OBLIGATORY FILLER MATERIAL – ESCAPE FROM STALAG SULTANATE, Part 1
That reminds me of a story. “HELLFIRE AND DALMATIANS!” I shouted to no one in particular. “What’s the problem, dear?” Esme asks in that way she has of telling me to calm down without having to say it directly. “This bloody fucking country. A day late and several dollars short.” I fume. “Can’t get a new liquor license because of the bloody COVID. Can’t go to a hotel bar and have a snort because of the bloody COVID. Can’t even slip across the border to Dubai and soak up some room service and buckets of complimentary cocktails because of the bloody COVID.” Yes, the Sultanate of Oman, in its infinitesimal wisdom, has traditionally followed other GCC countries by at least three months in making any sort of proclamations regarding this latest bugaboo: the hideous, deadly, itchy, loathsome, and possibly serially bent, noxious, pandemical COVID-19; aka, this pandemic’s entry for flu. Their response is one of immense knee-jerk without first having thought of the consequences. “Bloody lockdown, 2100 to 0700. What is this, the whole fucking country’s been bad and now being sent to bed without any supper?” I wondered aloud. “Idiot benchodes.” Even Esme couldn’t come up with a rejoinder to that. “Plus they close all the bars. And all the hotels. And the fucking bottle shops. It’s not enough that these fucking Muppets jack the ‘sin tax’ on booze and cigars by 100%, now they’re not even legally available.” I swore. Of course, once you’ve spent even a small portion of the time that I have in the Middle East, you have your connections. Your system. Your access to the seedy underbelly of any society; the venerable Black Market. Jesus Q. Christ on toast with baked beans, fried tomatoes, black pudding, and mushrooms, I could get most anything in the Middle East, be it legal, shady, or just plain illegal. However, before you all recoil in horror that the venerable Dr. Rocknocker dabbles in the prohibited, just remember: the ends always dojustify the means. “I'm telling you, Esme dear; this Gulf story is getting too complicated. The weasels have started closing in.” I complain to Es as she hands me a fresh drink. “Do you think…?” Esme asks expectantly. Esme is more than ready to go. I’ve used this place as a base of operations for years whilst I wear out the Omani legal system suing those asswipes that think just because they’re local and I’m a kafir, they’re immune to the law. I’ve spent a long, profitable and time-consuming period of the last few years proving them wrong. But, time was marching onwards. I agreed with Esme, we’ve milked this particular cash cow dry. It was time to hitch up our bootstraps, call it a day, and get the hell out of Dodge. But not before I took care of a few loose ends. Now, the country had recently lost its venerable Sultan, who croaked back in January of this year. Sultan Qaboos was a good egg, friend to expat and local alike. Did a shitload of good for this benighted Middle East sandpit. Dragged it kicking and screaming out of the 12th century into, well, not exactly the 21st, but a whole hell of a lot closer. He realized that he needed revolutionary, not evolutionary change in the country. By revolutionary, he needed American, British, Canadian, and the like Western Expats here to do the heavy thinking and lifting and Eastern Expats like Indians, Bangladeshis and Nepalese to do all the scut work. Yeah, I know. That sounds racist as fuck, but sometimes that’s the way the ball bounced. Simple evolution of society where Omanis graduated the local equivalent of grade school, through high school, into University, and finally into Entry level jobs in the oil and gas industry wasn’t going to cut it. Took too long and the country needed a serious cash flow now. So, that’s what he did. And it worked a treat. Then he died. And his chosen took over. Except his chosen was pretty much antithetical to everything the previous and very revered and successful, Sultan wanted. Soon, there are 100% ‘sin taxes’ aimed directly at the western expats. Tourists included. Then there’s quotas and ‘Letters of No Objection’, which are impossible to get so that the Eastern Expats can’t switch jobs. Then, there are Sultanic proclamations of new taxes on tourists, new taxes on fast food, new taxes on this, that and the other. Then there’s, in his own words, “Oman is for Omanis”, blatantly ridiculous and xenophobic Omanization, and the general swipe at all expats. “GET OUT.” This was the clear message of the new sultan. He wanted to take over and possibly nationalize all the oil workings in the country. Ask Venezuela, Iran, and Myanmar how well that worked out for them. Then he wants all expats out on their asses. He wants Omanis to take over all the jobs, even though they’re nowhere near educated nor experienced enough for the positions. Then take up the massive GDP slack in lower oil production and oil prices with tourism. Given everything else, that last line should be enough to get him off the throne. He’s fucking nuts if he thinks people are going to want to cruise or overland anywhere near a place where foreigners are seen only as a cash supply, are despised, and would welcome these all new 100% tax levies. Be that as it may, Esme and I decided that we have had enough of 135O F summer temperatures, virtual house arrest under the guise of a COVID lockdown, and idiots who were the only ones stupid or twisted enough not to vamoose when the great, big bloody letters were clearly written on the wall. But, there was the physical act of getting out of the country. Now, I had plenty of strings which I could pull, but I decided I’d start low and save those until we really needed them. So low, in fact, we went to the US Embassy in Muscat. “How low can you go?” reverberated through my head. What a haven of sad-sacks, flubadubs, and third rate hobbyists. Was either Esme or I surprised that when we finally secured an invitation to the embassy, that required a bit of string-pulling with the ex-Ambassador to Oman, now in Kabul; that besides the peach-fuzz faced Marine guarding the place, we were the only Americans in the joint? “This is American soil!” I laughed, as I pulled out a huge Cuban cigar and was immediately told to extinguish it. “We’re as American as apple pie and napalm! We file our fucking 1040s every April; I pay my fucking long-distance taxes and demand US assistance to vacate this gloomy place of sandy, sweaty, sultry Sturm und Drang!” “Shut up, Rock”, Esme chided me, “They don’t understand English. Much less, the florid English the way you trowel it on.” “Fuckbuckets”, I remonstrated. “Here I had memorized the whole Patrick Henry speech he made to the Second Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775, at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia. Troglodytes. No admiration for the classics.” “Rock, dear?” Esme noted, “It’s almost 1100 hours. Best to get to our appointment.” True, our appointment was slated for 1100 hours. But around here, anything starting within three hours of the stated time was considered close enough. We dragged ourselves, none too cheerfully, to the waiting room. Once we pried open the door, there was the usual “If you hear a high pitched wail, hit the deck” signs, and other things one could do while kissing one’s ass goodbye if there was a terrorist attack, we had a whole new slew of bullshit with which to deal. “Social distancing. 6 feet. Or if you’re from Baja Canada, 1 cow’s length.” “Must wear a mask. Bandanna, bandoliers, and large-caliber weapons or sombrero optional.” “No sitting. Faux Naugahyde seats are too difficult to sterilize. You must stand at attention, do not talk amongst yourselves, and remain patient until your number is called.” “Well, fuck!”, I snorted quietly, as I raised my first secret flask in rapt attention to our old glory of red, white, and blue. “Good thing they didn’t say nothin’ about getting a load on. If I’m going to be treated like cattle, I’m going to at least have something to chew on in the process.” “Oh, lord”, Esme grumbled, “You didn’t bring that Japanese Rye Whiskey with you, did you?” “ルハイム”, I said, which is Japanese for “L’chaim”! “Oh, hell”, Esme grinned as she borrowed my flask, “This is going to be a long day.” I began to protest but remembered that I was wearing my Agency-issued field vest. I must have had at least 5 or 6 more flasks lurking around in those pockets somewhere. Funny aside: they don’t bother with my going through an X-ray machine nor do they confiscate my phone, radio, knives, nor other field equipment when I go to the US Embassy. It took them almost two solid hours last time, and by the time they got to my Brunton Compass, emergency flasks, a few spare blasting cap boosters, and saw the label sewn into the back of my vest, they decided they’d just send Rack and Ruin some evil Emails and let me pass unmolested. “I’ll drink to that”, I say as I raise a flask as the locals raise an eyebrow. “Courtesy of Atheists International. We’re here for your children…” The collective gasps and growls indicate they weren’t happy with me or my betrothed. “Don’t care, Buckwheat”, I smiled, “Never did, never will. We’re out of here for good. You can curse my name all you want then. But, then again, why you standing in the American Embassy trying to get a visa to visit the land of the great evil empire?” All the locals and most of the Eastern Expats crowded into a corner as far away from us as they physically could. “BOO!” I snickered over a shot of Wild Turkey 101 Rye. “Now serving number 58! Number 58!” came the call over the tannoy. “Look at that”, I remarked to Es as I stashed both our flasks, “It’s only 12:35. Record time.” We both shimmy into the glass-fronted and presumably bullet- but not C-4 resistant- glass. We pick up the telephones there and acknowledge that we are who we said we were. The East Indian fella, one Harsh Talavalakar, behind the multiple layers of glass asked us why we were here. “Didn’t you read the appointment card?” I asked, “We’re here to have Uncle Sam get us passage out of this sordid and sultry place.” “You are American citizens?” he asked, vacantly. “That’s what it says on appointment cards and these here blue passports,” I replied. “Well, how was I to know?” he scoffed, returning to his half-consumed powdered sugar doughnut. “Maybe read the appointment card and see that we are US Citizens here on the behest of Ambassador Bethesda Orun?” I replied. “Like I have time to read everything that comes across my desk”, he scoffed again. I tapped on the glass to make certain I had his full attention. “Look here, Herr Harsh. I’m not sure how you got this job at the American Consulate but want to be very clear with you. My wife and I are residents of this place for the last 20 years. We’re American citizens of very high standing and have more high powered connections than an Arduino in a nuclear power station. We have direct connections with Langley, Virginia and if you want to retain your cushy job, you’ll put down that fucking doughnut and pay very rapt attention to the two Americans standing here who are getting more and more irritated with some Indian benchode that doesn’t think he has to really do his job. You savvy? You diggin’ me, Beaumont” I guess the benchode got his attention. The two scowls he received from Esme and myself sort of cemented the idea that we’re not too pleased and not with to be trifled. “Yes, sir?” he said, “And ma’am”, as Harsh quickly corrected himself as the doughnut disappeared. “We want out. Gone. Vamoose. Outta here. AMF. You got me?” he nods behind the shatterprone glass. “Now I know the borders are sealed and the airport’s closed, but fuck that. We want out and we want gone for good. I can’t make that much simpler or clearer. Get after it, son.” I said, as seriously as I could. “Well, sir”, he began, “ The airport’s closed…” “Are you deaf or born stupid and been losing ground ever since?” I asked, rhetorically. “I know that. We all know that. My HAT knows that. So, what devious little plan does the US Embassy have in store in just such an unsavory situation?” “Well”, he chokes a bit, “There’s this unofficial lottery where America citizens are issued random numbers and if their number comes up, there are seats made available on special clandestine charter flights.” Considering that Es and I are some of the last American citizens left in the country, I thought our chances might be pretty good. “OK”, I said, “Let us have two of your finest numbers.” “Yes, sir”, he said, “That will be US$500 total.” “Excuse me?” I said. “Oh, yes”, he smirked, “US$250 per number. Chances are you’ll never be called, but with these numbers, at least you stand a chance.” “OK”, I said, “Forget the numbers. I want your name and operating number. I’ve got a report to file that’s due in Virginia before breakfast.” “Oh, sir”, he smirked more, “I cannot release that information. Thanking you. Now be having a good day.” And he slammed the supposedly bulletproof shield between himself and Es and me. “Bulletproof? Maybe. Nitro proof? No fucking way.” I groused as I fished out a couple of blasting cap superfast boosters. “Calm down, dear”, Esme smiled to me as we walked out, “When he wasn’t looking, I took his picture, got his operating number, and full name. In fact, I think I got some information on where he lives…” In the cab on the way back to our villa, I reviewed and confirmed Es’s subterfuge. Flasks number 6 and 8 needed serious replenishment by the time we arrived home. “That’s fucking right, Ruin.” I yelled over the phone, “We need extraction. And now. Along with our personal effects and a few hundredweight of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ boxes of stuff we need to be transported.” “Well, Rock”, Agent Ruin replied, “That’s a tall order. Usually, extraction is for one person and the stuff they’re wearing. Tell you what. Let Rack and I work on it for a week or so. We’ll arrange transport of your personal effects, then we’ll see about getting you and Esme to Dubai. At least there, you can order a plane. Hell, knowing you, you’ll get Tony Stark to fly in and provide door to door service. Sit tight. We’ll be back in touch.” “Good!” I say as I slam the phone down. With these newfangled cellphone telephone instruments, they lack the same sort of satisfying “KER FUCKING CLANG” the old landlines used to have. “Es!”, I yelled, “Start packing. We’re due out of here within a week.” That meant we needed to do some packing triage: • Things going home with us. • Things being shipped. • Things being sold. • Things being left behind. • Things no one was about to get their furry little mitts on. “Oh, fuck!”, I startled. I had just remembered the John Wick-ian stash of various explosives, and adjunct materials I had buried in the basement. Obviously, I couldn’t take it home with me, I couldn’t sell it, and I sure as festering frothing fuck wasn’t going to leave it here. I needed to call one of my more shifty and swarthy friends and arrange for passage out to the deep, dark desert. Around the area where the new sultan had opened a couple of brand new landfills. Looks like I was going to expand them a few meters once we disposed of the few hundred kilos of accumulation I attained over the last few years. See, I’m a packrat. I never leave nor toss anything that might be convenient. Might have a benefit. Might prove to be useful sometime down the line. So, I’ve accumulated a bit of kit. Like…well…a few hundred sticks of Du Pont 60% Extra Fast Dynamite. A couple dozen spools of Z-4 Primacord, in various degrees of fullness. A shitload of C-4; enough bricks for a Floydian wall. A couple, well, a dozen, well, two dozen cases of binary liquid explosives. Hey, this stuff is hard to come by… Continuing, several thousand blasting caps and superfast flash blasting cap boosters. Some mercury fulminate. Some nitrogen triiodide. A couple tens of pounds of PETN. An equal amount of RDX. A few Erlenmeyer flasks full of shit even I’m not certain of what it is… Oh. And a few kilos of freshly decanted, raw nitroglycerin; packed in sturdy wooden boxes lined with new fuzzy lamb’s wool. Not that much. Just 10 or 12 kilos. Yeah. I can’t leave that here. Even a small accident with this stuff would lay waste to not only our villa; but my landlord’s villa with whom we share a common wall. Besides, as Omanis go, my landlord was the only dishdasha dressed denizen for which I had any respect or admiration. He was a good guy. I needed to return his villa at least in some semblance of what I received when we first rented from him. So, I had to dispose of many, many billions of kilojoules of potential energy. I needed to do this out in a distant and far away from prying ears and eyes regions and I needed a truck to haul this stuff out to the range. To be continued…
My uneventful hysterectomy experience + smooth recovery at 4 1/2 weeks postop
I'd like to show my thanks for you folks who have provided so many useful tips on this sub by sharing my fairly standard/normal hysterectomy experience and week by week recovery. It's a long, detailed post but TL;DR: my experience is similar to folks who have had a normal recovery with no complications and manageable pain and discomfort and I highly recommend surgery! (I'm including insomnia and mood swings as normal, since I kept my ovaries and I'm coming off hormonal medication as well, lol.) I waited until 4 weeks before posting because even though I felt great during the first few days after surgery, I wanted to wait and see if complications and weird stuff popped up afterwards. Nope! It has been a delightfully smooth recovery: only very little spotting 2 days after surgery then no bleeding even up until now. My surgeon checked out my vaginal cuff 3 1/12 post-op and she said it was healing nicely, no pain when she touched the cuff and no bleeding. Background:
I'm a non-binary (they/her pronouns,) femme- and androgynous-presenting 35 year old, overweight and sedentary except for light walking. No kids, never gave birth or had an abortion. No top/bottom surgeries and no hormones apart from norethindrone 5-10 mg to stop bleeding/periods and manage pelvic pain a year before surgery. Most of the dysphoria for me post-op is the swollen belly (I look quite pregnant especially during the first 3 weeks) but I'm trying to reframe the swollen belly as looking really cute :) and that the swelling will go away eventually, even though it'll take months. But having no uterus is really awesome! I like the emptiness and lack of heaviness and fatigue from the uterus/fibroids/endo. I did grieve losing parts of my body but this process was months before surgery.
