ProSystem Emulator with Linux using WINE

[NoSpam]

Greetings all.

 

The subject mostly says it all. There don't seem to be much in the line of cool 7800 emulators for Linux. So, if it's of interest to anyone, I am able to use ProSystem Emulator in Linux using WINE. I am also able to use WINE to run Virtual ColecoVision, as well.

 

I still have my old 7800 console and games, and have started once again my hobby of trying to collect 7800 games and accessories. Luckily, collecting for 7800 should be easier than 2600 7800 has always been one of my favorite systems although it never really caught on.

[jaybird3rd]

Interesting. What computer hardware are you using, and what kind of performance do you get? I would think that a 7800 game, running inside a 7800 emulator, running on top of .NET, running on top of WINE, running on top of Linux, would be much too slow to play without some serious horsepower.

 

I probably would have run the *nix version of MESS, but it's good to know there's another option.

[Tom]

Interesting. What computer hardware are you using, and what kind of performance do you get? I would think that a 7800 game, running inside a 7800 emulator, running on top of .NET, running on top of WINE, running on top of Linux, would be much too slow to play without some serious horsepower.

 

I probably would have run the *nix version of MESS, but it's good to know there's another option.

 

1. ProSystem doesn't use .NET

2. Even if it did, .NET isn't *that* slow (.NET assemblies get JIT compiled on both MS.NET and Mono, which is partially why they tend to take a bit longer to load. One could still whine about garbage collection and the CLR in general slowing things down, but that's another story).

3. Wine...well...stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator. Because it doesn't emulate anything. Windows and *x86* Linux are similar enough that Windows executables can be made work on *x86* Linux and vice versa. After all, both Win32 and x86 Linux binaries contain, guess what, x86 code. What Wine "basically" does is provide replacements for Win32 API calls.

 

To sum it up, no it's not terribly surprising running ProSystem on Wine works fine. The only amazing thing is the amount of work people have put into Wine to duplicate all those Win32 APIs.

[Tom]

I've been working on getting emu7800 (that one is written in C#) to work on Mono. There are quite a few Win32 specific calls and Win32isms I want to rip out, but it comes along nicely. Or would come along nicely, if I had time to work on it, but probably not again before next year.

[jaybird3rd]

1. ProSystem doesn't use .NET

Ah ... my mistake. I seemed to remember hearing that ProSystem was a .NET application, but I must be thinking of something else like emu7800.

 

3. Wine...well...stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator. Because it doesn't emulate anything. Windows and *x86* Linux are similar enough that Windows executables can be made work on *x86* Linux and vice versa. After all, both Win32 and x86 Linux binaries contain, guess what, x86 code. What Wine "basically" does is provide replacements for Win32 API calls.

Yes, FreeBSD has a similar mechanism for natively running Linux binaries, and it can't exactly be called emulation either.

 

I probably need to have another look at WINE. My last experience with it was running some commercial Linux app (might have been CorelDRAW) which was nothing more than the Windows version bundled with WINE. It was sluggish enough and glitchy enough to turn me off of the idea of using WINE myself, but perhaps it's improved since then.

[NoSpam]

For hardware, I'm on a Pentium 4 with x86_64 architecture, 3.2 GHz. I have 2GB RAM, and an nVidia GForce 6600 video card. My OS is SuSE Linux 10.0, and I'm using WINE build 20050725-3. I don't see any performance degradation between running it on Linux with WINE and on Windows XP. That includes graphics, sound, and speed.

[NoSpam]

Here are some screenshots:

 

Ballblazer, emulator window

 

Donkey Kong, desktop full screen

 

Virtual ColecoVision (for fun), desktop full screen

Edited October 18, 2006 by NoSpam

[Classic Pac]

I have this scomputer which when I get around to it, I am going to install LInux on it. Seeing your post got me wondering do you use somesort of joypad or play those emulators via the keyboard?

[NoSpam]

These particular emulators I play with the keyboard. ProSystem Emulator doesn't have a selection for joysticks -- either that, or I'm missing something obvious. I haven't gotten around to trying a joypad with Virtual ColecoVision, yet. Emulators for other systems such as snes9x (GUI with snes9express), Sega Genesis (GUI with Gens), and others do allow for joypad configuration in Linux; however, those emulators have ports to Linux without the need for WINE. Anyway, the Stella and ProSystem emulators are simple enough to play simply using my keyboard.

[gdement]

For hardware, I'm on a Pentium 4 with x86_64 architecture, 3.2 GHz. I have 2GB RAM, and an nVidia GForce 6600 video card. My OS is SuSE Linux 10.0, and I'm using WINE build 20050725-3. I don't see any performance degradation between running it on Linux with WINE and on Windows XP. That includes graphics, sound, and speed.

 

That's not exactly slow. With that setup, I'd be terribly disappointed if it had degradation.

 

 

Wine...well...stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator. Because it doesn't emulate anything. Windows and *x86* Linux are similar enough that Windows executables can be made work on *x86* Linux and vice versa. After all, both Win32 and x86 Linux binaries contain, guess what, x86 code. What Wine "basically" does is provide replacements for Win32 API calls.

Despite the acronym, I still have a hard time understanding how WINE "Is Not an Emulator". No, it's not a CPU emulator - it's an OS emulator (achieved by emulating WinAPI). Is there some legal or political reason that the developers don't want it to be called an emulator?

[Urchlay]

Despite the acronym, I still have a hard time understanding how WINE "Is Not an Emulator". No, it's not a CPU emulator - it's an OS emulator (achieved by emulating WinAPI). Is there some legal or political reason that the developers don't want it to be called an emulator?

 

I think they call it "not an emulator" because the Win32 code actually runs directly on your CPU, and they want to emphasize that fact.

 

I *think* the name WINE was originally short for "WINdows Emulator", and after a big flame war or something, the developers decided to change the meaning of the name. This would have been 10+ years ago now.

 

On the other hand, your interpretation (it's an OS emulator) makes perfect sense to me.

[NoSpam]

WINE not an emulator in that it isn't emulating any particular hardware. It doesn't provide a means of installing the Windows OS. Likewise, it is not an emulated system. Rather, it's a compatibility layer using open source "from scratch" coded libraries that allow for the ability to run some Windows software.