docs/vj_ReleaseNotes.txt

   1 Release 4 (TBD)
   2 ---------------
   3 0) The zoom value setting has been fixed in the registry
   4 1) Debugger mode now shares the same alpine rom path setting
   5 2) Local variables window displays register name now
   6 3) Switch to Zlib 1.2.11 static library 64bits for VS 2017
   7 4) Switch to SDL 1.2.15 static library 64bits for VS 2017
   8 5) Local variables window displays values from function's parameters
   9 6) Fixed the typedef's name display in Local and Watch variables window
  10 7) ROM cartridge writing detection follow the alpine "allow writes to cartridge rom"'s flag check
  11 -- Breakpoint can now occur in the case of a ROM cartridge writing
  12 -- Alert box will display a message with possibility to pass or not the breakpoint only if this is related to a 8 or 16 bits ROM access
  13 8) Local variables window detects now if a variable is used or not by the code
  14 9) The address provided in the memory window is now verified to prevent crash
  15 -- Wrong address will be displayed in red
  16 10) Cosmetic changes on UI
  17 -- Added new icons for the exit and status features
  18 -- Modified icons for the SP (Stack) browser
  19 -- Unified icons sizes depend on their usage (drop down menu and main menu)
  20 -- Underline the active M68K line in the disassembly window
  21 -- Allow the up/down navigation on the SP (Stack) browser
  22 -- Restart function cleans-up the SP (Stack) browser and the heap allocator system
  23 11) Fixed the up navigation on the memory window
  24
  25 Release 3 (13th November 2017)
  26 ------------------------------
  27 Git commit: b1b673a3b0d19e3c2c45b6590b773b11e45bced7
  28 -
  29 0) Fixed the windows respawning in the next emulator launch within --alpine or --debugger options
  30 1) Added an Exception Vector Table window
  31 2) Modified the About window to update the credits list in a more appropriate way
  32 -- Updated the emulator application credits line
  33 3) Added 'Rx' word to the emulator name
  34 4) Fixed a crash when reading the DWARF information in the case of the DWARF2 format has not been used
  35 5) Added ui, alpine and debugger groups in the settings
  36 6) Added the possibility to erase settings
  37 7) Added the --es-all, --es-ui, --es-alpine and --es-debugger options to erase specific settings
  38 8) Added a keybindings tab and adapted the configuration dialog tabs
  39 -- User can modify the keybindings where appropriate
  40 -- Keybindings UI is displayed based on the option used (--debugger, -- alpine)
  41 9) Fixed a crash, in Release mode, when the HW labels setting is turn on
  42 10) Solved an interference between the HW labels setting and the one used by the debugger
  43 -- The setting is now only the reference used
  44 11) Fixed the SP (Stack) browser UI potential missing data
  45 12) Create a directory for EEPROMs (based on the EEPROMs setting) if it doesn't already exist
  46 13) Keep the scrollbar position in accordance of the M68K PC pointer
  47 -- UI displays the source without the need to move down/up the scrollbar
  48 14) Fixed a crash when DWARF information report a source line number exceeding the number of lines present in a source file
  49 -- This may come from the linker vlink
  50 15) Improved the .heap section detection to avoid a detection error
  51 -- Depend vlink version, .heap section may have an Alloc flag
  52 16) Fixed a crash when DWARF information does references to missing source code files
  53 17) Added a local variables window
  54 18) Project has switched to Visual Studio 2017 and QT 5.9.1 library
  55
  56 Release 2 (3rd September 2017)
  57 ------------------------------
  58 0) Added some error detections when reading the ELF executable file
  59 1) Added all hardware labels (based on the document scans from the Version 2.4 - June 7, 1995)
  60 2) "Step Over" code function for BSR/JSR functions
  61 3) Added the .debug_ranges detection to avoid a detection error
  62 4) DWARF support
  63 -- TAG: Compilation Unit, Subprogram, Variables, Types
  64 -- Line numbers, symbols, functions
  65 5) Added an All Watch window for non-local variables
  66 6) Added a heap allocator window based on my own memory allocation functions
  67 7) Added additional 4 memory windows with address input based on hexa, decimal or symbol name
  68 8) Windows refreshing executed only if windows is visible
  69 9) Added a restart function
  70 -- Restart only the 68000 program counter to his original set
  71 10) Modified the icons color backgound for the "Step In" and "Step Over" functions
  72 11) Updated the About window to update the credits list
  73 12) 64 bits Release executable
  74 13) Fixed (hacking) the display of the SP (Stack) browser
  75 14) Set the emulator in Halt mode when launched in alpine debug mode without a loaded rom
  76 -- Otherwise the 68000 program counter will have a 0 value and will execute the code at this address
  77 15) Added some information in the --help/-h/-? option
  78 16) --debugger option no longer force the log file
  79 17) Added a --dram-max option to extend the DRAM size to 8MB
  80 18) Added the "enter" key support when setting the BPM (Breapoint)
  81 19) Save the windows positions, size and visibilities (show or hide) status
  82 -- Such windows will automatically respawn in the next emulator launch
  83
  84 Release 1 (12th February 2017)