First surgery ever for adenomyosis, endometriosis, and multiple fibroids; total laparoscopic hysterectomy (LAVH): delivered 7 cm fibroid vaginally (!), only kept ovaries and a vaginal cuff was sutured where my cervix used to be. 6 cm endometrioma on right ovary removed, endo excision on partially obliterated cul-de-sac and uterosacral ligaments. Biopsies confirmed adeno in uterus and endo in endometrioma and excised tissues. Took hormones until 3 1/2 week post-op checkup when surgeon allowed me to stop using them. Surgeon expects low recurrence of endo.
I had short notice (3 weeks) for my surgery due to COVID-19 precautions at the hospital, but I was waitlisted for almost a year beforehand.
How the weeks played out post-op:
After surgery: going under anesthesia and waking up in the recovery room happened in seconds. I felt pain which was 3-4/10 but never really went beyond 5-6 (at that point I requested pain meds); most of the pain came from gas pain which touched on the parts that had surgery so it hurt, but I didn't have the dreaded shoulder pain. The catheter was uncomfortable but I asked the nurse to adjust the tubing which sort of helped. I wore the hospital robe during my overnight stay, which had some tiny blood stains from my incisions. I mostly slept and was woken up by nurses during their rounds of checking my blood pressure and temperature. I drank coffee and lots of watejuice after my catheter was removed the next morning and before being discharged. Didn't use my phone and didn't need my toiletries, wore the same maxi dress and slip-on shoes as what I came in the hospital with.
Week 1: most of the discomfort and pains (especially gas) happened this week: ice packs helped along with taking OTC pain meds (tylenol/acetaminophen and naproxen) on a regular schedule and narcotics (tramadol) only a couple of times cause I was afraid of constipation. I made sure to include stool softeners (eg Miralax) in-between pain meds. No fatigue and only 2 days of light spotting; no discharge as well. Incisions were healing normally and were itchy at the end of week 1. Had urine leakage so I purchased additional incontinence pads but I already had this issue prior to surgery. Watched a lot of Netflix/Prime Video while reclined on couch and paced around the house a lot (usually after peeing a lot due to all the fluids) to help get rid of gas/prevent blood clots; activated charcoal didn't helped me, I had to ride out the gas pain. Had pressure while peeing but wasn't painful, also peed a lot due to drinking lots of fluids and eating soups. My BM on the second day was gassy and loose at first, but became more solid when I had another BM that same day, so I didn’t phone the surgeon’s office. I had more BMs than before surgery (went once a day before, then twice a day post-op) and I used a small stool in lieu of a Squatty Potty to help me poop; doing the "moo" sound instead of straining was a big help! I was also really hungry and ate more than usual; more like frequent, smaller meals: a lot of toast/rice, some fruit, and lots of soups with chicken and vegetables. No housework and didn't lift anything heavier than half a gallon (~2 litres.)
Week 2: I had fewer abdominal and back pains compared to the first week and I continued to feel great; ab/incision pains went away eventually by the end of this week. No discharge but still felt pressure from peeing, so I purchased urine tests that were a dollar each from the pharmacy (which also checks for blood and proteins) and I didn't have a UTI. I still used ice packs at the start of the second week but stopped them once I started taking a small dose of cannabis during the day and edibles at night. I stopped naproxen before taking cannabis but this point, I could have also taken tylenol if cannabis wasn't a option, but I didn't like the idea of taking tylenol for long periods of time (can affect the liver.) I gradually increased my walking from slow walking around the block to averaging about 3-4k steps up and down sidewalks in the neighbourhood despite walking very slowly. My surgeon allowed me to do light low impact exercise two weeks onwards. My belly felt more swollen after long walks, likely due to increased activity. Felt tired in the afternoons but I attribute this to the long walks and sleeping less than 8 hours. Still no housework and didn't lift anything heavier than half a gallon (~2 litres.) Felt more emotional this week, cried a bit from post-op blues (wasn't major depression, but thinking about what my body went through up until this point made me sad and angry) but my husband listened to my feelings and I felt better.
Week 3: I felt my body starting to normalize (fewer BMs, not so hungry/thirsty) and sitting down became more comfortable (fewer instances of external genitalia soreness) but "Beware Week 3" is correct! I did ~9000 steps one day at the start of week 3 cause I felt so good (big oops) and I felt more tired in the afternoon and a bit more soreness (mostly leg soreness from the long distance walked.) I rested a few days after and took it easier and it's all good. Still no discharge and even on the 3 1/2 week mark when my surgeon did the post-op checkup, my cuff was healing well and my ovaries looked well. Surgeon recommended pelvic floor therapy as I mentioned the urine leakage. Started to get really bored but walking helped, just not overdoing it. I tried modified, really gentle yoga/pelvic floor exercises/chair yoga and felt sore, but rested afterwards and the soreness resolved. Pressure from peeing continued to decrease, now I can feel my bladder emptying when I pee and I sit for a little bit after peeing for the rest of the pee to come out. I was cleared to drive but at this point, twisting was still uncomfortable. I started experiencing insomnia so when it got really bad, I would take cannabis oils/edibles again and I was able to sleep continuously.
Week 4: Smoke from west-coast forest fires kept me stuck at home so I continued to rest (watch TV and Reddit,) do a little bit more bending/squatting and even picked up a load of laundry under 20 pounds (surgeon cleared me to lift anything under 20 pounds but no lifting furniture for 3 months.) No bleeding despite doing those movements. Swollen belly is very slowly becoming less swollen but it's still swollen. I can tolerate wearing high-waisted leggings/joggers now but jeans and anything too tight around the belly (even tank tops/shirts) are a no go. I still have persistent lower back pain but no abdominal pain so I wonder if my back took a lot of the pressure from day to day activities instead of my abs; massage and heat packs help.
What helped me pre- and post-op:
Positive self-talk/reassurance, even though I was worrying a lot before surgery. I reminded myself that hysterectomies are common procedures (high success rate) and that I have a support system (spouse, housemates, psychologist) to help me with recovery. Reading recovery stories on this sub helped me have a realistic view of the surgery. I also mentally braced myself if my ovaries had to go but thankfully my surgeon was a rockstar and that my right ovary with endometrioma ended up being healthy.
My husband took a couple of weeks off work to help me out: he dropped off/picked me up from the hospital, got groceries and helped prepare food on stovetop, and assisted with getting me in/out of bed and with showers. I would suggest having help from a partnefriend/family member at least a week post-op as second week isn't as bad as the first week.
Having food delivered sometimes! Having easy to prepare food made by my husband/parents that was easy to reach/reheat also really helped me.
Purchasing items to prepare for recovery:
Raised toilet seat + arms for a really low toilet, especially helpful for the first couple of weeks when my ab muscles were so weak and sore. Also baby wipes!
Small pillow for the drive home (to cushion against the seatbelt) and holding against my belly when standing up/walking on the first week. I also purchased another cute, soft whale plushie from Miniso (like a Japanese dollar store) to sleep/cuddle with.
Bath chair for showetub. It was so comforting to sit and have a hot shower as I can't have a bath until the 8 week mark. The moist heat helped with the soreness and it was nice to be able to shower and towel-dry myself independently. I still needed help to get out of the tub to avoid falling/slipping, a suction cup grab bar and tub mat also helps with this.
Wedge pillow + lots of pillows on my side and under my knees. I shared a bed so I went with this option but I'm sure those C-shaped pregnancy pillows will also help.
Multiple plastic cups with straws: I was so thirsty and having watejuice on hand also helped me have regular BMs. Glasses were heavy during the first week and the plastic cups helped me get extra fluids in.
Hanes nightshirts (my fave! looks like a giant t-shirt that goes down to my knees) and Fruit of the loom plus-size high-waisted panties from Amazon, both 2-3 sizes up for the swollen belly. I was peeing so often in the first couple of weeks from soups and drinking so much water that I didn't wanna fuss with pants. I wore other (thrifted) t-shirt dresses and slip-on shoes for walks cause I didn't want anything touching my swollen belly.
No effort/easy to swallow food such as applesauce and pudding. As naproxen had to be taken with food, I ate applesauce and pudding with naproxen when the timing was before/after meals. Also pudding was a nice treat when I felt so crappy.
Popsicles! My throat was a little sore from intubation, so the ice chips were heavenly in the hospital, and popsicles helped a lot during the first week. It was the height of summer as well at the time, so popsicles also helped keep me cool.
Following pre- and post-op instructions from hospital and doctor's office. I stopped vitamins and asprin-like meds a week before surgery, followed the no food after enema the night before surgery, and only drank the approved fluids (water and apple/cranberry juice) up until an hour before I was admitted to the hospital. If you don't follow pre-op instructions, you may be denied surgery. For post-op, my only instructions aside from the OTC pain meds schedule were no full intercourse and no baths/swimming for 8 weeks, light low impact exercise 2 weeks onwards, and visit the ER if any symptoms of surgical complications show up (didn't need to). So in addition to that, I followed the guidelines that I frequently saw on the sub: no bending, no lifting over 5 pounds, and going up stairs one step at a time and taking breaks when needed.
Lots of slow walking. (I didn't have restrictions from my surgeon but if you do, follow them.)
Cannabis (in small doses,) which is legal where I live. After I finished 10 days of naproxen, I stopped tylenol and I tried 5 mg THC/CBD edibles at night and I was finally able to sleep for 6-7 hours straight. The cannabis numbed my pain in a more effective way compared to tramadol, tylenol, and naproxen. In hindsight, I wish I took cannabis sooner instead of bearing with tylenol and naproxen but I followed doctors orders and I didn’t know if the cannabis would interfere with anesthesia post-op. I also took a high CBD oil (1.5 mg THC: 25 mg CBD) during the day, which helped mute most of the pain during the day on the second week.
Having a routine. Since I'm having an easy recovery, having a routine helps me not feel down and have things to focus on/look forward to. My routine is having a couple of walks between breakfast and dinner and watching TV/reading a book during the afternoon/after dinner.
