Preferred Model III emulator?

[Opry99er]

Ill be downloading Sharp 80 tonight to give it a run-through. Looks like there are more emulators out there though. Anyone prefer one over another? Reasons?

[+sm3]

Ill be downloading Sharp 80 tonight to give it a run-through. Looks like there are more emulators out there though. Anyone prefer one over another? Reasons?

 

I use the licensed versions of TRS32 for Windows and Z80Asm from http://www.trs-80emulators.com/ and also TRSTools for Windows to manipulate disk images, etc..

 

The emulator supports Model I, III, 4 and 4P with all the features I need plus great support if you need it.

 

The only feature it doesn't have, which I've requested of the author, is an option for scan lines. You will also need to supply the ROMs to use as it doesn't come with any. I just dumped the ROMs from my own hardware to use and the author can provide the instructions for this if you need them.

[Opry99er]

$70 for that one...

 

Is the functionality significantly better than the free alternatives?

[+sm3]

$70 for that one...

 

Is the functionality significantly better than the free alternatives?

 

Well, there is a "Unregistered Shareware version" for free. The $69 gives you the same plus what is listed below. You can decide if you want to use it. I decided to support the author and I do ask for support now and then so I paid the $69.

 

Registered Version — $69:

• All features included in the shareware version
• Built-in emulation of an Epson FX-80 dot matrix printer (including graphics and control codes)
• High resolution graphics (Radio Shack and Micro-Labs)
• Up to 1 megabyte of additional memory in Model 4 and 4P modes
• Hard disk support
• Orchestra 85/90 music generation

[Opry99er]

Sure, I sell software that I write for the TI-99/4A on physical diskette or cassette with full packaging. I also give out a free version as well, digitally.

 

I definitely understand and believe in supporting developers.

 

For me, though, a TRS-80 emulator would really just be a prototyping tool, so the value isnt there at that cost.

 

If I get serious about developing software for the Model 3, though, my perspective may change.

[Opry99er]

The emulator I use for the TI-99/4A is free. But if the developer decided to charge for it, I would happily pay. I use it that much and it is richly featured and updated regularly.

[+sm3]

The emulator I use for the TI-99/4A is free. But if the developer decided to charge for it, I would happily pay. I use it that much and it is richly featured and updated regularly.

 

Yeah, I don't doubt that. Sharp 80 is good emulator for the Model III too. I tried it when it first came out. You just asked what others were using, and I answered

[Opry99er]

And I appreciate it.

 

Glad to know there are multiple options out there.

[George Phillips]

trs80gp runs on windows and is geared towards software development: http://48k.ca/trs80gp/trs80gp-1.9.7.zip

That's a slightly hidden more recent version, main page is here: http://48k.ca/trs80gp.html

 

Programs can be loaded directly from the command line. With zmac's (http://48k.ca/zmac.html) .bds output format you get source-level debugging.

 

Extremely accurate video emulation means you can program beam level effects like this: http://48k.ca/ball.html

And it generally is very accurate on timing having exact cycle counts per frame and video wait state emulation.

 

I'm the author and am very willing to accept feature requests. I think there's a fair number of people who use it but mostly I improve it as I investigate hardware details or need something to help out a programming project.

 

I've been meaning to release an updated version officially but haven't got around to writing up the documentation.

[Opry99er]

Excellent!! Ill get that one tonight and give it a try!

 

Thank you very much for responding.

[Opry99er]

Im really liking Sharp 80... however I cannot seem to get sound. It comes up with an alarm saying Cannot activate sound.

 

Thats primarily for playing games though... I havent tried coding yet- but I am looking forward to trying that tonight.

[Opry99er]

sm3, have you used the PASTE function much in TRS32?

 

I have not downloaded it yet, but I am having some PASTE issues with sharp80. It adds and drops characters from time to time, causing issues on large paste jobs.

[+sm3]

sm3, have you used the PASTE function much in TRS32?

 

I have not downloaded it yet, but I am having some PASTE issues with sharp80. It adds and drops characters from time to time, causing issues on large paste jobs.

 

Yeah, with just simple commands and stuff. It doesn't (for me anyway) recognize the keyboard control c and control v but as long as you have it on the clipboard, you can just go to Edit and Paste and it will print out what's on the clipboard.

[Opry99er]

Good. I do all my coding in Notepad++ and paste it into the emulator...

 

This makes for a nice clean development environment.

