README

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