Please feel free to ask questions, I'm happy to help! I hope your surgery goes smoothly as well and for those recovering, I hope your recovery continues to be smooth sailing. :)
As you may have seen, I sent the following Tweet: “The Apple ARM MacBook future is coming, maybe sooner than people expect” https://twitter.com/choco_bit/status/1266200305009676289?s=20 Today, I would like to further elaborate on that. tl;drApple will be moving to Arm based macs in what I believe are 4 stages, starting around 2015 and ending around 2023-2025: Release of T1 chip Macbooks, release of T2 chip Macbooks, Release of at least one lower end model Arm Macbook, and transitioning full lineup to Arm. Reasons for each are below. Apple is very likely going to switch to switch their CPU platform to their in-house silicon designs with an ARM architecture. This understanding is a fairly common amongst various Apple insiders. Here is my personal take on how this switch will happen and be presented to the consumer. The first question would likely be “Why would Apple do this again?”. Throughout their history, Apple has already made two other storied CPU architecture switches - first from the Motorola 68k to PowerPC in the early 90s, then from PowerPC to Intel in the mid 2000s. Why make yet another? Here are the leading reasons:
Intel has, in recent years, been making significant losses both in reputation and in actual product value, as well as velocity of product development, breaking their bi-yearly “Tick Tock” cycle for the first time in decades. Most recently, they have fallen well behind AMD’s processor lines in cost to performance ratio, CPU core count, core design (monolithic design vs “chiplet”), power consumption to performance, silicon supply (Intel with significant manufacturing process and yield issues), and on-silicon security features. While Intel still wins out in certain enterprise and datacenter applications, as well as having a much better reputation for reliability and QA (AMD having shipped numerous chips with a broken random- number generator that prevented even booting some mainstream operating system), the number of such applications slowly dwindles with each new release from AMD, and as confidence among decisionmakers in enterprise increases. In the public consciousness, Intel is quickly becoming a point of ridicule against Apple’s Mac lineup, rather than a badge of honor.
By moving to their own designs, Apple will be free from Intel’s release schedule, which have recently been unpredictable and faced with routine delays due to poor manufacturing yields. Apple will be able to update their Mac lineup on their own timeline, rather than being forced to delay products based on Intel’s ability to meet the release window. This also allows them to leverage relationships with other silicon fabricators to source chips, rather than relying on Intel ’s continued “iteration” that’s leading to a “14nm++++++++++” process, or the continued lack of product diversity with the 10nm process. Apple will also be free to innovate in the design of the silicon platform, rather than being limited by Intel’s design choices. By having full control of the manufacturing and development cycle, Apple can bring even more in-house optimization to the macOS, as they have been for iOS and iPadOS over the years.
Using an ARM architecture on the Macs allows for a more unified Apple ecosystem, rather than having separate Mac and iOS-based products. The only distinction will be the device form factor and performance characteristics.
The x86_64 architecture is very old and inefficient, using older methodologies for processor design (CISC vs ARM’s RISC), and the instruction set continues to require support in silicon for emulating 1980s-vintage 16-bit modes, as well as ineffectual and archaic memory addressing modes (segmentation, etc.) The x86_64 architecture is like a city, built atop a much older city, built atop a yet older city, but every layer is built with NYC infrastructure levels of complexity that suited its time and no further.
Over the last 10 years, Apple has shown that they can consistently produce impressive silicon designs, often leading the market in performance and capability, and Apple has been aggressively acquiring silicon design talent.
A common refrain heard on the Internet is the suggestion that Apple should switch to using CPUs made by AMD, and while this has been considered internally, it will most likely not be chosen as the path forward, even for their megalithic giants like the Mac Pro. Even though AMD would mitigate Intel’s current set of problems, it does nothing to help the issue of the x86_64 architecture’s problems and inefficiencies, on top of jumping to a platform that doesn’t have a decade of proven support behind it. Why spend a lot of effort re-designing and re- optimizing for AMD’s platform when you can just put that effort into your own, and continue the vertical integration Apple is well-known for? I believe that the internal development for the ARM transition started around 2015/2016 and is considered to be happening in 4 distinct stages. These are not all information from Apple insiders; some of these these are my own interpretation based off of information gathered from supply-chain sources, examination of MacBook schematics, and other indicators from Apple.
Stage1 (from 2014/2015 to 2017):
The rollout of computers with Apple’s T1 chip as a coprocessor. This chip is very similar to Apple’s T8002 chip design, which was used for the Apple Watch Series 1 and Series 2. The T1 is primarily present on the first TouchID enabled Macs, 2016 and 2017 model year MacBook Pros. Considering the amount of time required to design and validate a processor, this stage most likely started around 2014 or 2015, with early experimentation to see whether an entirely new chip design would be required, or if would be sufficient to repurpose something in the existing lineup. As we can see, the general purpose ARM processors aren’t a one- trick pony. To get a sense of the decision making at the time, let’s look back a bit. The year is 2016, and we're witnessing the beginning of stagnation of Intel processor lineup. There is not a lot to look forward to other than another “+” being added to the 14nm fabrication process. The MacBook Pro has used the same design for many years now, and its age is starting to show. Moving to AMD is still very questionable, as they’ve historically not been able to match Intel’s performance or functionality, especially at the high end, and since the “Ryzen” lineup is still unreleased, there is absolutely no benchmarks or other data to show they are worth consideration, and AMD’s most recent line of “Bulldozer” processors were very poorly received. Now is probably as good a time as any to begin experimenting with the in-house ARM designs, but it’s not time to dive into the deep end yet, our chips are not nearly mature enough to compete, and it’s not yet certain how long Intel will be stuck in the mud. As well, it is widely understood that Apple and Intel have an exclusivity contract in exchange for advantageous pricing. Any transition would take considerable time and effort, and since there are no current viable alternative to Intel, the in-house chips will need to advance further, and breaching a contract with Intel is too great a risk. So it makes sense to start with small deployments, to extend the timeline, stretch out to the end of the contract, and eventually release a real banger of a Mac. Thus, the 2016 Touch Bar MacBooks were born, alongside the T1 chip mentioned earlier. There are good reasons for abandoning the piece of hardware previously used for a similar purpose, the SMC or System Management Controller. I suspect that the biggest reason was to allow early analysis of the challenges that would be faced migrating Mac built- in peripherals and IO to an ARM-based controller, as well as exploring the manufacturing, power, and performance results of using the chips across a broad deployment, and analyzing any early failure data, then using this to patch any issues, enhance processes, and inform future designs looking towards the 2nd stage. The former SMC duties now moved to T1 includes things like
Fan speed, voltage, amperage and thermal sensor feedback data
FaceTime camera and microphone IO
PMIC (Power Management Controller)
Direct communication to NAND (solid state storage)
Direct communication with the Touch Bar
Secure Enclave for TouchID
The T1 chip also communicates with a number of other controllers to manage a MacBook’s behavior. Even though it’s not a very powerful CPU by modern standards, it’s already responsible for a large chunk of the machine’s operation. Moving control of these peripherals to the T1 chip also brought about the creation of the fabled BridgeOS software, a shrunken-down watchOS-based system that operates fully independently of macOS and the primary Intel processor. BridgeOS is the first step for Apple’s engineering teams to begin migrating underlying systems and services to integrate with the ARM processor via BridgeOS, and it allowed internal teams to more easily and safely develop and issue firmware updates. Since BridgeOS is based on a standard and now well-known system, it means that they can leverage existing engineering expertise to flesh out the T1’s development, rather than relying on the more arcane and specialized SMC system, which operates completely differently and requires highly specific knowledge to work with. It also allows reuse of the same fabrication pipeline used for Apple Watch processors, and eliminated the need to have yet another IC design for the SMC, coming from a separate source, to save a bit on cost. Also during this time, on the software side, “Project Marzipan”, today Catalyst, came into existence. We'll get to this shortly. For the most part, this Stage 1 went without any major issues. There were a few firmware problems at first during the product launch, but they were quickly solved with software updates. Now that engineering teams have had experience building for, manufacturing, and shipping the T1 systems, Stage 2 would begin.
Stage2 (2018-Present):
Stage 2 encompasses the rollout of Macs with the T2 coprocessor, replacing the T1. This includes a much wider lineup, including MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, starting with 2018 models, MacBook Air starting with 2018 models, the iMac Pro, the 2019 Mac Pro, as well as Mac Mini starting in 2018. With this iteration, the more powerful T8012 processor design was used, which is a further revision of the T8010 design that powers the A10 series processors used in the iPhone 7. This change provided a significant increase in computational ability and brought about the integration of even more devices into T2. In addition to the T1’s existing responsibilities, T2 now controls:
Full audio subsystem
Secure Enclave for internal NAND storage and encryption/decryption offload
Management of the whole system’s power and startup sequence, allowing for trusted boot (ensure boot chain-of-trust with no malicious code/rootkit/bootkit)
Those last 2 points are crucial for Stage 2. Under this new paradigm, the vast majority of the Mac is now under the control of an in-house ARM processor. Stage 2 also brings iPhone-grade hardware security to the Mac. These T2 models also incorporated a supported DFU (Device Firmware Update, more commonly “recovery mode”), which acts similarly to the iPhone DFU mode and allows restoration of the BridgeOS firmware in the event of corruption (most commonly due to user-triggered power interruption during flashing). Putting more responsibility onto the T2 again allows for Apple’s engineering teams to do more early failure analysis on hardware and software, monitor stability of these machines, experiment further with large-scale production and deployment of this ARM platform, as well as continue to enhance the silicon for Stage 3. A few new user-visible features were added as well in this stage, such as support for the passive “Hey Siri” trigger, and offloading image and video transcoding to the T2 chip, which frees up the main Intel processor for other applications. BridgeOS was bumped to 2.0 to support all of these changes and the new chip. On the macOS software side, what was internally known as Project Marzipan was first demonstrated to the public. Though it was originally discovered around 2017, and most likely began development and testing within later parts of Stage 1, its effects could be seen in 2018 with the release of iPhone apps, now running on the Mac using the iOS SDKs: Voice Recorder, Apple News, Home, Stocks, and more, with an official announcement and public release at WWDC in 2019. Catalyst would come to be the name of Marzipan used publicly. This SDK release allows app developers to easily port iOS apps to run on macOS, with minimal or no code changes, and without needing to develop separate versions for each. The end goal is to allow developers to submit a single version of an app, and allow it to work seamlessly on all Apple platforms, from Watch to Mac. At present, iOS and iPadOS apps are compiled for the full gamut of ARM instruction sets used on those devices, while macOS apps are compiled for x86_64. The logical next step is to cross this bridge, and unify the instruction sets. With this T2 release, the new products using it have not been quite as well received as with the T1. Many users have noticed how this change contributes further towards machines with limited to no repair options outside of Apple’s repair organization, as well as some general issues with bugs in the T2. Products with the T2 also no longer have the “Lifeboat” connector, which was previously present on 2016 and 2017 model Touch Bar MacBook Pro. This connector allowed a certified technician to plug in a device called a CDM Tool (Customer Data Migration Tool) to recover data off of a machine that was not functional. The removal of this connector limits the options for data recovery in the event of a problem, and Apple has never offered any data recovery service, meaning that a irreparable failure of the T2 chip or the primary board would result in complete data loss, in part due to the strong encryption provided by the T2 chip (even if the data got off, the encryption keys were lost with the T2 chip). The T2 also brought about the linkage of component serial numbers of certain internal components, such as the solid state storage, display, and trackpad, among other components. In fact, many other controllers on the logic board are now also paired to the T2, such as the WiFi and Bluetooth controller, the PMIC (Power Management Controller), and several other components. This is the exact same system used on newer iPhone models and is quite familiar to technicians who repair iPhone logic boards. While these changes are fantastic for device security and corporate and enterprise users, allowing for a very high degree of assurance that devices will refuse to boot if tampered with in any way - even from storied supply chain attacks, or other malfeasance that can be done with physical access to a machine - it has created difficulty with consumers who more often lack the expertise or awareness to keep critical data backed up, as well as the funds to perform the necessary repairs from authorized repair providers. Other issues reported that are suspected to be related to T2 are audio “cracking” or distortion on the internal speakers, and the BridgeOS becoming corrupt following a firmware update resulting in a machine that can’t boot. I believe these hiccups will be properly addressed once macOS is fully integrated with the ARM platform. This stage of the Mac is more like a chimera of an iPhone and an Intel based computer. Technically, it does have all of the parts of an iPhone present within it, cellular radio aside, and I suspect this fusion is why these issues exist. Recently, security researchers discovered an underlying security problem present within the Boot ROM code of the T1 and T2 chip. Due to being the same fundamental platform as earlier Apple Watch and iPhone processors, they are vulnerable to the “checkm8” exploit (CVE-2019-8900). Because of how these chips operate in a Mac, firmware modifications caused by use of the exploit will persist through OS reinstallation and machine restarts. Both the T1 and T2 chips are always on and running, though potentially in a heavily reduced power usage state, meaning the only way to clean an exploited machine is to reflash the chip, triggering a restart, or to fully exhaust or physically disconnect the battery to flush its memory. Fortunately, this exploit cannot be done remotely and requires physical access to the Mac for an extended duration, as well as a second Mac to perform the change, so the majority of users are relatively safe. As well, with a very limited execution environment and access to the primary system only through a “mailbox” protocol, the utility of exploiting these chips is extremely limited. At present, there is no known malware that has used this exploit. The proper fix will come with the next hardware revision, and is considered a low priority due to the lack of practical usage of running malicious code on the coprocessor. At the time of writing, all current Apple computers have a T2 chip present, with the exception of the 2019 iMac lineup. This will change very soon with the expected release of the 2020 iMac lineup at WWDC, which will incorporate a T2 coprocessor as well. Note: from here on, this turns entirely into speculation based on info gathered from a variety of disparate sources. Right now, we are in the final steps of Stage 2. There are strong signs that an a MacBook (12”) with an ARM main processor will be announced this year at WWDC (“One more thing...”), at a Fall 2020 event, Q1 2021 event, or WWDC 2021. Based on the lack of a more concrete answer, WWDC2020 will likely not see it, but I am open to being wrong here.
