Docwiz Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 I love that we have access to all of this older software on our modern computers. I love that I can still use my Atari Joystick or Paddles on games. It brings back lots of memories. Emulation for me is the killer app of modern systems. I have to admit that I still miss those days when I was the only one around my block that could actually use a computer and the hackers of today's world wasn't an issue. It was more of an innocent time than the world that we have today. Then again today's Atari has built their own Cryptocurrency and I find that fascinating. Also, today I enjoy my 200 megabit Internet connection compared to struggling at 300 baud trying to connect to a bulletin board that would send email ONLY to people on on that one bulletin board system. (Before Fidonet). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 (edited) I love that we have access to all of this older software on our modern computers. I love that I can still use my Atari Joystick or Paddles on games. It brings back lots of memories. Emulation for me is the killer app of modern systems. Killer app indeed.. Modern-day contemporary emulation is almost like magic. And it fulfills a childhood dream of being able to play all my videogames on one system. And it's also cool, too, that I can connect two emulators together via a simulated 300 baud serial cable. One emulator runs the terminal, the other the BBS. It's been invaluable for going through my old BBS software and user logs and stuff. For testing the software and being sure all the modules are intact. A prelude to archiving it all. That on the Apple II though. Edited February 18, 2018 by Keatah 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phaeron Posted February 19, 2018 Author Share Posted February 19, 2018 And possibly pushing Phaeron not to use too obscure Windows/DirectX/Whatever... APIs in Altirra Did someone say something about obscure APIs? http://www.virtualdub.org/beta/Altirra-3.10-test12.zip http://www.virtualdub.org/beta/Altirra-3.10-test12-src.zip Adds support for using the XAudio2 and WASAPI audio APIs. These allow for reduced delay and better reliability over the previously supported WaveOut and DirectSound APIs, down in the 30ms range. There is now also an Auto option which selects WASAPI if available and otherwise falls back to WaveOut; this is now the new default. Would appreciate testing of the WASAPI option specifically on systems that have weird sound setups, particularly >48KHz, >16-bit, or 5.1+ channels. First two I can test but not the latter. WASAPI is available on Windows Vista or later. The XAudio2 option will attempt to use XAudio 2.8 on Windows 8/10 and try to fall back to XAudio 2.7 otherwise; XP/Vista/7 require the DirectX redistributable (uncheck the Bing Bar during install!). 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Docwiz Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Did someone say something about obscure APIs? http://www.virtualdub.org/beta/Altirra-3.10-test12.zip http://www.virtualdub.org/beta/Altirra-3.10-test12-src.zip Adds support for using the XAudio2 and WASAPI audio APIs. These allow for reduced delay and better reliability over the previously supported WaveOut and DirectSound APIs, down in the 30ms range. There is now also an Auto option which selects WASAPI if available and otherwise falls back to WaveOut; this is now the new default. Would appreciate testing of the WASAPI option specifically on systems that have weird sound setups, particularly >48KHz, >16-bit, or 5.1+ channels. First two I can test but not the latter. WASAPI is available on Windows Vista or later. The XAudio2 option will attempt to use XAudio 2.8 on Windows 8/10 and try to fall back to XAudio 2.7 otherwise; XP/Vista/7 require the DirectX redistributable (uncheck the Bing Bar during install!). I have a feature request for sometime when you have some extra time to devote. It's your emulator after all, but wouldn't it be awesome to not only print out ATASCII on a modern day Windows printer, but be able to print out in printer emulation as well? For example... Printing non graphical print in Atari Printer 1027 mode, so that it looks like it's been printed by an Atari 1027 Printer. Also what about dot matrix emulation and using "The Print Shop" again and printing in 24-pin Dot Matrix mode again, even on my 2018 Windows Laser Printer. There is some old Atari basic code that I would like to print in Atascii on my printer directly so I can convert that old code into modern PHP/MySQL and it would be nice if I could print it as a text file as Atascii and also print it directly as Atascii on my Windows modern printer from today. Anyway, what do you think about Printer emulation? You don't have to emulate them all, just the most common Atari and Dot matrix ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 I, too, would like to see printer emulation. Either output to BMP PNG or TXT PDF. There is an Apple II emulator that does so, and then you can print it out on a modern PC. What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baktra Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 A 1029 emulation with PDF output would be very, very nice. But, I would rather like to see the 1029 emulation as a standalone project. A portable C library using for example pango and cairo for rendering that could be plugged-in to more emulators. Something like the the A8CAS project for cassette emulation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Docwiz Posted February 25, 2018 Share Posted February 25, 2018 I, too, would