Classic99 Updates

[Tursi]

40 minutes ago, fabrice montupet said:

DirectX 12 has been launched in 2015, we are in 2021. I think that this version has passed enough time for stabilization and can be installed with confidence .  DX 12 works fine with all my other 3D/CAD/EDA applications, it offers significant improvement (rendering and speed 3D) compared to version 11 . And I never had to troubleshoot DX12 problem with my professional customers computers.
I can't say about games because I don't play games (none are installed in my Mac and PC computers) and I don't intervene on customers gaming/family computers.  The only games I play with (sometimes, really not often) are those of the 99/4A, just by nostalgia ?
I will test Classic99 on a spare Core i5 PC Gen10 running DX11 to see a difference. Out of curiosity.

It's fine. I develop Classic99 on an up to date Windows 10, and it only opens DirectX 8's API anyway. If it was DirectX, then GDI would be full speed. Since it's not, it's probably not the draw mechanism.

 

As you are a professional, you understand that people can't troubleshoot a problem without some data. While you are running these tests, how about capturing the debug?

 

[fabrice montupet]

1 hour ago, Tursi said:

As you are a professional, you understand that people can't troubleshoot a problem without some data. While you are running these tests, how about capturing the debug?

 

I understand your point of you, I do the same for people I troubleshoot, but I am personally not used to give internal data to people, so no computer data gathering goes out.   Thank you very much for your help proposition via DebugView, I appreciate, but I will do different to correct the speed problem with Classic99. I will find the solution ? 

[Tursi]

Well, if you figure it out, report back.

Otherwise, the only thing I can tell you is that you are the first person to report that.

Only other generic thing to try, delete (or rename) classic99.ini to force it back to default settings and see if that helps.

 

Good luck.

 

[oddemann]

Just a wish to make it easier to find stuff...

 

Under Cartridge, there is User, where I can put in other carts. How difficult would it to make it so that one could have a visual presentation of the games/programs. Like adding ones own pictures, or front page from the cart as a link to different carts? Like some 4*4 grid. So that I point to one folder and then I get a grid with the programs. And then I can link a picture to the different programs. Something to do if you have absolutely nothing to do? ?

In my mind I have a image of a bookshelf with Disk, Tapes, Carts and so on. I click on on icons, I get into a alphabetic library and clicking on a letter gets me into a grid with the titles under that letter. BUT... In my mind I can do it

[GDMike]

42 minutes ago, oddemann said:

Just a wish to make it easier to find stuff...

 

Under Cartridge, there is User, where I can put in other carts. How difficult would it to make it so that one could have a visual presentation of the games/programs. Like adding ones own pictures, or front page from the cart as a link to different carts? Like some 4*4 grid. So that I point to one folder and then I get a grid with the programs. And then I can link a picture to the different programs. Something to do if you have absolutely nothing to do? ?

In my mind I have a image of a bookshelf with Disk, Tapes, Carts and so on. I click on on icons, I get into a alphabetic library and clicking on a letter gets me into a grid with the titles under that letter. BUT... In my mind I can do it

That's how I wrote a .net app for my two kids when they were 5&7. I set up my movie database with the photos of movie posters at the time and all they knew how to use was the mouse scroll wheel, click it and the movie started for them.  It's an easy feat for an add in.

[+OLD CS1]

21 minutes ago, GDMike said:

That's how I wrote a .net app for my two kids when they were 5&7. I set up my movie database with the photos of movie posters at the time and all they knew how to use was the mouse scroll wheel, click it and the movie started for them.  It's an easy feat for an add in.

You are nicer than I.  I made my movie library into a card catalog.

 

[Tursi]

1 hour ago, oddemann said:

Just a wish to make it easier to find stuff...

 

Under Cartridge, there is User, where I can put in other carts. How difficult would it to make it so that one could have a visual presentation of the games/programs. Like adding ones own pictures, or front page from the cart as a link to different carts? Like some 4*4 grid. So that I point to one folder and then I get a grid with the programs. And then I can link a picture to the different programs. Something to do if you have absolutely nothing to do? ?

