Online Emulation thru a website

[Kernal]

I was thinking the other day.. I have this vast archive, and i was wondering.. how hard would it be for me to add a website to my domain

where we could emulate online an atari 130xe with 360k of ram?

 

http://deepth0ught.com/atari.html

 

any ideas? I assume a java implementation of Mess would have to be used like how archive.org does the 2600 games online.. I want to do that but with 8 bit games..

 

Rick

[Kernal]

And Not just games.. Utils.. demos.. colourspace. etc. etc. etc. basically an online atari computer accessible for all to use.

 

Rick

[ggn]

This is already implemented at www.archive.org, for example: https://archive.org/details/a8b_Karateka_1985_Broderbund_US_cr_USA. Maybe you'd like to query them about implementation details?

Edited June 15, 2016 by ggn

[Rybags]

There was a good Russian site with A8 games, can't remember the address.

 

But the problem with these online emus - they often break or become unusable. They're usually Javascript or Flash based, both of which are problematic in that the plugins are malware/virus attack vectors and constantly being updated. Usually trying to get a given site's emulation to work is more trouble than it's worth. It's easier to just use a traditional emulator and just download game images for it. Space is a non-issue, biggest A8 games will still come in under 1 Meg so even a phone with 4 Gig SD card can handle a big collection.

[Keatah]

Yes. I'm not a fan of online emulation either. For many reasons including delays and a general tacky experience. And they never work for long, there's always some sort of change going on with the API.

[Flojomojo]

This is already implemented at www.archive.org, for example: https://archive.org/details/a8b_Karateka_1985_Broderbund_US_cr_USA. Maybe you'd like to query them about implementation details?

It's just JSMESS, which has been merged into MAME. https://github.com/mamedev/mame

I agree with the doubters that JavaScript is kinda gross, but there's something elegant about being able to run just about anything without needing to install or save anything locally -- though finding a video of someone who knows how to play is just as good to have. The games on Internet Archive run well on a modest Chromebook.

[Dmitry]

I'm going to take the opposite opinion on this one.

 

When I saw this a few years ago

http://bellard.org/jslinux/

 

I was just blown away. And I took an old text based C game that I had ported and recompiled it - inside his javascript emulator and ran it, and it worked.

That's just so awesome, I didn't see anything wrong with it at all.

 

I haven't used an Atari 800 emulator online, but to my ears, it sounds like a great way to share a game that you've written with friends.. Most people aren't going to have the atari emulator, nor are they willing to figure it out - and btw, it wouldn't be easy to figure out.

 

I love Altirra for its technical brilliance, but it is not easy to use until after you learn it. I don't expect it to be, but having a completely simple way of sharing a game, I like it. I can show people a video, but its not the same experience.