Virtu

New Post: Raster Blaster

gregsohl — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 02:49:19 GMT

As a guy who's computer career and interest was founded on the Apple II+, I think that Raster Blaster alone is sufficient reason to build an emulator. Nice!

Greg

Updated Release: Virtu 0.8 (Mar 14, 2010)

fool — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 22:24:00 GMT

Source Requirements

.NET Framework 3.5 with Service Pack 1
Visual Studio 2008 with Service Pack 1, or
Visual C# 2008 Express Edition with Service Pack 1 and
Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition with Service Pack 1
Silverlight 3 Tools for Visual Studio 2008
Silverlight 3 Toolkit
XNA Game Studio 3.1
FxCop 1.36

Released: Virtu 0.8 (Mar 14, 2010)

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 22:24:00 GMT

Source Requirements

Created Release: Virtu 0.8 (Mar 14, 2010)

fool — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 22:12:53 GMT

Source Requirements

Source code checked in, #43069

fool — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 22:01:22 GMT

Included missing changes from last checkin.

Source code checked in, #43066

fool — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:54:17 GMT

Rewrote sound emulation to be much more accurate. Modified CPU throttling to sync with audio thread. Added CPU multiplier to machine settings. Bumped version to 0.8 for next release.

Updated Wiki: Silverlight

fool — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 09:59:01 GMT

Silverlight

Appealing due to its potential reach, but has been the most frustrating to use, probably due to bleeding edge, high expectations and the inevitable comparisons to WPF.

Pros:

Mac OS X support.
Linux support (Moonlight 3).
Mobile support (TBA).
Dynamic sound buffer support.

Cons:

Missing RenderOptions BitmapScalingMode (NearestNeighbor) for image scaling.
Missing direct access to keyboard state.
Missing caps lock key state from event handlers.
Missing Binding StringFormat & RelativeSource FindAncestor conveniences.
Out of Browser mode cannot control the window and does not support caching framework extension assemblies.

I prefer running out of browser, but this mode has a few issues to work through. The key bindings are a little messy since the browser tends to hijack the keys I'd prefer to use and the lowest common denominator rules:

Apple or Setting Key	Keyboard Binding
OpenApple	Control+Alt or Control+Left
CloseApple	Control+Windows or Control+Right
Reset	Control+F12 or Control+Up
CpuThrottle	F8
VideoMonochrome	F9
VideoFullscreen	F11 (Browser)

The UI is rudimentary but supports selecting local disk images at runtime.

Screenshots

Note the washed out colors due to the default magnification filter used for image scaling. Unfortunately there is no way to specify the nearest neighbor bitmap scaling mode (available in WPF & XNA).

Source code checked in, #42615

fool — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 09:54:04 GMT

Added sound emulation for Silverlight.

Source code checked in, #42217

fool — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:04:43 GMT

Cosmetic changes. Reduced DirectSound volume to 50%.

Source code checked in, #40956

fool — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:06:26 GMT

Added Unix PlatformKeyCode support for Silverlight => Moonlight.

New Post: XBOX 360 - Loading a disk image?

fool — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 08:28:06 GMT

You still can't browse for a disk image on XNA, but I just checked in a change to boot to a default disk image using an embedded resource. To run a particular disk image you just need to overwrite the file Virtu/Disks/Default.dsk, rebuild and deploy to the Xbox 360.

Source code checked in, #35708

fool — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 08:06:40 GMT

Added default boot disk image which is read from an embedded resource.

Source code checked in, #35682

fool — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 05:53:53 GMT

Cosmetic changes. Implemented video scanner and floating bus.

Updated Wiki: Home

fool — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:15:06 GMT

Summary

Virtu is an Apple IIe emulator for the .NET Framework using C# with Silverlight, WPF & XNA.

History

The Apple IIe left an indelible mark on my teenage psyche. Virtu was born out of an interest in emulators and wanting to wallow in nostalgia. Over time it has also become a vehicle to explore developer environments.

Originally developed for RISC OS (3.11) on the Acorn Archimedes in 1995 using some C but mostly ARM assembly language. Published on the cover disk of the October 1997 issue of Acorn User. Later that year we started porting Virtu to Microsoft Windows (95) on the 'PC' using only C++ with DirectX. A port to Microsoft Windows CE (2.11) soon followed. These were tweaked over the next couple of years but never published. Fast forward to the present and the latest incarnation of Virtu, this time ported to the Microsoft .NET Framework (3.5 SP 1) using only C# with Silverlight, WPF and XNA (on both Windows and Xbox 360, which is limited to the .NET Compact Framework).

Platforms

The target platform has been abstracted to a software framework which can take advantage of the various implementations and subsets of the framework to get more portability. I'm currently interested in all of the above for various reasons and couldn't choose which to target, so I thought it would be interesting to target them all, and thereby compare and contrast them to learn the pros and cons of each. Check out the Virtu Silverlight, WPF & XNA wiki pages for platform specific details.

Usage

After a successful build, you should be able to run the emulator and perform a self test by pressing the key combination Control+OpenApple+CloseApple+Reset. Boot to the monitor (after Reset) where you can program interactively using Applesoft BASIC or CALL-151 to use 6502 assembly language. Of course disk images can also be booted to complete the nostalgia experience.

The current release is an early work in progress and has many rough edges. Most notably, there is no user interface for configuring the emulator, but this can be worked around by editing the default machine settings source at build time, or in some cases pressing a hotkey at runtime. Any platform specific issues will be listed on their wiki page.

Requirements

Recommendations

Xbox 360 Controller for Windows, or
Xbox 360 Console and
Xbox 360 Chatpad

Screenshots

Source code checked in, #35615

fool — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:12:31 GMT

Cosmetic changes. Fixed some code analysis warnings. Dropped Extended Strongly Typed Resource Generator dependency.

Created Release: Virtu 0.7 (Nov 18, 2009)

fool — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:42:25 GMT

Source Requirements

Released: Virtu 0.7 (Nov 18, 2009)

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:42:24 GMT

Source Requirements

Source code checked in, #34776

fool — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:30:41 GMT

Cosmetic changes. Modified Wpf PlatformTarget to x86. Bumped version to 0.7 for next release.

Source code checked in, #24462

fool — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:33:54 GMT

Fixed svn properties on binary files.

Updated Wiki: XNA

fool — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:39:45 GMT

XNA

Appealing due to its relative low level access and interesting cross platform support.

Pros:

Xbox 360 support.
Xbox 360 Controller on Windows.
Xbox 360 Chatpad on Xbox 360.
Zune support.

Cons:

Missing buffered input support.
Missing dynamic sound buffer support (currently using interop to DirectSound - Windows only).
Missing Xbox 360 Chatpad support on Windows.
Toggling fullscreen mode is messy and slow.
User interface will be a lot more work.

XNA is very impressive and a breeze to use compared to DirectX. Although low level compared to Silverlight and WPF, it doesn't go low enough sometimes and needs to surface more DirectX features, in particular support for dynamic sound buffers is possible and essential for emulators.

Apple or Setting Key	Keyboard Binding	Gamepad or Chatpad Binding
OpenApple	LeftAlt	LeftShoulder
CloseApple	RightAlt	RightShoulder
Reset	Control+F12	LeftStick+Start
CpuThrottle	F8	ChatpadGreen+D8 or ChatpadOrange+D8
VideoMonochrome	F9	ChatpadGreen+D9 or ChatpadOrange+D9
VideoFullscreen	F11\|

The current implementation does not have any sound on Xbox 360. Also it does not support browsing for disk images.