MacCPC and other Mac EMUs...

MartinW · 23:22, 18 April 13

Is anyone using MacCPC these days? I've tried playing about with it on OS X 10.8.3 but whatever combination of ROMs I tell it to use I just get a black screen. The emuation appears to be doing stuff if I break into it, but nothing on the screen...

I'm wondering if it's too old for the current OS X?

[EDIT] Modified the title to closer match the current thread.

MacDeath · 07:00, 19 April 13

Reminds me I have an old Macbook at 500Mhz using OSX 10.3 or 10.4... would it work on it?

Good point, this old portable MAC features a "square" monitor (4/3 or 5/4...), good for CPC emulation I guess.

TotO · 12:57, 19 April 13

I use it everyday and it work very well on Snow Leopard.
I don't know about this bad Lion OS.

MartinW · 13:18, 19 April 13

Hmm, I'm on Mountain Lion. I'm also on a PC / hack, but that hasn't caused any issues to date and is pretty much transparent - all my components are 100% supported natively by OS X as they are based on components found in real Macs (just a fraction of the cost).

I have a Mac Mini but I can't try that as it's PPC and MacCPC is Intel 32 bit.

Primarily asking because I'm considering buying a MacBook Air as I'm spending so much time on the road at the moment that my 17" Desktop replacement is a pain to take on flights and trains etc. and my Surface RT just doesn't cut it because of the desktop software restrictions.

I did have some success with the Java Desktop CPC last night but it seemed a bit heavy weight and took a while to load up each time I started it.

TotO · 13:39, 19 April 13

I like this emulator, but there is 2 problems for me :

1- it crash when you close it
2- it corrupt the R-Type DSK image, because it not handle properly "multi-track writes".

Except that, it's nice.

Devilmarkus · 17:23, 19 April 13

JavaCPC Desktop takes ~5-10 Seconds to startup.

True: It's heavy weighted as it takes ~25mb HD space.

Sadly you cannot use all built-in applications. Some (DSK Util, CDT tools, etc...) are for windows os only.

Mac users:
[attachimg=1]

MartinW · 19:38, 19 April 13

The windows only bits and the 25MB don't bother me - it's the delayed start up time that would become a bit of a pain when the emulator is used on the tail end of a compile step. Not that I've looked at whether there's any disk creation tools for the mac or anything yet!

Devilmarkus · 20:29, 19 April 13

So, if you just need basic emulation, perhaps my CPCInAJar is good for you?

It only emulates the CPC 6128 but is only 128k in size...

https://sourceforge.net/projects/cpcinajar/

MartinW · 20:46, 19 April 13

Interesting. Yes, maybe. I'll have a look a bit later

MartinW · 22:19, 19 April 13

OK, CPCInAJar is nearly perfect, but...

Is the parameter -DDISK="disk name.dsk" implemented? It doesn't appear to do anything and if I look in 'JCPC.Core.device.Computer.loadFile' it seems to just be an empty stub.

I'm not sure though, maybe I'm not following the code right because -DBOOT= IS implemented and one would seem a little pointless (to me) without the other wouldn't it?

Devilmarkus · 23:25, 19 April 13

The params you mean are parameters for html embedding usage.

The emulator itself doesnt understand any parameters from commandline, sorry

Devilmarkus · 23:32, 19 April 13

Give me a few days, and I'll fiddle something together...

What features do you need in a CPC emulator?

MartinW · 00:43, 20 April 13

Looking through the code I'd have to disagree, at least some of the parameters that your processing in there work quite happily, CRTC, LARGE and BOOT for instance are happily processed and understood when supplied on the command line. If I had any clue about JEMU and what it expects to be implemented for the disk loading then I'd polish off my netbeans install and have a play - I've not touched Java development since I changed jobs 12 months ago now.

But anyway, no rush or urgency, I'm just trying things out in the Mac world while I ponder if it's worth me buying a MBAir for when I'm on my travels, which seems to be quite a lot these days.

I've never really been a fan of Java, but I have to say, JavaCPC Desktop version seems to work very well and is well implemented, and if accompanied by CPCInAJar the pair contribute well to a tool chain for OS X.

Devilmarkus · 10:20, 20 April 13

So it's very curious that it works.

Code Select

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        developer = true;
        CPCInAJar applet = new CPCInAJar();
        applet.isStandalone = true;
        frame = new JFrame() {

            protected void processWindowEvent(WindowEvent e) {
                super.processWindowEvent(e);
                if (e.getID() == WindowEvent.WINDOW_CLOSING) {
                    System.exit(0);
                }
            }

            public synchronized void setTitle(String title) {
                super.setTitle(title);
                enableEvents(AWTEvent.WINDOW_EVENT_MASK);
            }
        };
        frame.setTitle("CPCInAJar");
        frame.getContentPane().add(applet, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        //frame.setBackground(Color.black);
        applet.init();
        applet.start();
        frame.pack();
        Dimension d = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getScreenSize();
        frame.setLocation((d.width - frame.getSize().width) / 2, (d.height - frame.getSize().height) / 2);
        frame.setVisible(true);
        frame.setResizable(false);
    }
}

See? String[] args is not read.

But try this then:
Create a folder called "file/" into the folder where CPCInAJar is located.

