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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>   XTRICATOR UPDATES   <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

This file contains the relevant updates of XTricator since version 0.00.
The updates are listed in reversed chronological order.
Please read the appropriate section(s) of the main manual for more details
about new features! A program name between brackets indicates that this
program is now working properly as a result of the bug repair concerned.

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1.75  - August 1994
        . minor change in code to let the XTricator window appear directly
          when activated via the Qpac 'files' menu (thanks Leo and Martin)
        . new menu option 'W' to move the emulator window (on a QXL);
          use cursor keys to move the frame, then press Enter or Space to
          confirm or ESC to keep the old window
        . XTricator now has a cursor - not to satisfy those people that
          still don't wish to use Ptr_Gen, but in order to avoid keyboard
          interference of XTricator with other jobs on a QXL (where the
          XTricator window may cover only a small part of the full screen).
        . paper-colour of edit-lines in menu system has been changed for 
          improved visibility of the cursor
        . Pointer Interface is now used for the menu-system - you can use
          your mouse to select items and click them

1.60  - January 1994
        . new design of introduction screen, main emulator screen and
          menu system; I think it looks better than ever before
        . XTricator has been adapted to be fully compatible to the QXL. 
          For this purpose, many parts of the code have been revised to
          cope with the various bugs in SMSQ -- XTricator was NOT to blame!
          Additionally, XTricator now also runs in the higher resolutions
          offered by the QXL
        . the oscillation frequency of the XTricator logo will never exceed 
          1.25 Hz -- this to avoid hypernervosity on fast systems like QXL
        . emulation of the R-register has been revised
        . the keyboard and CapsLock LED's respond much quicker than before
        . XTricator now offers a unique option to let it control its own
          emulation speed. This is particularly useful on fast systems like
          QXL. XTricator uses a dynamical, mild and self-adaptive speed 
          calibration algorithm that may be used to fix the speed at 50%, 
          100%, 150% or 200% of the original ZX81 speed. By default, this
          feature is disabled (off) and you'll get maximum emulation speed.
          Once enabled, allow some time (say, 20 seconds) for the calibration 
          routines to do their work (but just go ahead, don't wait for it!)
        . two different ZX81 keyboard circuit layouts can now be emulated.
          ZX81 programs that didn't respond to the keyboard in older versions 
          of XTricator may now respond when you change the no-key IN-value
          setting (by using F1, 'T', 'K')
        . functionality of ESC in the menu system has been changed: it now
          returns to the previous menu rather than to the ZX81 directly
        . new menu option: 'T': change settings. Emulator settings that can
          be altered are: C - screen colours, F - screen refresh rate, 
          K - no-key IN value, S - calibrated speed, and W - emulator screen 
          width; see manual for details
        . the screen-width option has been removed from the main menu; use
          the new option 'T' instead
        . the ZX81 line editor will respond much more accurate to keypresses

1.43  - October 1993
        . the thoroughly debugged Z80-emulating source of 'Spectator' has 
          been ported back to XTricator (where it originally came from!). 
          This has a lot of consequences, for example:
          - in general: far more reliable ZX81 operation;
          - ROM area is fully protected (i.e. cannot be changed anymore,
            neither accidentally nor on purpose!);
          - DAA will work OK in (almost) all cases, no more warning messages;
          - all IN and OUT instructions are trapped;
          - screen refreshes are much smoother and occur at a well-calibrated 
            rate; the user has a choice between rates from 10 Hz up to 200 Hz.
          - screen refresh rates are dynamically related to emulation speed;
            on a QXL, the 50 Hz setting at full emulator speed will actually 
            result in 200 Hz screen refreshes, because the emulator runs at 
            400% of normal ZX81 speed.
          - XTr_IO job has been removed, and has been replaced by XTr_Guard
            which has a priority of just 1 (don't increase it!);

1.40  - June 1993
        . the trapping of Hi-Res programs has been extended and a new
          hi-res display routine has been added to deal with 'Z-XTricator',
          a well designed space-shooting game by Software Farm
        . the true Hi-Res offered by Extended Basic is no longer emulated;
          instead, the true hi-res supported by the German programs HRG7
          and HRG8 is now emulated (this THR is more easily detectable and 
          much more software is available for it)
        . the '/h' qualifier is no longer needed, hence has been removed
        . important visual improvement: the ZX81 display can now be shown
          in half- or full QL screen width; by default the full width is
          used; the width can be changed via the menu system, option 'W';
          all four display modes can be shown in half or full width!
        . qualifier '/w' will force the conventional half width at startup

1.33  - May 1993
        . LOAD ""  can now be used as a fast method to see the directory!
          It has the same effect as typing LOAD "*DIR:"
        . Amstrad has stated that they now allow the ROMs of the Sinclair
          ZX computers to be freely distributed, e.g. for emulator usage.
          This means that you don't need to own a real ZX81 anymore to use
          XTricator!
        . section about ZX-91 deleted, instead section with information
          about various other ZX81 magazines added to manual
        . new menu option 'B': back to ZX81 (same as ESC)
        . edit facilities of menu system adapted for Minerva (thanks Laurence)
          and also: if you escape by cursor up/down (or ESC on Minerva), the 
          text will be restored to as it was before you editted it
        . error trapping in menu system has been improved: after a file-error,
          the appropriate menu-option reappears so you can change the name or
          escape (cursor up/down or ESC)
        . the options in the menus are now followed by either '-' or '>':
          the former indicates a direct 'do' option, whereas the latter symbol
          indicates that a new menu will appear
        . various other small changes in the appearance of the menus
        . menu option 'R' (reset ZX81) now pops up a small submenu that lets
          you choose the size of RAM needed after the reset: 1k, 16k, 32k
          or 48k. Your choice will cause the ROM to be patched in such a way
          that all subsequent resets (e.g. using USR 0 or CTRL-ALT-ESC) will 
          give this same memory size again
        . new qualifiers: /s to select intial size of RAM (ROM patched in the
          same way as above) and /r to select initial contents of 8-16k area;
          options are: /s1, /s2, ..., /s47, /s48 (selectable in steps of 1k);
          /r0 to clear 8-16k area, /rA for ZXA2, /rB for CBI
        . new menu option 'Change Defaults': lets you change the root drive,
          directory path and LPRINT output channel in a more convenient way
        . case-sensitivity of directory listing has been fixed
        . printer driver has been improved: printer output can now be sent
          to any channel or file; this can be controlled via the menu system

