fbzx-wii/FAQ

FBZX CAN'T INITIALIZATE THE SDL LIBRARY.

Is possible that you don't have the '/dev/mouse' symlink, or maybe, that
symlink (or the device pointed by) has no access permissions for the user you
are using. Just try (as root):


FBZX SAYS THAT IS RUNNING WITHOUT SOUND, AND TO READ THE FAQ

Currently FBZX uses ALSA, OSS or PulseAudio to generate the sound, and that
means that there can be only one sound source at each time in the system. If
you have a MP3 playing, without the PULSEAUDIO daemon launched, FBZX won't be
able to get access to the sound.


WHAT SPEED DO I NEED TO USE FBZX?

I'm not sure what's exactly the minimum speed, but I used it in an AMD K6-II
runing at 450 MHz and it worked at fully speed. Now, with the new OSS sound
*seems* to work even better, so maybe you could use it with an smaller
computer.


FBZX CAN BE USED FROM X-WINDOWS?

Since FBZX uses the SDL library, it can be used both from console and from X,
but, of course, in X it will need more system resources due to the fact that it
needs to emulate an 8-bit screen. Of course this was problematic with 2003
computers, but current systems can run FBZX under X without problems.

If you use it from console, it is strongly reccomended to use a native
FrameBuffer driver, in order to allow FBZX to change the current video mode
(see next question).

You can use the -fb option to make FBZX work in fullscreen mode.


I'M USING VESAFB IN MY (16-24 bits) CONSOLE, BUT FBZX WORKS SLOW...

That's because SDL is emulating an 8-bit screen for FBZX. The solution is to
change it for a FrameBuffer specific for your graphic card. If there's no
native driver (or it doesn't work reliably), you can use the SuperVESAfb
driver. This is a VESA driver that allows to change the resolution on-the-fly.
You can find it in:

	http://www.rastersoft.com/supervesafb.html

This driver is only for 2.4 kernels. 2.6 versions have a new VESAFB driver
capable of switching the resolution.


MY COMPUTER DOESN'T HAVE FUNCTION KEYS (F1, F2...). HOW CAN I GET ACCESS TO
THE MENUS?

Just press the TAB key and you will see the message "Function key mode on".
Now you can use the number keys (0-9) to emulate the functions keys (F10 is '0',
F1 is '1', and so on, F11 is 'o' and F12 is 'p')(In FBZX this function has been disabled).


THERE'S A DELAY IN THE SOUND. HOW CAN I ELIMINATE IT?

Unfortunately, you can't. I have to use at least two buffers of 4096 bytes each
one in order to have an stable sound, and this means, at 48000 samples/sec,
0'17 seconds, and that's a perceptible delay for the human ear (with lower
sample rates it would became even worse; to avoid it, at sample rates lower
than 24000 samples/sec I reduce the buffer to 2048 bytes).


THERE ARE SOME GLITCHES IN THE SOUND

Maybe your CPU is too slow to run FBZX at full speed. But you can see with top
the load of each program, and give less priority to the ones that uses more
CPU. I do this with aMule, and the glitches dissapears.


I TRIED TO LOAD A .TZX FILE, BUT THE EMULATOR SHOWS A MESSAGE THAT
TELLS: "Unsuported TZX. Contact FBZX autor". WHAT'S HAPPEN?

Just read the file README.TZX.


I CHOOSE A .TZX FILE AND TYPE LOAD "", BUT NOTHING HAPPENS.

Fast load is available only with TAP files. If you want to load a TZX file,
you must press F6 in order to play the tape.


I TRIED TO LOAD A .TAP FILE IN FAST MODE, BUT IT FAILS AND THE EMULATOR
SHOWS THE MESSAGE "Block with right flag not found". WHAT'S HAPPENNING?

Each Spectrum's tape block has a flag byte that identify each one. Flag 0 is
for headers, and flag FF is for data blocks. A programmer can define its own
flag bytes if he wants.

If the program loader wants to load a block with a flag XX, but there isn't a
block in the TAP file with that flag, the fast loader will stop and show that
message (and will return a "Tape error" to the program loader). If I don't do
this, the fast loader should be reading the tape again and again, trying to
find a block with that flag, and the emulator should hang up (not really hang,
but it wouldn't be able to respond to keystrokes, even to the ESC key).


I CREATED A NEW MDR FILE, BUT WHEN I TRY TO WRITE TO IT, OR DO A CAT 1,
IT DOESN'T WORK, AND I HAVE TO PRESS BREAK (SHIFT + SPACE) TO STOP THE
COMMAND.

When you create a MDR file, it is created "in blank", so you must format the
medium before using it. To do it, just use:

    FORMAT "m";1;"name"
	
changing 'name' with the name you want to give to the cartridge.

You can format a cartridge too if you want to erase a MDR file.


THE SYSTEM RETURNS THE MESSAGE DRIVE 'WRITE' PROTECTED. WHAT CAN I DO TO
UNPROTECT IT?

Just press F7 and change the 'Write protection' status with F3. Remember that
the status is stored with the cartridge, so if you exit the emulator and load
a MDR file again, it will have the same status you left it.


WHERE CAN I FIND INFO ABOUT HOW TO USE THE INTERFACE I AND THE MICRODRIVES?

In:

    http://www.madhippy.com/8-bit/sinclair/zxif1micro.html
	
you can find the HTML version of the original manual of the Interface I and
Microdrive. There's ALL what you shoul need to know to work with it.