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BluMach 0.1.0-alpha.4

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@rtzor rtzor released this 16 Oct 20:15
· 88 commits to master since this release
v0.1.0-alpha.4
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Fourth experimental preview of the classic Qt6 emulator for Windows x86-64.

New in alpha.4

  • More machines selectable from the catalogue and machine configuration: TriGem SX386M and the Olivetti M250, M250 E, M280 and M380/M380 C.
  • TriGem appears as a manufacturer with a sourced history and the SX386 family of OEM 386SX boards (Emerson Elite SX386/16, CMS ESP SX386M). The SX386M's 8 MHz low-speed mode follows its BIOS (Ctrl+Alt+grey −/+ and Setup "Start-up Speed").
  • Olivetti GO714, GO717 and GO723 hard disk controllers for the M28, M280 and M380. They now reset on a soft reset, so a warm boot no longer reports a controller error.
  • M380: Olivetti's extended keyboard-controller protocol with its NVRAM, and the 384 KB of dedicated memory where the BIOS expects it. The SETUP on the M280 System Test disk works on it.
  • M250/M250 E: memory model, video BIOS, CMOS checksum and Conner disk table corrected from the BIOS.
  • PCS 286 and Dario 286: the memory reflection used by the BIOS to detect 256 Kbit DRAM no longer overlaps conventional memory or misconfigures 2 and 4 MB boards.
  • The Olivetti Prodest family sheet gains its history and model table, and the machine sheets record the new findings in the five languages.

All newly selectable machines are experimental or partial unless their sheet says otherwise. The SX386M low-speed mode is approximated with memory wait states. The Olivetti extended keyboard-controller protocol is enabled only on the M380 for now.

Download and setup

Extract the Windows ZIP into a new folder and run BluMach.exe. The package is self-contained and includes FIRST-RUN.md plus the alpha.4 guide under doc/releases/. Your local firmware and VM library are separate from the application.

Select your root ROM folder in Tools → Preferences. Required firmware filenames are identified by the machine sheets. No ROM, BIOS, DOS, application or guest disk image is included.

Setup, firmware and known limitations

Validation

Catalogue check (33 machines, five languages) and the 75 Python tool tests pass; all 13 pull-request checks pass, including builds and host contracts on Windows x86-64/ARM64, Linux x86-64/ARM64 and macOS Intel/ARM64. Checked with original firmware during preparation: the TriGem SX386M created from its sheet boots; the M380 reports 4096 KB including dedicated memory, keeps a valid NVRAM after SETUP and boots MS-DOS 3.30a from a GO717 disk. The M250/M250 E, PCS 286, M280 and M28 corrections and the SX386M low-speed mode are not yet checked with this build; see the guide.

The attached SHA-256 file verifies the ZIP; the build manifest records the exact source commit and individual packaged-file hashes. This release distributes only the Windows x86-64 package.

Full source changes since alpha.3

Assets 5
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