VICE v2.1.20

[rhurst]

I recently installed Fedora 12 on my workstation, and got 2D/3D acceleration "supported" with this extra package:

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$ yum install mesa-dri-drivers-experimental
$ vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Section "Device"
	Identifier "Videocard0"
	Driver "radeonhd"
EndSection

After subscribing to the RPMfusion repository, I got the VICE package. I checked its development branch, but alas, no pre-made BETA binary was there for the testing. So, I grabbed its latest source to check out its new video capabilities:

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svn co https://vice-emu.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/vice-emu/trunk vice
cd vice
./autogen.sh
./configure --enable-sdlui --enable-fullscreen --with-sdlsound HAVE_HWSCALE=1 
make -j9
sudo make install
xvic

Multi-threaded make screams on an 8-core system.

Anyways, after booting it up, I stumbled across F12 as its hotkey to access the integrated SDL menu system. Very nice!! Cursor arrow keys enter/exit all the sub-menus, window scaling and fullscreen works wonderfully, and PAL emulation mode is really slick.

I also got the OpenCBM driver downloaded and installed, too, so later I might hook-up my 1581 drive for tinkering under this VICE beta.

[rhurst]

One thing I noticed in the SDL menu is the lack of FFMPEG AVI recording support, even if it is compiled in thus:

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[rhurst@SuperMICRO-8 src]$ sudo yum install ffmpeg-devel
[rhurst@SuperMICRO-8 src]$ ./configure --enable-ffmpeg --enable-sdlui --enable-fullscreen --with-sdlsound HAVE_HWSCALE=1

[rhurst@SuperMICRO-8 src]$ time make -j9

real	0m11.150s
user	0m26.999s
sys	0m11.121s

... so I reverted back to GNOMEUI and the FFMPEG option appeared in its pick-list. I installed OpenCBM and hooked up my 1581 diskette drive to my parallel port using the newest XEM 1541 adapter and recorded the PIC DEMO 128 program from the 1581 Utilities disk.

[rhurst]

Don't see any external announcement made on their web sites (yet), but my latest checkout from their source repository has updated the VICE version number to 2.2.

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$ xvic
ffmpeg avformat lib has version 342702, VICE expects 342702: full match
ffmpeg  avcodec lib has version 342501, VICE expects 342501: full match
ffmpeg   avutil lib has version 320300, VICE expects 320300: full match
ffmpeg  swscale lib has version 000701, VICE expects 000701: full match
VIC20 kernal patched to 901486-07.
Reading configuration file `/home/rhurst/.vice/sdl-vicerc'.
VIC20 kernal patched to 901486-06.
*** VICE Version 2.2 ***
 
Welcome to xvic, the free portable VIC20 Emulator.
 
Current VICE team members:
A. Boose, D. Lem, T. Biczo, A. Dehmel, T. Bretz, A. Matthies,
M. Pottendorfer, M. Brenner, S. Trikaliotis, M. van den Heuvel,
C. Vogelgsang, F. Gennari, M. Kiesel, H. Nuotio, D. Kahlin,
A. Lankila.
 
This is free software with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
See the "About VICE" command for more info.

[Bacon]

I reverted back to GNOMEUI

The SDL version compiled on my machine but when I tried --with-gnomeui compilation stopped with an error in lighpen.c or something similar. I got the source from svn Sunday 29.

The hardware scaling is great but the SDL version only offers symbolic key mapping which I loathe -- it's mapped to an American keyboard and I have no idea where character like *, @, and £ are on an American keyboard. Besides, when I use a VIC 20 or C64 emulator, my brain switches to Commodore 8-bit mode and automatically directs my fingers to the positions they learned ~25 years ago.

Will try the 2.2 version asap. I only wish they could include hw scaling in the Gnome version too.

[orion70]

The hardware scaling is great but the SDL version only offers symbolic key mapping which I loathe -- it's mapped to an American keyboard and I have no idea where character like *, @, and £ are on an American keyboard. Besides, when I use a VIC 20 or C64 emulator, my brain switches to Commodore 8-bit mode and automatically directs my fingers to the positions they learned ~25 years ago.

Exactly the same for me! What's worse is that sometimes I keep thinking in C= 8-bit mode and write stuff at work (Word, Excel) with the wrong punctuation .

[nojoopa]

The SDL version compiled on my machine but when I tried --with-gnomeui compilation stopped with an error in lighpen.c or something similar. I got the source from svn Sunday 29.

This was fixed on Monday (r21823).

The hardware scaling is great but the SDL version only offers symbolic key mapping which I loathe -- it's mapped to an American keyboard and I have no idea where character like *, @, and £ are on an American keyboard. Besides, when I use a VIC 20 or C64 emulator, my brain switches to Commodore 8-bit mode and automatically directs my fingers to the positions they learned ~25 years ago.

