but are known to load and run at $802000 in the Jaguar memory\r
space. Again, these are *different* from cartridge dumps since they load at a\r
higher address than a Jaguar cartridge.\r
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The fourth type, the .bin file, is simply a Jaguar executable with no header.\r
Since these files contain no information about where they load and execute,\r
Virtual Jaguar does not support this file type. Go bug the author to release\r
either a file with proper headers or a file in Alpine ROM format. Virtual\r
Jaguar is not omniscient (yet)! ;)\r
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The fifth type, the .elf file, is a Jaguar executable with ELF headers, with\r
or without DWARF information.\r
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There is a sith type of file that is supported by Virtual Jaguar, the .j64\r
file, which is simply a 1, 2, or 4 Meg dump of a Jaguar cartridge ROM which\r
loads at $800000 in the Jaguar memory space.\r
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- What is Virtual Jaguar GCC/Qt? -\r
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Virtual Jaguar is software dedicated to emulating the Atari Jaguar hardware on\r
a standard PC. The software was originally developed by David Raingeard of\r
Potato Emulation [http://potato.emu-france.com] and was released under the GPL\r
on 25 June 2003.\r
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Virtual Jaguar GCC/Qt is not just a port of the MS Visual C++/SDL sourcecode\r
but has also been extended and rewritten so that we can enjoy Atari Jaguar\r
emulation on every platform that has a GCC compiler and a port of Qt.\r
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Currently Virtual Jaguar GCC/Qt Rx compiles on WIN64 using msys2/MinGW64,\r
and Visual Studio 2015. Compiles also on cygwin64 but no tests have been done.\r
It has previously compiled on WIN32 using mingw, and several UN*X based systems\r
(BeOS, Linux, FreeBSD and MacOS). It may run on other\r
systems as well but we can not guarantee that.\r
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The Rx version has been made specically to add a debugger support, but some\r
modifications have been done as well. The official contact email and name(s) are\r
not related in any way with this work.\r
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The port was done by the SDLEMU crew (http://sdlemu.ngemu.com) and especially\r
by Niels Wagenaar and Carwin Jones. A major portion of the rewrite was done by\r
James Hammons. You may contact us by e-mail (sdlemu@ngemu.com) or leave a\r
message on the SDLEMU Official Forum (see the website). Patches and bugfixes\r
are particularly welcome! :)\r
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More information about the incredible SDL libraries can be found at\r
http://www.libsdl.org. Thanks Sam--you rock! :)\r
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- Using Virtual Jaguar GCC/Qt -\r
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Simply double click on the Virtual Jaguar icon or type ./virtualjaguar -h from\r
the command line. See the built in help (under Help|Contents) for more\r
information on how to use it. :-)\r
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- Finally -\r
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If you find bugs, enhance the code or simply have questions, drop us an e-mail\r
at sdlemu AT ngemu DOT com or drop a message on the SDLEMU Official Forum.\r
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More information about this project (releases/WIP) can be found at the official\r
Virtual Jaguar website [http://www.icculus.org/virtualjaguar] and on the SDLEMU\r
website [http://sdlemu.ngemu.com].\r
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We hope you enjoy the emulator and will use it wisely!\r
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Thanks go to guys over at ngemu.com and #ngemu (EFNET). Thanks also to David\r
Raingeard of Potato Emulation who originally developed this emulator and\r
released the sources to the public. We couldn't have done it without you!\r
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Special thanks go to everyone who submitted good, detailed bug reports,\r
sometimes with demonstration code(!); your help has helped to make Virtual\r
Jaguar better, more accurate, and more polished than it would be otherwise. We\r
really appreciate your help!\r
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SDLEMU\r