psx4all for Dingoo A320 Linux (Dingux)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a port of handheld PlayStation emulator psx4all to Linux for the
Dingoo A320 (Dingux).
It features MIPS to MIPS recompiling CPU emulation, and performance is
acceptable, ranging from some 16-20 FPS in Gran Turismo to about 60 FPS in
Tetris Plus (with some tweaks).
Sound works in principle, but slows down emulation considerably, which is
why I have not compiled it into the default build ("psx4all"). For those who
want to try it, however, a version with a working SPU ("psx4all_sound") is
provided as well.
To use the emulator, simply drop it into a directory on your SD card and add
"psx4all" to whatever launcher application you are using. It is possible to
run games with the integrated high-level BIOS emulation, but compatibility
is so-so. It is thus highly recommended to use a PlayStation BIOS image,
which psx4all expects to be situated in the same directory and to be named
"scph1001.bin".
psx4all is able to use PlayStation games in BIN format (2352 byte raw
sectors, file extension ".bin") and is also able to load files in the
compressed CBIN format (file extension ".cbn"), which is very similar to the
well-known CISO format, but uses a different sector size. A tool called
"cbin" is supplied with the emulator that is able to convert BIN format
images to CBN files. (Precompiled binaries are shipped for Mac OS X and
Linux/i386; the source code should be trivial to compile on whatever system
you are using; it only depends on zlib.)
Memory cards are supported and need to be named mcd001.mcr and mcd002.mcr
for Slot 1 and Slot 2, respectively. If these files do not exist, psx4all
will create them.
The emulator is controlled through a menu system. The cursor is moved with
the Up and Down buttons, selections are made using the B button. The B
button also toggles options. Numerical parameters can be changed using Left
and Right. L always takes you back to the previous menu.
Graphics Options
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't know the meaning of all these options either, so I will stick to
those that I know and consider useful, or that I have added myself.
Show FPS whether or not to show the frame rate statstics on
top of the screen
Frame Skip Frameskipping can speed up emulation considerably,
but will lead to choppy graphics and in many cases
glitches. It is currently your best option to get
full-speed or near full-speed emulation on many
games, though. 2/3 frameskip appears to work best
for most cases. 1/2 almost always causes severe
problems.
Cycle Multiplier Increasing the cycle multiplier makes the emulated
PlayStation hardware run faster relative to its CPU.
This can help speed up games that don't use the CPU
much and mostly idle around waiting for the next
frame. In other cases, it will not make a
difference, or even make the game slower. Don't be
fooled by the increased frame rate! If the CPU is
too slow to keep up, a high frame rate will be of no
consequence.
Frameskip: .... These option allow you to fine-tune the
frameskipping behavior. When frameskipping causes
glitches you can turn it off for certain parts of
the graphics emulation instead of turning it off
completely.
Wall Clock Timing This option is experimental, and I'm not quite sure
if it is useful at all. It causes the hardware
timing to be based on real-world ("wall clock") time
instead of the cycle count of the emulated CPU. Its
effect and its problems are very similar to that of
the Cycle Multiplier option, but it locks the
framerate to what it would be in real life.
Sound Options
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The only option is to turn the sound on and off. And that only works in the
SPU build ("psx4all_sound").
File Options
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Save Game State Freezes the emulated system and dumps its state into
a file that can be reloaded later. Files are named
after the game disc image, with a dash, a
four-figure counter and the extension ".svs" added.
Don't rename them, or psx4all won't know what disc
image to use when loading them.
Load Game State Restores a saved state.
Load A Game Boots a CD image via the original PlayStation BIOS.
BIN and CBN images are supported, plus a couple of
esoteric formats I have never heard of before.
Load A Game Without BIOS Boots a CD image with high-level BIOS emulation
enabled. The compatibility is lower compared to
using the original BIOS, but indicated framerates
are higher. Games don't generally feel faster,
though, so that may well be a bug.
In-emulation button assignment is as follows:
PlayStation button Dingoo button(s)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Left Left
Right Right
Up Up
Down Down
Triangle X
Square Y
Circle A
Cross B
Start Start
Select Select + Start
L1 L
R1 R
L2 Select + L
R2 Select + R
Function Dingoo buttons
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Return to Menu Select + Y
Quit Select + X (press and hold)
Increase Frameskip Select + A
Decrease Frameskip Select + B
Turn FPS display on Select + Right
Turn FPS display off Select + Left
Source code, Binary Releases, Changelog, and Bug Tracking
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All of these can be found on the psx4all-dingoo page at github:
http://github.com/uli/psx4all-dingoo/
You can also download a Dingux toolchain for Mac OS X there, should you need
one.
Have a lot of fun!
Ulrich Hecht