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Apple IIe Emulator Released For the Wii

Posted by Soulskill on from the going-way-back dept.

fortapocalypse writes "Yohanes Nugroho just released WiiApple, an Apple IIe Emulator for Wii. While the sound doesn't work, some games are playable (he shows a screenshot of Epyx Winter Games as well the execution of a program he wrote in BASIC). He's also released the source code. Using WiiApple requires the Homebrew Channel, which we have discussed in the past."

71 of 86 comments (clear)

  1. Woohoo, Robot War here I come by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    And Leather Goddesses of Phobos

    1. Re:Woohoo, Robot War here I come by F34nor · · Score: 1

      Castle Wolfenstien! Impossible Mission! Karataka!

      Anyway...

      I tried one of the online editors but I could not remember or find any of the commands for the Apple OS. Hwo the fuck do you use BRUN??? I cannot remember and it shames me deeply.

    2. Re:Woohoo, Robot War here I come by alain94040 · · Score: 1

      What I remember is "20 FF 58". That means jump to subroutine at address $FF58, which happens to be in the ROM of the Apple II and contains the magical "60", meaning return. What is the point of jumping to a return? So that you can find out your own address by looking at the stack(*). From there, you could start relocating your code. Remember: no virtual memory, no pagination, no nothing. You had to find a way.

      (*) and later discover that in the 1/million chance that you got an interrupt precisely during the return, what's on the stack is not your address, but someone else's. But interrupts on the Apple II were infrequent to say the least.

    3. Re:Woohoo, Robot War here I come by garote · · Score: 2, Informative

      Well, the good news is, the Woz already found a way for you: http://atariwiki.strotmann.de/xwiki/bin/view/Code/6502Relocator

    4. Re:Woohoo, Robot War here I come by farrellj · · Score: 1

      Welcome back, Bilestode, Wavy Navy, Lode Runner, Super Stellar Trek and Softporn Adventure!

      Now if I could just find copies of those games....

      ttyl
                Farrell

      --
      CAN-CON 2019 - Ottawa's only book oriented Science Fiction Convention! October 18-20, Sheraton Hotel, Ottawa, Canada h
    5. Re:Woohoo, Robot War here I come by dosius · · Score: 2, Informative

      ftp.apple.asimov.net

      *RUNS*

      -uso.

      --
      What you hear in the ear, preach from the rooftop Matthew 10.27b
    6. Re:Woohoo, Robot War here I come by MacColossus · · Score: 1

      Karateka was awesome. We wore out a couple lab keyboards playing that back in the 80's. Kind of like Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter a decade in advance.

    7. Re:Woohoo, Robot War here I come by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 1

      Sabotage! The original of what you PC owners came to know as Paratrooper and iPod users as Parachute.

      Some out with a IIgs emulator and I'll finish my port of this game to IIgs graphics.

      Meanwhile I'll need to hook up my PowerMac 7500 (upgraded to a G3) to read my 3.5" ProDOS disks and get them onto a system with an SD card writer, and my IIgs to get what's still on 5.25" converted to disk images on 3.5" disks. (I don't know if the OS currently on the 7500 can do AppleTalk networking anymore.)

      --
      Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
  2. what's in a name by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    So is it called the WIIe or Wiie ?

    1. Re:what's in a name by Hognoxious · · Score: 2, Funny

      iWii

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  3. Wii emulator by flargleblarg · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's great! I wrote a Wii emulator on the Apple //e back in 1983. Now I can run that again!

    1. Re:Wii emulator by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      wrong kind of wii..

    2. Re:Wii emulator by Evets · · Score: 1

      Woohoo! I can start writing in LOGO again!!!

      Green/Amber Turtle rules!

  4. The Apple //e had crappy sound anyways... by mark-t · · Score: 1

    So not having sound is really not a big deal. All it could really do was make beeps and clicks... sounding like a wannabe R2-D2.

    --
    File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
    1. Re:The Apple //e had crappy sound anyways... by Hatta · · Score: 2, Informative

      Some games supported the add in Mockingboard which provided more sophisticated synthesis. Ultima III, IV, and V all supported the Mockingboard. The Linapple emulator does support the mockingboard, so it should be possible on this Wii port, if they can get the sound working at all.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    2. Re:The Apple //e had crappy sound anyways... by VanessaE · · Score: 2, Informative

      I'm no fan of Apple (I prefer Commodore when it comes to the 8-bit era), but a stock Apple II can do more than just beeps and clicks - it can do full digital audio using pulse width modulation. I'm not sure of the effective resolution (more than 1 bit, for sure, probably closer to 6-8 bits), but I've heard at least a couple of examples of this, including a multi-voice music player, and it actually didn't sound half bad for an otherwise rudimentary output.