Stage3 (Present/2021 - 2022/2023):
Stage 3 involves the first version of at least one fully ARM-powered Mac into Apple’s computer lineup. I expect this will come in the form of the previously-retired 12” MacBook. There are rumors that Apple is still working internally to perfect the infamous Butterfly keyboard, and there are also signs that Apple is developing an A14x based processors with 8-12 cores designed specifically for use as the primary processor in a Mac. It makes sense that this model could see the return of the Butterfly keyboard, considering how thin and light it is intended to be, and using an A14x processor would make it will be a very capable, very portable machine, and should give customers a good taste of what is to come. Personally, I am excited to test the new 12" “ARMbook”. I do miss my own original 12", even with all the CPU failure issues those older models had. It was a lovely form factor for me. It's still not entirely known whether the physical design of these will change from the retired version, exactly how many cores it will have, the port configuration, etc. I have also heard rumors about the 12” model possibly supporting 5G cellular connectivity natively thanks to the A14 series processor. All of this will most likely be confirmed soon enough. This 12” model will be the perfect stepping stone for stage 3, since Apple’s ARM processors are not yet a full-on replacement for Intel’s full processor lineup, especially at the high end, in products such as the upcoming 2020 iMac, iMac Pro, 16” MacBook Pro, and the 2019 Mac Pro. Performance of Apple’s ARM platform compared to Intel has been a big point of contention over the last couple years, primarily due to the lack of data representative of real-world desktop usage scenarios. The iPad Pro and other models with Apple’s highest-end silicon still lack the ability to execute a lot of high end professional applications, so data about anything more than video editing and photo editing tasks benchmarks quickly becomes meaningless. While there are completely synthetic benchmarks like Geekbench, Antutu, and others, to try and bridge the gap, they are very far from being accurate or representative of the real real world performance in many instances. Even though the Apple ARM processors are incredibly powerful, and I do give constant praise to their silicon design teams, there still just isn’t enough data to show how they will perform for real-world desktop usage scenarios, and synthetic benchmarks are like standardized testing: they only show how good a platform is at running the synthetic benchmark. This type of benchmark stresses only very specific parts of each chip at a time, rather than how well it does a general task, and then boil down the complexity and nuances of each chip into a single numeric score, which is not a remotely accurate way of representing processors with vastly different capabilities and designs. It would be like gauging how well a person performs a manual labor task based on averaging only the speed of every individual muscle in the body, regardless of if, or how much, each is used. A specific group of muscles being stronger or weaker than others could wildly skew the final result, and grossly misrepresent performance of the person as a whole. Real world program performance will be the key in determining the success and future of this transition, and it will have to be great on this 12" model, but not just in a limited set of tasks, it will have to be great at *everything*. It is intended to be the first Horseman of the Apocalypse for the Intel Mac, and it better behave like one. Consumers have been expecting this, especially after 15 years of Intel processors, the continued advancement of Apple’s processors, and the decline of Intel’s market lead. The point of this “demonstration” model is to ease both users and developers into the desktop ARM ecosystem slowly. Much like how the iPhone X paved the way for FaceID-enabled iPhones, this 12" model will pave the way towards ARM Mac systems. Some power-user type consumers may complain at first, depending on the software compatibility story, then realize it works just fine since the majority of the computer users today do not do many tasks that can’t be accomplished on an iPad or lower end computer. Apple needs to gain the public’s trust for basic tasks first, before they will be able to break into the market of users performing more hardcore or “Pro” tasks. This early model will probably not be targeted at these high-end professionals, which will allow Apple to begin to gather early information about the stability and performance of this model, day to day usability, developmental issues that need to be addressed, hardware failure analysis, etc. All of this information is crucial to Stage 4, or possibly later parts of Stage 3. The 2 biggest concerns most people have with the architecture change is app support and Bootcamp. Any apps released through the Mac App Store will not be a problem. Because App Store apps are submitted as LLVM IR (“Bitcode”), the system can automatically download versions compiled and optimized for ARM platforms, similar to how App Thinning on iOS works. For apps distributed outside the App Store, thing might be more tricky. There are a few ways this could go:
Developer will need to build both x86_64 and ARM version of their app - App Bundles have supported multiple-architecture binaries since the dawn of OS X and the PowerPC transition
Move to apps being distributed in an architecture-independent manner, as they are on the App Store. There is some software changes that are suggestive of this, such as the new architecture in dyld3.
An x86_64 instruction decoder in silicon - very unlikely due to the significant overhead this would create in the silicon design, and potential licensing issues. (ARM, being a RISC, “reduced instruction set”, has very few instructions; x86_64 has thousands)
Server-side ahead-of-time transpilation (converting x86 code to equivalent ARM code) using Notarization submissions - Apple certainly has the compiler chops in the LLVM team to do something like this
Outright emulation, similar to the approach that was taken in ARM releases of Windows, but received extremely poorly (limited to 32-bit apps, and very very slow)There could be other solutions in the works to fix this but I am not aware of any. This is just me speculating about some of the possibilities.
As for Bootcamp, while ARM-compatible versions of Windows do exist and are in development, they come with their own similar set of app support problems. Microsoft has experimented with emulating x86_64 on their ARM-based Surface products, and some other OEMs have created their own Windows-powered ARM laptops, but with very little success. Performance is a problem across the board, with other ARM silicon not being anywhere near as advanced, and with the majority of apps in the Windows ecosystem that were not developed in-house at Microsoft running terribly due to the x86_64 emulation software. If Bootcamp does come to the early ARM MacBook, it more than likely will run like very poorly for anything other than Windows UWP apps. There is a high chance it will be abandoned entirely until Windows becomes much more friendly to the architecture. I believe this will also be a very crucial turning point for the MacBook lineup as a whole. At present, the iPad Pro paired with the Magic Keyboard is, in many ways, nearly identical to a laptop, with the biggest difference being the system software itself. While Apple executives have outright denied plans of merging the iPad and MacBook line, that could very well just be a marketing stance, shutting the down rumors in anticipation of a well-executed surprise. I think that Apple might at least re-examine the possibility of merging Macs and iPads in some capacity, but whether they proceed or not could be driven by consumer reaction to both products. Do they prefer the feel and usability of macOS on ARM, and like the separation of both products? Is there success across the industry of the ARM platform, both at the lower and higher end of the market? Do users see that iPadOS and macOS are just 2 halves of the same coin? Should there be a middle ground, and a new type of product similar to the Surface Book, but running macOS? Should Macs and iPads run a completely uniform OS? Will iPadOS ever see exposed the same sort of UNIX-based tools for IT administrators and software developers that macOS has present? These are all very real questions that will pop up in the near future. The line between Stage 3 and Stage 4 will be blurry, and will depend on how Apple wishes to address different problems going forward, and what the reactions look like. It is very possible that only 12” will be released at first, or a handful more lower end model laptop and desktop products could be released, with high performance Macs following in Stage 4, or perhaps everything but enterprise products like Mac Pro will be switched fully. Only time will tell.
Stage 4 (the end goal):
Congratulations, you’re made it to the end of my TED talk. We are now well into the 2020s and COVID-19 Part 4 is casually catching up to the 5G = Virus crowd. All Macs have transitioned fully to ARM. iMac, MacBooks Pro and otherwise, Mac Pro, Mac Mini, everything. The future is fully Apple from top to bottom, and vertical integration leading to market dominance continues. Many other OEM have begun to follow in this path to some extent, creating more demand for a similar class of silicon from other firms. The remainder here is pure speculation with a dash of wishful thinking. There are still a lot of things that are entirely unclear. The only concrete thing is that Stage 4 will happen when everything is running Apple’s in- house processors. By this point, consumers will be quite familiar with the ARM Macs existing, and developers have had have enough time to transition apps fully over to the newly unified system. Any performance, battery life, or app support concerns will not be an issue at this point. There are no more details here, it’s the end of the road, but we are left with a number of questions. It is unclear if Apple will stick to AMD's GPUs or whether they will instead opt to use their in-house graphics solutions that have been used since the A11 series of processors. How Thunderbolt support on these models of Mac will be achieved is unknown. While Intel has made it openly available for use, and there are plans to have USB and Thunderbolt combined in a single standard, it’s still unclear how it will play along with Apple processors. Presently, iPhones do support connecting devices via PCI Express to the processor, but it has only been used for iPhone and iPad storage. The current Apple processors simply lack the number of lanes required for even the lowest end MacBook Pro. This is an issue that would need to be addressed in order to ship a full desktop-grade platform. There is also the question of upgradability for desktop models, and if and how there will be a replaceable, socketed version of these processors. Will standard desktop and laptop memory modules play nicely with these ARM processors? Will they drop standard memory across the board, in favor of soldered options, or continue to support user-configurable memory on some models? Will my 2023 Mac Pro play nicely with a standard PCI Express device that I buy off the shelf? Will we see a return of “Mac Edition” PCI devices? There are still a lot of unknowns, and guessing any further in advance is too difficult. The only thing that is certain, however, is that Apple processors coming to Mac is very much within arm’s reach.
Whether it’s the Autumn harvest moon, or the ornamental plum blossoms are blowing in the Spring breeze, it’s time for something special: MAME 0.225 is out today! We’ve got some big updates that benefit everyone! First of all, MAME’s sound output system has been overhauled, with better sample rate conversion and mixing. This makes pretty much everything sound sweeter, but on top of that, the Votrax SC-01 speech synthesiser has been tuned up. Does anyone here speak Q*Bertese? SC-01 speech has been added to the Apple II Mockingboard card, too. While we’re talking about Apple II cards, Rhett Aultman has ported the CS8900A Crystal LAN Ethernet controller from VICE, allowing MAME to emulate the a2RetroSystems Uthernet card. Other across-the-board enhancements include more artwork system features (you’ll start to see this show up in external artwork soon), an option to reduce repeated warnings about imperfectly emulated features, and several internal improvements to make development simpler. Significant newly emulated system features include the Philips P2000T’s cassette drive from Erwin Jansen, the Acorn BBC Micro Hybrid Music 4000 Keyboard, internal boot ROM support for the WonderSwan hand-helds, and initial support for the NS32000 CPU. Newly emulated systems include several TV games from MSI based on arcade titles, a couple of Senario Double Dance Mania titles, Sun Mixing’s elusive Super Bubble Bobble, a location test version of Battle Garegga, a couple more versions of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and three more Street Fighter II': Champion Edition bootlegs. Some of the immediately noticeable fixes this month include 15-bit graphics mode refinements for FM Towns from r09, gaps in zoomed sprites on Data East MLC and Seta 2 fixed by cam900, Galaga LED outputs lost during refactoring restored, and clickable artwork remaining clickable when rotated. As always, we can only fit a few highlights here, but you can read all the updates in the whatsnew.txt file, or get the source and 64-bit Windows binary packages from the download page. Read the rest of this entry »
We encourage users to check the integrity of the binaries and verify that they were signed by binaryFate's GPG key. A guide that walks you through this process can be found here for Windows and here for Linux and Mac OS X.
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Upgrading (GUI)
Note that you should be able to utilize the automatic updater in the GUI that was recently added. A pop-up will appear with the new binary. In case you want to update manually, you ought to perform the following steps:
Extract the new binaries (the .zip file (Windows) or the tar.bz2 file (Mac OS X and Linux) you just downloaded) to a new directory / folder of your liking.
Open monero-wallet-gui. It should automatically load your "old" wallet.
If, for some reason, the GUI doesn't automatically load your old wallet, you can open it as follows: [1] On the second page of the wizard (first page is language selection) choose Open a wallet from file [2] Now select your initial / original wallet. Note that, by default, the wallet files are located in Documents\Monero\ (Windows), Users//Monero/ (Mac OS X), or home//Monero/ (Linux). Lastly, note that a blockchain resync is not needed, i.e., it will simply pick up where it left off.
Upgrading (CLI)
You ought to perform the following steps:
Download the new binaries (the .zip file (Windows) or the tar.bz2 file (Mac OS X and Linux)) from the official website, the direct download links in this thread, or Github.
Extract the new binaries to a new directory of your liking.
Copy over the wallet files from the old directory (i.e. the v0.15.x.x or v0.16.0.x directory).
Start monerod and monero-wallet-cli (in case you have to use your wallet).
Note that a blockchain resync is not needed. Thus, if you open monerod-v0.16.0.3, it will simply pick up where it left off.
