Droid800: Android phones A8 emulator

[trent]

I'll have some time tonight to look into it. This is with Droid800 v7? Anything else I should know about your kit? Rooted? Locale?

 

Your phone doesn't seem to like a blank "summary" attribute in a list item. Try this: http://code.google.com/p/droid800/downloads/detail?name=Droid800-7.2.apk

My kit:

Samsung i5700 (Android 2.2) CyanogenMod-6.1.1-Spica-alpha8.3 (rooted)

locale: ukrainian (tried to change locale to english but same problem)

 

I can slide down and see point menu "Show Speed", but when try slide more down i receive "Force Close"

 

Same problem with 7.2

 

This is what makes Android development so much fun :-) I cannot replicate the issue with my devices (Moto Droid / Google dev phone 1) or in emulation. I suspect I know what it is since it started after I added dynamic summaries in the preferences dialog, I'll post a build with that removed later today.

 

Hopefully this fixes it:

http://code.google.com/p/droid800/downloads/detail?name=Droid800-7.5.apk

[Diskwiz]

This is great! I installed it on my Droid X and it seems to work well. Great job! Now...can I run my 8-bit BBS on this thing via the Internet 3g Verizon? hahahahhaa

[Fire Button]

Diggerbonk - can't tell you how happy I am that there's actually a mobile Emulator around for my good old trusted Atari. It's absolutely awesome - that big old black/white thing with its big hardware now running, very smoothly, on my Galaxy S even when set on 1:1 frames (gorgeous!). Excellent work, this can't be stressed enough. I update through the Android market - the most significant improvement I found in the last version was sound emulation, which was really choppy on the previous, although there is still some audible noise on for example International Karate.

 

I ran into a few issues that I hope you can look into:

 

1. I'm unable to save the configuration file. It just says 'Error writing configuration file' when I try and doesn't explain why. I think the problem might be that it attempts to store it in a place it has no write access to. Needless to say, as a result all my configuration options are reset every time the emulator goes back to the start menu (most important one being having to switch from NTSC to PAL every time and configuring the ROMs, but I'd like all settings to be saved). It is however able to save something, as it remembers the last OS and File loaded since the previous run.

 

2. It seems that once the program or game starts up, it automatically triggers the fire button one or more times inadvertently. I kept my fingers off the screen as much as I could but for most games, the consequence is that for most games it skips the title screen, if the fire button was programmed to start the game.

 

3. Some games simply do not run well. I made sure to disable BASIC and try a few ROMs, but I can't get them to behave correctly. An example game that doesn't go down well is Warhawk.

 

Thanks in advance for looking into this and once again, great work!

[Fire Button]

3. Some games simply do not run well. I made sure to disable BASIC and try a few ROMs, but I can't get them to behave correctly. An example game that doesn't go down well is Warhawk.

Scratch that one off the list - it appears that some games simply can't run properly under NTSC, and you have to run PAL.

 

I'll change this into:

 

3. Sound emulation is not yet 100% perfect - there are still some clicks (short stops) in the sound playback.

[trent]

Diggerbonk - can't tell you how happy I am that there's actually a mobile Emulator around for my good old trusted Atari. It's absolutely awesome - that big old black/white thing with its big hardware now running, very smoothly, on my Galaxy S even when set on 1:1 frames (gorgeous!). Excellent work, this can't be stressed enough. I update through the Android market - the most significant improvement I found in the last version was sound emulation, which was really choppy on the previous, although there is still some audible noise on for example International Karate.

 

I ran into a few issues that I hope you can look into:

 

1. I'm unable to save the configuration file. It just says 'Error writing configuration file' when I try and doesn't explain why. I think the problem might be that it attempts to store it in a place it has no write access to. Needless to say, as a result all my configuration options are reset every time the emulator goes back to the start menu (most important one being having to switch from NTSC to PAL every time and configuring the ROMs, but I'd like all settings to be saved). It is however able to save something, as it remembers the last OS and File loaded since the previous run.

 

2. It seems that once the program or game starts up, it automatically triggers the fire button one or more times inadvertently. I kept my fingers off the screen as much as I could but for most games, the consequence is that for most games it skips the title screen, if the fire button was programmed to start the game.

 

3. Some games simply do not run well. I made sure to disable BASIC and try a few ROMs, but I can't get them to behave correctly. An example game that doesn't go down well is Warhawk.

 

Thanks in advance for looking into this and once again, great work!

 

1) Poorly documented but this will work in "advanced mode" - leave the OS and file fields blank and start the emulator. In that mode you can configure via the native menu system. Setting the OS and file fields on the home screen will override this (those are there to quickly load games), but if you clear them it will go back to using the regular atari800 config file.

 

2) Known issue that I just haven't gotten around to looking into. Will add it to the todo list.

 

3) Not run well in what sense? Without specifics it is hard to know if this is an Atari800 issue or something with the Android port.

 

Happy to respond to answer questions here but I do also maintain a googlecode site for this project (droid800.googlecode.com).

 

Also the source is maintained here: http://code.google.com/p/droid2600/source/browse/ if you are so inclined.