Unfortunately, the SDL UI is (currently) shipped with only the symbolic US keymaps. It supports alternative keymaps, but we've been too lazy to create any; contributions are welcome! Note that the virtual keyboard can be used to create/modify the keymap, which should be slightly less painful than editing the .vkm files by hand

Will try the 2.2 version asap. I only wish they could include hw scaling in the Gnome version too.

Actually, the OpenGL code in SDL UI is mostly straight copy/paste from the GTK+ port (or "gnomeui" as per configure switch) with some additions, such as the aspect ratio handling (which, in turn, was influenced by the xvideo code in xaw). Point being: gnomeui has had hw scaling for many years.

As for why it's not working for you (while hwscale in SDL UI is):
1. You don't have libgtkglext-dev installed (SDL UI doesn't need this, only the GL headers)
2. You have an old vicerc file with "HwScalePossible=0" in it; if this is the case, then the "Hardware scaling" menu item exists but is grayed out

I hope this helps.

[Bacon]

The SDL version compiled on my machine but when I tried --with-gnomeui compilation stopped with an error in lighpen.c or something similar. I got the source from svn Sunday 29.

This was fixed on Monday (r21823).

Great!

Unfortunately, the SDL UI is (currently) shipped with only the symbolic US keymaps. It supports alternative keymaps, but we've been too lazy to create any; contributions are welcome! Note that the virtual keyboard can be used to create/modify the keymap, which should be slightly less painful than editing the .vkm files by hand

Yep, been there, done that. Which reminds me: I should post my modified VIC-20 positional keyboard map for X11 that fixes the broken behavior of the one that ships with VICE, where the cursor up key doesn't work. I'm surprised noone else seems to have noticed this.

As for why it's not working for you (while hwscale in SDL UI is):
1. You don't have libgtkglext-dev installed (SDL UI doesn't need this, only the GL headers)
2. You have an old vicerc file with "HwScalePossible=0" in it; if this is the case, then the "Hardware scaling" menu item exists but is grayed out

I hope this helps.

So I could have had the correct aspect ratio in xvic a long time ago? I wish I had known...

Thanks for your answers!

[Bacon]

The hardware scaling is great but the SDL version only offers symbolic key mapping which I loathe -- it's mapped to an American keyboard and I have no idea where character like *, @, and £ are on an American keyboard. Besides, when I use a VIC 20 or C64 emulator, my brain switches to Commodore 8-bit mode and automatically directs my fingers to the positions they learned ~25 years ago.

Exactly the same for me! What's worse is that sometimes I keep thinking in C= 8-bit mode and write stuff at work (Word, Excel) with the wrong punctuation .

When I want to write a $ I always reach for shift-4 although the correct combination on a Swedish PC keyboard is AltGr-4. Old habits die hard; I didn't even have a Commodore 8-bit between 1987 and 2001, and I still did that same mistake over and over for all those years

[Pedro Lambrini]

Don't see any external announcement made on their web sites (yet), but my latest checkout from their source repository has updated the VICE version number to 2.2.

Just wondering if you've noticed any obvious differences or do you think it's maybe just the official release number of 2.1.20 r***?

[rhurst]

I love this new SDL UI (selectable to replace Gnome UI) option; it makes it much more friendlier for handhelds like the GP2X Wiz and for custom frontends. The OpenGL compatibility is sterling.

Its ChangeLog suggests it has been updated to 2.2 on Dec 14th, yet no "official" word on their web-site. I am guessing they are waiting for Dec 19th when a full year has passed since 2.1.

[gklinger]

Its ChangeLog suggests it has been updated to 2.2 on Dec 14th, yet no "official" word on their web-site. I am guessing they are waiting for Dec 19th when a full year has passed since 2.1.

That was my assumption as well.

I'm using the Cocoa (read native Mac OS X) port of VICE 2.2 and it's crazy delicious. What Lallafa, the chap who created the Mac port, has done is simply amazing. I don't think I can convey the level of appreciation I have for his efforts and those of the rest of the VICE team. I hope they all have a very merry Christmas.

Edit: It's the 19th and so far, no announcement.

[rhurst]

One minor issue squashed, this feature works on the latest SVN release -- woot!

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x128 -80col +VDCdscan -VDCfull

Yes, a very Merry Christmas to the VICE Team!

[Pedro Lambrini]

Patiently awaiting an official release. Between this, GB20 and Jeffs DC 3 it's going to be a great Christmas.

[Mayhem]

I see in the notes for Vice 2.2 that XVIC now support paddles. Anyone gonna give that one a runout and test?

Time to possibly rewrite the GEMUS script for GB20 too...

[gklinger]

FWIW, VICE 2.2 has been officially released although the website hasn't been updated yet and some of the download links don't work. Should be sorted out in the next 24 hours.