HISTORY.cingb

Here, I want to give you some details about the history of cingb.

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1) cingb is older than you think!

I got interested in hardware emulation (it was years ago),
because running a virtual machine is like creating
an own computer.
So the project developed so far only for educational purposes.
I simply wanted to learn to emulate CPU and some peripherials.

The development began on DOS with Pascal (mid-90s I think). 
It had lots of assembly code and was full of bugs.
After I got Linux I was amazed how easy the development
with gcc there was and began to port it.
Well, "port" is the wrong term, I completely rewrote it.

Please keep in mind:
With this project I learned how to program in C.
If I would start today, many things would look different,
of course.
So please don't laugh about some weird constructs.
The most important thing is the functionality.

While writing the code I learned how to use gnu-make, too.
So I reorganized the code a few times and created 
separate modules.

Today, there are still some strange-looking pieces of code.
Of course, you people should try to correct and to improve
the code. Any help is welcome.

2) Why Gameboy(tm) as virtual machine?

I decided to emulate Gameboy because it is EASY to
analyse this little machine. Further, I had a gameboy
and many games for it, so I've had an idea how it
should look/sound like.
But be sure, I've thought about many possibilities,
like e.g. C 64. The CPU is easy to emulate, too, but
the peripherials are more complicated.

You really cannot imagine, how happy I was seeing
the CPU running and working properly in debug-mode
the first time (with Tetris(tm))!
I had no display, but the CPU was moving!
It was great.

3) SOME RULES ABOUT INTERACTING WITH ME

1st: NEVER NEVER NEVER! NEVER EVER ask me for ROMs
     for cingb !!!
     THIS IS MEANT SERIOUS.

2nd: If you write something, write something useful.
     I don't want to know about new games which
     aren't working, because I DON'T HAVE the right
     to download them and to use them with cingb.
     Perhaps, in future, someone can solve problems 
     in this way.

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Have fun with cingb
nakal