In my mind I have a image of a bookshelf with Disk, Tapes, Carts and so on. I click on on icons, I get into a alphabetic library and clicking on a letter gets me into a grid with the titles under that letter. BUT... In my mind I can do it

 

Are you willing to draw all the artwork? Cause I can't.

 

Classic99 is not meant as an archival or nostalgia program, but as a development tool. While I've toyed with the idea of graphics in certain representations from an educational standpoint (like opening up the console and seeing what's inside ), it's not really my forte.

 

You can have subfolders under user, so you could use that for your alphabetizing, anyway... 

 

[oddemann]

11 minutes ago, Tursi said:

Are you willing to draw all the artwork? Cause I can't.

 

Classic99 is not meant as an archival or nostalgia program, but as a development tool. While I've toyed with the idea of graphics in certain representations from an educational standpoint (like opening up the console and seeing what's inside ), it's not really my forte.

 

You can have subfolders under user, so you could use that for your alphabetizing, anyway... 

 

Sure, I will draw anything you want! Your wish is my GOTO CALL DRAW ? hehehe

Well, I could see what I could do in making a anime of the TI being taken a part and where you can see the inside. I was thinking about making a diagram of the inside of the TI for "What would a true 16 bit TI 99 be like?" To understand what is being talked about. Like chips and pathways of info flow in order to make a 16 bit TI. I might make it or borrow pics (most probably, as I have seen some good pic of the motherboard) here and add names on it.

Tell me what you want and I will make it for you, the more advanced, the more time I will need. But, for sure... "hit me"

Edited October 3, 2021 by oddemann
More...

[Keatah]

21 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said:

I made my movie library into a card catalog.

You are nicer than me I just gave them the movies on a usb drive. Let them figure it out.

 

[Keatah]

I don't like emulators with all sorts of glitzy glamoury stuff. This isn't Microsoft Bob. And it detracts from other more important accuracy elements. Time now has to be spent on fixing frivolous stuff. And worse off, navigating through it.

 

 

[GDMike]

Cl99 has shaved hours off my debugging and compiling times.  AND it's allowed importing data from the web directly into my SNP program, and more. I use real hw on my real data, but getting some of that data would not have happened without CL99. Plus I appreciate the Time and effort and, of course, the brains it takes to put one together.

If we were a biz, I'm sure awards would be handed out each year to these folks that can build these emulators. I really really appreciate the great work. But again, I use it as a tool.

 

[Keatah]

Very good..

 

A lot of emulators are simply fuel for nostalgic trips.

 

 

[+OLD CS1]

1 hour ago, Keatah said:

You are nicer than me I just gave them the movies on a usb drive. Let them figure it out.

I want to leave these around labeled "Breaking Bad Season 6."

[Tursi]

5 hours ago, oddemann said:

Sure, I will draw anything you want! Your wish is my GOTO CALL DRAW ? hehehe

Well, I could see what I could do in making a anime of the TI being taken a part and where you can see the inside. I was thinking about making a diagram of the inside of the TI for "What would a true 16 bit TI 99 be like?" To understand what is being talked about. Like chips and pathways of info flow in order to make a 16 bit TI. I might make it or borrow pics (most probably, as I have seen some good pic of the motherboard) here and add names on it.

Tell me what you want and I will make it for you, the more advanced, the more time I will need. But, for sure... "hit me"

hehe! Well, that's a good offer to have. The backup backout plan is to note that it will likely be years or more before I can get to it. This is my TODO list:

 

https://harmlesslion.com/cgi-bin/walrusshow.cgi

 

If it's really important, I can add it to the bottom of the list, and you can try to vote it to the top. But nobody tends to have the patience to do that - and that is actually why I created the system. My real life takes precedence, so it takes a long time to get things off the list. Classic99 4.0 is entering month 10.  Omega literally chewed me out for not moving fast enough when we added his request of a dedicated boot emulator (that actually made it halfway up the list). 