Put your DSK images in there, and try the parameter "DISK"

Or set the parameter "URL" to true and give the complete path to your DSK image...

MartinW · 10:55, 20 April 13

It works because deeper in you use System.getProperty which reads parameters from the current Java environment. So then, when I run the app I use a number of "-D" options to set the parameters for that Java session. Basically the same as the applet would do. So the program behaves just like it was being run as an applet and indeed doesn't use command line arguments as such.

I'll try the suggestions for setting the disk file a bit later. I'm in Windows right now and don't have Java installed there.

Sorry - I missed the comment about what would I want from an emulator? For this smaller version nothing more than being able to specify a disk file and auto run it. For anything more than that, the larger version is perfectly fine. My idea is simply that when working on programming for the CPC I can set up a compile / build step that creates a DSK with the compiled binary and fires up the lightweight emulator and runs it. For anything more than that I would use the full version.

Now of course, some of the other tools to convert the hex 2 bin, and to create the DSK may not be there or be fully working on the Mac (I've not looked yet), but I don't have a problem with writing my own tools for that if I need to

Hope that made sense!

I have this all set up in Windows, but I tend to flick between Windows and Mac so it's a "nice to have"

MartinW · 13:43, 20 April 13

OK, just to update, after a bit of fiddling about with file names at my end either of those methods work perfectly.

I've also got it set up in Netbeans too now

MacDeath · 08:14, 21 April 13

Do any one of you know if there's a good Amstrad emulator on iPads ? where to find it?

iFailed to find something last time iChecked iTunes.

iWill soon get an iPad so i'd like to know.

TotO · 11:20, 21 April 13

Quote from: MacDeath on 08:14, 21 April 13
Do any one of you know if there's a good Amstrad emulator on iPads ? where to find it?

How, a micro-computer emulator can be good on a tablet, w/o real keyboard and joystick support ?

MartinW · 11:45, 21 April 13

I cant comment im afraid as I no longer have an iPad an my iphone is business use only so no games (not that an emulator would be any good on a phone), but I do share the same opinion really in that tablets are not going to be a great platform for emulators. But then I think touch screens aren't very good for gaming type stuff in general anyway.

Gryzor · 17:18, 21 April 13

Certainly not the best platform, but also not undoable. Virtual keyboard for typing, a menu for the most common commands, plus a touch joystick with relative movement and one fire button taking up an entire third of the screen maybe.

MacDeath · 17:45, 21 April 13

iPad is not an iFone nor an iPod touch... the screen is big enough to display both a "monitor" and a keyboard IMO.
Even with iPad Mini (the one I'm looking for)...

7,9 inches (diagonale)
Resolution : 1 024 x 768 pixels (163 pixels per inches)

Seems quite decent enough IMO. the "768 could be used well for "Mode2" full screen display actually.
The 1024 let enough room for half the screen too to get a keyboard/control display...

Look, CPC in full screen Mode2 : 768x272...
Ratio 1x2 so 768x544.

You can put a keyboard/console/whatever on the remaining 768x480... easily.
Not counting the fact more room will be available for most programs, as few used more than the speccy specs (256x192) which would be...
1024x768 if magnified in x4/x4... oops, ok, no full screen then...(or else no controls)
Well, some controls overlayed and movable (could be set) could be good, considering so many speccy ports had 1/3 of the screen used but HUD only.

Magnified in x3/x3 could be enough concerning speccy sized screens on CPC...
768x576...

the "iPad Mini" screen is actually perfectly sized IMO.

MacDeath · 20:52, 23 October 13

sorry to raise this topic from death...

I've heard that to develop on iOS you need to purchase some specific apps, and use them on mac... damn.

Still a nice CPC/PLUS/PCW emulator for iPads available on iTune's Appstore would be a nice thing to promote our beloved brand and family of Z80 computer on the international community.

Would also enable modern game's and demo devs to sell them on itunes store as well (as compilation packs)...

Manic Miner: ZX Spectrum HD for iPad on the iTunes App Store

Also some peoples do have external keyboards for their iPAds...

Seriously... to have this ZX speccy only emulator... it is total loose.
most games are for ZX 48 so say adios to AY sounds ... and colour clashes ? on my iPad ? WTF ?

Zoe Robinson · 01:26, 24 October 13

The "monitor on top, keyboard below" idea is a great one. Add in the option of a full screen mode when the pad is turned sideways (overlay a basic joystick arrangement on the monitor, maybe?) and it would be perfect.

I have no idea how to program an emulator but I'm sure this sort of layout wouldn't be too hard?

TotO · 12:08, 06 April 14

If like me, you can't more bear to see into MacCPC preferences, the line:
"512K + 64K = 578K" ... Here, a patched version.

Munchausen · 21:36, 07 April 14

Quote from: MacDeath on 07:00, 19 April 13
Reminds me I have an old Macbook at 500Mhz using OSX 10.3 or 10.4... would it work on it?

Good point, this old portable MAC features a "square" monitor (4/3 or 5/4...), good for CPC emulation I guess.

An ibook? You may be able to run Morphos on it, which has a really great CPC emulator: en:introduction [ACE]

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MacCPC and other Mac EMUs...