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Mess really SUCKS


Romko343

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Wow, what a polite post... I'm sure mizapf will be glad to help you now...

I think if you knew what you were talking about you'd realize that MESS is the most accurate and complete TI emulator around, and merely because it doesn't come with a fancy UI doesn't mean that it sucks.

 

A good honest RTFM is probably in order here: http://www.mess.org/mess/howto

 

But to answer your question: press scroll_lock (or insert if you're using the SDL version, or delete if you're on a Mac) to put MESS in partial keyboard emulation mode and then simply press escape.

 

But for your skillset it might also be good to look at one of the many excellent MESS frontends around. I hear QMC2 and My Arcade are pretty good.

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Worst emulator I have ever used.. can't even quit out of it.. terrible.

 

 

That's odd, it's the best emulator I've ever used. Absolutely the most accurate. It works exactly like my real TI and my real Geneve do. I usually click on 'file', then 'exit' to quit - they're in the upper left hand corner of the window. :P

 

'File' button in red circle pointed to by red arrow:

 

post-29515-0-09093200-1393690728_thumb.jpg

 

After clicking 'File' button, drop down menu shows 'Exit' in red circle pointed to by red arrow.

 

post-29515-0-15636100-1393690740_thumb.jpg

 

Gazoo

 

Edited by Gazoo
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Worst emulator I have ever used.. can't even quit out of it.. terrible.

 

I'll be here, waiting for you to ask some sensible questions.

 

MESS is not intended to make it as simple as possible to you, but to emulate the systems as precisely as possible. You should better try another emulator if it does not suit you.

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I think you blurted out your frustrations instead of taking a deep breath and asking for help. Most of us have done it at some point, but the key here is to apologize and type in a BASIC program that displays " I WILL POST CONSTRUCTIVELY " one million times (it is a computer after all :-D ) as penance.

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Worst emulator I have ever used.. can't even quit out of it.. terrible.

 

 

You can modify your offensive thread title by editing your opening post and clicking the "Use Full Editor" button. I would suggest something like "I need help with MESS".

 

...lee

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I think the original post had a point-if it was referring to ease of use and you were relatively new to M.E.S.S but M.E.S.S is one of the most feature rich emulators out there(If not THE most feature rich).

 

So-probably the best or most pertinant reply given is that by The Mole-get yourself a friendly windows driven front end and take it from there.

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I've been following the emulation scene since before the Pentium processor came to be. And I stand behind what I say. M.E.S.S. is truly a mess!

 

While you may not be seeing clearly enough now to really understand, there IS a big difference between standing and being barely able to stay upright in a drunken stupor. Take a few aspirin, drink plenty of water, and stay in bed until it wears off!

 

:-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

 

Gazoo, and millions of others. :)

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I've been following the emulation scene since before the Pentium processor came to be. And I stand behind what I say. M.E.S.S. is truly a mess!

 

State your case clearly and perhaps something can be done about it. Being a dick gets no one anywhere.

As an amendment, if you have programming skills, since the project is open source, perhaps you can help out to make it better?

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State your case clearly and perhaps something can be done about it. Being a dick gets no one anywhere.

As an amendment, if you have programming skills, since the project is open source, perhaps you can help out to make it better?

 

Oh!! I'm sorry, you're giving him a chance. :?

 

Please excuse me, I'll hold off pressing the button on the spray can again until you're done. ;)

 

Gazoo

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As someone who once tried to run MESS on Mac, and failed, I have to say I sympathize with the OP. Emulator programmers, as much as we all appreciate their work, just don't understand user friendliness. And frankly, it's counter-productive. Don't you *want* people to use your software? Make it easier for them to do so!

 

The MESS programmers need to find a way to make it easy for the end user to run their stuff. Take a look at OpenEmu to see what's needed. No more of this front-end/back-end bull$hit. Set up a nice front-end that handles the back-end automatically for the user.

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As someone who once tried to run MESS on Mac, and failed, I have to say I sympathize with the OP. Emulator programmers, as much as we all appreciate their work, just don't understand user friendliness. And frankly, it's counter-productive. Don't you *want* people to use your software?

 

Right to the point. The official statement is that MAME and MESS are (originally) not written to have "users".

 

I actually do *not* share this attitude, but I know some MAME/MESS devs who do, and I had more than one argument over the years with respect to this point of view. Me, I just don't like to write software that is not intended to be used.

 

So why are users a "problem"?

 

Most users of MESS only make use of a very few systems; in that sense their angle of view is narrower than that of the developers. In our TI community, people usually use the TI-99/4A and Geneve emulation. Of course, for the TI-99/4A there are many other emulators around, and it is certainly valid to compare emulations among each other, in particular concerning ease-of-use.

 

MAME/MESS, however, is not a TI emulator, but a generic emulation framework for some hundreds of systems. You can argue about the sense of having one common emulation core or not, but for MAME/MESS one should accept that this is the definitive idea of the project.

 

C64 users could also use MESS, but many still use VICE or other emulations. And by the way, as I recently heard about Amiga users here, the Amiga emulation in MESS is also quite good. Yet, I think the UAE emulators (WinUAE et al.) are more popular, not least because they are more user-friendly.

 

One big issue is that each system has some specialities that are not applicable for other systems. Since we are running the same core engine, in the end we will get an intersection of features (like disk drives, expansion ports) that we find everywhere. It won't make sense to add system-specific features for each of that hundreds of systems.

 

This also reflects in the user interface. It is very difficult to design a framework that is likewise user-friendly in each facet, compared to a specialized system. MAME and MESS will probably never win a prize in that category and accordingly do not even try.

 

Instead, the MAME project and its sister project MESS understand themselves as an endeavour to preserve the history of computing technology, like a museum. With that intention in mind, there is indeed no immediate pressure to make it "user-friendly". With the analogy of the museum, you let people in, but you don't care whether they feel comfortable. Even if there were only a few visitors, the museum is still there. In particular when it does not cost anything.

 

In the last years, new devs have joined the team, and as it seems, the attitude begins to shift a bit more to make it better usable, maybe also because in the meantime, MAME and MESS are appreciated for their emulation quality by a growing user base. There are indeed some enhancements like attachable, specialized user interfaces as work in progress. Just give us some more time; the project is still evolving.

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