New Wikipedia article for pSX

[Gamesoul Master]

I managed to grab this from an archived version of the page 2 years ago. The page hasn't much changed since then, so it's not really too much of a setback. I'm posting it as the next post, untouched, to have a look at what we're dealing with. After that, anybody can feel free to repost the whole thing with revisions, or simply repost the sections edited if not the whole article.

And please, before you do anything to the article (unless it's a minor edit), please read Wikipedia's core policies. Those would be neutral point of view, no original research, and verifiability. There's other stuff to know, but those are the three big ones, and what they'll be looking at the most if they decide to review the article.

If you just want to offer ideas and not necessarily delve into the dirty details of editing the article, that's welcome too. In that case, don't worry about actually reposting the article with revisions, just present your idea to be considered and possibly added in.

As Firehawke pointed out, this is something that may need to be worked on and held onto until v1.14 comes around. However, if the article starts looking really good before then, it may get published sooner. Either way, please don't go and publish the article during this work process. We're looking to publish a pretty much finished product so there's no concern of deletion like this last time.

[Gamesoul Master]

pSX emulator


Developer: pSX Author
Latest release: 1.13 / August 27, 2007
OS: Microsoft Windows / Linux
Genre: Emulator
License: Freeware
Website: psxemulator.gazaxian.com/


pSX emulator (more commonly referred to as pSX) is a PlayStation emulator for the Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems. Its first public Windows version (1.0) was released on January 29, 2006, and the first official Linux port (1.11) was released on February 24, 2007. pSX is freeware, available for download.

pSX doesn't use plugins to emulate the GPU, SPU and CD drive functions of the PlayStation. Instead, simplicity and ease-of-use are favored over a high level of configurability. Despite the fact that it avoids the use of external files to aid in emulation of the PlayStation, the emulator still requires a user-provided PlayStation BIOS dump to work.


Goal
pSX is an attempt to accurately emulate the PlayStation hardware as closely as possible (with an emphasis on greater compatibility). One advantage of focusing only on accuracy and compatibility is that there are fewer worries for the author with regards to implementing or fixing enhancement options. There is also little worry over graphics card compatibility because the graphics are mainly software rendered. The main drawback with pSX's approach to emulation is that it cannot offer sharper image quality than the PlayStation itself.


Features
•Support for loading games from various CD image formats, or directly from CD drives
•Emulation of the classic (digital) PlayStation controller, the DualShock controller
•Emulation of the Namco GunCon peripheral by mouse (Windows version only)
•Localization (mainly by user contribution)


Supported CD Image Formats
pSX emulator supports direct loading of ISO, BIN/CUE, Alcohol 120% images (MDF/MDS) and CloneCD images (CCD/CUE/IMG/SUB). Either Alcohol 120% or CloneCD format is required if the game uses subcode data. In addition to these formats, pSX is able to use a compressed format (developed by pSX Author himself) called CDZ. The compression algorithm used in CDZ is based on zlib compression. This format was created in order to save hard drive space while maintaining the ability to perform random data access (which is required for the games, but not supported with the more common data compression formats). As of pSX 1.12, all supported CD image formats besides ISO can be converted into CDZ. The CDZ converter will include all relevant files in the final CDZ file, so image formats that make use of multiple files (such as CloneCD's CCD/CUE/IMG/SUB images) are stored in the single CDZ file. Users can convert images using the GUI included in the emulator, or use the commandline utility (cdztool.exe), which is located in the utils folder included with the emulator.


Localization
Support for localization was added in version 1.10, which included translations of the main user interface in various languages. The translations are mainly provided by users on the official support forums. While the readme is currently English-only, there are plans for it to be translated as well following a pending rewrite. Support for more languages is also a constant goal, with 24 languages (English and 1337 Speak among them) included as of pSX 1.13.


System Requirements
Although the readme that comes with the emulator does not list any specific system requirements, system requirements have been drawn based on user input. Note that the minimum requirements listed here are for getting some (but not necessarily all) games running at full speed.

Minimum System Requirements:
•CPU: 600 MHz (750 MHz on Windows XP)
•Memory: 128 MB RAM (192 MB on Windows XP)
•CD-ROM: 2x read, ASPI-compatible, or any CD-compatible virtual drive

Recommended System Requirements:
•CPU: 1.3 GHz
•Memory: 256 MB RAM
•CD-ROM: 16x read, ASPI-compatible, or any CD-compatible virtual drive

Windows-specific Requirements:
•OS: Windows 98 or higher
•Graphics: DirectX9-compatible graphics card (non-integrated recommended)
•Sound: DirectX-compatible sound card (non-integrated recommended)
•Other: Latest release of DirectX9, fully-functional ASPI layer recommended

Linux-specific Requirements:
•Kernel: Linux 2.6.x
•Graphics: OpenGL and supporting graphics card
•Sound: ALSA, sound card that supports 20ms period or below highly recommended
•Other: libgtkglext (a library used to add OpenGL support to GTK+ widgets)

Notes:
•An integrated graphics card or sound card may require a faster processor and more RAM to maintain steady speeds.
•Higher-end, dedicated graphics cards provide only minimal improvements in performance over lower-end, dedicated graphics cards, since pSX uses software rendering (thus relying mostly on the processor to do the emulation work).
•While the CD-ROM only needs to read at 2x, one with higher capabilities is highly recommended to guarantee being able to read original PlayStation discs.
•As a rule of thumb, the cheapest solution for faster overall performance is to add system RAM. For people with slower CPUs, a faster processor will also provide a strong performance boost.


Future Development
•PlayStation graphics enhancements, the use of higher render resolutions, filters, and other GPU technologies. This is a possibility, though only after the author is satisfied with the emulator's accuracy.
•PS2 emulation has been worked on, and pSX emulator can boot a PS2 BIOS (using the -2 switch), but the author has placed this aspect of emulation at a lower priority in order to focus on PS1 emulation. Nevertheless, he has made some progress with PS2 emulation, improving the emulator enough for it to be able to run at least one PS2 game.


External links
•Official website
•Unofficial pSX emulator compatibility list, maintained by smegforbrain

[Firehawke]

Might want to rephrase the "software rendering" slightly. At least on Windows, you still need minimal 3D acceleration to blit the texture to screen. I'd say something like.. "For accuracy, the PSX GPU is emulated in software."