Dolphin 2609 has no published change list
The Dolphin repository identifies version 2609 with a version tag. The supplied record does not include a publication date, GitHub Release notes, or downloadable assets, so there are no specific fixes, features, or performance changes to report for this version.
A version tag identifies a project state, but it does not by itself confirm that a packaged download is available. Users looking for details about what changed in 2609 will need to wait for release information that lists those changes.
What Dolphin does
Dolphin is an emulator for running GameCube and Wii games on Windows, Linux, macOS, and recent Android devices. The desktop and mobile system requirements differ, so a device that meets one platform's requirements may not meet another's.
The project also includes DolphinTool, a command-line utility for working with disc images. Its documented commands can convert images between ISO, GCZ, WIA, and RVZ containers, verify files, inspect image headers, and extract files or partitions.
Desktop system requirements
Dolphin lists Windows 10 version 1903 or newer, Linux, and macOS 11 Big Sur or newer as supported desktop operating systems. Other Unix-like systems are not officially supported, although they may work.
The minimum processor requirement is SSE2 support. Dolphin recommends a modern dual-core processor running at 3 GHz and released no earlier than 2008. That recommendation is separate from the minimum instruction-set requirement.
Desktop graphics hardware must support Direct3D 11.1 or OpenGL 3.3. The project recommends hardware supporting Direct3D 11.1 or OpenGL 4.4. Available video backends include Direct3D, Direct3D 12, OpenGL, Vulkan, Null, and Software Renderer. Null does not render graphics, while Software Renderer uses the CPU and is intended for debugging.
Android requirements
Android support requires version 7.0 Nougat or newer, a 64-bit processor based on ARMv8 or x86-64, and graphics hardware supporting OpenGL ES 3.0 or later.
The project notes that Android performance varies heavily with graphics-driver quality. Support for standard desktop OpenGL features is recommended for the best performance. These requirements apply to Android host devices; Dolphin is not presented as software that runs directly on GameCube or Wii hardware.
Audio emulation options
Dolphin provides high-level and low-level DSP audio emulation. High-level emulation is faster but less accurate, while low-level emulation is slower and intended to provide accuracy close to perfect. Low-level emulation has Interpreter and Recompiler modes, although those modes cannot be selected from the command line.
The command-line interface exposes the HLE and LLE audio choices through its audio-emulation option. This can be useful when a user needs to select the documented audio mode while launching Dolphin from a terminal or script.
DolphinTool disc-image features
DolphinTool's convert command supports ISO, GCZ, WIA, and RVZ output. RVZ is the default container, and conversion can include scrubbing of junk data. For WIA and RVZ files, users can choose compression methods such as zstd, bzip, lzma, or lzma2, or select no compression, and can set a compression level where supported.
The verify command can calculate a digest using CRC32, MD5, SHA-1, or RCHash. The header command reports information such as the block size, compression method, and compression level for supported compressed formats. The extract command can list or extract files, directories, and partitions, including an option to extract only a disc image's data partition.
