4 ms·

Yes. Most of the good TRS-80 emulators I've seen are proprietary. There's xtrs in the Debian repos but last time I tried it, it was pretty bare bones and not ve

Yes. Most of the good TRS-80 emulators I've seen are proprietary. There's xtrs in the Debian repos but last time I tried it, it was pretty bare bones and not very accurate. Edit: There's also MAME of course but it's a bit clunky to use.

rbanffy 4y ago
> Edit: There's also MAME of course but it's a bit clunky to use. I like the way MAME strives for accuracy above all else. I often wonder if it wouldn't be possible to compile MAME's source into some HDL and burn drivers into programmable hardware on demand.
- musicale 4y ago
  > I often wonder if it wouldn't be possible to compile MAME's source into some HDL and burn drivers into programmable hardware on demand. Like MiSTer FPGA? It seems to provide FPGA implementations for a number of vintage microcomputer and game systems: https://mister-devel.github.io/MkDocs_MiSTer/ https://mister-devel.github.io/MkDocs_MiSTer/
  - rbanffy 4y ago
    Kind of yes, but the MAME code is very structured with lots of macros and looks extremely declarative. Once you have HDL versions of the most common components (such as CPUs, CRTCs, memory, etc) most of the code is declaring how these are connected, what RAM and ROM goes where. To translate that kind of code to an HDL wouldn't be impossible.
    - musicale 4y ago
      Using an actual HDL implementation to begin with has been shown to be a very effective approach, and that's basically what MiSTer FPGA has done with great success. However, MAME probably supports more emulated platforms/systems (and some MiSTer platforms may not be supported by MAME.) That being said, what I think you might be suggesting is that the declarative structural and signaling specification (and possibly data types, etc.) could be shared between software emulators like MAME and FPGA emulators like MiSTer FPGA. I like the way Migen (for example) acts as an integration platform for multiple hardware models and makes it easier to specify a system from existing components.
genpfault 4y ago
XRoar[1]? [1]: http://www.6809.org.uk/xroar/ http://www.6809.org.uk/xroar/
- Narishma 4y ago
  Not a TRS-80 emulator.
  - gp2000 4y ago
    It is in the sense that Radio Shack put TRS-80 as a brand on all of their computers up until the mid eighties when they started to move into PC clones. Xroar emulates the Color Computer which was known as the "TRS-80 Color Computer". Though, to be sure, most often TRS-80 is used to refer to the Model 1, 3, 4 line. But plenty of people will think of the Color Computer when they hear TRS-80. Or, possibly, their line of rebranded pocket and laptop computers like the TRS-80 Model 100 or TRS-80 Pocket Computer 1.

rbanffy 4y ago

> Edit: There's also MAME of course but it's a bit clunky to use. I like the way MAME strives for accuracy above all else. I often wonder if it wouldn't be possible to compile MAME's source into some HDL and burn drivers into programmable hardware on demand.

musicale 4y ago
> I often wonder if it wouldn't be possible to compile MAME's source into some HDL and burn drivers into programmable hardware on demand. Like MiSTer FPGA? It seems to provide FPGA implementations for a number of vintage microcomputer and game systems: https://mister-devel.github.io/MkDocs_MiSTer/ https://mister-devel.github.io/MkDocs_MiSTer/
- rbanffy 4y ago
  Kind of yes, but the MAME code is very structured with lots of macros and looks extremely declarative. Once you have HDL versions of the most common components (such as CPUs, CRTCs, memory, etc) most of the code is declaring how these are connected, what RAM and ROM goes where. To translate that kind of code to an HDL wouldn't be impossible.
  - musicale 4y ago
    Using an actual HDL implementation to begin with has been shown to be a very effective approach, and that's basically what MiSTer FPGA has done with great success. However, MAME probably supports more emulated platforms/systems (and some MiSTer platforms may not be supported by MAME.) That being said, what I think you might be suggesting is that the declarative structural and signaling specification (and possibly data types, etc.) could be shared between software emulators like MAME and FPGA emulators like MiSTer FPGA. I like the way Migen (for example) acts as an integration platform for multiple hardware models and makes it easier to specify a system from existing components.

genpfault 4y ago

XRoar[1]? [1]: http://www.6809.org.uk/xroar/ http://www.6809.org.uk/xroar/

Narishma 4y ago
Not a TRS-80 emulator.
- gp2000 4y ago
  It is in the sense that Radio Shack put TRS-80 as a brand on all of their computers up until the mid eighties when they started to move into PC clones. Xroar emulates the Color Computer which was known as the "TRS-80 Color Computer". Though, to be sure, most often TRS-80 is used to refer to the Model 1, 3, 4 line. But plenty of people will think of the Color Computer when they hear TRS-80. Or, possibly, their line of rebranded pocket and laptop computers like the TRS-80 Model 100 or TRS-80 Pocket Computer 1.