Release Fullspeed Amiga Emulation On Pandora!

[Pleng]

As for the source code of Amos, it is written in 68000 Assembly language. A better bet would be sdlBasic.

I'm involved with a project that aims to implement the Amos language in Low-Level Virtual Machine which will be much more portable than the original Amos. Our project is called Mattathias (named after the son of the prophet Amos).

Ahh I was aware of Mattahias, but I wasn't aware that it was designed as a re-implementation of AMOS. Interesting.

 

[benjymous]

I've also considered asking clickteam (founded by the creator of Amos) to port the multimedia fusion runtimes to linux - I'd love to play Knytt Stories on the go

 

[Sdw]

Wow, looking real good! How much performance is there left to squeeze out? I'm thinking fullspeed emulation with sound enabled should be more than doable, right?

 

[EvilDragon]

Wow, looking real good! How much performance is there left to squeeze out? I'm thinking fullspeed emulation with sound enabled should be more than doable, right?

Easily, yes.

 

[benjymous]

Btw, I've added a page for this onto the wiki:

http://pandorawiki.org/UAE4ALL

(just the barebones skeleton there so far...)

 

[ljones]

As others have said, it's only taken 20 years for there to be a really *portable* amiga! But it looks good. These days much better for playing old games rather than old apps but still not bad. It's either that or well.....try fitting an Amiga 500 into an old SX64 case and carry that about. Definately not portable. And yes, that existed, if only in prototype form (see SX500) ....

http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/ckb/secr...00-portrait.jpg
http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/ckb/secr...00-keyboard.jpg
http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/ckb/secret/exec.html

As for AMOS I know this isn't exactly the same thing, but maybe worth a look?

http://www.sdlbasic.altervista.org/main/

It's a version of basic that was inspired (according to the website) by AMOS. The source is avaliable too I think so (assuming sdl can be compiled for pandora) maybe this would be of some use?

ljones

 

[christo930]

Wow, looking real good! How much performance is there left to squeeze out? I'm thinking fullspeed emulation with sound enabled should be more than doable, right?

Easily, yes.


Can I assume that you would be able to run AIAB (emulating the video card and all). This would be great because you could use hard disk installations of games that use multiple disks and have a very nice interface to do it with. There are a lot of games that use multiple disks and a lot of swapping which is eliminated with whdload and hard disk installs.

If you've never seen AIAB (which is free, less the WB 3.1 disk), you really are missing a great setup. It's basically a pre-configured Amiga 3.1 system that uses winuae to emulate a video card for high res desktops with high color, a start menu and lots of other modern features. You could actualyl accomplish this on a real amiga 2000 fairly easy with just a memory upgrade and a video card (and of course the 3.0 or 3.1 kickstart rom and 3.1 wb disk and a hard disk. I have a 2000 and have been looking for an inexpensive video card to do it with. It probably wouldn't be very fast, but it would be neat nevertheless.

Chris

 

[samuraicrow]

As for AMOS I know this isn't exactly the same thing, but maybe worth a look?

http://www.sdlbasic.altervista.org/main/

It's a version of basic that was inspired (according to the website) by AMOS. The source is avaliable too I think so (assuming sdl can be compiled for pandora) maybe this would be of some use?



Not only would it help, I even suggested it. It only comes with an interpreter and an IDE based on Scintilla but that's still pretty good for starters. It may be possible to write a compiler for it using Mattathias' frameworks and LLVM before too long.

 

[puppydee]

I've always been an Amiga nut so I'm definatly getting a Pandora so I can play amiga games on the move without carrying round my heavy laptop. The new flashy games are all well and good but I'd pick an amiga game over a new release any day. I've got a gp2x and it runs quite a few of my favourite games but it's gonna be so much nicer on a faster system with a bigger screen and with the greatly needed keyboard.

 

[DaveC]

The UAE on gp2x IS already pretty much optimized. Not really much of a chance getting it faster.

Are you sure?

Performance on the GP2X is not the best. Many games require allot of frameskip and overclock to run well.

If Mega CD can run fullspeed with 2X 68000 CPUs, DSP, all while decoding MP3s at fullspeed at 200 MHz, and NeoGeo and CPS2 can also run fullspeed at 200MHz, I can't see why Amiga couldn't. The Amiga was simpler hardware in that it had rudimentary sprite hardware, primitive blitter, and simple 4 channel 8-bit DACs for sound. I would think the GP2X could handle it at fullspeed. Maybe the reason it doesn't is UAE was originally made with higher powered PCs in mind and goeas for accuracy over speed?

 

[PoisonedV]

somethings bothering me- everyone is acting like they finally have a chance to play amiga games. its always been there- there are pc editors and chances are if you run them on low settings, even a horrible pc could run them. its not like this is a new opportunity.

 

[christo930]

The UAE on gp2x IS already pretty much optimized. Not really much of a chance getting it faster.

Are you sure?

Performance on the GP2X is not the best. Many games require allot of frameskip and overclock to run well.

If Mega CD can run fullspeed with 2X 68000 CPUs, DSP, all while decoding MP3s at fullspeed at 200 MHz, and NeoGeo and CPS2 can also run fullspeed at 200MHz, I can't see why Amiga couldn't. The Amiga was simpler hardware in that it had rudimentary sprite hardware, primitive blitter, and simple 4 channel 8-bit DACs for sound. I would think the GP2X could handle it at fullspeed. Maybe the reason it doesn't is UAE was originally made with higher powered PCs in mind and goeas for accuracy over speed?