like to see printer emulation. Either output to BMP PNG or TXT PDF. There is an Apple II emulator that does so, and then you can print it out on a modern PC. What do you think? Right, a PDF would be great! I just think printing out anything with printer emulation that looks like whatever virtual Atari printer you have selected would be awesome. I miss those days and I gave away all of my old Atari equipment back in the mid 1990's and such and would like to get back the style of those printers on PDF, so I can print them on my modern day printer and have it look like back then. This would be my most wanted feature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fujidude Posted February 25, 2018 Share Posted February 25, 2018 (edited) If there was the ability for the emulated Atari to "see" say one of the Epson NLQ dot matrix printers, and the output could be printed on whatever printer is hooked up the the host that would be pretty awesome. I think the Epsons were some of the most widely supported among Atari 8 programs (indeed, for many of the 8-bit systems of the era)? Edited February 25, 2018 by fujidude 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Usotsuki Posted February 26, 2018 Share Posted February 26, 2018 With the possible exception of Apple where they were second to the ImageWriter. And not just 8-bit: my first printer (for my IBM 5160) was an IBM Graphics Printer, which was pretty much an Epson MX-80 with CP437 support added. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vitoco Posted February 27, 2018 Share Posted February 27, 2018 Is there a hotkey that toggles between running and stopped mode like F8 key but without enabling the debugger? I want to stop the emulation at some point of a game to get a screenshot sequence. If I use Alt key, the emulation stops, but when I press Alt-F10, the emulation resumes after saving the screenshot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fujidude Posted February 27, 2018 Share Posted February 27, 2018 Is there a hotkey that toggles between running and stopped mode like F8 key but without enabling the debugger? I want to stop the emulation at some point of a game to get a screenshot sequence. If I use Alt key, the emulation stops, but when I press Alt-F10, the emulation resumes after saving the screenshot. F9 pauses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vitoco Posted February 27, 2018 Share Posted February 27, 2018 F9 pauses. Great! Thanks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fujidude Posted February 27, 2018 Share Posted February 27, 2018 Great! Thanks... I got to thinking about that... when paused with F9, Altirra displays a PAUSED notice over itself. If that cramps your screen shot style, I have another idea. Use the OS's take management to stop the program and then start it again when done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted February 27, 2018 Share Posted February 27, 2018 (edited) crypto currency is becoming like all those store brand credit cards.... Edited February 27, 2018 by _The Doctor__ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vitoco Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 I got to thinking about that... when paused with F9, Altirra displays a PAUSED notice over itself. If that cramps your screen shot style, I have another idea. Use the OS's take management to stop the program and then start it again when done. That notice is not saved in the screenshot when it is created using Alt-F10. I forgot what was the pause hot key, and when I searched in Altirra's help, it said that F9 is used as a breakpoint toggle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phaeron Posted February 28, 2018 Author Share Posted February 28, 2018 I forgot what was the pause hot key, and when I searched in Altirra's help, it said that F9 is used as a breakpoint toggle. It is, but only in debugger contexts. You can see or override this in Tools / Keyboard Shortcuts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vitoco Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 There is some old Atari basic code that I would like to print in Atascii on my printer directly so I can convert that old code into modern PHP/MySQL and it would be nice if I could print it as a text file as Atascii and also print it directly as Atascii on my Windows modern printer from today. Did you try my ATASCII Printer? You can get the images of both Atari BASIC and TurboBasic XL "tokenized" files and of any ATASCII listed file and print them directly from the browser. Nothing to do with emulation, but it is a useful tool I use 'till today! Sorry for the off-topic 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fujidude Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 That notice is not saved in the screenshot when it is created using Alt-F10. I forgot what was the pause hot key, and when I searched in Altirra's help, it said that F9 is used as a breakpoint toggle. F9 is used as a breakpoint toggle... when you are in the debugger. When in the main display it is pause. Check out TOOLS --> KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS There you can not only quickly see (and search) what is currently set, but also customize it as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fujidude Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 It is, but only in debugger contexts. You can see or override this in Tools / Keyboard Shortcuts. Doh. I should have read further before replying as you covered it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Philsan Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 Bomb Jake rom is correctly recognized by Altirra as Corina cart, but the game hangs on title screen. The bin, together with sources, is here: http://sources.pigwa.net/files/gry/BombJake_Cartridge.