Emulator: parity-safe EMU8000 sample counter -- AWEUTIL runs; wire the

VGL_LABS cockpit test suite as pod-launch 'test' mode

The WC hang, root-caused in three layers (each necessary):
1. WC was rendered-samples + 100ms-capped interpolation; AWEUTIL's poll
   storm (~550k port-ops/s) starved the render thread of awe_lock, so the
   clock crawled ~90x slow. Fixed: free-running host-clock derivation +
   a fairness gate so the render thread can always take the lock.
2. Free-running at true 44.1kHz still failed: trapped port reads cost
   ~30us -- MORE than one 22.7us tick -- so consecutive reads skipped
   counter values, and AWEUTIL's WaitUntilWC (decoded at COM offset
   0x5F42) exits only on EQUALITY with a target tick: skipped value =
   missed target = 1.49s wrap penalty, or forever.
3. Advancing +1 per read still failed: WaitUntilWC reads WC TWICE per
   iteration, so its equality sample saw only every 2nd value -- wrong
   parity = infinite loop. Final semantics: during a poll storm the
   counter advances once per FOUR reads (every value observable by all
   of AWEUTIL's loop shapes; its 8192-unchanged-reads dead-clock bailout
   never trips), and resyncs to true wall time after any 50ms idle gap.
   Result: the full stock TEST.BAT (DIAGNOSE + AWEUTIL /S on both cards)
   completes in seconds.

Also: pod-launch 'test' mode -> vwetest.conf (stock TEST.BAT -> TSTALL),
DOSBox window defaults to 900,600 in test mode (the DOS screen is the
suite's UI), VWE_AWE_LOG gains storm bursts with guest cs:ip + caller and
rare-read tracing (the instrumentation that cracked this).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

emulator/vpx-device/emu8k.cpp

@@ -712,11 +712,11 @@ emu8k_inw(uint16_t addr, void *priv)
                          it is used by programs to wait. Not critical, but should help reduce
                          the amount of calls and wait time */
                         case 27: /*Sample Counter ( 44Khz clock) */
-                            /* VWE: interpolate between mixer blocks so
-                             * driver busy-waits on the clock resolve at
-                             * sample granularity instead of block steps */
-                            return (uint16_t)(emu8k->wc +
-                                              emu8k_shim_wc_extra());
+                            /* VWE: free-running host-clock counter, like the
+                             * silicon. Software (AWEUTIL) busy-waits on this;
+                             * tying it to render progress made those waits
+                             * crawl under lock contention. */
+                            return emu8k_shim_wc_read();
 
                         default:
                             break;