z26 Version 2.12 Released

[Rob Mitchell]

Help?

That's exactly what it is expected to do.

 

Try something like z26.exe combat.bin on the command line

 

Or register the .bin extension to z26 and start any game by double-klicking on the game.

 

Or install x26.

 

I would rather not register *.bin to Z26 .. as I have BINs for other game systems like the Vectrex on it too. I was expecting that I would have a menu of games to select from. As it is I may go back to a previous version of Z26 for the menu interface.

 

x26 .. what's that?

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I would rather not register *.bin to Z26 .. as I have BINs for other game systems like the Vectrex on it too.

Then rename then to e.g. *.a26.

 

x26 .. what's that?

A menu interface.

[atarimac]

Al,

 

 

Yes, OS X really needs an updated Atari 2600 emulator.  MacStella is a carbon version of Stella 1.2 so it will not run many newer games, and it does not support USB controllers so the Stelladaptor (or any other USB devices) cannot be used with it.  I've already offered to send a free Stelladaptor to the first person who updates MacStella to the latest Stella source and adds HID (Human Interface Device) Manager support.  Of course, a nice Cocoa port of z26 (with a nice front-end) would also make me happy.  

 

..Al

 

Stella for MacOSX 1.4.1 (StellaOSX) is a Cocoa version based on the newest source, and includes Stelladaptor support. And you already send the Stelladaptor to me

 

Mark

[atarimac]

All,

I guess I've been working too hard, as I didn't notice that Al's post was from March (before the new Stella was released), and there was simply a new post to this thread. I'll just go back to sleep now

 

Mark

 

Al,

 

 

Yes, OS X really needs an updated Atari 2600 emulator.  MacStella is a carbon version of Stella 1.2 so it will not run many newer games, and it does not support USB controllers so the Stelladaptor (or any other USB devices) cannot be used with it.  I've already offered to send a free Stelladaptor to the first person who updates MacStella to the latest Stella source and adds HID (Human Interface Device) Manager support.  Of course, a nice Cocoa port of z26 (with a nice front-end) would also make me happy.  

 

..Al

 

Stella for MacOSX 1.4.1 (StellaOSX) is a Cocoa version based on the newest source, and includes Stelladaptor support. And you already send the Stelladaptor to me

 

Mark

[Blinky]

Tip: Write a small batch file which changes the directory (e.g CD C:z26") and then starts z26.exe, put it into the same directory and link the extension to the batch file instead. Then the screenshots should be in the z26.exe directory.

 

Another way is to make a shortcut to the batchfile and associate the shortcut (PIF) with .bin and .a26 files and set the shortcuts properties to use the Z26 directory and closewindow checked (no CD C:.. needed in batchfile).

 

Here is a quick how to.

 

Create batchfile and shortcut

A batchfile and shortcut are needed to make sure Z26 will always startup using the Z26 directory.

run notepad or any other texteditor and copy or type following line:

Z26.EXE "%1"

Select the save (or save as...) menu option and browse to the Z26 directory.

enter z26.bat in filename box.

Set file extension type to all files (*.*). Otherwise file will be saved as z26.bat.txt which will not work.

Click save button to save the batchfile.

Select save as... menuoption. It should open in the z26 directory showing the z26.bat batchfile. Right click above the batchfile and choose properties from the popup menu.

Click the Program tabsheet.

In the top editbox enter Z26 Atari 2600 Emulator for title

In the working directory editbox enter the z26 directory (the same as at command but without the z26.bat).

Check close window checkbox and Click OK button so a shortcut to z26.bat is created.

Associate .bin with Z26

 

If .bin files are not yet associated with anything then just double click a .bin file and

windows will ask which program you want to open it with. In this case continue with the following:

Click on the other button and browse to the z26 directory.

doubleclick the Z26 shortcut.

Make sure the 'always open with...' checkbox is checked and click OK button.

 

Z26 should now ztart the bin file. Hit ESCape key and try another doubleclicking another .bin file.

 

Changing .bin file association

When .bin files where already associated and you wish to change or edit the association then do the following:

Start explorer, choose view menuoption, choose folder options, select file extensions tab.

In the list of file extensions look for something starting with BIN If you can't find it then the extension was registered with a different discription and you need to step through all the extensions and look for BIN in the details box.

select the extension and click edit button.

In the discription editbox enter Atari 2600 ROM file.

In the action list. Double click open. If there is no open action in the list then click the new button and enter the word open in the action editbox.

click browse button, browse to z26 directory and select the z26 shortcut, click open, then OK.

If you wish the association to use the z26 icon then click the change icon button, ignore the message and click the browse button, browse to the z26 directory and doubleclick z26.ico file

click close twice to finish.

Now try double clicking a .bin file, it should now open with Z26.

 

Hope this helps

[Classic Pac]

Here is something I have to say. Sometimes other OS get over looked in this Windows universe we find ourselves in. But I know emulator writers write for the computer they know best. But if anyone here who reads this knows of emulators for MAC and LINUX I dare Albert to post them (Atari realted of course) in the proper section of this web page. IF not post them or at least a link to them here in the emulator forum.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Stella and z26 are available for Linux, Stella also for Mac.

[+stephena]

Here is something I have to say. Sometimes other OS get over looked in this Windows universe we find ourselves in. But I know emulator writers write for the computer they know best. But if anyone here who reads this knows of emulators for MAC and LINUX I dare Albert to post them (Atari realted of course) in the proper section of this web page. IF not post them or at least a link to them here in the emulator forum.

 

Have a look at the 'Atari 2600->Emulation' part of AtariAge. You'll see that Stella has been available for Linux for just about forever (it was initially designed and developed in Linux, and for a long time was the premiere platform). There's been a separate port for Windows for at least 4 years, but only recently has the code come up to snuff to be used on all 3 major platforms (Linux, OSX, Win32).

 

z26 was for a long time restricted to DOS/Win32, but there is now a port to Linux.

 

I find it strange about Stella though, since it was available on Linux long before Windows

 

And besides, with the recent changes to the codebase for Stella (and eventually z26), it will be available on any platform that has SDL installed.

 

Steve

[Albert]

Have a look at the 'Atari 2600->Emulation' part of AtariAge.

 

Here's the page:

 

Atari 2600 Emulation

 

..Al

[Nukey Shay]

What I'd like to see is an option that stops emulation dead if a specific given number of scanlines is NOT being displayed Sort of like the forced mode that is already there, exept that it crashes the emulator as well.

 

Oh...and netplay too (cough)