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avatar_mr_lou

Once again I'm puzzled by the lack of emulators for Linux

Started by mr_lou, 16:22, 02 June 15

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mr_lou

Looking for an Amstrad CPC emulator for Linux that let's me use the keyboard as a joystick, and once again puzzled that I can't find one that works properly.

Tried downloading xcpc, but as usual the install instructions never works for me when I need to compile it myself.

JavaCPC has always been ridiculous slow for me, effectively rendering it useless.

WinAPE doesn't work with Wine.

The only emulator that comes close, is a version of Arnold that arnoldemu sent me some years back. This appears to offer "joystick-mapping", but it doesn't work properly for me. Seems to only work sometimes.


So this is 2015.... are there really still no great emulators for Linux that offers simple "joystick=>keyboard mapping"?



arnoldemu

I will make another build and send it your way :)
More things have been fixed :)
My games. My Games
My website with coding examples: Unofficial Amstrad WWW Resource

CraigsBar

You are miffed by a lack of Linux emulators, just try and find a mac osx one.
IRC:  #Retro4All on Freenode

alex76gr

I agree with mr_lou but i have to admit that Winape works under Wine 1.4.1 on my Mint 16 linux.

@CraigsBar
Software: Arnold
It's not the best or the most accurate but it does its job.
I used it quite a lot on my PPC Mac mini.
I still believe that i got my myopia from the green GT-65 monitor, but i can't prove it! :)

remax

Brain Radioactivity

CraigsBar

Quote from: alex76gr on 19:23, 02 June 15
I agree with mr_lou but i have to admit that Winape works under Wine 1.4.1 on my Mint 16 linux.

@CraigsBar
Software: Arnold
It's not the best or the most accurate but it does its job.
I used it quite a lot on my PPC Mac mini.
yes I have that and paid for it. Unfortunately after porting it Mr Bannister seems to have abandoned it. It does not properly handle ram expansions, does not support tape at all, needs ROMs with an amsdos header and has become very crash prone on mavericks.

If only the latest Linux version of Arnold was more osx friendly.

IRC:  #Retro4All on Freenode

remax

Quote from: CraigsBar on 21:25, 02 June 15
yes I have that and paid for it. Unfortunately after porting it Mr Bannister seems to have abandoned it. It does not properly handle ram expansions, does not support tape at all, needs ROMs with an amsdos header and has become very crash prone on mavericks.

If only the latest Linux version of Arnold was more osx friendly.


Bannister doesn't do much for emulation these times... He is onto other things.
Brain Radioactivity

CraigsBar

Quote from: alex76gr on 19:23, 02 June 15
I agree with mr_lou but i have to admit that Winape works under Wine 1.4.1 on my Mint 16 linux.

@CraigsBar
Software: Arnold
It's not the best or the most accurate but it does its job.
I used it quite a lot on my PPC Mac mini.
most of my emulation needs are addressed by ACE under MorphOS on my 1.5ghz Mac mini silent upgrade ;)
IRC:  #Retro4All on Freenode

alex76gr

Quotemost of my emulation needs are addressed by ACE under MorphOS on my 1.5ghz Mac mini silent upgrade
8)
I still believe that i got my myopia from the green GT-65 monitor, but i can't prove it! :)

mr_lou

Quote from: alex76gr on 19:23, 02 June 15
I agree with mr_lou but i have to admit that Winape works under Wine 1.4.1 on my Mint 16 linux.

I tried WinApe again with Wine, and yes it does indeed manage to start now.
However, as soon as I fiddle with the display settings (because I need 1:1 pixels without any anti-alias (for taking screenshots)) then the screen becomes grey and I can't get it back.

Does this happen with you too?

alex76gr

Yes, but if you quit the program and then run it again, it starts normally with the settings you have chosen.
At least this is how it works on my system.

Generally speaking, Winape under Wine is not stable and it's prone to crashes.
Also, the program's window is not rendered correctly and it does not show the icons at the bottom (see picture).

I still believe that i got my myopia from the green GT-65 monitor, but i can't prove it! :)

Morn

Quote from: remax on 21:07, 02 June 15
MESS?


(now included in MAME)
+1. Inputs in MAME can be remapped to anything.

remax

Quote from: Morn on 11:47, 03 June 15
+1. Inputs in MAME can be remapped to anything.


And it's compilable, so would be a native binary (no need to use a WINE layer)...


And our friend mahlemiut is the main maintainer at the moment (he has added Playcity support recently).
Brain Radioactivity

Morn

...not to mention the Dobbertin SmartWatch and BrunWord 4. He's a busy guy.  :)

The main problem with MAME at this point is its slightly awkward in-game menu system (rather than a menu bar at the top) and that available MAME/MESS GUIs more or less all suck. Usability-wise the other CPC emulators are still better for emulation newbies.

KaosOverride

The big problem I see at Linux emulators is the lack of proper GUI. They are more an emulator core for other developments. I have used Caprice32 4.1.0 for two ports, to GP2X and RasPi2 , and I have added a GUI more suitable for consoles, but something can be done, just thinking if a wXwidgets GUI will do a great job to forget if the host SO is Win, Mac, Linux...

Arnold is also a great core, with plus support (works well, realtime at RPI2...) but a wXwidget port will be a great advance for multiplatform targeting, I think...
KaosOverride · GitHub
MEGA Amstrad Public Amstrad folder

arnoldemu

Quote from: KaosOverride on 14:57, 03 June 15
The big problem I see at Linux emulators is the lack of proper GUI. They are more an emulator core for other developments. I have used Caprice32 4.1.0 for two ports, to GP2X and RasPi2 , and I have added a GUI more suitable for consoles, but something can be done, just thinking if a wXwidgets GUI will do a great job to forget if the host SO is Win, Mac, Linux...

