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changeset 80:7047a6390b08

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Updated and improved documentation
author Matti Hamalainen <ccr@tnsp.org>
date Fri, 03 Oct 2003 03:14:00 +0000
parents b3e17bb32b21
children 977fd0868a03
files FAQ INSTALL THANKS TODO
diffstat 4 files changed, 83 insertions(+), 84 deletions(-) [+]
line wrap: on
line diff
--- a/FAQ	Fri Oct 03 03:13:02 2003 +0000
+++ b/FAQ	Fri Oct 03 03:14:00 2003 +0000
@@ -1,27 +1,27 @@
 XMMS-SID - Frequently Asked (and other) Questions
 =================================================
 
-- So what IS the SID and/or what are SID-tunes?
-- Where to get SID tunes?
+- So what IS the "SID"?
+- What are "SID-tunes"?
+- Where to get SID-tunes?
 - Why isn't the sub-song control window skinnable?
 - When using XMMS-SID with the OpenGL Spectrum Analyzer,
-- Can I make my own SIDs??? How??
+  the sound becomes distorted!
+- Can I make my own SID-tunes??? How??
 - XMMS-SID plays some tune badly!
-- What about SIDPlay 1 & 2 support?
 
 >---
 
-Q: So what IS the SID and/or what are SID-tunes?
+Q: So what IS the "SID"?
 
-A: SID is abbreviation for the sound chip that was used in many
-   of the old 8-bit home computers manufactured by Commodore Inc.
-   in 1980's. Best known of those was the Commodore 64 home computer
-   (aka C64 or CBM64, also known as VIC-64 in some countries).
+A: "SID" is abbreviation for the sound chip that was used in many
+   of the old 8-bit home computers manufactured by Commodore Business
+   Machines Inc. in 1980's. Best known of those was the Commodore
+   64 home computer (aka C64 or CBM64, also known as VIC-64 in
+   some countries).
 
-   The Sound Interface Device (SID), based on waveform modulation
-   and synthesis, was designed by Bob Yannes and is considered
-   one of the most advanced sound chips at the time.
-
+   The Sound Interface Device (SID) was designed by Bob Yannes and
+   is considered one of the most advanced sound chips at the time.
    It's capabilities surpassed all of the other chips on the 8-bit
    home computer market and even most of the ones used in arcade
    game systems. Thousands of games were produced for C=64 in
@@ -39,48 +39,54 @@
    Richard Joseph and Charles Deenen who worked with Fallout 1 & 2's
    musical score)
 
-   Today, years after the 'decline' of 8-bit computers, many composers
-   (mainly from C64 demoscene) continue to compose tunes for SID and
+   Today, years after the decline of 8-bit computers, many composers
+   mainly from C64 demoscene, continue to compose tunes for SID and
    get most amazing things out of it -- things that the designers of
    the SID didn't even imagine.
 
-   For example: SID has only three sound channels, but there are tunes
-   that use special techniques to "multiplex" them to sound like four
-   or even six channels. Also these three channels are "limited" to
-   synthesized sounds, kind like the FM sounds produced by old Sound
-   Blaster cards on PC. But again, using a certain 'bug' in SID chip,
-   composers were able to push the limits farther ... Martin Galway's
-   very famous piece on Arkanoid game was the "first" (later it has
-   been proven that Chris Huelsbeck's Bad Cat was the first but was
-   released later) to feature DIGITIZED SAMPLES like speech, etc.
-
-   ...
 
-   The "SID tunes" are usually understood to be the files that contain
-   the C64 machine code and data that plays the music. SID players (or
-   emulators) are programs that emulate the SID chip capabilities and
-   other parts of C64 hardware to produce almost authentic re-creation
-   of the original music. SID-files (aka SID tunes) can be created by
-   ripping the music routines and data from some game or just composing
-   the music with some editor.
+   The SID-chip is based on waveform modulation and synthesis and has
+   only three separate sound channels, but there are tunes that use
+   special techniques to "multiplex" them to sound like four or even
+   six channels. Even with limited number of channels and barely four
+   different basic waveforms (saw, triangle, pulse and noise), SID is
+   able to create most wonderful sounds. Modulation of channels via
+   another, special analog filter (low-, high- and band-pass) add
+   to the capabilities of SID.
 
-   XMMS-SID is interface for one of those emulators, libSIDPlay by
-   Michael Schwendt.
-
+   What is even more amazing, using a certain 'bug' in SID chip's volume
+   control, composers were able to push the limits farther ...
+   Martin Galway's very famous piece on Arkanoid game was one of the
+   first to feature DIGITIZED SAMPLES like real instruments and speech.
 
 >---
 
-Q: Where to get SID tunes?
+Q: What are "SID-tunes"?
+
+A: The "SID-tunes" are files that contain C64 machine code and data
+   that plays the music. SID-tune players are programs that emulate
+   the SID chip capabilities and other parts of C64 hardware to
+   produce almost authentic re-creation of the original music.
+   SID-tunes can be created by ripping the music routines and data
+   from some game or just composing the music with some editor.
 
-A: There are many collections of SID tunes on the Internet, but
+   XMMS-SID is interface, a piece of "software glue", that puts together
+   several emulator libraries and XMMS allowing play of SID-tunes via
+   XMMS's interface.
+
+>---
+
+Q: Where to get SID-tunes?
+
+A: There are many collections of SID-tunes on the Internet, but
    probably the best one and best known one is the High Voltage
    SID Collection aka HVSC.
 