 

But the fact is, without the list I've got no focus and /nothing/ gets done. When I let other people direct me, that gets even worse. So, if it's so important to people that I should put aside everything else that I want to do and work on it instead, they should be able to invest a comparable amount of effort.

 

Dumptrucks full of money can score you extra votes, too

 

[oddemann]

7 hours ago, Tursi said:

hehe! Well, that's a good offer to have. The backup backout plan is to note that it will likely be years or more before I can get to it. This is my TODO list:

 

https://harmlesslion.com/cgi-bin/walrusshow.cgi

 

If it's really important, I can add it to the bottom of the list, and you can try to vote it to the top. But nobody tends to have the patience to do that - and that is actually why I created the system. My real life takes precedence, so it takes a long time to get things off the list. Classic99 4.0 is entering month 10.  Omega literally chewed me out for not moving fast enough when we added his request of a dedicated boot emulator (that actually made it halfway up the list). 

 

But the fact is, without the list I've got no focus and /nothing/ gets done. When I let other people direct me, that gets even worse. So, if it's so important to people that I should put aside everything else that I want to do and work on it instead, they should be able to invest a comparable amount of effort.

 

Dumptrucks full of money can score you extra votes, too

 

lol I will remember the "Dumptrucks full of money", when I want something done.

Ohhh, I vote, almost every time I download a new ver. and sometimes when I am on your web page. I don't want to vote every day. That is cheating ?

But, I have a goal now. I will make stuff and "tempt" you. If you do or you wait. No prob. But I can tempt you ? hehehehehe

I see the point that C99 is a tool. BUT, my kid she is 10 and she loves to play Hunt the Wumpus with me. But she has no clue of how to make it work (turn it on and play games). So I think that just a little adjustment, the love of the TI can be passed on to a new generation. For me, starting out and learning to program on the TI, it gave me a more complete view of how a computer works. So it is cool that you have a clean and easy TOOL. But, why not let the new generation have access to it! If not... this (atariage and creativity) will be it, when we die, the TI is dead too. So, why not push the TI into the future with the kids. And then make a Emulator that makes it easy to get into the TI. The TI is competing with all the apps and programs on the modern computer. But for sure the TI has something to give the future and the kids of the future. So, my thinking is that IF there could be a ver. that makes it easy for new user to jump on the TI "rage"

So I see the "tool" view, but why not ALSO open IT TI up for kids, new fan's that do not know they are fan's, YET

[Tursi]

Ahh, well, there are a couple of approaches to that, then.

 

You could just make a shortcut. You could even make a Wumpus icon. You can make Classic99 act as though it were a dedicated Windows program, and even autostart the game. Make a new copy of the program folder, and then just add these lines to your Classic99.ini:

[AppMode]
EnableAppMode=1
AppName=Hunt the Wumpus
SkipTitle=1
AutoStartCart=2

Also find the [rom] section, and change them as so:

[roms]
cartgroup=1
cartidx=7

(This selects Hunt the Wumpus from the built-in games).

 

Alternately, you can create a separate front-end tool - that's the approach that MAME users take. Classic99 will load any specified ROM from disk from the command line with the "-rom" argument, though you can't launch the built-in ROMs this way. For instance:

classic99.exe -rom mods\flying-shark-v1.2.1-8.bin

But why not just do this? Because I have a limited lifespan. I'll be 50 years old next month, and I've already given over 22 years to Classic99. Not at all kidding! The first update in whatsnew.txt is from 1999 - and that was an update, not the first release. Someone else is welcome to do some of it! 

 

[+OLD CS1]

1 hour ago, Tursi said:

I'll be 50 years old next month

Funny how young some of us old farts seem to be.  Perhaps this hobby does not slow the passage of time, but keeps its ravages at bay.

[RXB]

I do not mind how Classic99 loads my New User Carts I create. 

