Emulator for Windows XP

[brianwolters]

Hi!

 

What is the best 2600 emulator for Windows XP these days? I used to use PCAEWIN but it seems it doesn't like Service Pack 2. I cannot get it to run.

 

Thanks,

Brian

[Rom Hunter]

Z26 with X26 front end.

 

[brianwolters]

Thanks! I'll give it a try.

 

I really like the one on my PocketPC (Virtual VCS) but it is so hard to control.

[+stephena]

Thanks! I'll give it a try.

 

I really like the one on my PocketPC (Virtual VCS) but it is so hard to control.

 

The one on the Virtual VCS is based on Stella, so I also suggest you try Stella 1.4.2. It includes a GUI.

 

Steve

[Dan Iacovelli]

I like pcaewin 2.6 (sometimes I use Z26)

[brianwolters]

I like pcaewin 2.6 (sometimes I use Z26)

 

Hey Dan..I like PCAWEIN 2.6 too but it doesn't seem to run anymore on my XP machine..not sure if it has to do with any "Windows Updates" or not. It used to run..

[D.Yancey]

PCAE will not run for me either if I try it in an XP environment. I just switched over to Stella on that machine and it works OK. PCAE is still my favorite though.

[+Random Terrain]

Z26 with X26 front end.

 

That's what I use too.

[Mindfield]

FWIW I just tried PCAE on my XP/SP2 machine (recently installed due to having overhauled my system) and it seems to work fine. Mind you, I created a slipstream XP CD with service pack 2 already integrated, so it might have had something do to with it... (I've found upgrades never go as smoothly as clean installs)

[Albert]

PCAE hasn't been updated in some time, so I'm sure there are some games it won't run, and some bankswitching modes it doesn't support. I suggest using either z26 or Stella, both are excellent emulators that should work well in XP (just make sure you grab the Windows versions of these emulators).

 

..Al

[Mindfield]

I should find out what John's been up to lately. I haven't heard from him since I sent him my last beta test report, which was about two years ago (just before the release of 2.6)

[Albert]

I should find out what John's been up to lately.  I haven't heard from him since I sent him my last beta test report, which was about two years ago (just before the release of 2.6)

 

That would be great, there was another thread discussing PCAE recently.. Ahh, here it is. PCAE has some unique features not available in other 2600 emulators yet, such as the ability to create movies from your game playing antics. Would be great to see development of PCAE pick up again, or at least know that it's completely dead in the water (and if so, maybe John can share the latest source..)

 

..Al

[Mindfield]

I don't know how many people make a habit of coding in Borland Delphi, but they'd have to if they wanted to fiddle with PCAE's source. (Probably one of the only emus I know of coded in Delphi)

 

Anyway, I E-Mailed him -- hopefully the last address I had for him is still valid, so we'll see if he gets back. I'd like to know if he's still in the biz...

[atwwong]

Stella, z26, and PCAE all work for me on XP. MESS still needs a lot of work before it's in the same league as the top three.

[Albert]

I don't know how many people make a habit of coding in Borland Delphi, but they'd have to if they wanted to fiddle with PCAE's source.  (Probably one of the only emus I know of coded in Delphi)

 

I've done a fair bit of programming in Delphi (it's a great Windows development environment), but I don't have any time to dive into improving a 2600 emulator, especially when there are already two other excellent emulators available for Windows. I do agree, though, that the number of people programming in Delphi is pretty small compared to those who'll know C/C++.

 

Anyway, I E-Mailed him -- hopefully the last address I had for him is still valid, so we'll see if he gets back.  I'd like to know if he's still in the biz...

 

Hope you hear back, thanks for taking the time to write him.

 

..Al

[brianwolters]

PCAE hasn't been updated in some time, so I'm sure there are some games it won't run, and some bankswitching modes it doesn't support.  I suggest using either z26 or Stella, both are excellent emulators that should work well in XP (just make sure you grab the Windows versions of these emulators).  

 

..Al

 

Mine just fails immediately...gives a fatal error and wants to "report" the error to Microsoft. Sad, because I loved PCAE. Using Z26 now. It works, so I wont complain..for now..

[mos6507]

To me, the main reason for someone to update PCAtari is for the integrated debugger, which doesn't exist on any other 2600 emulator yet.

[Mindfield]

Well, I was rather surprised to hear back from John; being a Yahoo account I half expected to see my E-Mail bounce back or simply go unanswered. Fortunately he managed to spot my E-Mail amongst the pantheon of spam he gets on that account:

 

Hey yourself Wow, an email that actually concerns the emulator instead of

just spam! In the past year I've gotten maybe 1,000 spam emails on this account

and maybe THREE emulator-related emails, and I think two weren't even in

English. It's gotten to the point that I hardly ever check this account

anymore, and I was toying with the idea of closing it.

 

I made a few tweaks some months ago to try to get PCAE working better under XP,

but I haven't released it (I'm pretty sure I found the problem, but I'm running

Win2k so I don't have a way to really test it). For the past three years I've

been spending most of my time working on a book (which I've recently finished,

hopefully the first of many) and occasionally contributing to AutoREALM

(http://www.gryc.ws/autorealm.htm). I think PCAE is still hosted on vg-network,

though I don't have the password to access the FTP site and I don't remember

how to update it. I've been toying with the idea of opening up a SourceForge

project for PCAE, but it's pretty mature so I don't know if that's worthwhile.

 

I still surf to AtariAge once in a while to see what's new, but I guess I sort

of drifted away from the classic gaming scene a bit. Writing fiction is really

time-consuming I was really disappointed that there was no PhillyClassic

this spring, and I'm looking forward to the next one, whenever it is. It looks

like I'm going to have to check the site often to see when they'll hold it. I'm

local to the area so I tend to make it -- the hotel where it's usually held is

actually near one of my weekend bicycling haunts.

 

Between writing and bicycling (or, in the winter, going to the gym) my time is

pretty much taken up and I actually wish I could turn PCAE over to someone

rather than see it languish (though, since it's open source, I suppose anyone

could in theory work on it). If anyone wants to try out the 2.7 version I've

built here to see if it works under XP, I'd be happy to ZIP it up and mail it

out. There might be a lag between emailing me and hearing a response, though --

I have three email accounts and I tend to not check this one very often. You

could say that the signal-to-noise ratio here has been pretty low

 

John

 

Hopefully he'll send me a copy of that 2.7 to try out. :-) I've offered him hosting as well should he need it, or if it comes to it to find out if anyone wanted to take over its development. We'll see what comes of it.

 

Good to know he's still kicking though.

Edited April 13, 2005 by Mindfield

[+stephena]

To me, the main reason for someone to update PCAtari is for the integrated debugger, which doesn't exist on any other 2600 emulator yet.

833573[/snapback]

 

An integrated debugger will be in the next major release of Stella. It will probably be integrated into Stella directly, which means that any platform that can run Stella will get the debugger "for free".

 

I feel that's a big advantage over PCAE, because while PCAE does have a functioning debugger, it isn't (and probably never will be) available for Linux or OSX. And *that* is very important to me. Cross-platform functionality is the driving force behind Stella. Sometimes a release may take a while, but you can be sure that when it *is* released, everyone, on every supported platform, gets the same features.

 

Steve