Arnold is also a great core, with plus support (works well, realtime at RPI2...) but a wXwidget port will be a great advance for multiplatform targeting, I think...
have you been looking at arnold wip???
My games. My Games
My website with coding examples: Unofficial Amstrad WWW Resource

remax

Quote from: Morn on 14:48, 03 June 15
...not to mention the Dobbertin SmartWatch and BrunWord 4. He's a busy guy.  :)

The main problem with MAME at this point is its slightly awkward in-game menu system (rather than a menu bar at the top) and that available MAME/MESS GUIs more or less all suck. Usability-wise the other CPC emulators are still better for emulation newbies.


QMC2 is a quite good frontend...
Brain Radioactivity

Morn

Quote from: remax on 17:54, 03 June 15

QMC2 is a quite good frontend...
It's okay for launching arcade games, but for e.g. changing floppies on an emulated computer it doesn't really help.

It would be nice if MAME had a real GUI interface like the VICE C64 emulator or some CPC emus, e.g. with buttons for quickly changing floppies, turning the keyboard joystick on or off, toggling fullscreen, etc. The built-in menu is a good interface for MAME cabinets, but for a desktop PC with a mouse it's very inefficient to use.

remax

Quote from: Morn on 18:36, 03 June 15
It's okay for launching arcade games, but for e.g. changing floppies on an emulated computer it doesn't really help.

It would be nice if MAME had a real GUI interface like the VICE C64 emulator or some CPC emus, e.g. with buttons for quickly changing floppies, turning the keyboard joystick on or off, toggling fullscreen, etc. The built-in menu is a good interface for MAME cabinets, but for a desktop PC with a mouse it's very inefficient to use.


Yeah... They tried to build a good UI several times but without succes for the moment, given all the constraints there is (mainly the slots handling, where you need to live update the config).


Hey @Morn just came across your Wiki page for MAME, it's wonderful !
Brain Radioactivity

Morn

Quote from: remax on 19:00, 03 June 15
Yeah... They tried to build a good UI several times but without succes for the moment, given all the constraints there is (mainly the slots handling, where you need to live update the config).
FS-UAE has the same problem: A really nice GUI launcher, but when you are in the emulator and need to change disks, you press F12 or something and this strange menu scrolls in. But with the Amiga it's generally easier to start with e.g. four disk drives and put a game disk in each in the launcher. Not to mention you can use a virtual hard drive. Thankfully multi-disc games on the CPC are not that common.

Quote from: remax on 19:00, 03 June 15
Hey @Morn just came across your Wiki page for MAME, it's wonderful !
Thanks! I'm advertising MAME a bit on the Wiki so hopefully more users will give it a try, especially on Linux. JavaCPC Desktop has audio problems on Linux (so I've got the last open source version archived on GitHub, it works without problems on Linux). Those are pretty much the only usable CPC emulators on Linux.

KaosOverride

Quote from: arnoldemu on 15:19, 03 June 15
have you been looking at arnold wip???

Nope, I think that I'm using the source from the "official" site  :P

Is that a topsecret repository?  8) I will give a try at my RasPi2!!!
KaosOverride · GitHub
MEGA Amstrad Public Amstrad folder

arnoldemu

Quote from: KaosOverride on 08:38, 04 June 15
Nope, I think that I'm using the source from the "official" site  :P

Is that a topsecret repository?  8) I will give a try at my RasPi2!!!
I compiled it for raspberry pi sometime last year. It was slow but it ran.
I've never tried it on raspberry pi 2, so it's not been adjusted for it.
My main computer is a 64-bit ubuntu linux PC.
I have also tried it on a windows 8 based laptop.
Craig has tried the Mac version (which needs some more fixes).

My recent work is based on getting SDL window to embed within the wxwidgets window. I have it working on SDL2 for linux, windows and mac ! :)
SDL version will embed in a window for windows and linux only (mac SDL doesn't support it).

My games. My Games
My website with coding examples: Unofficial Amstrad WWW Resource

mr_lou

Quote from: arnoldemu on 18:00, 02 June 15
I will make another build and send it your way :)
More things have been fixed :)

Looking forward to this.  :)

I'm in need of creating a lot of screenshots for my diskmag-like project, so I need to be able to play a lot of games on my PC.
I've been using your older version of Arnold so far, and sometimes "hacked" the games (my own old creations) to use keyboard controls instead.
But it would sure be nice to just be able to map joystick to keyboard within the emulator.

KaosOverride

Have tried it at mi PI2, but wxFormBuilder is giving some headache!!  :P

I have also located the source for Caprice Reloaded also with wxwidgets support, will try also for the RPI!!

Everything as native compiling, maybe that's my problem with wxFormBuilder... looks as it has some MSwindows hardcoded parameters (-mwindows). Will try to downgrade version (tried 3.5 beta, 3.1 beta, 3.0.x stable...)
KaosOverride · GitHub
MEGA Amstrad Public Amstrad folder

arnoldemu

If you're compiling Arnold wip you don't need wxformbuilder because I have generated the xrc file already. If you wish to edit the UI then yes, you need to install wxformbuilder from it's ppa (if using ubuntu).

For arnold wip: cmake, gcc, libwxgtk and libsdl are only needed. Use one of the shell scripts to build. cmake should autodetect the processor used and the appropiate toolchain.

When I built it for raspberry pi, I install cmake and used the shell script, after a bit of time I had an exe I could run.
My games. My Games
My website with coding examples: Unofficial Amstrad WWW Resource

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