Well the first public release of RetroCopy has gone pretty smoothly. The bug reports I am getting back seem fairly minor which is always a good sign for a release. Though of course there are lots of suggestions to look at.
Today I spent most of my time adding the TMS9918 modes back into RetroCopy's VDP core. A few months ago I had switched out the TMS modes due to other changes I was making in the core and finally got around to putting them back. These modes are basically different ways the VDP can process graphics, old consoles like the SG1000, Colecovision and even the MSX computer used them extensively.
All of the TMS9918 modes are less complex than the main Master System mode, which Sega apparently added themselves, but they did build upon the work done by Texas Instrument engineers. I would like to know once and for all the story behind Sega and Texas Instrument's relationship as it would be good for the history books.
The TMS9918 was a fairly common graphics processor in old computers/consoles, with it's low cost and decent output (for the time) it provided good competition in the sector. Texas Instruments is the maker of the TMS9918 and they were a bit like NVIDIA or ATI are today, just in the 70s and 80s.
Some people have wondered if RetroCopy would be adding the SG1000, Coleco, MSX, etc, since the hardware is so close to the Master System. I have thought about it, but I'm not sure. Firstly the systems aren't that popular, so it would likely only appeal to a few hundred people.
Secondly the MSX is a computer (and the most popular of the 3 mentioned), which means it isn't plug and play when it comes to playing the games. If I do add one of those, it would likely be the SG1000, simply because it's the precursor to the Master System and having it in there is sort of cool in a geek kind of way.
It does seem a waste to have all these cycle accurate emulated components that these systems use and the other emulators do fall a little bit short when it comes to accuracy. So who knows, maybe one day, if enough people ask for it. I posted a few details about the TMS9918 at SMSPOWER so if you're a developer or just a keen enthusiast who is interested by techy details why not go check it out.