    3. Re:The Apple //e had crappy sound anyways... by nacturation · · Score: 1

      So not having sound is really not a big deal. All it could really do was make beeps and clicks... sounding like a wannabe R2-D2.

      Clearly you never played Ghostbusters or that vertical scroller submarine game (anybody remember what I'm talking about?).

      --
      Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
    4. Re:The Apple //e had crappy sound anyways... by nacturation · · Score: 1

      Replying to myself (my bad) but the game was Sea Dragon and included a quite clear voice that announced "Attention Captain. Your ship's computer is now ready. Please wait while I initialize the systems".

      --
      Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
    5. Re:The Apple //e had crappy sound anyways... by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1

      I had a voice synthesiser for the Apple ][

      --
      http://michaelsmith.id.au
    6. Re:The Apple //e had crappy sound anyways... by DarkVader · · Score: 1

      There's just one problem with that. It can't.

      At least not without additional hardware.

      The Apple II has a 1 bit audio circuit, you control the audio by reading one location in memory.

      But you did hear it do it, and that's purely because somebody was really good with assembly programming of that clicker - it could be made to sound like a multi-voice synthesizer with creative timing of the clicks.

    7. Re:The Apple //e had crappy sound anyways... by VanessaE · · Score: 2, Interesting

      And depending on how those clicks were timed, the technique was probably pulse width modulation. It's simply the easiest way to turn a 1 bit output into something greater. At present, PWM is used commonly in CD players, motor speed controllers, and probably your PC's power supply. Hell, even a Commodore mouse uses it [1]. There's not much limit to the applications this method can be applied to. Higher drive current and/or voltage, a faster pulse rate, and finer pulse width granularity are usually better, but the fundamentals are the same pretty much anywhere a variable voltage is needed if everything is otherwise sane.

      Since I don't know the intimate details of the Apple II beyond the presence of that flip flop output, I'll speak from a generic perspective, to expand on the comments made by the AC below.

      Suppose you have a basic computer with a 1 MHz system clock and one or more generic I/O chips with ordinary TTL outputs, among its various other hardware.

      In your code, configure a main interrupt to trigger at a fairly decent clip, let's say 25000 times a second. Each time it triggers, have it set up a second interrupt, force an I/O line high, and exit. That second interrupt should fire a short time after it is enabled, and it should do nothing but set the I/O line low and exit when triggered.

      Call the second interrupt's time delay "D", as it represents the pulse's duty cycle. Structure the primary interrupt's code so that, when D is zero, the secondary interrupt code can chime in (that is, before the main interrupt can even exit) and force the I/O line to low right after the main interrupt sets it high.

      On the hardware side, couple that I/O line through the usual R/C circuit and attach to a speaker. As the AC below already said, this is what was done in every Apple II, and this is what will do most of the work to turn that train of pulses into a smooth voltage. With your 10 MHz system clock, a 25 kHz pulse train gives you 40 cycles between the pulses' leading edges, so your average voltage output will be about (100*(D/40)) percent of that of the high rail.

      Do something simple that makes D the same amount at all times, and you've got a configurable voltage output. Change D every so often to follow a digital sample and you've got a 25 kHz output with about 5.32193 bits of resolution.

      Since there will be some timing variation and latency in the interrupts, the available resolution will be slightly lower that this theoretical maximum (probably 5 bits even). Because of the large amount of CPU time consumed by the interrupt routines, this method works best if the I/O line is something like a timed shift register port. Then you only need a single interrupt that reads a sample value, sets the I/O line's timer accordingly, writes to the serial register any value that has only one bit set, and then exits.

      The fact that this all requires good assembly language skills on the 8-bitters does not change the fact that it *is* full digital audio - you need good skills regardless of the type of audio output hardware you're working with.

      *[1] I 'scoped it once years ago and was surprised to find that the 1351 mouse uses PWM to generate the analog signals that are sensed as voltage levels by the POTX/POTY lines in the controller port.

  5. Linapple by Hatta · · Score: 3, Informative

    The Linapple port of AppleWin that this thing is based on is great. For the longest time there was no good option for the AppleII on linux. xapple2 only ran in 8 bits, blech. kegs was ok, but I could never get it to run Ultima II. AppleWin ran in wine, but it didn't like to be full screened. Mess worked ok, but there was a bug when swapping disks. When Linapple came around it was really nice. It was not perfect, iirc it won't take a disk image as an argument, you have to boot it through the GUI. But that's a small quibble.