 

The current project for the TRS-80 is a port of one of my games, *Werewolves & Wanderers*. The code is already 500 lines long, so I will need to be able to paste, for sure.

[+sm3]

Good. I do all my coding in Notepad++ and paste it into the emulator...

 

This makes for a nice clean development environment.

 

The current project for the TRS-80 is a port of one of my games, *Werewolves & Wanderers*. The code is already 500 lines long, so I will need to be able to paste, for sure.

 

Ah, OK, but no need to cut-n-paste large files into the emulator directly, you can just use Z80Asm to assemble from a text file. If you have the registered version of Z80Asm you can even read/write from dsk images directly.

 

With TRSTools you can then insert the CMD file into a dsk image. You can even view a CMD file as Z80 assembly language with TRSTools.

[Opry99er]

Interesting. This game is in BASIC, though... so I am not sure those tools will apply to this project.

 

I have been converting my game from TI Extended BASIC to TRS-80 cassette BASIC over the past couple of days... now that I have the code at least somewhat lined out, I need to paste it in and give it a good runthrough to search for bugs and tune up the displays

[George Phillips]

trs80gp will load a BASIC program in either ASCII or tokenized form from the command line. Usually "trs80gp program.txt" is all you need.

 

You can edit inside the emulator and use LLIST to save a copy (which gets appended to trs80-printer.txt).

 

Or you can CSAVE and it'll let you save it as a ".cas" file. But then it isn't as easy to convert that back to ASCII.

[Opry99er]

Excellent info, thank you, sir!

[+sm3]

Interesting. This game is in BASIC, though... so I am not sure those tools will apply to this project.

 

I have been converting my game from TI Extended BASIC to TRS-80 cassette BASIC over the past couple of days... now that I have the code at least somewhat lined out, I need to paste it in and give it a good runthrough to search for bugs and tune up the displays

 

Ah, I see why you were looking for cut-and-paste, that makes sense now. Well, let us know how it goes, I have never tried with anything that large before, but sounds like George has a method for you to use as well with his emulator.

[almightytodd]

On 4/14/2018 at 3:36 AM, George Phillips said:

trs80gp will load a BASIC program in either ASCII or tokenized form from the command line. Usually "trs80gp program.txt" is all you need.

 

You can edit inside the emulator and use LLIST to save a copy (which gets appended to trs80-printer.txt).

 

Or you can CSAVE and it'll let you save it as a ".cas" file. But then it isn't as easy to convert that back to ASCII.

Hi George!

 

I recently discovered the trs80gp emulator and wanted to come here to AtariAge and share with everyone that after years of searching for a usable TRS-80 emulator, I've finally found one! So of course, I did a search first to see if anyone else had mentioned it, and imagine my surprise to find the author active in these forums!  WOW!!!

 

The TRS-80 Model I holds a special place in my heart, because although there was no way as a 17 year old that I could talk my family into buying one (...at over $2,000 of today's dollars), I went down to my local Radio Shack, bought a beginning TRS-80 BASIC book (I think it was Level 1... ...not sure), and then spent a few Saturdays at Radio Shack trying to type in programs on their demo machine.

 

The first computer I actually OWNED was a Timex/Sinclair 1000, which also made use of the Z80 CPU. I enjoyed that for several years, and I now continue to explore BASIC programming using the EightyOne emulator, which features display scan lines and other video effects that really bring nostalgia in to the emulation experience. If only I could find a decent TRS-80 emulator with similar features... ...and now I have!

 

Here's a screenshot of my desktop while running your fine emulator with appropriate wallpaper...

 

 

I'm a software engineer at Walt Disney World now, and those early experiences with machines like the TRS-80 and the Sinclair had a definite influence on the direction of my career. The second computer that I owned was a TRS-80 Color Computer 2, by the way, but it just didn't seem to have the same kind of charm as these earlier models.

 

Thanks again for your efforts in creating, well, it's just the BEST TRS-80 emulator I've ever seen! My discovery of this has been a real bright-spot during COVID-19 lock-down and spending my days working from home.

 

Thank you! Thank you!

 

[willus]

Hi Todd--I agree that George and his brother Peter have done amazing work.  I've combined Peter's javascript Model III emulator with the archive from ClassicCmp.org and PlanetEmu.net to create willus.com/trs80 where you can quickly search for and instantly view, run, download, and/or edit thousands of old TRS-80 programs.