Release notes (GUI)
macOS app is now notarized by Apple
CMake improvments
Add support for IPv6 remote nodes
Add command history to Logs page
Add "Donate to Monero" button
Indicate probability of finding a block on Mining page
In the wizard, you can either select Simple mode or Simple mode (bootstrap) to utilize this functionality. Note that the GUI developers / contributors recommend to use Simple mode (bootstrap) as this mode will eventually use your own (local) node, thereby contributing to the strength and decentralization of the network. Lastly, if you manually want to set a remote node, you ought to use Advanced mode. A guide can be found here: https://www.getmonero.org/resources/user-guides/remote_node_gui.html
Hello! Here is the general sum of the 150k census survey! We had a total of 2697 participants - a 3% decrease from the 75k subscriber census. View the full results here!
(Please note that the creator of this census, me (picc), is a cis female who intended on the next two questions being gender vs sex identity and realized that the original wording of the questions were a bit confusing. I'm sorry for this and we will make sure that it's more clear in the future.)
Gender vs Sex Identity
Participants
Percent
Agender
21
0.79%
Cis-Gender
2455
92.36%
Genderfluid
1
0.04%
Non-Binary
6
0.23%
Pan-Gender
1
0.04%
Trans-Gender
89
3.35%
Questioning
67
2.52%
Other
18
0.68%
Sex identity
Participants
Percent
Binary
1
0.04%
Female
983
36.58%
Gender-non-conforming
1
0.04%
Genderfluid
1
0.04%
Genderqueer
11
0.41%
Male
1579
58.76%
Non-binary
72
2.68%
Non-binary man
1
0.04%
Other
2
0.07%
Pangender
1
0.04%
Questioning
32
1.19%
Transmasculine
2
0.07%
Transfeminine
1
0.04%
Sexual Orientation Demographics
Sexual Orientation
Participants
Percent
Asexual
54
2.01%
Bi and Ace
1
0.04%
Bicurious
2
0.07%
Bisexual
604
22.54%
Demisexual
2
0.07%
Don’t Identify
1
0.04%
Gay
849
31.68%
I don't know
6
0.22%
Lesbian
106
3.96%
Other
9
0.34%
Pan, lesbian-leaning
1
0.04%
Panromantic Ace
1
0.04%
Pansexual
72
2.69%
Queer
89
3.32%
Questioning
5
0.19%
Straight
878
32.76%
Current Relationship Status
Relationship Status
Participants
Percent
Cohabitating
152
5.65%
In a relationship
474
17.63%
Married/Domestic Partnership
166
6.18%
Single
1896
70.54%
Ethnicity Demographics
Ethnicity
Participants
Percent
Asian (includes East Asian, Southeast Asian, and origins in the Indian subcontinent)
392
14.59%
Askenazi Jewish
1
0.04%
Australian
1
0.04%
Black
107
3.98%
Hawaiian / Pacific Islander
5
0.19%
Hispanic/Latino/Latina (non-white)
140
5.21%
Hispanic/Latino/Latina (white)
187
6.96%
Indeginous Australian / Aboriginal Australian
5
0.19%
Indigenous American / Native American
14
0.52%
Indigenous Canadian
1
0.04%
Indo European
1
0.04%
Jewish
4
0.15%
Kurdish
1
0.04%
Middle Eastern
50
1.86%
Mixed / Biracial
142
5.28%
NZ Maori/Pakeha
1
0.04%
Other
4
0.15%
Romani
1
0.04%
White (Non-Hispanic/Latino/Latina)
1630
60.66%
Location Demographics
Location
Participants
Percent
Australia/New Zealand
165
6.14%
Canada
245
9.11%
Caribbean
4
0.15%
Central America
5
0.19%
Central Asia
1
0.04%
Central Europe
1
0.04%
East Asia
8
0.30%
Eastern Africa
1
0.04%
Eastern Europe
48
1.79%
Middle East
26
0.97%
North America
29
1.08%
Northern Africa
5
0.19%
Northern Europe
55
2.05%
Oceania
1
0.04%
Russia
5
0.19%
South America
90
3.35%
South Asia
20
0.74%
Southeastern Africa
2
0.07%
Southeastern Asia
85
3.16%
Southern Africa
4
0.15%
Southern Europe
33
1.23%
United Kingdom
260
9.67%
United States
1474
54.82%
Western Asia
1
0.04%
Western Europe
121
4.50%
Native English Speakers
Yes (2,112, 78.54%)
No (577, 21.46%)
The highest non-english native languages were: Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, German, French, Filipino, Polish, Arabic, Italian, and Swedish!
Education Demographics
Highest Level of Education
Participants
Percent
Attained High School degree or equivalent
213
7.93%
Completed Masters/Doctorate or equivalent
198
7.37%
Completed undergraduate or equivalent
879
32.74%
Still in High School or lower
305
11.36%
Still in college/got some college credit
1090
40.60%
Employment Demographics
Please note this census occurred as the COVID-19 shutdowns began, so this may not be completely reflective of the current status of Popheads.
Employment Status
Participants
Percent
Employed - Full Time
844
31.38%
Employed - Part Time
386
14.35%
Not Employed
333
12.38%
Self Employed
64
2.38%
Student (Not Employed)
1063
39.52%
Mental and Physical Health Statistics
Have struggled in the past year (1,818, 68%)
Have not struggled in the past year (857, 32%)
Have a physical disability (103, 3.8%)
Do not have a physical disability (2,579, 96.2%)
Food Preferences
There were so many! Here are the top 5:
Italian
Mexican
American
Japanese
Chinese
Note - this is the same as the last census!
How Long Have You Been a Part of the Community?
Popheads Status
Participants
Percent
1-2 years
869
32.32%
2+ years
1074
39.94%
3 to 6 months
170
6.32%
6 to 9 months
166
6.17%
9 months to 1 year
273
10.15%
Less than 3 months
137
5.09%
We're Overrun By Lurkers!
Lurkability
Participants
Percent
Lurk
1290
47.97%
Only comment
595
22.13%
Rarely comment and post
406
15.10%
Comment and post sometimes
331
12.31%
Comment and post often
67
2.49%
Other Subreddits We Use
Blackpink is in WHICH area? HipHopHeads, Indieheads, Music, Kpop, ListenToThis, LetsTalkMusic, EDM, WeAreTheMusicMakers, ElectronicMusic, and R&BHeads say hello
Popheads is the Best Music Sub, and we have the talent to prove it
85.2% of us (2277 respondents) primarily use Popheads, while 14.8% (395 respondents) do not 88.6%% of us use Popheads as our primary source of entertainment! We also primarily use Pitchfork, NPR, and Rolling Stone. We love making our own music! Just kidding. 82.6% (2,208) of our respondents don't make their own music.
Listening Hours and Methods
Hours spend listening to music per week
Hours of Listening
Participants
Percent
<5 hours
144
5.37%
6-10
424
15.81%
11-15
442
16.48%
16-20
430
16.03%
21-30
497
18.53%
31-40
318
11.86%
41-50
168
6.26%
>50 hours
259
9.66%
Percentage of that time listening to new music
New Music?
Participants
Percent
<20%
1719
64.09%
21-40%
755
28.15%
41-60%
156
5.82%
61-80%
40
1.49%
81-100%
12
0.45%
A little more than half of our participants listen to "pop" music more than 50% of the time. We use phones as our primary source of listening tool, followed by computer, radio, music player, and others. We buy our music primarily as digital downloads, but plenty of us (919, 46%) buy CDs, and the cool kids (760, 38.1%) buy vinyl. Spotify came out on top as the primary streaming service with 2,160 participants using it, followed by YouTube at 1,605 participants. (This and the above were multiple answer options). Apple Music came in with 549 participants, barely beating out Soundcloud who had 469!
Miscellaneous
We're suckers for Pitchfork! 73.8% of participants have friends they can comfortably discuss music with. We are also a part of other communities on Last.fm and Discord! Though, 875 people said they are not part of other communities.
Favorites
Top 5 TV Shows: The Good Place, Bojack Horseman, Breaking Bad, Parks and Recreation, and The Office Top 5 Movies: Parasite, Mean Girls, La La Land, Titanic, and Interstellar Top 5 Video Games: Animal Crossing, Minecraft, The Sims, Pokemon, and Skyrim Top 5 Musical Acts: Taylor Swift, Charli XCX, Lady Gaga, Lana Del Rey, and Lorde Top 5 Books: Harry Potter, 1984, The Great Gatsby, A Little Life, and Lord of the Rings Lots of you still don't read or have a favorite book!
Whether it’s the Autumn harvest moon, or the ornamental plum blossoms are blowing in the Spring breeze, it’s time for something special: MAME 0.225 is out today! We’ve got some big updates that benefit everyone! First of all, MAME’s sound output system has been overhauled, with better sample rate conversion and mixing. This makes pretty much everything sound sweeter, but on top of that, the Votrax SC-01 speech synthesiser has been tuned up. Does anyone here speak Q*Bertese? SC-01 speech has been added to the Apple II Mockingboard card, too. While we’re talking about Apple II cards, Rhett Aultman has ported the CS8900A Crystal LAN Ethernet controller from VICE, allowing MAME to emulate the a2RetroSystems Uthernet card. Other across-the-board enhancements include more artwork system features (you’ll start to see this show up in external artwork soon), an option to reduce repeated warnings about imperfectly emulated features, and several internal improvements to make development simpler. Significant newly emulated system features include the Philips P2000T’s cassette drive from Erwin Jansen, the Acorn BBC Micro Hybrid Music 4000 Keyboard, internal boot ROM support for the WonderSwan hand-helds, and initial support for the NS32000 CPU. Newly emulated systems include several TV games from MSI based on arcade titles, a couple of Senario Double Dance Mania titles, Sun Mixing’s elusive Super Bubble Bobble, a location test version of Battle Garegga, a couple more versions of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and three more Street Fighter II': Champion Edition bootlegs. Some of the immediately noticeable fixes this month include 15-bit graphics mode refinements for FM Towns from r09, gaps in zoomed sprites on Data East MLC and Seta 2 fixed by cam900, Galaga LED outputs lost during refactoring restored, and clickable artwork remaining clickable when rotated. As always, we can only fit a few highlights here, but you can read all the updates in the whatsnew.txt file, or get the source and 64-bit Windows binary packages from the download page. Read the rest of this entry »
Hi all, Long time C programmer here, primarily working in the embedded industry (particularly involving safety-critical code). I've been a lurker on this sub for a while but I'm hoping to ask some questions regarding best practices. I've been trying to start using c++ on a lot of my work - particularly taking advantage of some of the code-reuse and power of C++ (particularly constexpr, some loose template programming, stronger type checking, RAII etc). I would consider myself maybe an 8/10 C programmer but I would conservatively maybe rate myself as 3/10 in C++ (with 1/10 meaning the absolute minmum ability to write, google syntax errata, diagnose, and debug a program). Perhaps I should preface the post that I am more than aware that C is by no means a subset of C++ and there are many language constructs permitted in one that are not in the other. In any case, I was hoping to get a few answers regarding best practices for c++. Keep in mind that the typical target device I work with does not have a heap of any sort and so a lot of the features that constitute "modern" C++ (non-initialization use of dynamic memory, STL meta-programming, hash-maps, lambdas (as I currently understand them) are a big no-no in terms of passing safety review.
When do I overload operators inside a class as opposed to outisde?
... And what are the arguments foagainst each paradigm? See below:
/* Overload example 1 (overloaded inside class) */ class myclass { private: unsigned int a; unsigned int b; public: myclass(void); unsigned int get_a(void) const; bool operator==(const myclass &rhs); }; bool myclass::operator==(const myclass &rhs) { if (this == &rhs) { return true; } else { if (this->a == rhs.a && this->b == rhs.b) { return true; } } return false; }
As opposed to this:
/* Overload example 2 (overloaded outside of class) */ class CD { private: unsigned int c; unsigned int d; public: CD(unsigned int _c, unsigned int _d) : d(_d), c(_c) {}; /* CTOR */ unsigned int get_c(void) const; /* trival getters */ unsigned int get_d(void) const; /* trival getters */ }; /* In this implementation, If I don't make the getters (get_c, get_d) constant, * it won't compile despite their access specifiers being public. * * It seems like the const keyword in C++ really should be interpretted as * "read-only AND no side effects" rather than just read only as in C. * But my current understanding may just be flawed... * * My confusion is as follows: The function args are constant references * so why do I have to promise that the function methods have no side-effects on * the private object members? Is this something specific to the == operator? */ bool operator==(const CD & lhs, const CD & rhs) { if(&lhs == &rhs) return true; else if((lhs.get_c() == rhs.get_c()) && (lhs.get_d() == rhs.get_d())) return true; return false; }
When should I use the example 1 style over the example 2 style? What are the pros and cons of 1 vs 2?
What's the deal with const member functions?
This is more of a subtle confusion but it seems like in C++ the const keyword means different things base on the context in which it is used. I'm trying to develop a relatively nuanced understanding of what's happening under the hood and I most certainly have misunderstood many language features, especially because C++ has likely changed greatly in the last ~6-8 years.
When should I use enum classes versus plain old enum?