It takes more time to create the cart than load it and I do not need the Fancy Foo Foo stuff as the Microsoft format works fine.

 

Seen other apps that do this and most over time get totally BROKEN so I am against this for that reason.

[+mizapf]

1 hour ago, Tursi said:

But why not just do this? Because I have a limited lifespan. I'll be 50 years old next month, and I've already given over 22 years to Classic99.

OK, you clearly won . I turned 52 about a week ago, and I spent 14 years on the TI emulation in MAME by now.

[Tursi]

34 minutes ago, RXB said:

Seen other apps that do this and most over time get totally BROKEN so I am against this for that reason.

Well, I wouldn't deprecate the existing mechanisms. I don't believe in breaking backwards compatibility unless you really have to.

 

[Tursi]

3 minutes ago, mizapf said:

OK, you clearly won . I turned 52 about a week ago, and I spent 14 years on the TI emulation in MAME by now.

Time well spent for both of us!

 

Probably.

 

[oddemann]

1 hour ago, Tursi said:

Time well spent for both of us!

 

Probably.

 

Well... Do understand me correct... #1 Do what makes you happy. if you don't have time, do not wish to do it or what ever. Totally fine! I am very grateful that you have made C99 and even more grateful that you keep updating it. Also I understand that you have other stuff in your life, that is probably much more important then C99. So it is all a bonus what every you do.

So it is part joke as I understand that it is a LOT of work behind C99. Do not want to piss you off in ANY degree ?. I also think that there is many people in the world that use your C99 and most probably do not give you feedback of how great C99 is. Would be interesting to know how many people use it.

So... if you do not do anything and make a new interface, I am happy as is So, spend your time as you think is best for you. But I will keep dreaming hehehehe And, I will develop the idea until I have a full shelf with all I things I think should be in a "extra" interface for the less technically inclined. BUT, it is not a must do or as soon as you have time. Just me dreaming. And If you do go for it and I can help you, I will do as much as I can.


PS! 53 here ?, but I have noting like C99 to show for. Just my evolved creative freedom with the computer to make art and stuff on it.
PS!! Thx for the recipe to almost make it as I think it

(I need to dig out my TI to get a pic with the correct angel to put the TI into the shelf. I will keep making the interface as a "what could be". For the people "I WANT IT AS IT IS" - Tick it off, if you do NOT want the "Shelf showing". Also, try to not be ticked off ? hehehe by my dreaming)

[Tursi]

The shelf is cute, there's no doubt. If it really was that easy, I'd consider it. But graphical programming takes extra time, especially in Classic99 which is still a bare-bones Windows app (basically Windows 3.1 structure). With limited time there are bigger fish to fry, and like I say, it's very possible to make a front end. One of the game base projects did that a while back...

 

#1 Do what makes you happy. if you don't have time, do not wish to do it or what ever.

 

This is what I'm finally trying to get to -- still entangled by a few things. But I still entertain the "why don't you just?" questions... that'll probably go away in a few years too

 

 

[jrhodes]

6 hours ago, Tursi said:

Well, I wouldn't deprecate the existing mechanisms. I don't believe in breaking backwards compatibility unless you really have to.

 

Now come on @Tursi, surely at your age you should know that if it ain't broke, you haven't fixed it enough

I do like @oddemann's idea, i could see a kind of front-end designed for youths, but not as a central part of Classic99.

Edited October 4, 2021 by jrhodes

[+OLD CS1]

57 minutes ago, jrhodes said:

I do like @oddemann's idea, i could see a kind of front-end designed for youths, but not as a central part of Classic99.

I do not see a reason why someone cannot design a graphical front-end for Classic 99 which meets their desires and run the program as companion.  Since Classic 99 supports drag-n-drop of cartridge files, it should not take much effort to create a cartridge object which can be dragged from the bookshelf to the emulator's window.

 

Otherwise, @Tursi knows he can get plenty of sleep later.