    In the end I just got a real IIgs. That's always the best way to go. BTW, have you seen the prices on DSDD media these days? One 25 pack of 5.25" media cost me just about as much as my IIgs did. But that's ok Wasteland is awesome!

    --
    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    1. Re:Linapple by AKAImBatman · · Score: 4, Informative

      BTW, have you seen the prices on DSDD media these days?

      About $1 a disk. Which isn't that bad. Not as good as they were back in the day, but probably not too far off after adjusting for inflation.

      The best place I've found for floppies is (the oddly obvious) http://www.floppydisk.com/. The disks come well packed and are of high quality. I have not had a single disk fail. Not sure if that's cheaper than your current source, but it might be worth looking into. :-)

      --
      Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
    2. Re:Linapple by the_B0fh · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Where the heck did you get Wasteland from? I succumbed to nostalgia, and downloaded some MS-DOS versions of wasteland. Holy Mother of God, CGA graphics sucked big time compared to Apple II Hi-Res. I played Wasteland on my Apple ][GS, and don't remember it sucking that much.

    3. Re:Linapple by pashdown · · Score: 2, Informative

      Depending on how many disks you are buying, you might want to consider purchasing a Semi-Virtual Diskette.

    4. Re:Linapple by Hatta · · Score: 1

      I think my next purchase for the unit will actually be one of the CF-IDE adaptors. Even a 64 MB card is a ton of space for an apple II. That does look like a cool project though.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    5. Re:Linapple by Hatta · · Score: 1

      I was able to track down some .dsk images and used ADTPro to transfer the disks over a serial cable. ADTPro didn't like the .nib files I found everywhere, so it took some looking but they're out there. It's highly worthwhile tracking them down.

      Other than not liking my .nib images, ADTPro is a really nice program. It makes working with disk images dead simple, and bootstrapping itself on a naked apple II is pretty impressive.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  6. Memories are Forever by alain94040 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is great... Now, all you have to do is install the preventive multitasking OS I had written at the time then try to bootstrap Minix from it, and you'll have the best of the 80s.

    So many memories, so little time. How many people on /. even have fond memories of the Apple II? Just showing my age I guess. Anyone below 30 who even knows what it was like at the time? I ran my first BBS on an Apple II. Kind of like slashdot, minus the traffic :-)

    1. Re:Memories are Forever by Nimey · · Score: 1

      I had an Apple //c for several years and many fond memories of games like "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego", various versions of Oregon Trail, the Stickybear edutainment titles, Wings of Fury, and even doing Appleworks spreadsheet work for my high school ROTC unit, after my //c had been retired.

      We did typing class on the //c as well; I forget which program that was on ("Wonderful World of PAWS?), and also practice in "Bank Street Writer". My math classes included a couple sessions with an adventure/math game whose name escapes me -- you walked around in a virtual hotel, talking to people and solving math problems in an effort to solve a (murder?) mystery. Not enough //c to go around, so we doubled up.

      --
      Hail Eris, full of mischief...

      E pluribus sanguinem
    2. Re:Memories are Forever by Minwee · · Score: 1

      I see that you either never used multitasking operating systems back then, or have simply blocked out the horrifying memories.

    3. Re:Memories are Forever by ckblackm · · Score: 1

      What do you mean memories? I've still got a working IIgs and a IIc+ :-) But then again, I collect vintage computers & game systems (love my intellivision). And yes, I'm older than 30. Christopher.

    4. Re:Memories are Forever by Cor-cor · · Score: 1

      Anyone below 30 who even knows what it was like at the time?

      I'm 20, the first computers I ever saw would have probably been an Apple II lab my school had. I can't quite remember what we did with them, I think there was a math or typing game that we loaded from those massive floppies.

    5. Re:Memories are Forever by Nimey · · Score: 1

      Whippersnapper! Those 5.25" floppies were just the right size.

      --
      Hail Eris, full of mischief...

      E pluribus sanguinem
    6. Re:Memories are Forever by KillerBob · · Score: 1

      Logo. Apparently, when I hit school in 1987, they had a lab full of Apple ][ computers, and I was teaching the teachers how to use it, having had an IBM Compatible grey box since 1985.... All we ever did with it was play around in Logo, and play Oregon Trail or other "educational" games like that.

      --
      If you believe everything you read, you'd better not read. - Japanese proverb
    7. Re:Memories are Forever by dosius · · Score: 1

      Yep, I used PAWS (I'd like to find .dsks for that!)

      I'd like to find a bunch of MECC and TLC software that's not up on Asimov too. I used to use Word Wizard all the time, and I had a copy of CNYICN's version of Elementary vol.6 (I think it was - the one with OREGON). And I still can't find Juggles' Rainbow (which I even had, for a while, in its IBM port too - IBM called it "Juggles' Butterfly").

      -uso.

      --
      What you hear in the ear, preach from the rooftop Matthew 10.27b
    8. Re:Memories are Forever by AKAImBatman · · Score: 1

      (cue music)And so I plaaaaay my... Intel-e-viiiiision.(/cue music)

      Intellivision rocks the world. I don't care what anyone says about the controllers. Dreadnaught Factor rocked. Utopia rocked. Shark! Shark! rocked. Space Spartans rocked. Astrosmash rocked. Burgertime rocked. Diner rocked. Thin Ice rocked. Vec--

      Oh hell, just go here and imagine that only 10% of that list sucks. And there you have the only ever instance of an inverted Sturgeon's Law.

      --
      Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
    9. Re:Memories are Forever by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1

      Anyone below 30 who even knows what it was like at the time?

      I'm 20, the first computers I ever saw would have probably been an Apple II lab my school had. I can't quite remember what we did with them, I think there was a math or typing game that we loaded from those massive floppies.

      At the time, they were the small floppies.

      --
      http://michaelsmith.id.au
    10. Re:Memories are Forever by muridae · · Score: 1

      Not 30 yet, and have lots of fond memories of the Apple II systems. Got to play with them in school around 4th grade, some IIe boxes. We had Oregon Trail, and a few educational games. Wrote my first code on those machines, someone got smart and taught us 4th and 5th graders how to write BASIC. Switching from Apple DOS to ProDOS was a good trainer for later, learning how all the layers separate and which layer does what.

      Later, parents bought a Laser 128 from someone else. It came with some many games, but most of them copy protected and the guy had lost the books. Luckily I already knew how to program, and working backwards was half the fun of getting the games to run.

    11. Re:Memories are Forever by NudeAvenger · · Score: 1

      I'm 25 and my first computer was a IIe... although I got it because the school was throwing them out through them being obsolete, and if a school is throwing them out - you know they're old! sometimes I miss gosub.

      --
      for(b=(a=0)+1;;b+=(a+=b))print(a+"\n"+b+"\n");
  7. I wonder if... by XDirtypunkX · · Score: 1

    ... the Woz will put it through it's paces and point out any errata or caveats the emulator author has missed.

    1. Re:I wonder if... by g051051 · · Score: 4, Informative

      I don't think so. I exchanged a few messages with hin in the past, and asked if he had tried any of the AppleII emulators, or had contributed his unique expertise to any of them. He said he thought they were neat, but didn't have the time to spend on looking at them or contributing. Too bad!

  8. Re:The BASIC program he wrote by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I tried running your program but this is what came out of it?

    PENUS
    PENUS
    PENUS ...

  9. Oregon Trail on the big screen! by thetoadwarrior · · Score: 1

    Now I can get dysentery from the comfort of my sofa!

  10. Re:This just in... by pashdown · · Score: 2, Informative

    Looks like the article has just been demoted to "Games". Seriously though, this is just the most recent in a long line of emulator ports to the Wii. The chaps banging Linux onto the Wii are doing a lot more interesting work.

  11. Re:This just in... by fortapocalypse · · Score: 1

    This just in: anyone can comment. Anyone. ;)

  12. Finally! by konohitowa · · Score: 1

    This is the most excited I've been since the Casio C-80 emulator was released for the Cray XT5!

  13. Re:This just in... by fortapocalypse · · Score: 1
    By that I mean me, btw- I was just trying to be funny, but it probably just sounded stupid. :( Sorry about that.

    If you have better stories that you'd like to submit, the thing to do is to:

    • Submit it to Index unless it is an Ask Slashdot topic (in which case, submit to Ask Slashdot), make sure the categorization is appropriate.
    • Make sure what you write notes something novel of interest to /. readers.
    • Try to keep emotion and sarcasm out of it, unless it is really, really well-placed emotion and/or sarcasm. ;)
    • Make sure that it is at least 3-4 sentences, but not more than 10 sentences (roughly).
    • Make sure that it is or sounds intelligent, unless you are going the "please make fun of me" route which works in extreme cases!
    • Make sure that it gives a summary and paraphrased or actual quotes of the interesting points of some article or blog post you found.
    • This is key- the article must be extremely recent, like within last few hours.
    • And then you're right- if a moderator likes it, everything fitting that description might get posted, but it might not.

    Finally, assuming that you are trying to comment on the moderation on Slashdot, I would say the best judge of whether a moderator is doing a good job is by the average number of comments on their approved submissions. And by that, I think they do a good job!

  14. Finally by jalefkowit · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now I can play Oregon Trail the way it was MEANT to be played: by throwing my controller at deer as they run by.

    (btw, if anyone knows where I can get a good deal on a new flat-panel TV, lemme know)

    --

    Read my blog.

  15. Wasteland! Great Googly Moogly by cwingrav · · Score: 1

    What an outstanding game! Wow. Memories. Fallout based on Wasteland my b*tt. I have so many fond memories of Proton Axes and things exploding like blood sausages... though I've never seen an explosive sausage I imagine it is quite grievous to behold.

  16. Since Wii has a Web browser. by antdude · · Score: 1

    Is it possible to use VirtualApple? I assume no since Wii doesn't use IE and Firefox due to addons. :(

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    1. Re:Since Wii has a Web browser. by kevind23 · · Score: 1

      Why would anyone in their right mind use IE? Certainly Nintendo wouldn't stoop that low.

      At any rate, that site doesn't even work on Linux, so I can't imagine why it would run on the Wii.

    2. Re:Since Wii has a Web browser. by AKAImBatman · · Score: 1

      The Internet Channel is Opera-based. It supports Widgets, but has no plugin architecture. Not that it would help. VirtualApple is written for Windows and Windows alone. It would be a major porting effort to make it work on another OS.

      --
      Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
    3. Re:Since Wii has a Web browser. by antdude · · Score: 1

      Hmm, you need Windows for Firefox extension? That stinks!

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  17. Tagged Whoopdefuckingdo. by binaryspiral · · Score: 1

    Who ever tagged the story with whoopdefuckingdo - thank you for the LOL moment.

    Carry on.

  18. Sound Support by yohanes · · Score: 1

    Wow, I didn't know that this will get into slashdot (like the tag said: whoopdefuckingdo)

    Sound is now supported, it is still not perfect yet, but you can hear "SeaDragon" and other games. If you don't like the sound emulation, just mute your TV.

    --
    -- tinyhack.com
  19. Re:XBOX by ral8158 · · Score: 1

    'Barely work on the wii at all'? I've got 4 N64 games from the Wii Shop Channel and I've had no errors.

    And I thought APPLE fanboys were bad. The 'XBOX' ones are worse.

  20. Re:XBOX by MikeBabcock · · Score: 1

    You do realize that most open source emulators and such compile on non-Intel platforms just fine, right? Many of us free software types aren't glued to a single architecture and cross-compiling isn't totally strange.

    --
    - Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
  21. Castle Wolfenstien by kildurin · · Score: 1

    Oh man, can I run the original Apple II version of Castle Wolfenstien?

  22. Amazing results with limited hardware... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    I would call your understanding of the audio circuitry as incomplete...

    Yes, there is a single flip-flop control for the Apple II speaker output, which you can toggle once with a LDA $C030 command, or toggle twice with a STA $C030 command, and control these "clicks" by careful timing between commands. Sounds very digital... click to high state or click to low state.

    However, there is an analog component to the circuit as well, and this makes all the difference. If you include the characteristics of the DC blocking capacitor, the inductance of the speaker coil, and the actual cone motion, you can obtain amplitude control over the output waveform by carefully selecting the timing between close spaced "clicks".

    Over the years, clever developers created amazing sounds with the Apple II, using this very limited 1-bit hardware. This is the best example I know of where the hardware was used in ways not intended as part of the original design to achieve amazing results. I'm sure the final sounds people acheived on the Apple II far exceeded the expectations of The Woz when he designed that sound circuit.

  23. I loved my apple IIe back in the day. by j741 · · Score: 1

    The Apple IIe was my first real computer, and one on which I first learned to program in basic and turtle (anyone remember that one). And the games were fun back then too; I clearly remember playing 'Goonies' and 'Conan' on that system. Then Apple abandoned that system for the MAC which could not run any software from the Apple II series and I quickly became a PC enthusiast due to being pissed off by Apple. Shortly after that I used the OS/2 operating system to run my BBS and my Windows software at the same time. Ahh the memories :)

    --
    - James
    1. Re:I loved my apple IIe back in the day. by BigGar' · · Score: 1

      I think the "turtle" you are referring to is the LOGO programming language.
      One of the things you can do with it is move a cursor around the screen to draw pictures, etc.
      The cursor was called a turtle and may have looked like a turtle or perhaps a triangle.

      The Turtle is a way to draw vector based images and was added to LOGO by its original inventor Seymour Papert, of MIT, so he could control his Turtle Robot to draw pictures.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_(programming_language)

      --


      Shop smart, Shop S-Mart.
    2. Re:I loved my apple IIe back in the day. by j741 · · Score: 1

      I think the "turtle" you are referring to is the LOGO programming language...

      Yes, that's the one. It's been so long since I last used it that it's hard to remember.

      --
      - James
  24. Wapple//e by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    or something like Wapple//e

  25. Does it have the Z80 emulator in it too? :-) by Zarf_is_with_you · · Score: 1

    Where is the Floppy drive emulator so I can load my CP/M Disc's?

  26. parent speaks the truth by Ionized · · Score: 1

    dunno what asshat modded parent as troll, but the XBOX really is a true gem. there are numerous mature emulators available for the XBOX, and XBMC has a nice loader to access them all handily.

    We cancelled our cable service recently, now we just use XBMC to watch tv shows and movies we download off the internet.

    The interface is clean and intelligent, and it automagically downloads album covers, DVD covers & movie info from imdb, uses the milkdrop winamp plugin for visualization, and cooks you breakfast in bed. I can't recommend it enough.

    1. Re:parent speaks the truth by rtechie · · Score: 1

      Thanks. Whatever you think about Microsoft it doesn't detract from the utility of the original XBOX as a media center and game emulation box.

      Especially XBMC was a REVOLUTION when it came out. To this day, it stomps all over everything in erms of codec support.

  27. Re:Does it have the Z80 emulator in it too? :-) by Zarf_is_with_you · · Score: 1

    I am pretty sure I still have some ZORK disks around somewhere, I wonder if they are still readable!

  28. Re:Does it have the Z80 emulator in it too? :-) by JustNiz · · Score: 1

    Just download them from here (legally and for free) and play on your pc.

    http://www.infocom-if.org/downloads/downloads.html

  29. Re:XBOX by rtechie · · Score: 1

    You do realize that most open source emulators and such compile on non-Intel platforms just fine, right?

    Actually, no. This is a myth. I've done significant embedded development on Linux (MIPS, PowerPC) and it's a MAJOR PITA to port many apps to non-x86 architectures in large part because the compilers suck. If you don't feel like re-wiriting large chunks of source code your x86 app is unlikely to work in PowerPC. Running a VM is cheating. Spend some time working on Gentoo, you'll notice there is a LOT more software for x86 than PowerPC. Look at the capabilities of PS3 Linux vs. original XBOX Linux. There is a very wide gulf.

    And finally, some of the emulators I'm talking about are Windows-based. I wasn't clear before, but the original XBOX runs Windows 2000 so with relatively minimal changes you can run Windows apps just fine on the original XBOX.

  30. Re:XBOX by rtechie · · Score: 1

    Which ones? I've got Mario 64 and Ocaria of Time and both have audio, framerate, and REALLY NASTY clipping problems on the wii Virtual Console. These issues don't exist in my PC emulator (which is the same one I use on the original XBOX).

    Have you ever played N64 games in a PC emulator? I thought not.

  31. Re:XBOX by rtechie · · Score: 1

    Hmm, most of the homebrew stuff for the Wii can be distributed without having to worry about license agreements since most do not seem to be using official Nintendo license stuff. (As in the libraries are homebrew)

    You have to violate the DMCA to run the hacks to allow you to run homebrew software, so this strikes me as a very fine distinction. MS isn't very aggressive with the XBOX developers BTW. I worked at Microsoft at the same time I was doing XBOX development and nobody said anything. I actually was offered help from XBOX developers because THEY were using XBMC.

    Clearly the vendor most amenable to homebrew development is Microsoft, they now have a downloadable "Community Games" section on XBOX Live. Sony has also made strides in this area with the user-developed content in LittleBigPlanet. Nintendo doesn't even let you chat in online play (and has lousy online services in general) because they don't want people swearing at little kids in online play. I suspect this same concern will also kill "official" homebrew development.

    I'm not a real big fan of the "Community Games" on the 360, but I'm not a fan of Arcade either.