Nintendulator on Linux

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Jagasian
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Joined: Wed Feb 09, 2005 9:31 am

Nintendulator on Linux

Post by Jagasian »

I have heard great things about the accuracy of the Nintendulator NES emulator. However, even though it is opensource, it only runs on one platform: MS Windows. However, with no effort whatsoever it runs in Wine on Linux, by just double-clicking the executable after unzipping it into some directory on your harddrive. However, sound didn't work at all.

Under the non-free cedega, which used to be called WineX, which is a commercial fork of Wine optimized for gaming, Nintendulator runs correctly... if not slow. My computer is a 1.8Ghz laptop, which I am running via a docking station. With frameskip off (i.e. zero), I can only get around 30fps, and the sound stutters, which is probably due to the slowness of things.

Up until now, I have mainly been using FCE Ultra on my Xbox... but it just isn't accurate enough for my tastes. There are some games it can't even run correctly at all! Anyway, I hope to see more from Nintendulator: continued improvements to the accuracy of its emulation as well as improvements to its usability for gamers... and maybe ports to other platforms such as Linux and the Xbox? The Xbox port would require platform specific optimizations to get it to run at full speed, but the end result would be awesome!

A Kevtendo would be even better, but it just doens't seem to be happening :(
tepples
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Post by tepples »

What we need is an SDL or Allegro port of Nintendulator so that future platforms, especially Free platforms, will be easier to support.

(And shouldn't this be in the NESemdev forum?)
Jagasian
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Post by Jagasian »

tepples wrote:What we need is an SDL or Allegro port of Nintendulator so that future platforms, especially Free platforms, will be easier to support.

(And shouldn't this be in the NESemdev forum?)
An SDL version of Nintendulator would be the best, IMO. SDL would make OSX, Linux, and Xbox ports quite straightforward. I am not sure if there is an Allegro port for the Xbox. SDL seems to be the hot thing right now.

Also with regards to your question: I didn't want to post this in the NESemdev section because it was more of a general comment on a specific emulator from a gamer's perspective... while the NESemdev forum is more geared towards the technical details of emulator development. If the mods want, they can move this thread over there.
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Disch
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Post by Disch »

SDL is good for general games... However I don't think it's practical for an emulator. I considered making an emu with SDL when I started mine (in fact I looked at several cross-platform libs), but it turned out they were either all graphics and no UI... or all UI and no graphics.

If there were some kind of SDL/wxWidgets blend... I would never use the API again. But until that happens.....

Allegro comes close... although it really rubs me the wrong way. I can't quite put it into words -- it's late and my brain is turning to mush.
Jagasian
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Post by Jagasian »

Disch wrote:SDL is good for general games... However I don't think it's practical for an emulator. I considered making an emu with SDL when I started mine (in fact I looked at several cross-platform libs), but it turned out they were either all graphics and no UI... or all UI and no graphics.

If there were some kind of SDL/wxWidgets blend... I would never use the API again. But until that happens.....

Allegro comes close... although it really rubs me the wrong way. I can't quite put it into words -- it's late and my brain is turning to mush.
FCE Ultra was eventually ported to SDL. I think you would have to use SDL alongwith a cross-platform widget toolkit, which I think is what FCE Ultra did. I actually don't like Windows-style interfaces on my emulators, as I like to use a game controller (typically a SNES controller) and a big screen TV. The interface used on the XPort emulators is a much better fit for something emulating a console from 1980s to 1990s
RoboNes
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Post by RoboNes »

The interface used on the XPort emulators is a much better fit for something emulating a console from 1980s to 1990s
what does that look like then?
Guest

Post by Guest »

You want Nintendulator ported to Linux because you think the Linux port of FCE Ultra is inaccurate because the unofficial XBox port, which is based off an ancient codebase, fails to run many games?
tepples
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Post by tepples »

I'd want Nintendulator ported to Linux (if only using Winelib) just in case I get a computer and peripherals capable of running Linux, so that I don't have to pay a $200 Windows tax to test my programs.
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