dlindsle@afit.af.mil (David T. Lindsley) (04/25/91)
A while back, I requested information about Commodore 64 emulators for the Amiga. Here is the information I received. There are (at least?) 2 C64 emulators available commercially, and one which is either PD or shareware. Commercial: one is put out by ReadySoft. the other...? PD/SW: FTP from AB20.larc.nasa.gov in incoming/amiga. the program is called A64. NONE of the emulators appear to feature sound. (The authors of A64 are supposedly working on it.) There is reportedly a "fantastic" 64 music demo for the Amiga with 100 c64 songs ripped from games, with full 6510 and SID emulation in real time. So it can be done. The question is who will build it into an emulator first (if ever). Also, sprite collisions are not always detected, and some sprites are not displayed correctly. In general, graphics quality appears to be unpredictable. (This is all understandable. We're talking about emulating the SID and VIC chips. Nevertheless, I had hoped it woukld be otherwise.) Copy protection and/or fastloaders were a problem. Most software runs significantly slower on an Amiga, unless you're using a 68030, in which case some software apparently runs *faster*. In any case, there seems to be a problem with speed. The PD emulator was unanimously declared the best. Reportedly, it can use the real C64 ROMs so that nearly everything runs. (I assume this means most programs which do not intensively use sound or graphics.) It even multitasks on the Amiga. For about $25 a hardware interface is also available that will allow the use of your C64 peripherals with the Amiga. (Opinions varied on the quality of the AmigaDOS utilities supplied with A64.) Remember also that if you use your 1541, it'll be just as slow as ever. (Probably slower.) A comment that was amde several times was that I'll probably be able to replace all my 64 software almost immediately -- with functionally equivalent PD Amiga software (from my local user group and/or FTP and/or the "fish disks"). Thanks to all who replied: Terry Ricketts terry@helios.ucsc.edu Bernard J Hudson bjh@mtgzz.att.com ananaza@laureline.hut.fi Marc van Velzen mvelzen@fwi.uva.nl Dan Babcock DXB132@PSUVM.PSU.EDU Herranen Henrik h112706@cc.tut.fi Jason Trimble c8exsun@watshine.UWaterloo.ca Jeff Hunsinger hunsingr@sed4330a.erim.org Wildstar tnc!m0154@uunet.UU.NET Ozymandias GRS999910118@STAT.APPSTATE.EDU EMZX%VAX5.CIT.CORNELL.EDU@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu (2 messages -- this seems to be a gateway) "A64 is a VERY good program." "I can safely say it's virtually impossible to mimic the strange programming tricks c64 programmers used on the amiga." "Keep the c64 around for a couple of months after you buy an Amiga, most probably you'll find you won't use it ever again." "Most people ... keep both computers set up ... until that fateful day when they realize that they haven't turned on the C64 for months." "...there is no real reason to purchase a 64 emulator, they are quite cheap but you get what you pay for." -- Dave Lindsley #24601# OPINIONS. MINE. dlindsle@blackbird.afit.af.mil (The words don't come no smaller.) "If you don't succeed at first -- transform your data!" (me)
hoppi@brahms.udel.edu (David P Hopkins) (04/25/91)
In article <1991Apr24.174129.29821@afit.af.mil> dlindsle@afit.af.mil (David T. Lindsley) writes: > >The PD emulator was unanimously declared the best. Reportedly, it can >use the real C64 ROMs so that nearly everything runs. (I assume this >means most programs which do not intensively use sound or graphics.) Is this true about using ROMs? I have MANY C64 disks/programs that I would not mind running and I still have my 64. If this is true, how is it done? thanx, David Hopkins hoppi@brahms.udel.edu hoppi@chopin.udel.edu
crunch@hogbbs.scol.pa.us (Crunch) (04/29/91)
hoppi@brahms.udel.edu (David P Hopkins) writes: > In article <1991Apr24.174129.29821@afit.af.mil> dlindsle@afit.af.mil (David T > > > >The PD emulator was unanimously declared the best. Reportedly, it can > >use the real C64 ROMs so that nearly everything runs. (I assume this > >means most programs which do not intensively use sound or graphics.) > > Is this true about using ROMs? I have MANY C64 disks/programs that I > would not mind running and I still have my 64. If this is true, how is > it done? > > thanx, > David Hopkins > hoppi@brahms.udel.edu > hoppi@chopin.udel.edu A64 comes with a program that is to be run on a C64 that will capture the code in the ROMs and save it as a binary file, which is then used by A64. ----------------------------------------------------------///\---------- Crunch @ Heart of Gold BBS (814) 238-9633 /// \ crunch@hogbbs.scol.pa.us \\\///----\ (814) 353-9489 \XX/ \ MIGA ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TARDIS Express: When it absolutely, positively has to be there yesterday. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
hoppi@brahms.udel.edu (David P Hopkins) (04/30/91)
Thank you to all who responded, I haven't looked at the emulator in about 2 months or so and had forgotten about the program that is included. David Hopkins hoppi@brahms.udel.edu hoppi@chopin.udel.edu .sig's waste space - don't use them - they are annoying as hell unless SHORT