[Fire Button]

Thanks for the feedback, got the config saving to work. Could never have figured that one out for myself.

 

3) Not run well in what sense? Without specifics it is hard to know if this is an Atari800 issue or something with the Android port.

See the post just above yours - it all had to do with PAL vs NTSC. Sound still isn't perfect though.

 

Happy to respond to answer questions here but I do also maintain a googlecode site for this project (droid800.googlecode.com).

Ah, good - I was looking for that but couldn't find it. Will go there and file issues as I find them!

 

Also the source is maintained here: http://code.google.com/p/droid2600/source/browse/ if you are so inclined.

Unfortunately, a bridge too far for me. :/

 

Cheers!

[Fire Button]

I've noticed that sound issues are proportionate to the inability of the emulator to run at 100%... (switching from NTSC to PAL worked well). Which makes sense, except that I would expect it to skip frames instead, which I think is less annoying than sound interruptions. Is there some way to prioritze sound output? What bit-rate and Khz is it playing at anyway?

[lubomyr]

7.5 not solved my problem, i think problem in my firmware because in sdk-emu 2.2 all works ok

but i found temporary solution, i manually edit /data/data/com.droid800/shared_prefs/com.droid800_preferences.xml

[trent]

I've noticed that sound issues are proportionate to the inability of the emulator to run at 100%... (switching from NTSC to PAL worked well). Which makes sense, except that I would expect it to skip frames instead, which I think is less annoying than sound interruptions. Is there some way to prioritze sound output? What bit-rate and Khz is it playing at anyway?

 

Not that it couldn't be improved, but audio just kind of generally sucks on Android right now. Up until very recently there has been no API supporting sound from native code. That situation has been resolved recently but only for Android OS >= 2.3.

 

The default audio settings are 11025 Hz 8 bit mono. The goal is to, by default, decrease the size of the fragments because copying them back through JNI is expensive. I also reckon that about matches the fidelity of an average built in speaker :-) If you are running in advanced mode you can configure it how you like.

 

I think you mentioned before you were running at full frame rate. I rarely notice any audio problems when I configure it to skip every other frame. I can't really tell the difference. Maybe one of the A8 experts in here can say whether or not A8 games typically move pixels around at ~60fps.

[Fire Button]

Not that it couldn't be improved, but audio just kind of generally sucks on Android right now. Up until very recently there has been no API supporting sound from native code. That situation has been resolved recently but only for Android OS >= 2.3.

Yes, I've heard - I've already experienced this myself. I've understood that the sound latency can be up to half a second, and that realtime audio synthesis (which basically is what Pokey emulation is doing) is a bit of a drag to develop right now. I hope Gingerbread fixes it.

 

The default audio settings are 11025 Hz 8 bit mono. The goal is to, by default, decrease the size of the fragments because copying them back through JNI is expensive. I also reckon that about matches the fidelity of an average built in speaker :-) If you are running in advanced mode you can configure it how you like.

Actually, it took me some time to figure it out. Advanced mode made sense to me once I understood how Droid800 stores configuration files, but at first I couldn't find out why some of the settings were being reset even so, at every restart. Then I found the 'simple mode' configuration panel at the startup screen, which overrides whatever you set in Advanced mode. I've got configured according to my wishes right now.

 

Admittedly, I find the interfaces around this somewhat unintuitive. I'm not particularly fond of the 8-bit style advanced settings screens, as they're a bit of a pain to navigate. I'd like to suggest an alternative approach to storing configurations. Is your googlecode page for issues only or should we post wishes there as well?

 

I think you mentioned before you were running at full frame rate. I rarely notice any audio problems when I configure it to skip every other frame. I can't really tell the difference.

Visually, I can - especially with things are scrolling. A 1:1 frame rate is much, much smoother. I can understand, though, that a higher framerate comes at a penalty, but I'd like it to be variable if it can't quite make it. The speed currently fluctuates around the 100% but sound can make it drop somewhat. I'd prefer that sound is continuous by sacrificing a frame if necessary. But I'm unsure if you can anticipate on that.

 

Maybe one of the A8 experts in here can say whether or not A8 games typically move pixels around at ~60fps.

I can. We've got two electricity outlet frequencies in the world, which differs per country, one at 50Hz and one at 60Hz. This directly relates to the rate at which the television beam (good old TV tube systems) builds up frames on the screen. In a part of the world this happens at 50 frames per second (TVs for this setup were PAL systems), in another part at 60 (NTSC systems). The Atari machines, like most other 8-bit hardware at the time, used this frequency as a marker on when a new screen was going to be built up. Typically, anything that moved was synced to this refresh rate. That's one of the reasons why we have NTSC and PAL hardware setups.

 

Broadly speaking, the two largest markets at the time (the U.S. and Europe) ran screen updates at 60Hz vs 50Hz respectively - in fact, other things happening at the vsync ran faster too, like music playback routines. Since most of the games were not programmed to account for this difference in frequency, typically the U.S. gamers had a somewhat tougher job to complete games than the European gamers. Another issue is that some software ran fine on 50 Hz but screwed up in 60 Hz because it was developed to complete things in a single frame, which is significantly shorter under NTSC systems.

 

So the answer to your question is yes - either 60 fps or 50 fps, decided by NTSC vs PAL.

Edited February 4, 2011 by Fire Button

[lubomyr]

another atari800 emu

 

http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_name=4D5819AD.2060503%40phys.uoa.gr&forum_name=atari800-users

 

very fast, but strange control

[scanline]

Runs awsome on my htc evo shift granted I have it overclocked undervolted from 800 mhz stock to 1.2 ghz lol my phone is a over clockers dream runs stable even at 1.5 ghz undervolted just wish i could undervolt when i run it at 1.8 it sucks down the battery fast at 1.8

Edited February 17, 2011 by scanline

[UNIXcoffee928]

Runs awsome on my htc evo shift granted I have it overclocked from 800 mhz stock to 1.2 ghz lol my phone is a over clockers dream runs stable even at 1.8 ghz just sucks down the battery fast at 1.8

Anyone low on cash that wants a portable device to run an Atari or Amiga emulator, at full speed, should get a Nokia N800 or N810 WiFi Internet Tablet. Works great, just no built-in phone (however you can use it with a phone, via bluetooth). The N810 has a built in keyboard, and the N800 can use either the onscreen keyboard, or you can plug any USB keyboard directly into the device. Atari800 runs great on my N800. It runs Linux, and you can run a shell, and compile any UNIX app. There are plenty of premade apps at the Maemo site.

 

Now that Nokia is dropping their Linux-based devices (stupidly), the N800/N810 will likely be getting even more affordable. Even still, it's good at what it was designed to do, and you can pick them up from $60-150.00. The older 770 is also still good for many things, and can be found for less than $50.00... I plan on getting one cheaply & velcroing it to the fridge, ha. I modded my N800 with Leopard-patterned tape, so it doesn't look like a horrible silver AM radio from the 70s... lol... Came out really cool looking.

 

 

[scanline]

Runs awsome on my htc evo shift granted I have it overclocked from 800 mhz stock to 1.2 ghz lol my phone is a over clockers dream runs stable even at 1.8 ghz just sucks down the battery fast at 1.8

Anyone low on cash that wants a portable device to run an Atari or Amiga emulator, at full speed, should get a Nokia N800 or N810 WiFi Internet Tablet. Works great, just no built-in phone (however you can use it with a phone, via bluetooth). The N810 has a built in keyboard, and the N800 can use either the onscreen keyboard, or you can plug any USB keyboard directly into the device. Atari800 runs great on my N800. It runs Linux, and you can run a shell, and compile any UNIX app. There are plenty of premade apps at the Maemo site.

 

Now that Nokia is dropping their Linux-based devices (stupidly), the N800/N810 will likely be getting even more affordable. Even still, it's good at what it was designed to do, and you can pick them up from $60-150.00. The older 770 is also still good for many things, and can be found for less than $50.00... I plan on getting one cheaply & velcroing it to the fridge, ha. I modded my N800 with Leopard-patterned tape, so it doesn't look like a horrible silver AM radio from the 70s... lol... Came out really cool looking.

all ready have a cheap tablet its called a nook flashed with gingerbread my g/f uses it all the time going to flash to honeycomb soon

[+Philsan]

another atari800 emu

 

http://sourceforge.n...=atari800-users

 

very fast, but strange control

I found it in the market yersterday and I have installed it.

Perhaps the best emulator for Android but surely the faster.

[w1k]

how can i SHOT in robbo game?

 

[Kr0tki]

Fire (or Shift) + move the joystick in the wanted direction.

[w1k]

yes, i can move, but how i shot with joystick? (touching screen)

 

droid is very cool, but slow on 600mhz .. :/

Edited June 7, 2011 by w1k

[+Philsan]

yes, i can move, but how i shot with joystick? (touching screen)

 

droid is very cool, but slow on 600mhz .. :/

I prefer the faster Atari 800 emulator.

[w1k]

yes, i can move, but how i shot with joystick? (touching screen)

 

droid is very cool, but slow on 600mhz .. :/

I prefer the faster Atari 800 emulator.

 

i tested it, speed is like droid and i cant shot again

Edited June 7, 2011 by w1k

[+Philsan]

yes, i can move, but how i shot with joystick? (touching screen)

 

droid is very cool, but slow on 600mhz .. :/

I prefer the faster Atari 800 emulator.

 

i tested it, speed is like droid and i cant shot again

No, it is (slightly) faster.

Unfortunately many emulators are too slow on low-range Android phones.

To press fire you have to touch right side of screen or search button.

[w1k]

some new released? droid800 is extremly slow..

[+Philsan]

DELETED

[+Philsan]

lubomyr, thank you for having updated your Atari800 Android emulator.

Now it is based on latest Atari 800 2.2.1 core.

[+Stephen]

Looks awesome, the interface is very nice. Unfortunately, my 1st generation Droid (overclocked to 800MHz) cannot quite run it at 100% Maybe if I kill some background tasks, it is SO close.