PockEmul 2.9.0 New Release

Dear PockEmul’s fans, we are pleased to announce the new PockEmul release. It will be available in the next few days.

This new version brings several new models and some new features:

• New Casio VX-3, VX-4 and FX-870p package
• New Casio Almost PB-100, Almost PB-300, FP-12 and FP-40 (SB-42) package.
• New CE-15x extension for PC-1500 series.
• New Sharp PC-E500Jap and PC-E500-BL.
• New HP-10c.
• New Search feature for Local and PockEmul Cloud storage.
• Share a Cloud session by QRCode.
• CE-1600p new pen head rendering.
• Keyboard Simulator new layout and overclocking up to x100.
• A new ‘Lock Position’ feature in the contextual menu that fixes the position of a device on the screen.
• The XP-140 Monitor Card is available for the X-07.
• A lot of bug fixes.

Casio VX-3, VX-4 and FX-870p

The Casio VX-3, VX-4, and FX-870P are handheld computers designed for scientific students. Released exclusively in the Japanese market in the early 1990s, they support programming in BASIC, C, and CASL assembler.

The VX-4 is an advanced version of the VX-3, notably featuring the management of the MD-110 floppy disk drive. The FX-870P has often been considered the export version of the VX-4. While it’s true that the VX-4 and FX-870P have ROMs capable of handling both WORLD and JAPAN markets, the FX-870P remained confined to the Japanese market in its JAPAN version. It offers extended RAM compared to the VX-4.

These devices share their HD61700 CPU with the PB-1000 and PB-2000.

Thanks to Piotr, their ROM was dumped.

The Almost Casio PB-100

The almost PB-100 is an hybrid emulator of the iconic Casio PB-100 Pocket Computer.

Unfortunately, the ROM of the Casio PB-100 is, for now, inaccessible.

So instead of making a pure simulator, we created a new hybrid approach, using a customized Elektronika MK-85 ROM.

You can gain deeper insight into this emulation by reading The Almost Casio PB-100 article.

This package includes the Almost PB-100, the Almost PB-300, the FP-12 and the FP-40 with its SB-42 adapter.

The Sharp CE-15x extension

It is a custom module extension for the Sharp PC-1500 series.

It provides RAM areas customisation based on PU and PV flags.

More details can be found in the The Sharp CE-15x extension for PC-1500 series article.

Sharp PC-E500Jap and PC-E500-BL

Dedicated to ours Japanese fans. their differs from the Sharp PC-E500 Export only by a specific ROM.

The Sharp PC-E500-BL is a limited special edition by Pokecom Journal (PJ).
It is a regular Japanese Sharp PC-E500 with a unique blue color case and the game “HEAVY METAL mini” (by CRISIS Software) preloaded into RAM.

New HP-10c

The HP-10c is now available and is part of the HP Voyager package. The Voyager series is now complete with the HP-10C, HP-11c,HP-12c, HP-15c and HP-16c.

Search feature for local and PockEmul Cloud storage

A new Search tab is now available in the Cloud and Storage screen.

If you have a lot of saved sessions in several sub directories it will help you easily locate the correct session. It searches in all fields but not yet in the Post-it text.

This feature is only available in the subscription plan.

Share a Cloud session by QRCode

In the Cloud storage, a new “Share by QRCode” button generates and shares a QRCode including a link to the PockEmul Cloud session file. This link is read-only.

On desktop, the QRCode is copied to clipboard. On mobile, it is shared with the system Share feature. It is then easy to share the QRCode by email, SMS or directly to the PockEmul Fan Club on Facebook for example.

Download the corresponding session by scanning the QRCode with your mobile and open it with PockEmul or use the new Import feature to directly load the session from the QRCode image.

This feature is obviously only available in the subscription plan because it works only on Cloud Sessions.

Import / Export

In the main menu, the “Import / Export” allows to :

• Open a local PML File
• Import a Session by a QRCode image
• Import a session by a QRCode Image from your clipboard
• Share you current session by a PML file.

CE-1600p new pen head rendering

I know it is only a cosmetic feature, but it is nice and has great value when starting the PC-1600. The boot sequence involves the CE-1600p, and during those several seconds, the PC-1600 does not react. The following animation indicates that the system is starting up.

Keyboard Simulator new layout and overclocking up to x100

The layout of the Keyboard Simulator has been improved. The ‘All Keylist’ space is now in a popup.

Previously, the Keyboard Simulator overclock was limited to x5. It can now go up to x100. At this speed, even long programs can be store in the pocket in less than a minute.

The XP-140 monitor card for the Canon X-07

In the contextual menu, you can now automatically load the XP-140 Monitor Card into memory. This is a first attempt and has not been fully tested.

Unfortunately, only the French documentation is available. If you have it in English, please share it with the community. A simple image shot of each page is a good start; I will clean it up.

In the future, the card will be installed by opening the card locker at the back of the computer, as it is done for the Panasonic HHC.

Bug Fixes

Of course, this new version of PockEmul fixes several bugs and upgrades certain modules related to Android and iOS. This is absolutely necessary and represents an important part of the maintenance process, as otherwise, PockEmul would quickly stop working with updates of mobile Operating Systems.

I will keep an updated list of major issues in PockEmul issues and features requests post.

Unfortunately, I must admit I am still fighting against the “The combo Sharp PC-E500, CE-140f, CE-126p is not working” issue. This combo works with others Pocket Computers but the Sharp PC-E500 seems to have a specific behavior in its communication protocol with the CE-140F. I am committed to fixing it.

Perfect emulation is an infinite quest. Please report us any inaccurate behaviour at contact@pockemul.com 

A message for our longstanding users and subscribers :
PockEmul is a 25 years passion project and a labor of love.
We invite you to share the passion and love for vintage computing.
Help us make history like these computers have done in the not-so-distant past.
Help us shape the future of PockEmul. Spread the word!