View source for Aaron's To-Do List

Note that nothing here is a promise. This all just represents ideas in my head. Who knows if I'll get to it all!

==Immediate Bugs==
* (done: 0.112u2) <strike>add back font size reduction</strike>
* add warning/error about wacky performance counter results
* identify and fix up 64-bit specific errors
* add 64-bit debugging code to force allocations above 4GB

==Video==
* (done 0.113u1) <strike>move throttling and frameskipping code into the core</strike>
* (done 0.115u1) <strike>add support for separate visible versus blanking rects</strike>
* render crosshairs in UI layer not in game containers
* game-specific crosshair bitmaps and sizes
** user selectable?
* fix crosshair rendering to understand scale and offset factors
* add OSD-specified max frame rate and do intelligent frameskipping to not go above it
* add code to not throttle if the video doesn't change? (maybe only for 1 frame)
* change some page-flipping drivers to return UPDATE_HAS_NOT_CHANGED if no front buffer access and no page flip since last frame
* font improvements:
** (done: 0.112u1) <strike>change UI logic to allow for minimum font sizes</strike>
** (done: 0.113u1) <strike>built-in font that is smaller, proportional</strike>
** start with built-in font, then load others
** standardize on BDC as the font format, provide BDF2BDC converter
** find a good unicode font
** user-selectable at runtime via menu?

==Interrupts==
* (done: 0.112u1) <strike>add asserts to ensure proper PULSE_LINE/HOLD_LINE usage</strike>
* (in progress, thanks Zsolt!) add MDRV_SCANLINE interrupt generators
* change MDRV_CPU_VBLANK_INT to specify a screen number
* add timed interrupt generator: cpunum_toggle_input_line_timed(cpu, input, time). This will ASSERT_LINE immediately and then CLEAR_LINE after the specified time. 'time' can be zero, which is equivalent to PULSE_LINE, though perhaps we should discourage such usage since it's not realistic. If you've asserted the line via this function, and another cpunum_assert_input_line_timed() call is made, it will override the previous CLEAR_LINE time with the new time. Note that this is not a proper wire-OR, so we could alternatively reschedule the CLEAR_LINE to the maximum of the new time and the previously pending time.

==Sound==
* (done: 0.112u4) <strike>fix all sound cores to be independent of Machine->sample_rate</strike>
* (done: 0.112u4) <strike>fix all custom sound generators to be independent of Machine->sample_rate</strike>
* (done: 0.112u3) <strike>remove OSD hack that allows changing of sample rates on the fly</strike>

==Graphics==
* add generic palette object
** shared, so it must be refcounted
** can be attached to a bitmap
** can have clients register to get notified of changes (clients have to request changelists)
** can be any size
** support global brightness
** support automatic shadows?
** always have white/black pens
* fix drawgfx/palette global palette-ness
* add laserdisc video viewer in F4 menu if A/V CHD is attached
** support straight playback with frame info
** single step forward/back

==CPUs==
* automatically respect CPUINFO_INT_CLOCK_DIVIDER
* finish work on 64-bit DRC engine
* write 64-bit MIPS3 DRC
* investigate and fix TMS32031 calculation bug
* optimize hyperstone core
* (in progress, thanks Zsolt!) move video timing crap out of cpuexec.c and into video.c
* replace cpuexec.c with more generic schedule.c

==Scheduler==
* Clients register with two callbacks (CPUs and sound cores are clients; video as well)
 typedef mame_time (*scheduler_execute_callback)(void *parameter, mame_time curtime, mame_time target);
 typedef void (*scheduler_abort_callback)(void *parameter, mame_time abort_time);
 
 scheduler_client *scheduler_client_register(scheduler_execute_callback execute, scheduler_abort_callback abort, void *parameter);

* Events can be requested, and can cause synchronization between limited groups of clients
 typedef void (*scheduler_event_fire_callback)(mame_time curtime, void *parameter);
 
 scheduler_event *scheduler_event_register(mame_time event_time, scheduler_event_fire_callback callback, void *parameter, const scheduler_client **sync_list);

* The current execution can be aborted (this is implicitly done if an event is registered that times out in the middle of the current execution):
 void scheduler_abort_execution(void);

* Clients can be suspended/resumed:
 void scheduler_client_suspend(scheduler_client *client, UINT32 reason_mask);
 void scheduler_client_resume(scheduler_client *client, UINT32 reason_mask);

* Scheduler owns global time and local time for each client:
 mame_time scheduler_get_global_time(void);
 mame_time scheduler_client_get_current_time(scheduler_client *client);
 mame_time scheduler_event_get_fire_time(scheduler_event *event);

* Scheduler keeps track of real time spent executing (debug only?)
 osd_ticks_t scheduler_client_get_real_time(scheduler_client *client);

==Misc==
* Allow setting of realtime clock to fixed value for regression testing

==Sources==
* (done: 0.112u3) <strike>add laserdisc VANC extraction and generation tool to tools</strike>
* (done: 0.112u1) <strike>break core fileio.c into fileio.c and corefile.c</strike>
* (done: 0.112u1) <strike>make util directory with corefile.c and all other utilities with light dependencies</strike>
* (done: 0.113u2) <strike>push more options into the code to reduce OSD burden</strike>
* (done: 0.113u2) <strike>change auto_bitmap to not use allocator</strike>
* (done: 0.114) <strike>move cleanup tool into tools</strike>
* (done: 0.114u2) <strike>move fronthlp.c into common code</strike>

==Outputs==
* (done: 0.112u2 by Bob Seidel) <strike>add pause notifications</strike>
* add ability to get XML description of current game
* add lamp output to afterburner driver

==Debugger==
* clean up APIs
* add timer window
* add CHD viewer window

==Driver cleanups/To do==
* (done: 0.115u1) <strike>astrocde.c</strike>
* (done by Zsolt) <strike>vicdual.c</strike>
* cliffhgr.c:
** add proper latching/buffering to ensure no dropouts
** fix 9928a emulation to match [http://www.sventech.com/~dereks/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core:ShowItem&g2_itemId=2499 screenshot]
* Cubo CD32 (Amiga AGA-based)
* 3DO-based systems

==Documentation==
* write description for how to compute crosshair parameters

==mamedev.org==
* source code browsing (a la MAWS but with proper spacing) [http://www.newty.de/lsc/index.html option 1] [http://www.andre-simon.de/ option 2]

==Other Stuff==
* (done 0.113) <strike>add regression testing tools to the tools directory</strike>
* look into inpout32.dll for hooking up ZVG to WinMAME