To be honest I'm not entirely certain I fully understand the implications of using enum versus enum class in C++. This is made more confusing by the fact that there are subtle differences between the way C and C++ treat or permit various language constructs (const, enum, typedef, struct, void*, pointer aliasing, type puning, tentative declarations). In C, enums decay to integer values at compile time. But in C++, the way I currently understand it, enums are their own type. Thus, in C, the following code would be valid, but a C++ compiler would generate a warning (or an error, haven't actually tested it)
/* Example 3: (enums : Valid in C, invalid in C++ ) */ enum COLOR { RED, BLUE, GREY }; enum PET { CAT, DOG, FROG }; /* This is compatible with a C-style enum conception but not C++ */ enum SHAPE { BALL = RED, /* In C, these work because int = int is valid */ CUBE = DOG, };
If my understanding is indeed the case, do enums have an implicit namespace (language construct, not the C++ keyword) as in C? As an add-on to that, in C++, you can also declare enums as a sort of inherited type (below). What am I supposed to make of this? Should I just be using it to reduce code size when possible (similar to gcc option -fuse-packed-enums)? Since most processors are word based, would it be more performant to use the processor's word type than the syntax specified above?
/* Example 4: (Purely C++ style enums, use of enum class/ enum struct) */ /* C++ permits forward enum declaration with type specified */ enum FRUIT : int; enum VEGGIE : short; enum FRUIT /* As I understand it, these are ints */ { APPLE, ORANGE, }; enum VEGGIE /* As I understand it, these are shorts */ { CARROT, TURNIP, };
Complicating things even further, I've also seen the following syntax:
/* What the heck is an enum class anyway? When should I use them */ enum class THING { THING1, THING2, THING3 }; /* And if classes and structs are interchangable (minus assumptions * about default access specifiers), what does that mean for * the following definition? */ enum struct FOO /* Is this even valid syntax? */ { FOO1, FOO2, FOO3 };
Given that enumerated types greatly improve code readability, I've been trying to wrap my head around all this. When should I be using the various language constructs? Are there any pitfalls in a given method?
When to use POD structs (a-la C style) versus a class implementation?
If I had to take a stab at answering this question, my intuition would be to use POD structs for passing aggregate types (as in function arguments) and using classes for interface abstractions / object abstractions as in the example below:
struct aggregate { unsigned int related_stuff1; unsigned int related_stuff2; char name_of_the_related_stuff[20]; }; class abstraction { private: unsigned int private_member1; unsigned int private_member2; protected: unsigned int stuff_for_child_classes; public: /* big 3 */ abstraction(void); abstraction(const abstraction &other); ~abstraction(void); /* COPY semantic ( I have a better grasp on this abstraction than MOVE) */ abstraction &operator=(const abstraction &rhs); /* MOVE semantic (subtle semantics of which I don't full grasp yet) */ abstraction &operator=(abstraction &&rhs); /* * I've seen implentations of this that use a copy + swap design pattern * but that relies on std::move and I realllllly don't get what is * happening under the hood in std::move */ abstraction &operator=(abstraction rhs); void do_some_stuff(void); /* member function */ };
Is there an accepted best practice for thsi or is it entirely preference? Are there arguments for only using classes? What about vtables (where byte-wise alignment such as device register overlays and I have to guarantee placement of precise members)
Is there a best practice for integrating C code?
Typically (and up to this point), I've just done the following:
/* Example 5 : Linking a C library */ /* Disable name-mangling, and then give the C++ linker / * toolchain the compiled * binaries */ #ifdef __cplusplus extern "C" { #endif /* C linkage */ #include "device_driver_header_or_a_c_library.h" #ifdef __cplusplus } #endif /* C linkage */ /* C++ code goes here */
As far as I know, this is the only way to prevent the C++ compiler from generating different object symbols than those in the C header file. Again, this may just be ignorance of C++ standards on my part.
What is the proper way to selectively incorporate RTTI without code size bloat?
Is there even a way? I'm relatively fluent in CMake but I guess the underlying question is if binaries that incorporate RTTI are compatible with those that dont (and the pitfalls that may ensue when mixing the two).
What about compile time string formatting?
One of my biggest gripes about C (particularly regarding string manipulation) frequently (especially on embedded targets) variadic arguments get handled at runtime. This makes string manipulation via the C standard library (printf-style format strings) uncomputable at compile time in C. This is sadly the case even when the ranges and values of paramers and formatting outputs is entirely known beforehand. C++ template programming seems to be a big thing in "modern" C++ and I've seen a few projects on this sub that use the turing-completeness of the template system to do some crazy things at compile time. Is there a way to bypass this ABI limitation using C++ features like constexpr, templates, and lambdas? My (somewhat pessimistic) suspicion is that since the generated assembly must be ABI-compliant this isn't possible. Is there a way around this? What about the std::format stuff I've been seeing on this sub periodically?
Is there a standard practice for namespaces and when to start incorporating them?
Is it from the start? Is it when the boundaries of a module become clearly defined? Or is it just personal preference / based on project scale and modularity? If I had to make a guess it would be at the point that you get a "build group" for a project (group of source files that should be compiled together) as that would loosely define the boundaries of a series of abstractions APIs you may provide to other parts of a project. --EDIT-- markdown formatting
Whether it’s the Autumn harvest moon, or the ornamental plum blossoms are blowing in the Spring breeze, it’s time for something special: MAME 0.225 is out today! We’ve got some big updates that benefit everyone! First of all, MAME’s sound output system has been overhauled, with better sample rate conversion and mixing. This makes pretty much everything sound sweeter, but on top of that, the Votrax SC-01 speech synthesiser has been tuned up. Does anyone here speak Q*Bertese? SC-01 speech has been added to the Apple II Mockingboard card, too. While we’re talking about Apple II cards, Rhett Aultman has ported the CS8900A Crystal LAN Ethernet controller from VICE, allowing MAME to emulate the a2RetroSystems Uthernet card. Other across-the-board enhancements include more artwork system features (you’ll start to see this show up in external artwork soon), an option to reduce repeated warnings about imperfectly emulated features, and several internal improvements to make development simpler. Significant newly emulated system features include the Philips P2000T’s cassette drive from Erwin Jansen, the Acorn BBC Micro Hybrid Music 4000 Keyboard, internal boot ROM support for the WonderSwan hand-helds, and initial support for the NS32000 CPU. Newly emulated systems include several TV games from MSI based on arcade titles, a couple of Senario Double Dance Mania titles, Sun Mixing’s elusive Super Bubble Bobble, a location test version of Battle Garegga, a couple more versions of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and three more Street Fighter II': Champion Edition bootlegs. Some of the immediately noticeable fixes this month include 15-bit graphics mode refinements for FM Towns from r09, gaps in zoomed sprites on Data East MLC and Seta 2 fixed by cam900, Galaga LED outputs lost during refactoring restored, and clickable artwork remaining clickable when rotated. As always, we can only fit a few highlights here, but you can read all the updates in the whatsnew.txt file, or get the source and 64-bit Windows binary packages from the download page. Read the rest of this entry »
App rejected for "inappropriately referencing the COVID-19 pandemic"
I've been working on a new app for browsing XKCD. I submitted it for review last Thursday, and after a few revisions that the reviewer requested Apple has now rejected my app citing this:
We found that your app includes content or concepts that some users may find upsetting, offensive, or otherwise objectionable. Specifically, your entertainment or gaming app inappropriately references the COVID-19 pandemic in the metadata or binary. Entertainment or gaming apps that directly or indirectly reference the COVID-19 pandemic in any way are not appropriate for the App Store.
The specific comic that they referenced was #2,342. What options do I have at this point? In addition to that comic, there are several others that reference COVID-19. EDIT: I re-submitted with code that hide the COVID-related comics, and it was approved for release. I then submitted a new version with that code removed (so all comics were shown) and they approved that as well. So 🤷♂️ but it's in the store now with all comics.
I can't believe I hadn't heard of this sooner! Thanks to u/myusrm for bringing it to my attention. First, the WiFi. itlwm is a Intel WiFi driver by zxystd on GitHub. It supports a range of Intel wifi cards. This is possible because the driver is a port of OpenBSD's Intel driver, and it emulates an ethernet device (no AirDrop and the like with this, unfortunately). There's a ton of info from zxystd on his Chinese, invite-only PCBeta thread, but it's hard to understand (and impossible to download the binaries), so I'll share what I've worked out: There are three kexts available. These are all to be injected by the bootloader. The first, `itlwm.kext`, is for most Intel cards (like my 9560); a list is available on the GitHub README. The second, `itlwmx.kext`, is for newer WiFi 6 cards. The final kext is used to configure automatic connections (by editing the Info.plist); it's optional. The Info.plist files in the kexts can be modified with SSIDs and passwords to connect to on boot. I'm not sure what the third, itl80211.kext, is for - but I didn't need it. There's also an optional app, HeliPort, to configure WiFi settings. zxystd say they'll release binaries soon, but I've built some myself for those who want some prebuilts now: the kexts, and the app. EDIT: Here are some newer (less tested) builds. Now, the Bluetooth: To get Bluetooth working, you can add the kexts from zxystd's repo to your bootloader. Don't put these in /Library/Extensions, as doing so can cause system instability. I'm amazed that this exists - I thought it would never be possible to get Intel WiFi working at all. This ethernet method is probably the best we'll get, though, as Apple's WiFi APIs are completely undocumented and hard to work with. (This works for me on macOS Big Sur 11.0 Beta (20A4299v), with an Intel Wireless 9560 card). EDIT: Guys, please don't make GitHub issues because you can't work out how to build the binaries.
MAME 0.222, the product of our May/June development cycle, is ready today, and it’s a very exciting release. There are lots of bug fixes, including some long-standing issues with classics like Bosconian and Gaplus, and missing pan/zoom effects in games on Seta hardware. Two more Nintendo LCD games are supported: the Panorama Screen version of Popeye, and the two-player Donkey Kong 3 Micro Vs. System. New versions of supported games include a review copy of DonPachi that allows the game to be paused for photography, and a version of the adult Qix game Gals Panic for the Taiwanese market. Other advancements on the arcade side include audio circuitry emulation for 280-ZZZAP, and protection microcontroller emulation for Kick and Run and Captain Silver. The GRiD Compass series were possibly the first rugged computers in the clamshell form factor, possibly best known for their use on NASA space shuttle missions in the 1980s. The initial model, the Compass 1101, is now usable in MAME. There are lots of improvements to the Tandy Color Computer drivers in this release, with better cartridge support being a theme. Acorn BBC series drivers now support Solidisk file system ROMs. Writing to IMD floppy images (popular for CP/M computers) is now supported, and a critical bug affecting writes to HFE disk images has been fixed. Software list additions include a collection of CDs for the SGI MIPS workstations. There are several updates to Apple II emulation this month, including support for several accelerators, a new IWM floppy controller core, and support for using two memory cards simultaneously on the CFFA2. As usual, we’ve added the latest original software dumps and clean cracks to the software lists, including lots of educational titles. Finally, the memory system has been optimised, yielding performance improvements in all emulated systems, you no longer need to avoid non-ASCII characters in paths when using the chdman tool, and jedutil supports more devices. There were too many HyperScan RFID cards added to the software list to itemise them all here. You can read about all the updates in the whatsnew.txt file, or get the source and 64-bit Windows binary packages from the download page.