  85 ------------------------------
  86 0) BPM (Breapoint) now stop at the designated address and no longer stop after executing the code
  87 1) Clean-up the tracing / no-tracing flags for better U.I understanding
  88 2) Added SP (Stack) browser
  89 3) User can change now the number of lines of disassembly displayed in the tracing window
  90 4) User can turn on/off the op-codes associated in the disassembly lines displayed in the M68K tracing window
  91 5) Added an emulator status window (GPU status, M68K debugger and tracking status)
  92 6) Added a GPU disassembly tracing window - Display the current PC pointer
  93 7) Added a DSP disassembly tracing window - Display the current PC pointer
  94 8) Added possibility to change refresh rate of browsers when emulation is launched
  95 9) Display partial hardware labels (Internal Memory and Graphics sub-system address space) in the disassembly lines displayed in the M68K tracing window
  96 -- Display first the hardware labels (based from the Jag V8 dev. PDF) and then the ones possibly found in the ELF debug symbol
  97 10) Minor U.I cosmetic changes
  98 11) User can turn on/off the hardware labels associated in the disassembly lines displayed in the M68K tracing window
  99 -- It doesn't apply to the hardware labels possibly found in the ELF debug symbol
 100
 101 Release 0 (5th January 2017)
 102 ----------------------------
 103 0) New option --debugger
 104 1) ELF format support
 105 2) ELF debug symbol support
 106 3) "Step Into" code function
 107 4) Menus layout dedicated to the debugger
 108 5) Added a dedicated main window for tracing (M68K)
 109 6) Added a Debugger tab in the config tab
 110 7) Visual Studio 2015 project support
 111 8) libelf-0.8.13 library support
 112 9) 64 bits debug executable only
 113
 114
 115 Known issues
 116 ============
 117 1) Video output is not displayed due to my OpenGL / QT5 5.5.1 integration with VS 2015 but solved when using the QT 5.9.1 package for VS 2017
 118 2) The BPM (Breapoint) remains stuck on his address when user wants to continue the code execution
 119 -- Need to trace over the BPM or unset the BPM
 120 -- The issue can be prevented if the code doesn't set IRQ, otherwise the IRQ will need to be traced to get back control
 121 3) To support DWARF 2 with GCC, the code must be compiled with the -gdwarf-2 option
 122 4) The Local and Watch variables window  may display not available (N/A) type information
 123 -- Such missing information may be included in future release
 124 5) The 2MB mirroring is no longer applied in case of --dram-max option usage
 125 6) Stack must reflect the --dram-max option usage otherwise the stack may be corrupted
 126 -- The application needs to set the SP (Stack) in accordance
 127 7) The Exception Vector Table window displays only 65 vectors
 128 -- Missing vectors may be added in future release
 129 8) User needs to manualy check if the Atari Jaguar executable match his source code files
 130 -- Otherwise, source code and assembly may not match or leads to instabilities
 131 9) The emulator needs to be restarted in case of keybindings changes
 132 10) In the case of a ROM cartridge writing, and with occuring breakpoint, the PC pointer will point at the next instruction and not at the instruction causing the breakpoint
 133 11) Emulator will crash in case of wrong address value provided in the memory browser
 134
 135 Cosmetic / UX issues
 136 ====================
 137 1) The SP (Stack) icon color backgound doesn't look similar with the other ones
 138 2) The SP (Stack) browser size always open at a forced size no matter if the size has been changed
 139 3) Not every features have associated keybindings
 140
 141 Legacy issues/hints
 142 ===================
 143 1) Emulator seems to have easter egg(s)
 144 -- The option --yarrr displays a single message and end the application
 145 -- Pressing F8, while in the main window, will create an extra message in the log file
 146 2) The --alpine option force the log file but it can be override if --no-log option is set after the --alpine option
 147
 148 Project information
 149 ===================
 150 1) Code based on the Shamus Hammons source code available via Gethub by the 12th September 2017 (2.1.3 Final)
 151 2) Visual Studio 2015/2017 project support for 64 bits
 152 3) libelf 0.8.13 library 64bits for VS 2015/2017
 153 4) libdwarf 1.41 library 64bits for VS 2015, cygwin64 and Msys2/MinGW64
 154 5) QT 5.5.1 library 64bits for VS 2015
 155 6) QT 5.9.1 library 64bits for VS 2017
 156 7) Zlib 1.2.8 library 64bits for VS 2015
 157 7) Zlib 1.2.11 library 64bits for VS 2017
 158 8) SDL 1.2.15 library 64bits for VS 2015/2017
 159 9) The original make files have been modified to follow the requirements and modifications
 160 10) The 'Rx' word has been added to the emulator name to make distinction with the official version
 161 11) The project source is set at https://github.com/djipi/Virtual-Jaguar-Rx
 162 12) GPLv3 file document has been renamed as LICENSE, to fit better the GitHub requirements
 163 -- Text / License terms are the same
 164
 165
 166 Download statistics
 167 -------------------
 168 jaguar64eu : 15 downloads for the Release 0 on the 12th Feb, 2017
 169 jaguar64eu : 18 downloads for the Release 1 on the 21st May, 2017
 170 No downloads statistics available for the Release 2
 171 No downloads statistics available for the Release 3