1.29  - March 1993
        . minor changes in output of *DIR: command
        . all the calls to file-access IO-traps have been revised and should
          now work OK on any QL-device and QL-system, including harddisk,
          Atari-QL and Amiga-QL (thanks Marco and Gregor)
        . the ROMbank-selection menu option now has some provisions that
          enable to change the contents of the 8-16k area even while a program
          is running: on the current program a Break will be forced. It's not
          meant to be completely crash-proof, but it seems to work in most
          cases! (thanks Jack)
        . the section 'Release History' has been moved to this separate file
        . the keyboard routines have been improved in such a way that the
          autorepeat facilities of programs like CBI and ZX-Assembler work
          as required now (thanks Martin)
        . the 'true-hi-res' offered by (for example) EB3, has been disabled
          by default; this means that programs like ZX-Chess-2 and the
          Campbell Disassembler no longer switch to hi-res mode; the true-
          hi-res can still be used, but the /h qualifier must have been given;
          note that the more conventional semi-hi-res is always available!
        . at startup, you can now use qualifiers to set various things;
          supported are: /i (inverse screen) and /h (enable hi-res)
        . ROM patches have been made "crash-proof"

1.24  - December 1992
        . MAJOR REVISIONS!
        . the QZdriver is no longer needed, as ZX81 files are now stored in
          a more convenient format. For subdirectories, available H/W-drivers
          are now being used (e.g. for Harddisk or Gold Card). There is NO
          functionality lost if you have a HD or GC. In all other cases,
          subdirectories are still accessible but should not be made (by MD:)
          and are not listed by DIR:. In ALL cases, the conversion utility
          CONVERT3_BAS must be applied to convert the 'old' QZdriver-based
          disks to the new format.
        . USE: now takes ANY directory-device as parameter (also WIN1, etc.)
        . MD:, CD: and RD: access the 'hardware subdirectories' of GC or HD
        . SHOW: now also prints default drive and path
        . the 'modest' beep has been replaced by a 'friendly' beep
        . key F4 can be used for EDIT (as an easy alternative to Shift-1)
        . CTRL-C will less often produce an unwanted 'C' in the ZX81 editor
        . A title page with general info about XTricator appears at startup
        . A menu-system has been added. This can be popped up by pressing F1
          at any time. Current options include: make QL screendump, make
          S-file screendump, show help screen, show general information,
          show keyboard functionality, quit XTricator, reset ZX81 and
          select ROM banks for 0-8k and 8-16k area
        . ESC must be pressed to return from the help screen (used to be F1)
        . section 'Buttoning' added to manual
        . SAVE and '*SAVE:' are now error-trapped for improved reliability
        . Manual section 'ROM and 8-16k area' extended with new information
        . Default job priorities have been doubled (e.g. 127 for 'XTricator')

1.10  - August 1992
        . the ConTRoL key handler has been completely rewritten; it will now 
          IMMEDIATELY recognize and interpret any special CTRL-keypress (most
          importantly: CTRL-ESC and CTRL-ALT-ESC); this means that any program
          can be stopped at once, even when it when it is crashed or when it
          doesn't read the keyboard
        . minor keyboard IN bug repaired (ZX Asteroids)
        . minor PAUSE routine bug fixed (Bug Byte ZXAS)
        . emulation of POP AF and PUSH AF has been improved; the sequence 
          POP AF / PUSH AF does not change the stack contents anymore (ZXAS)
        . section 'Incompatibilities' extended with a note about Forty Niner

1.04  - July 1992
        . the manual contains a new section about the Canadian ZX-91 magazine
        . the sections 'Keyboard Facilities' and 'File Management' have been 
          slightly extended
        . CTRL-ESC will now force the default ZX81 character set before 
          printing error D
        . FAST & SLOW no longer affect the character set being used (Font Demo)
        . all Z80 registers are cleared by CTRL-ALT-ESC

1.03  - June 1992
        . RR flag-bug has been fixed (discovered by a malfunctioning Spectrum 
          program in 'Spectator')
        . XTricator can now be ended by the command  LOAD " STOP "
        . the screen mode is no longer refreshed when XTricator is killed
          (looks better with QPAC2)

1.02  - May 1992
        . output of SHOW: command has been extended and now shows version
          number and some other general information

1.01  - April 1992
        . fatal error in '*LOAD:' commands - crahing the QL - has been fixed

1.00  - January  1992
        . first official release after 3 years development

0.xx  - February 1989 through December 1991
        . many preliminary versions are distributed

0.00  - February 1989
        . development of the program started (slowly but steadily!)

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