Shuffleshot (v1.35) [Phil Bennett, Aaron Giles, FactoryDavey, Bri Hefele, Joe Drilling, runwhiteboyrun, Christian “Ferris Bueller” Deitering, Justin Khan, ColdPie, Joe Boyd, Vitorio Miliano, JFlow @scrapbrain, Darkstar, Tom Summersell, Ryan Holtz, Brian Troha]
Shuffleshot (v1.38) [Phil Bennett, Aaron Giles, FactoryDavey, Bri Hefele, Joe Drilling, runwhiteboyrun, Christian “Ferris Bueller” Deitering, Justin Khan, ColdPie, Joe Boyd, Vitorio Miliano, JFlow @scrapbrain, Darkstar, Tom Summersell, Ryan Holtz, Brian Troha]
Street Fighter (Japan, bootleg) [f205v]
Tandy Radio Shack MCX-128 [Tim Lindner]
Trivia (Questions Series 12 Alt Question Rom) [Brian Troha]
Trivia (Questions Series 14 Alt Question Rom) [Brian Troha]
Trivia (Version 1.03a Sex questions, Alt revision questions) [Brian Troha]
Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire (Brazil 970519) [Renan Eler, Roberto Louzada, Filipe Nascimento, CPS Raptor group, SHVB]
Varth: Operation Thunderstorm (bootleg, set 2) [gmx, The Dumping Union]
Video Pinball (4 ROMs version) [f205v]
Machines promoted to working
Bingo Time [TeamEurope, Ivan Vangelista]
Excalibur Electronics Ford Racing [David Haywood]
GRiD Computers Compass 1101 [usernameak]
Kick and Run (World) [dink, David Haywood]
Ritam Master Monty [hap]
Ritam Monty Plays Scrabble [hap]
Tetris + Cherry Master (Corsica, v8.01, set 2) [Ioannis Bampoulas]
Clones promoted to working
Kick and Run (US) [dink, David Haywood]
World Class Bowling Tournament (v1.30) [Phil Bennett, Aaron Giles, FactoryDavey, Bri Hefele, Joe Drilling, runwhiteboyrun, Christian “Ferris Bueller” Deitering, Justin Khan, ColdPie, Joe Boyd, Vitorio Miliano, JFlow @scrapbrain, Darkstar, Tom Summersell, Ryan Holtz, Brian Troha]
New machines marked as NOT_WORKING
Crazy Balls [TTL] [f205v]
Dardomania (v2.1) [Juan Romero, ClawGrip]
Densha de GO 3! Tsukin-hen (V2.03J) [andynumbers, The Dumping Union]
dreamGEAR My Arcade Go Gamer Portable (Family Sport 220-in-1) [Sean Riddle, Kev (FBN), anonymous]
GNAT Computers GNAT System 10 [Don Maslin Archive, AJR]
Schneider Rundfunkwerke AG 386SX System 40 (VGA) [rfka01]
Schneider Rundfunkwerke AG Tower AT 201, 202, 220, 240 and 260 (286,EGA) [rfka01]
Sergey Kiselev Micro 8088 [rfka01]
Sergey Kiselev Sergey's XT [rfka01]
Sergey Kiselev Xi processor board [rfka01]
Shinobi (Datsu bootleg, set 3) [hammy]
Star Wars (1.01) [PinMAME]
Super Six Plus II English Mark Darts (Spanish) [jordigahan, ClawGrip]
Torch Computers Torch Model 301 [Nigel Barnes, Centre for Computing History]
Torch Computers Torch Model 725 [Nigel Barnes, Jules Richardson]
Twilight Zone (L-5) [PinMAME]
New working software list additions
apple2_flop_clcracked: Animal Watch: Tracks (cleanly cracked), Animal Watch: Whales (cleanly cracked), Animal Watch: Wolves (cleanly cracked), Deutsch: Aktuell 1 (Second Edition) (cleanly cracked), Deutsche Grammatik: der-die-das (cleanly cracked), Dinosaur Construction Kit: Tyrannosaurus Rex (cleanly cracked), German Word Order (cleanly cracked), German Word Order (Revision 2) (cleanly cracked), Homonyms I (Revision 2) (cleanly cracked), Homonyms II (Revision 2) (cleanly cracked), Jabbertalky (cleanly cracked), MECC-A757 Computer Generated Mathematics Materials Volume 1: Problem Solving (Version 1.3) (cleanly cracked), MECC-A816 Electronic Money (Version 1.0) (cleanly cracked), MECC-A816 Electronic Money (Version 1.1) (cleanly cracked), MECC-A824 Classification (Version 1.0) (cleanly cracked), Pronouns I (Revision 2) (cleanly cracked), Pronouns II (Revision 2) (cleanly cracked), Rhymes and Riddles (Revision 2) (cleanly cracked), Sentence Combining (cleanly cracked), The Wizard of Id's WizMath (cleanly cracked), Verbs I (Revision 2) (cleanly cracked), Verbs II (Revision 2) (cleanly cracked) [4am, Firehawke]
apple2_flop_orig: Ace Detective, Algernon: An Introduction to Programming Logic, Amazing Arithmetricks (Version 1.0), Animal Hotel, Asteroids in Space, Backyard Birds (Version 1.0), Bag of Tricks (Version 2.1), Ballyhoo (Release 97 / 851218), Barron's SAT: 1st Edition, Barron's SAT: 2nd Edition, Behind The Wheel: Blue Level, Bluegrass Bluff (Version 1.0), Bounce!, California Games, Cavity Busters (Version 1.0), Championship Golf, Cleanwater Detectives (Version 1.0), Colossus Chess IV, CommuniKeys (Version 1.1), Conquering Decimals (+, -) (Version 1.0), Conquering Decimals (×, ÷) (Version 1.0), Conquering Fractions (+, -) (Version 1.0), Conquering Fractions (×, ÷) (Version 1.0), CryptoQuest (Version 1.0), Decimal Concepts (Version 1.0), The Demon's Forge, Deutsche Grammatik: der-die-das, Dr. Livingstone, I Presume? (Version 1.0), Dunjonquest: The Datestones of Ryn, Eerieville Library (Version 1.0), Electrifying Adventures (Version 1.0), Estimation Activities (Version 1.0), Estimation Strategies (Version 1.0), Estimation: Quick Solve I (Version 1.0), The Executive Secretary (Version 4.2), Exploring Chaos (Version 1.0), Exploring Gas Laws (Version 1.0), Exploring Sequences and Series (Version 1.0), Fish School (Version 1.0), Five-Star Forecast (Version 1.0), Fossil Hunter (Version 1.0), Fraction Munchers (Version 1.0), Fraction Practice Unlimited (Version 1.1), Fraktured Faebles, Garbage Gang, GFL Championship Football, GraFORTH, Grammar Gobble (Version 1.0), Grammar Madness (Version 1.0), Grammar Toy Shop (Version 1.0), History Makers (Version 1.0), The Incredible Laboratory, Invisible Bugs (Version 1.0), The Last Gladiator, The Legend of Blacksilver, The Living Cell (Version 1.0), Lunar Greenhouse (Version 1.0), Magical Myths, Matterhorn Screamer, Measure Works (Version 1.0), Micro-LADS 1: Plurals and Noun/Verb Agreement, Micro-LADS 2: Verb Forms, Micro-LADS 3: Prepositions, Micro-LADS 4: Pronouns, Micro-LADS 5: Negatives, Micro-LADS 6: Deictic Expressions, Passive, WH-questions, Micro-LADS 7: Prepositions II, Miner's Cave (Version 1.0), Money Works (Version 1.0), Moving Museum (Version 1.0), Murphy's Minerals (Version 1.0), Number Munchers (Version 1.3), Nutrition Nabber (Version 1.0), Odd One Out, Paper Plane Pilot (Version 1.0), Path Tactics (Version 1.0), The Personal Secretary (Version 1.1), Phonics Prime Time: Blends and Digraphs (Version 1.0), Phonics Prime Time: Final Consonants (Version 1.0), Phonics Prime Time: Initial Consonants (Version 1.0), Phonics Prime Time: Vowels I (Version 1.0), Phonics Prime Time: Vowels II (Version 1.0), Picture Chompers (Version 1.0), Picture a Story (Version 1.0), Pizza To Go (Version 1.0), Poker Parat, Problem Solving with Nim (Version 1.0), Rocket Factory (Version 1.0), Science Toolkit Plus (Version 2.0), The Seven Cities of Gold, Snooper Troops and the case of The Granite Point Ghost, Stoichiometry, Sun and Seasons (Version 1.0), Take a Chance! (Version 1.0), Those Amazing Reading Machines I (Version 1.0), Those Amazing Reading Machines II (Version 1.0), Those Amazing Reading Machines III (Version 1.0), Time Navigator Around The World (Version 1.0), To Preserve, Protect and Defend (Version 1.0), Treasures for Sale (Version 1.0), Tycoon (Version 2.1), A View To A Kill, Weeds to Trees (Version 1.0), Wild West Math Level 5, Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood (Sunburst Communications release), Wonderland Puzzles (Version 1.0), Words at Work: Compound It! (Version 1.0), Words at Work: Contraction Action (Version 1.0), Words at Work: Prefix Power (Version 1.0), Words at Work: Suffix Sense (Version 1.0), World Games, Writer Rabbit (Version 1.3) [4am, Firehawke]
bbc_hdd: Master 128 ADFS Hard Drive Image V1.03, Master 128 ADFS Hard Drive Image V1.05, Model B ADFS Hard Drive Image B1.06e, Model B ADFS Hard Drive Image B1.31 (Retro Software), Model B ADFS Hard Drive Image B1.42, Model B ADFS Hard Drive Image T1.07 [RetroClinic]
bbc_rom: 512 FastBoot 1.00, 65C02 Assembler 1.60, AJS Fortran, Acorn DFS 2.45 Rev 1191, Advanced Disc Toolkit 1.71, Amcom E-Net 5.18, AMPLE Nucleus (patched), AMPLE Nucleus ID 108801, AMPLE Nucleus ID 57315, AMPLE Nucleus ID 73863, AMPLE Nucleus ID 80327, AMTOR MkII 3.05, The Artist 1.00, BeeBASE-1 1.02, Bitstik Service ROM 0.51, Chameleon ROM 1.0, Colour Dump Rom, Commstar 9003, CPFS+ 1.20, CTS Palette 1.10, Hierarchical DFS 1.05, HKR Utilities 1.00, HKR Utilities 1.10, HKR Utilities 1.20, HKR Utilities 1.30, Instat B00741, Master ROM 1.05, MasterPieCe 1.10, MasterPieCe 800 Manager 2.40, MasterPieCe 900GX Manager 1.20, Maxim 1.0, Meta Assembler 3.30A, Opus Challenger 1.00, Opus Challenger 1.01, Opus Challenger 1.03, OrthoCAM 0.02, Pen-Friend 1.21, Plotter 1.0, Prisma-3 1.30, Prisma-3 2.30, Pull Down RAM Driver 1.00, Quest 2.1B, RAMDisc 1.01, Sciways 2.01, SJ Control ROM 0.23, SJ Control ROM 0.30, System Delta 2.017, Text To Speech 1.01, U2 2nd Processor Utility 1.5, VideoNuLA 1.03, View A1.4, View A3.0 pms (Hack?), Workstation 1.4 #0135, Workstation 1.4 #0148, Workstation 1.5 [Nigel Barnes]
cgenie_cass: Megapede, Pole Position [Jürgen Buchmüller]
compis: Action1 Glosprogram (nät/skollicens), Coulombs lag (nät/skollicens), Datorn i kommunikation (enanvändare), Datorn i matematik (nät/skollicens), Får dataregister skvallra? (enanvändare), Får dataregister skvallra? (komplement), Internationella ord från grekiskan (nät/skollicens), Internationella ord från latinet (nät/skollicens), Jorden skiftas, folket skingras (nät/skollicens), Kinetik (nät/skollicens), Matematikverkstad I (beta, nät/skollicens), Millikans försök (enanvändare), Mät energi (enanvändare), MätEtt (enanvändare), RitEtt (enanvändare), Räkna lätt, räkna rätt (demo, version 6175), StatEtt - Analys, Stava rätt på nytt sätt (version 8481), Stil-Plus (alfa 1.0, nät/skollicens), Video-butiken (enanvändare) [FakeShemp]
eti660_quik: Music Maker, Pong, Wipeout [Robbbert]
excalibur64: Boot disk [Robbbert]
fidel_msc:
Challenger Advanced Chess [hap, Berger, Achim]
Challenger Book Openings [Berger]
fmtowns_cd: Dracula Hakushaku - Bishoujo-tachi no Chi no Shitatari, Hyper Planet, Lemon Cocktail Collection, Märchen Toshokan - Grimm Douwa - Bremen no Ongakutai, Nihon no Rekishi - Ishin-hen - Kurofune Raikou, Phobos, Towns Chiri - Jigsaw World [redump.org, r09]
The Amazing Spider-Man, Eye of Horus [ArcadeShadow]
Centipede, Ms. Pac-Man [r09]
ibm5170:
Alone in the Dark 2 (France), Cruise for a Corpse, Formula One Grand Prix (Euro), Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards (EGA release), Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards (VGA release), Police Quest in Pursuit of the Death Angel (VGA release), Roberta Williams' Laura Bow in "The Dagger of Amon Ra", Silverball 2 Plus, Speed Racer in the Challenge of Racer X, Subwar 2050 - The Underwater Combat Simulation [ArcadeShadow]
Chuck Yeager's Air Combat (Gravis Ultrasound version), Dune (5.25"), Frontier - Elite II, Gravis UltraSound (GUS) Installation - V2.05 [r09]
msx1_cart: Ink - Exxon Surfing [anonymous]
