Skip to content
RetroBIOS

px68k (SDL)

px68k (SDL) emulates Sharp X68000. It reads 10 files, 2 of them required: without a required file it does not start games.

About this profile
Detail Value
Type standalone
Classification Community fork
Source https://github.com/TurtleBazooka/px68k
Version 0.15+K
Revision TurtleBazooka/px68k@bdc3d87efb9f
Built by retropie, under its core name. The libretro buildbot does not publish this build.
Profiled 2026-10-23
Profile YAML, JSON
Cores px68k
Systems Sharp X68000
Install this emulator's files

With RetroPie: the installer finds RetroPie and its BIOS folder, then downloads only the files px68k (SDL) reads there and checks each one.

Open a terminal on the device. Or connect from a computer with SSH, a terminal over the network. Paste the line. Press Enter.

Terminal
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Abdess/retrobios/main/install.sh | sh -s -- --emulator px68k-sdl
Technical notes

SDL build of Kenjo's WinX68k (Keropi) by TurtleBazooka, forked from kenyahiro/px68k and hissorii/px68k. The Makefile builds the SDL3 front end by default and the SDL2 one with SDL2=1 (Makefile:21-24,236-243). Both read the same files: the SDL3 lists are at SDL/SDL3/winx68k.cpp:189-190,273-278.

Every file is opened by name inside one folder. set_modulepath builds it as $HOME/.keropi, or ./.keropi when HOME is unset, and creates it when missing (SDL/prop.c:172-194). WinMain hands it to File_Setcd (SDL/SDL2/winx68k.cpp:713-717), and File_OpenCurDir joins each name to it (win32api/dosio.c:170-194). The same folder holds the config file (SDL/prop.c:196). Android uses /sdcard/px68k or the folder named in dir.txt, iOS /var/mobile/px68k (SDL/prop.c:112-170). Paths below are relative to that folder.

When no IPL or no font loads, WinX68k_LoadROMs returns false and WinMain shows an error and never starts the CPU loop (SDL/SDL2/winx68k.cpp:798-800,811,866-868).

sram.dat is the 16 KB battery backed SRAM. It is read when present and written back on exit (x68k/sram.c:25,151-201), so the emulator creates it. keyconf.dat is an optional key table read on start (SDL/keyboard.c:49,85-114), and the repository ships a US layout as "keyconf.dat(us)". The printer output goes to a file in the same folder (x68k/ioc.c:33-35).

With FLUID=1 MIDI goes through FluidSynth, which loads the SoundFont named by SoundFontFile in the config, else /usr/local/share/soundfonts/default.sf2 (x68k/midi_fluid.c:27,52-66, SDL/prop.c:358-362, Makefile:165-195). Any General MIDI SoundFont works. The Mercury unit is compiled out (Makefile:120-123).

Files

Section titled “Files”

10 files: 2 required, 8 optional. 1 has an HLE fallback.

File Required
iplrom.dat yes
cgrom.dat yes
iplromxv.dat no
iplromco.dat no
iplrom30.dat no
cgrom30.dat no
cgrom30.tmp no
cgrom.tmp no
scsiinrom.dat no
scsiexrom.dat no

In this collection: 8 in repo and 2 missing.

Required

Section titled “Required”

iplrom.dat required in repo

  • X68000 IPL ROM. The four IPL names are tried in the order iplrom.dat, iplromxv.dat, iplromco.dat, iplrom30.dat and the first that opens is read, 0x20000 bytes into the upper half of the IPL area. The name sets the window title and iplrom30.dat marks the X68030.

cgrom.dat required in repo

  • X68000 character generator ROM, read when neither X68030 font is present.

Optional

Section titled “Optional”
8 files

iplromxv.dat optional in repo

  • X68000 XVI IPL ROM, read when iplrom.dat is absent.

iplromco.dat optional in repo

  • X68000 Compact IPL ROM, read when the first two names are absent.

iplrom30.dat optional in repo

  • X68030 IPL ROM, read when the three other names are absent.

cgrom30.dat optional in repo

  • X68030 character generator ROM. The font names are tried in the order cgrom30.dat, cgrom30.tmp, cgrom.dat, cgrom.tmp whatever IPL was loaded, and the first that opens is read, 0xC0000 bytes.

cgrom30.tmp optional missing

  • Substitute X68030 font, read when cgrom30.dat is absent.

cgrom.tmp optional missing

  • Substitute font, read last. The separate mkcgrom tool (make cgrom) renders it from TrueType fonts.

scsiinrom.dat optional in repo HLE fallback

  • Built-in SCSI IPL of the XVI, Compact and X68030. It is read only when the loaded IPL points at the built-in SCSI ROM at 0xFC0000, 0x2000 bytes, and its IOCS entry is patched. Absent, a stub carrying the Human68k signature is placed there instead.

scsiexrom.dat optional in repo

  • CZ-6BS1 external SCSI board IPL, mapped at 0xEA0000 with any IPL. The code reads 0x1FD0 bytes and accepts a dump taken from 0xEA0020 or from 0xEA0000, located by the SCSIEX signature, then patches the IOCS entry after the NuSCSI tag. Absent, the board ROM area is left empty and no external SCSI drive boots.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”
.

Maintained by Abdess on GitHub. Report a problem.

Packs from release v2026.10.10, .

MIT for the tooling and metadata. BIOS and firmware files are third-party system software, preserved for personal backup, archival and interoperability.