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phaeron Posted March 5, 2018 Author Share Posted March 5, 2018 http://www.virtualdub.org/beta/Altirra-3.10-test13.zip http://www.virtualdub.org/beta/Altirra-3.10-test13-src.zip Overflows have been fixed in NTSC high artifacting mode, so artifacting saturation can be pushed higher for 800 colors. For blue/green artifacting, try artifact phase 130deg and artifacting saturation 319%. Note that this will produce excessive fringing, which I need to retune the filters to combat. Added support for correcting from NTSC color space to sRGB or Adobe RGB. This improves red/blue balance vs. green which seems to help with color reproduction. Try -57d hue base and 25.7d hue step with NTSC/PAL to RGB. Note that this correction is fairly expensive when artifacting is enabled (it's free otherwise). Adobe RGB can give more saturated colors if you have a monitor that can be switched to that mode. Gamma correction now works in PAL high artifacting mode. Bomb Jake rom is correctly recognized by Altirra as Corina cart, but the game hangs on title screen. The bin, together with sources, is here: http://sources.pigwa.net/files/gry/BombJake_Cartridge.zip There's a DLI overrun problem with the ROM image version of this game that I haven't been able to figure out -- one of the WSYNC writes occurs one cycle too late and this derails the rest of the DLIs. Can't run it on real hardware but have loaded the offending DLI code onto a computer and it fails there as well. The packed-in emulator only runs it because it allows too many CPU cycles per scanline in narrow mode. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 I was thinking about what I didn't like about the new interface. It has to do with switching between machine's sub-options quickly (like cpu speed, among other items). It feels too buried and nestled in there, so to speak. Unless I simply have to get used to it..? Anyways, we all like the work that's being done here. It's scrumptious like a plushie! Now, I was playing Star Raiders.. Is there is a "problem" when artifacting is turned on high? There's some vertical jailbars visible when the shields are active. Don't know if it's supposed to be that way or not. Here's some screenies to show what I mean. They were all taken with Preset Authentic NTSC and no other adjustments. Color match mode: None. Luma ramp XL/XE This is with no or low artifacting. I used a color picker to examine the blue shields and didn't find any variations. Here is high artifacting, vertical jailbars slightly visible. I adjusted the color curve in PaintShopPro to exaggerate the effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 Has an XL been compared on an NTSC tv? Just to make sure if its a genuine effect or a Altirra created one? Just to be sure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 Is there a way to stop VBXE video taking on the NTSC "hue" (which it doesn't on real hardware) in the emulator without forcing use of the same palette for PAL/NTSC regardless of whether VBXE is enabled? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 (edited) SIlly question that I sort of know the reaction will be.. Why isn't NTSC artifacting on by default when an NTSC video mode is used? In the idea of emulating the Atari as it was then you would not have had LCD's to use so surely 'the experience' is more correct to a new user if the Artifacting is on as if its on a crt? New users seeing Drol with it off will wonder why its all white when if the are USA based and had the game in the day will be confused? Now the reaction I expected, yes I know that even as we speak Avery etc are hard at work trying to define how the signal from the Atari models differ and alter what a user saw but at worst with Artifacting on you will see most of the time either a green purple combo or the more correct blue red combo unless you have played with the settings.. Other non artifacting modes would remain reasonably correct with the default palettes. When I say the blue red combo is more correct I mean that is judging by the box pictures what the developers were going for. I'm probably in the tiny minority who love the artifacting and the soft picture, I like it because its so damn close to what my little Bush tv displayed, obviously I didin't see the NTSC artifacting but I either modded the display list to OE's or used a prehacked one. I just love that rubbish old low res TV look so I'm immensely grateful to Avery for the modes. i think its nice that people can have a clearer picture now but surely it is more true to the time it came from with artifacting on. Just my 2p / 2 cents thought... I'm going down the line of the ZX81 emulator here called EightyOne, when it boots it emulated the syncing line and the TV interference that the average person would have seen out of the box, yes you can turn some of it off or less but that isn't what you would have seen straight away, I think things should start as close to macine in the day with option on how to improve the display if wanted. The same goes with add ons and upgrades, have a basic machine mode as Avery offers, have the ability to virtually upgrade (as he also offers) and have the ability to save your tricked out mega machine (again perfectly offered). Edited March 6, 2018 by Mclaneinc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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