I'm not a programmer, but it seems to me that some emulators are faster than others. I don't think it's a limitation of the gp2x so much as it's a limitation of uae. I remember back in the day, fellow was much faster than uae. I would imagine that if an Amiga emulator was written from the ground up to for the gp2x it would run fine. It (UAE) does pretty well on the gp2x all things considered, but I have noticed that using Pico drive, turning on the 2nd processor support speeds the emu up pretty well (complete with 16 bit 44khz sound, since the sound is what is on the 2nd processor). If someone were willing to do that for UAE it might be much better.
Going for accuracy and not speed is not without it's advantages. The devs (safely) assume that over time hardware gets faster and is able to handle the software, but that's really only applicable to pc's. My GP2X is never going to go any faster without abandoning the platform completely and buying a new system which means you have to give up some of your software (games that may not exist for other game systems), so a game system upgrade is usually more intrusive than a pc upgrade. But that is something you have to deal with when porting over software from a system (pc) many times faster than the new system Hopefully, some dev will find something wrong with the GP2X version of UAE and give us a speed boost, but with the WIZ and Pandora releases coming, I wouldn't count on it.

Chris

somethings bothering me- everyone is acting like they finally have a chance to play amiga games. its always been there- there are pc editors and chances are if you run them on low settings, even a horrible pc could run them. its not like this is a new opportunity.

People are excited about playing Amiga games on the go in a system that fits in the pocket. You're right, for gaming, even a very old pc (pentium 266 mhz) can emulate an amiga 500 if they use an older version of winuae.

 

[FRZ]

I've never played an amiga before. now I can try some amiga games on there when I get my pandora.

Same here

 

[White Demon]

That's great. Maybe I'll be playing Worms again as much as I did back when I had my a600 (and later A1200) set up on my desk (which was alot).

All it needs now is A1200 and HD support and we will have the perfect pocket Amiga.

 

[Yamara]

somethings bothering me- everyone is acting like they finally have a chance to play amiga games. its always been there- there are pc editors and chances are if you run them on low settings, even a horrible pc could run them. its not like this is a new opportunity.

Most people are specifically stating their excitement at a pocketable Amiga. I have to admit I'm curious to delve into some of the Amiga games as well. A lot of the opportunities I find to play games are while on the bus or plane, and some of the Amiga versions of games I loved are far superior to the sad EGA versions I played as a young'un. My laptop, though a lightweight Dell X200, still doesn't fit in (most of) my purses, and it's not quite as easy to whip it out in a bus and play games.

I, for one, welcome our new Amiga emulating overlords.

 

[ashdjones]

somethings bothering me- everyone is acting like they finally have a chance to play amiga games. its always been there- there are pc editors and chances are if you run them on low settings, even a horrible pc could run them. its not like this is a new opportunity.

Most people are specifically stating their excitement at a pocketable Amiga. I have to admit I'm curious to delve into some of the Amiga games as well. A lot of the opportunities I find to play games are while on the bus or plane, and some of the Amiga versions of games I loved are far superior to the sad EGA versions I played as a young'un. My laptop, though a lightweight Dell X200, still doesn't fit in (most of) my purses, and it's not quite as easy to whip it out in a bus and play games.

I, for one, welcome our new Amiga emulating overlords.

I find personally, that emulating on a handheld gives it a completely different feel. When I first played Megadrive games on my Gizmondo it was a total revelation!

By your logic I shouldn't really care. I mean, for heavens sake... I OWN an Amiga, not to mention every other classic console at one time or another. It's because making it handheld transforms the experience - this is why i personally get so enthusiastic!

 

[EmuGuy]

Outstanding, this is the video I was waiting for! I'm inching closer everyday into the pre-order camp...

Speedball 2, Sensible Soccer, Lemmings, Nitro, Paradroid, Techno Cop, Superstar Ice Hockey, and a whole host of favourites I can't even remember...

 

[craigix]

I agree on the portable thing, it just opens it up in a new way.

Sitting at my PC with 500 or so ADF files going though each one is kinda a chore, but lying in bed with an SD packed with ADF files trying each one will be fantastic. It just seems more fun, more like having an Amiga in my bedroom aged 14 all over again.

I also like the way it will all 'just work' ie the keyboard and mouse and controls. I hate the way the PC always has windows or control issues in the way.

 

[Stainy]

I agree on the portable thing, it just opens it up in a new way.

Sitting at my PC with 500 or so ADF files going though each one is kinda a chore, but lying in bed with an SD packed with ADF files trying each one will be fantastic. It just seems more fun, more like having an Amiga in my bedroom aged 14 all over again.

I also like the way it will all 'just work' ie the keyboard and mouse and controls. I hate the way the PC always has windows or control issues in the way.

I`m with you on this!! totally one of those analogue doowackies doing the mouse fantastic!!

 

[Pleng]

For me it'd bb Bubba 'n' Stix, D-Generation, Pinball Fantasies, Alien Breed 3D, James Pond 3 and Super Skidmarks




...as most developers did just ported the A500/1200 version straight to disc.



To be fair to most of the developers many CD32 titles (Super Skidmarks included) were released after Commodore went bankrupt, and there were no new machines being created. It would have been a lot for them to put all the effort into re-doing all the graphics specifically for the CD32 version. The Skidmarks develpers may have also faced RAM issues with running all the different cars/2 player modes etc in AGA screenmodes. Didn't the CD32 version at least have a HI-Res mode? Or did I just dream that?

(start edit...) on the flip side, the fact that many CD32 titles were of ECS games means less work will be needed to make at least SOME of the CD32 titles work on Pandora! All that will need to be emulated will be the ECS chipset and a bootable CD-Rom drive. Then if AGA comes later down the line, that should open up the rest of the games - aside from the single game which uses the Akiko chip Microcosm? I don't remember)!(...end edit)

I don't recall the demo. Do you remember which magazine it was on?