pc98: Eimmy to Yobanaide (Demo), Ekispert, Ekudorado - Kagami no Naka no Oukoku, Elm Knight - A Living Body Armor (Demo), Elthlead Senshi, EO System 3.0 (v1.10 installer), EPSON Jiko Shindan Program, EPSON MS-DOS 2.11 (Rev. E22), EPSON MS-DOS 2.11 (Rev. R15), EPSON Nihongo Disk BASIC v2.0, Estate, eXOn, eXOn (Demo), Expert-98 [Neo Kobe Collection, r09]
qx10_flop: CP/M-80 R2.2 for QX-10 & QX-16 1983 [Carl]
saitek_schess: Strong Play Module [Berger, Achim]
sgi_mips:
Barco Creator 7.2, CATIA V5R16, Diagnostics 5.3, Hot Mix 4, IndiZone, IRIX 4.0.2, IRIX 4.0.4B for IP4, IP5, IP6, IP12 and IP17, IRIX 4.0.5, IRIX 5.3 Current Patches December 1997, IRIX 5.3 Recommended/Required Patches September 1997, IRIX 6.0.1, IRIX 6.1, IRIX 6.5.22, IRIX 6.5.30 [archive.org, Davide Cavalca]
Ada95 Compiler 1.2 for IRIX 5.3, 6.2 and 6.3, Ada95 Compiler 1.3 for IRIX 6.2, 6.3, 6.4 and 6.5, C++ Translator 3.2, Compiler Execution Environment 7.3 for IRIX 6.5 through 6.5.4, Cosmo Software for IRIX 5.3, 6.2, 6.3 and 6.4, Cosmo Suite, DCE 1.2.2 Base Executive/Client for IRIX 6.5.2, Digital Media Dev Option 1.1, Documenter's Workbench 4.1.3, ENlightenDSM 3.1 for UNIX and NT, Hot Mix 18 - Explore Tools and Technologies for Silicon Graphics, Hot Mix 19, ImageVision Library 3.2, ImageVision Library 3.2.1, IRIS Development Option 4.1.1, IRIS Performer 2.2 Friends Demo CD for IRIX 6.2 and later, IRIS Performer 2.2 Yosemite Demo CD for IRIX 6.2 and later, IRIS Performer 2.2 for IRIX 6.2 and later, IRIS Inventor 1.1.2, IRIX 4.0.5H, IRIX 4.0.5H and 4.0.5IOP R4400 Patch, IRIX 5.1.1, IRIX 5.2, IRIX 5.3 for Indy R4400 175MHz, IRIX 6.2 Development Foundation, IRIX 6.2 Development Libraries, IRIX 6.3 Development Foundation, IRIX 6.3 Development Foundation 1.2 for IRIX 6.3, IRIX 6.3 Development Libraries, IRIX 6.4 Applications August 1997, IRIX 6.4 Development Foundation, IRIX 6.4 Development Libraries, IRIX 6.4 for Origin, Onyx2 and OCTANE, IRIX 6.5.1, IRIX 6.5.6, IRIX Development Foundation 1.2 for IRIX 6.2, IRIX Development Foundation 1.2 for IRIX 6.4, IRIX Networker 4.1.3, IRIX Patch 5.1.1.1, MineSet 2.0.1 for IRIX 6.2 and later, MIPSpro 7.2, MIPSpro 7.3, MIPSpro All-Compiler CD May 1999 for IRIX 6.5 and later, Molecular Inventor Development Kit 1.1, NetWorker 4.2.5 for IRIX 5.3, 6.2, 6.3 and 6.4, Networker 4.2.5 for IRIX 6.2, 6.3 and 6.4, O2 Out of Box Experience, Open Inventor 3D Toolkit 2.1.2, Origin and Onyx2 System Disk Patches, Origin/Onyx2 Patch Supplement for IRIX 6.5, Performance Co-Pilot 1.3 for IRIX 5.3, 6.2, 6.3 and 6.4, Performance Co-Pilot 2.1 for IRIX 6.2, 6.3, 6.4 and 6.5.5, Performance Co-Pilot for Oracle 2.0 for IRIX 5.3, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4 and 6.5, Performance Co-Pilot for Web Servers 2.0 for IRIX 5.3, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4 and 6.5, Performance Co-Pilot for WebServers 1.1, ProDev Developers Suite, ProDev Workshop 2.6.5 for IRIX 6.2, 6.3 and 6.4, SCSL Scientific Library 1.2 for IRIX 6.4 and 6.5, Silicon Graphics 1600SW Flat Panel Monitor Owner's Manual, Silicon Graphics MultiLink Adapter Documentation, Visual Magic Tools 1.0, Wavefront Composer 3.5.1 Visualizer Paint 3.5.1, WebFORCE February 1998, WorkShop Pro MPF 2.7 for IRIX 6.2, 6.3 and 6.4 [Bitsavers, Davide Cavalca] Desktop Special Edition 1.0 for Support Customers, European Language Module 1.3, Freeware 2.0 - Unsupported Software compatible with IRIX 6.2 and later, Hot Mix 18, IRIX 6.3 and 6.4 Recommended/Required Patches October 1997, IRIX 6.3 Applications August 1997, IRIX 6.5.13, IRIX 6.5.5, IRIX 6.5.7, IRIX 6.5.9, Insignia SoftWindows 95 4.0 for IRIX 6.3 and 6.4, Network File System 5.3, O2 Demos 1.1.1 for IRIX 6.3 including R10000, O2 IRIX 6.3 Recommended/Required Patches August 1997, ONC3/NFS Version 2, for IRIX 6.2, 6.3 and 6.4, Patch SG0000466, Support Advantage 12/95, Support Advantage 9/95, SupportFolio 5/96, SupportFolio June 96 [ClawGrip, Rampa]
Alias|Wavefront Advanced Visualizer 4.2, Alias|Wavefront Maya Composer 5.5, Alias|Wavefront PowerAnimator 7.51, Alias|Wavefront PowerAnimator 8.2, Common Desktop Environment 4.3, Cosmo Compress 1.1.1, Database Accelerator 3.0, Desktop Special Edition 1.1, Discreet Effect 6.1.3, Discreet Flame 4.0.2, ENlightenDSM 1.1 for UNIX and NT, European Language Module 1.2, Gauntlet 4.1 INTERNATIONAL for IRIX 6.2, 6.3, 6.4 and 6.5, Hot Mix Volume 11, Hot Mix Volume 12, Hot Mix Volume 17, Hot Mix Volume 8, I-DEAS Master Series Release 6, IMPACT Demos CD 6.2, IMPACT Digital Media 2.1, Indigo2 IMPACT Video for IRIX 6.5, IndiZone2, IndiZone3, Insignia SoftWindows 95 5.0 for IRIX 6.5, IRIS PERFORMER 2.0, IRIX 5.2 for Indy R4600SC/XZ and Presenter, IRIX 6.2, IRIX 6.2 Applications August 1996, IRIX 6.2 with Indigo IMPACT 10000, IRIX 6.3 for O2, Including R10000, IRIX 6.5.2, IRIX 6.5.26, IRIX 6.5.29, IRIX 6.5.4, IRIX 6.5.8, NetWorker 4.2.9 for IRIX 6.2, 6.4 and 6.5, Open Inventor 2.1.5 for IRIX 6.2, 6.3, 6.4 and 6.5, Patches for IRIX 6.2 with Indigo2 8/96, PRISMS 6.4, Samba 2.0.0 for IRIX for IRIX 6.5 and later, SGImeeting 1.0 for IRIX 6.5.2, SupportFolio 10/96, Teleffect 1.0 for IRIX 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5 for Microsoft NT 4.0 [Davide Cavalca]
Indy IRIX 5.1.1, IRIS Development Option 4.0, IRIS Development Option 4.0.1, IRIS Development Option 5.0, IRIS Development Option 5.1, IRIS Development Option 5.3, IRIS Development Option 6.2, IRIX 4.0.1, IRIX 5.0, IRIX 5.2 Beta II, IRIX 5.3 All Indigo2 IMPACT, IRIX 5.3 for Indy including R5000, IRIX 6.2 Applications May 1996, IRIX 6.2 Auxiliary Applications, IRIX 6.5 Beta, IRIX 6.5.19, IRIX 6.5.27, IRIX 6.5.28, IRIX Update 4.0.4, IRIX W4D Update 4.0.1, Network File System 5.0, Network File System 5.0.1, Network File System 5.1, Network File System 5.2, NFS/ONC3 for IRIX 6.2 Version 1.2, O2 Demos 1.0 for IRIX 6.3 including R10000, O2 Demos 1.3 for IRIX 6.5 and later, O2 Out of Box Experience 2.4 for IRIX 6.5 and later, OCTANE Demos 1.3 for IRIX 6.5 and later, Silicon Graphics General and Platform Demos 6.5.12 [jrra.zone, Davide Cavalca]
super80_flop: CP/M boot disk, Super-80 DOS disk, Super-80 DOS disk with games [Robbbert]
vgmplay:
Joe Montana II - Sports Talk Football (GEN/MD), Lotus Turbo Challenge (GEN/MD), Madden NFL '95 (GEN/MD), Teddy Boy Blues (GEN/MD), Urusei Yatsura - Dear My Friends (Sega CD) (GEN/MD) [Project2612, Tafoid]
8-bit ADV Steins;Gate (NES), AntZ Racing (Nintendo Game Boy Color), Arkanoid - Revenge of DOH (ZX Spectrum 128), Batman (Arcade), Battle Gorilla (Music Mode) (NEC PC-8801), Battle Gorilla (NEC PC-8801), Bob the Builder - Fix-it Fun! (Nintendo Game Boy Color), Bonanza Bros. (ZX Spectrum 128), Commando (Atari 7800), Gauntlet (ZX Spectrum 128), Gauntlet II (ZX Spectrum 128), Gauntlet III - The Final Quest (ZX Spectrum 128), Golden Axe (ZX Spectrum 128), Hyper Olympic 1 (MSX), Hyper Olympic 2 (MSX), Hyper Sports 1 (MSX), Hyper Sports 2 (MSX, PSG), Hyper Sports 2 (MSX, SCC), Hyper Sports 3 (MSX, PSG), Hyper Sports 3 (MSX, SCC), L.E.D. Storm (ZX Spectrum 128), LEGO Island 2 - The Brickster's Revenge (Nintendo Game Boy Color), Mickey's Speedway USA (Nintendo Game Boy Color), Missile - Ground Zero (ZX Spectrum 128), Off The Wall (PC Engine), Puyo Puyo (NES, FDS), Road Runner (Atari System 1), Robot Construction R.C. (Sharp X68000), Sky Jaguar (MSX, PSG), Sky Jaguar (MSX, SCC), Solar Invasion (ZX Spectrum 128), Spawn (Nintendo Game Boy Color), Tetris (Fujitsu FM77AV), Tetris (NEC PC-88VA), Tetris (NEC PC-9801), Tom & Jerry - The Ultimate Game of Cat and Mouse! (NES), U.S. Classic (Seta 1), UWC (NES), Wild Gunman (NES) [vgmrips.net, Tafoid]
vsmile_cart: Bob le Bricoleur - Les P'tits chantiers de Bob (France), Lil' Bratz Au Top de la Mode - Complices, Cools et Class' (France), Mission Pilote (France) [DisizDream]
Software list items promoted to working
amigaocs_flop: Budokan - The Martial Spirit (Euro), Dragon's Lair: Escape from Singe's Castle (Euro), Dungeon Master (Euro, v3.6), Dylan Dog - Ritorno al Crepuscolo (Ita), Elvira - Mistress of the Dark (Euro), Escape from Colditz (Euro), F1 GP Circuits (Euro), Fred (Euro), Graffiti Man (Euro, 5th Anniversary), Great Courts 2 (Euro), Journey to the Center of the Earth (Euro), Knight Force (Euro), Little Computer People (Euro), Loom (Euro, v1.2 19900510), Major Motion (Euro), Moebius - The Orb of Celestial Harmony (USA), North & South (Euro), Omega (Euro), Over the Net (USA), Ports of Call (Euro, v1.1, A600 Smart Start), Seconds Out (Euro, Budget), Shadow Warriors (Euro), Sim City (Euro, v1.2), Skrull the Barbarian (Euro), Strider II (Euro), Sword of Honour (Euro), Terramex (Euro), Thexder (Euro), Wonderland (Euro, v1.27i 19910422) [Angelo Salese, Dirk Best]
jaguar: Attack of the Mutant Penguins, Troy Aikman NFL Football [Angelo Salese]
pc98: Eimmy to Yobanaide, Elvira - Mistress of the Dark, Engage Errands - Miwaku no Shito-tachi, Engage Errands II - Hikari o Ninau Mono, Es no Houteishiki, Escape!, Eteris, Etsuraku no Gakuen, EVE - Burst Error, Exceed Jack - Casinopolis [Barry Rodewald, Angelo Salese, r09]
x68k_flop: Ajax, Dai Makaimura, Nemesis '90 Kai [Angelo Salese]
New NOT_WORKING software list additions
apple2_flop_orig: Wortgefect [4am, Firehawke]
bbc_rom: ADDER 1.01, Artist Plus (Palette Pad), Artist Plus (Userport Pad), Futures 2.0a, Replay System WD1770 1.11, Richardson Hard Disk (306) 2.0, SEHK Terminal 2.00, SEHK Terminal 4.01 [Nigel Barnes]
Disney Fairies Explore Your Talents (USA), Disney Jake and the Neverland Pirates (USA), Disney Princess (USA), DreamWorks/Nickelodeon The Penguins of Madagascar - Mission Madness (USA), Thomas & Friends - Really Useful Engines (USA) [TeamEurope, Sean Riddle]
Disney La Casa de Mickey Mouse (Spain), Nickelodeon Bob Esponja - Defendiendo la Fórmula Secreta (Spain) [Sean Riddle, ClawGrip]
nuon: Ballistic, FreeFall 3050 A.D., Iron Soldier 3, Merlin Racing, Space Invaders XL, Tempest 3000, Toshiba Sampler (11-1-2000) [incog]
pc98: Eisei Meijin II, Elysion (2DD version), EPSON Software Installation Program (v2.17), EPSON Software Installation Program (v2.23), EPSON Software Installation Program (v2.27), EPSON Software Installation Program (v3.02) [Neo Kobe Collection, r09]
st_flop: Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (Euro) [Mikerochip, FakeShemp]
tvgogo: Baseball (US), Whac-A-Mole (US) [Sean Riddle, David Haywood]
vsmile_cart: DreamWorks Monstres contre Aliens (France) [DisizDream]
vsmileb_cart: L'arche de Noé - L'aventure des animaux (France), Les découvertes de Mickey et ses amis (France) [DisizDream]
vsmilem_cart:
Disney La Princesse Et La Grenouille - Le grand rêve de Tiana (France), Disney Manny et ses outils (France), Shrek 4 - Il était une fin (France) [DisizDream]
Disney Meister Manny's Werkzeugkiste (Germany) [TeamEurope]
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