    It is available at: http://hvsc.c64.org/
 
    HVSC contains the tunes ripped from all legendary C64 games,
-   loaders, etc. And more. There are over 15,000 tunes in the
-   HVSC version 4.0 and more are coming. HVSC also contains the
+   loaders, etc. And more. There are over 20,660 tunes in the
+   HVSC version 5.3 and more are coming. HVSC also contains the
    STIL database (SID Tune Information List) that contains lots
    of information about many of the tunes included in HVSC.
    XMMS-SID supports the STIL database and info about the selected
@@ -102,7 +108,6 @@
 >---
 
 Q: When using XMMS-SID with the OpenGL Spectrum Analyzer,
-   the sound becomes distorted!
 
 A: This is a known problem and occurs usually with NVidia
    cards and drivers. It is not directly related to XMMS-SID.
@@ -116,7 +121,7 @@
 
 >---
 
-Q: Can I make my own SIDs??? How??
+Q: Can I make my own SID-tunes??? How??
 
 A: Yes you can. You need a real C64 or emulator like VICE and
    a composing program. There are many available, I know only
@@ -149,20 +154,3 @@
    XMMS-SID. Report and I'll see what can be done.
 
 >---
-
-Q: What about SIDPlay 1 & 2 support? I saw some screenshots from 0.8beta
-   that had selectable support for v1 and v2 in the configuration!
-
-A: The runtime selection in betas 0-4 was based on patched libsidplay2
-   that changed the namespace to not to clash with libsidplay1. I don't
-   think it is worth of the trouble because a) it would break other apps
-   using libsidplay2 unless the patched version was statically linked to
-   XMMS-SID and b) I would have to manually create the patches for every
-   libsidplay2 update. Too much work, so it's not going to happen.
-
-   Only "feasible" (but also not worth of the trouble) way to achieve
-   runtime-selectable support would be to create a dynamic plugin-
-   architechture into XMMS-SID to on-demand load support for emulation
-   engine(s). I might do this if you are willing to pay 2000 EUR for it :-P
-
->---
--- a/INSTALL	Fri Oct 03 03:13:02 2003 +0000
+++ b/INSTALL	Fri Oct 03 03:14:00 2003 +0000
@@ -27,25 +27,29 @@
 on it's usage and installation (etc).
 
 
-Where to get libSIDPlay1?
-=========================
-The library is available at SIDPlay's homepage:
+Where to get those emulator libraries?
+======================================
+
+* libSIDPlay1 is available at SIDPlay's homepage:
 
-http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/5147/sidplay/
+  http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/5147/sidplay/
 
-You only need libsidplay, the sidplay-base is not necessary
-if you are sure that you don't need the commandline player.
+  You only need libsidplay, the sidplay-base is not necessary
+  if you are sure that you don't need the commandline player.
 
 
-Where to get libSIDPlay2?
-=========================
-The library is available at SourceForge:
+* libSIDPlay2 is available at SourceForge:
+
+  http://sidplay2.sourceforge.net/
 
-http://sidplay2.sourceforge.net/
+  You need the "sidplay-libs-2.1.0" package! Earlier versions
+  WILL NOT WORK! Later versions MAY work, but it is not really
+  guaranteed.
 
-You need the "sidplay-libs-2.1.0" package! Earlier versions
-WILL NOT WORK! Later versions MAY work, but it is not really
-guaranteed.
+
+* libNanoSID is available from LolOLOlo's pages:
+
+  http://www.sid6581.org/NanoSID/
 
 
 Building a CVS-version
--- a/THANKS	Fri Oct 03 03:13:02 2003 +0000
+++ b/THANKS	Fri Oct 03 03:14:00 2003 +0000
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-xmms-sid - SIDPlay input plugin for X MultiMedia System (XMMS)
+XMMS-SID - SIDPlay input plugin for X MultiMedia System (XMMS)
 ==============================================================
 ccr/TNSP sends his most sincere thanks and greetings to following
 people, who have directly or indirectly involved in development
@@ -10,9 +10,8 @@
 Michael Schwendt
 	Creator of libSIDPlay and general SID-guru.
 
-Simon White and others
-	Creator and developer of libSIDPlay 2.
-	Thanks for making my life a nightmare.
+Simon White, Dag Lem and others
+	Creators and developers of libSIDPlay 2.
 
 All the users of XMMS-SID
 	Thanks for support, bug-reports and ideas!
--- a/TODO	Fri Oct 03 03:13:02 2003 +0000
+++ b/TODO	Fri Oct 03 03:14:00 2003 +0000
@@ -3,17 +3,25 @@
 
 For XMMS-SID v0.9/1.0
 
- * Support for TinySID emulator library? Very much possible.
+Minor
+
+- Quick key/button/something to toggle:
+  - NTSC/PAL
+  - 6581/8580
+  - Playtime checks (sldb/max)
+
+Major
 
- * Possibly: Song "pre-rendering" support+position selector
-   work like it "should". Option for those who have the
-   CPU power (or patience) and enough RAM to spare for
-   the whole song.
+- Editing facilities in song-info?
 
-   - What about "pre-rendering" of next playlist item during
-     playing of current one? Would it be possible?
+- Possibly: Song "pre-rendering" support+position selector
+  work like it "should". Option for those who have the
+  CPU power (or patience) and enough RAM to spare for
+  the whole song.
 
- * Make it more modular (for future enchangements)
+- What about "pre-rendering" of next playlist item during
+  playing of current one? Would it be possible?
+
 
 INTERNAL: