Apple ][ emulator (surely, I'm not the only one...)
 

The amazing ArnimS posted the below more than a month ago, I can't believe I'm the only one who just can't wait for Apple 2 on IT!!! ! I'd really like to see a hildonized simple dirty gui for it -- admitted linux newbie here -- and a .deb package install. (I managed the tarball, but barely, and I'm sure everthings f..ked up, but it was a big newbie win!!!)

Add your voice to my plea!!! I need some Oregon Trail!!

Thanks to Arnim for all his ports and emus. Keep up the good work!

New Emulator port: Apple ][ (winapple)
Hi, i found out that recently someone has ported (partially^Halmost fully) the excellent applewin emulator to linux. I had to make a few small changes to get it to compile (commented with ARNIM comments).

Amazingly it appears to consume very little (5-10%) of the N810 cpu.

However the sound is spluttery. Since cpu isn't pegged, i figured it was either pointer alignment problems, or bad buffer fill calculation. Enabling underrun/overrun debug output showed it was underrunning by 90-560 samples constantly. So i tried doubling the amount of data written in Speaker.cpp. This got rid of the splutters but caused periodic breaks (as something else was countering this change). See the ARNIM comment in Speaker.cpp

http://pupnik.de/maemoapple.tgz

It's a beautifully fast emulator, and it's the simplest i've seen in a long time. So I thought i'd share the sources and binary for anyone who wants to take a stab at fixing the sound. Just grep the source dir for my comments and you'll see where I was mucking-about.

(edit) development on applewin is ongoing - newer win-versions here http://applewin.berlios.de/
Cheers,
Last edited by ArnimS : 02-15-2008 at 09:38 AM. Reason: filename correction

Re: Apple ][ emulator (surely, I'm not the only one...)
 

I personally think that the cut off year with any game for ArnimS's version of Dosbox is 1990, but with Oregon Trail, it was released shortly after in 1992.

I don't know this game or even own it.

But still, with the right settings, I'm thinking that it should run fairly well, though you'll might have to make some sacrifices with sound and frame speed.

If you want immediate happiness, try his latest Dosbox release.

No promises on this, but you might find yourself giddy with joy! :D

Re: Apple ][ emulator (surely, I'm not the only one...)
 

I've been checking that original thread from time to time, an apple emulator would be great! Would love to play my fave: sherwood forest. Also bolo and russkie duck, but doubt my n800 controls would work well for those.

Re: Apple ][ emulator (surely, I'm not the only one...)
 

Let me bore you with a trip back to my childhood....

I grew up in Northern Minnesota, in the 80's the MECC refhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MECC
put Apple II computers in most MN schools. (of course they were under utilized) but once week they'd herd us into the computer lab and turn us loose on such classics as Oregon Trail, Odell Lake, Number Munchers, etc. We also had a IIe in the classroom with an etch-a-sketch like progam called something like Logos... But, I digress...

I got my own IIC (used) through the Boy Scouts of all odd places to buy a computer. I'm pretty sure my single mother forked over some ridiculous amount like $2500 for it....

I was the envy of the neighborhood (for about a month before nintendos and segas starting hitting the market).

But, the MECC classics weren't readily available for purchase or at the library... I could only travel the oregon trail during those weekly half hour sessions. And here's the thing.... I never made it to Oregon.

Addison - thanks for your reply. Though new to posting I've been lurking here for awhile and have been enjoying DOSBOX as well as your excellent keyboard!! The DOS version of Oregon Trail was released much later (as you said) and I believe was a different animal.

Chrisak - I'll have to check out Sherwood Forrest on Winapple thanks for the tip!! Conan and Moon Patrol were ones I wasted alot of time with too...

Re: Apple ][ emulator (surely, I'm not the only one...)
 

In high school, my friend got a new Apple ][.
We'd spend hours playing Karateka, Bard's Tale, Ultima (II at the time), Cannonball Blitz (I was a huge Donkey Kong fan in the arcades), and lot's of text games.
(For some reason, I didn't get into the Wizardry series. I think it was an Ultima vs Wizardry thing back then. :-)
When my family could afford it (I was attending the rich school, but not living the rich life :-), I got my first computer, a Vic-20.

I was on the Commodore path from there. C64, SX-64, Amiga, before I finally went PC. (Then, thankfully, linux brought me back to fun! :-)

But I always loved the Apple ][ line.

Now, I have a IIc and a IIe. The IIe is hooked up here with a dual floppy and a color monitor, and I still play the Ultima's and Leisure Suit Larry on it. :-)
In fact, I have originals of Ultima II, III, IV, and V. (With cloth maps for II, III, and IV)

Glad to see it's available for the IT!

desiv

Re: Apple ][ emulator (surely, I'm not the only one...)
 

Sweet!

Before the Apple ][s dominated the educational market, some Minnesota schools had CBM PETs

http://pupnik.de/Commodore_PET_2001.jpg

If I recall correctly, 'Oregon Trail' took about 5 minutes to load from the cassette. Some of my greatest memories from that time were getting excused from 5th grade math to program on the PET. Only much later did I learn that the BASIC on those was written by ... Bill Gates. :(

Of course, the lucky kids had Apple ][s at home and the really lucky kids also had a Control Cata PLATO terminal

http://pupnik.de/CDC_plato.jpg

...at home connected to the Cyber mainframe over 300 baud modems -- which let them play online multiplayer games like Moria dungeon crawl and the awesome galactic conquest game called Empire.

http://pupnik.de/Netrek_0_01_tinyfont.jpg

Anyway back on-topic. The Apple ][ emulator won't be 'hildonised'. It has an in-game disk image loader menu - You can load disk images with the +/- keys.

I haven't spent time with the Apple ][ emulator lately, but if you find me a good quality .wav sample of the Apple floppy 'whirr' and 'seek-stutter' sound to play during disk access, I'll get right on it! :)

Re: Apple ][ emulator (surely, I'm not the only one...)
 

Arnim - thanks for the reply. for clarification: +/- on top of my N800 or on the keyboard? I was so psyched when I managed to install your maemoapple that I wasn't too distressed when I couldn't figure out how to load a .dsk image.

BTW - sheesh I thought I was showing my grey hair... Commodore PET terminals.. Ha!

My 2c is still in working order, and I'd certainly be willing to either:
a. Do some sound sampling
b. Do some searching

Re: Apple ][ emulator (surely, I'm not the only one...)
 

On the top of N800 - should work ok.

I found a guy who did some recordings of the original drive sounds - sent email. http://www.infocom.cqu.edu.au/Staff/..._freeware.html

Also found some music made with Apple II
http://8bitsoundandfury.ld8.org/
OMG.. this song is guaranteed to clear out your ear-wax and drive away rodents within a 400 meter radius.

Re: Apple ][ emulator (surely, I'm not the only one...)
 

Actually, they were both introduced at the same time.
-------------------------
1977 April
Apple II introduced at the First West Coast Computer Faire, with BASIC in ROM, color video, low and high resolution graphics, built-in speaker, game paddle inputs, and seven slots for peripherals. It is expandable to 48K RAM.[10], [12]

Commodore PET introduced, with a 6502 processor, 4K RAM, 14K ROM, and 8K Microsoft BASIC, for $595.[13]
--------------------------

You can still feel as old as arnim if you want. :-) Aren't I helpful!

desiv

Re: Apple ][ emulator (surely, I'm not the only one...)
 

Arnim -I checked out the 8bit sound and fury site last night as well.....

YIkes!!

desiv - Point taken!! Let me adjust my dentures and put on my bifocals...In my defense I didn't get my IIC until about 84....