RFD: comp.emulators.{announce,apple2,c64,misc}

[rdippold@qualcomm.com (Ron "Asbestos" Dippold)]

			REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION
	       moderated group comp.emulators.announce
	       unmoderated group comp.emulators.apple2
		 unmoderated group comp.emulators.c64
		unmoderated group comp.emulators.misc

This post is mostly intended to gauge level of interest.  These groups
would be dedicated to programs which emulate other computer systems.
Since the machine being emulated and specific emulator are more
important than the machine the emulation is taking place on, the
proposed groups are divided by the emulated machine, rather than the
emulating machine.

All discussion should take place on news.groups.  Note that you can't
vote now, you can just express support (or opposition) and argue about
the proposal.  Voting, if it happens, would be a month from now.

So... would the groups be of interest to you?  Do you see the need for
the moderated announce group?  There's already an existing
comp.sys.amiga.emulations group which is very busy (mostly with
Emplant postings) - for the Amiga perhaps just the 8-bit emulators
(which are almost nonexistent on that group) should be discussed on
the comp.emulators.misc group.


PROPOSED CHARTERS

comp.emulators.announce:  Moderated group with announcements about
emulators, emulator ftp sites, new emulator images, and emulator FAQs.
(I'm not sure if this is necessary, but given that most of the emulator
traffic I've seen so far is repetitive in nature, a low noise high
information group might be of interest to interested parties).

comp.emulators.apple2: Emulators of the entire Apple // family, such as the
Apple ][, ][+, //e, //c, and IIgs.

comp.emulators.c64: Emulators of the entire Commodore C-64 family, such as
the C-16, C-64, and C-128.

comp.emulators.misc: Emulation of other computer systems.  Emulators which
are not covered elsewhere in the comp.emulators hierarchy should be
discussed here.  Emulation of specific hardware by other hardware in the
same system (such as SoundBlaster card emulation by the Gravis UltraSound
card) belongs elsewhere.


BACKGROUND INFO for RFD

There are a suprisingly large number of emulators.  Just for the IBM PC
they include:

Z80 CP/M (several), 6800 with realtime O/S, CP/M-86, TRS-80 (two), CoCo II,
Amstrad CPC, Sinclair ZX, Spectrum 48/128 (several), Timex Sinclair,
MC68HC11 (at least two), IBM 370, Dragon32/Dragon64/CoCo, Atari 800, Apple
// (at least two), C-64 (three), Macintosh, TI. All these are software
only, there are also some hardware assisted products.

I know there are also several Apple // emulators for Unix and Mac, as
an example of other systems, and the Amiga has many emulators.  On the
comp.sys.ibm.pc.games groups, there have been long and sustained
discussions regarding the C-64 emulators, and I've noticed several emulator
subjects spread out all over Usenet.  I'd like to see this centralized.

I proposed C64 and Apple2 groups be created now because these are the two
machines for which I've seen constant and widespread interest in emulators
on Usenet.  I expect these groups to actually generate quite a bit of
new traffic, as there always seem to be a large number of surprised (and
interested) posters whenever someone mentioned that such emulators exist.

Computer groups are regularly visited by people asking "Is there a emulator
for x?" and then by questions about how to use it and find software.  There
are several emulator ftp sites, but they're sometimes hard to find.
Several of these emulators are in beta stages - such a group would be the
perfect place for announcements of new releases, bugs, or fixes.

An up to date FAQ is crucial for this sort of group - I would try to keep a
comprehensive FAQ (or let some other poor slob do the job), and there might
easily be demand for separate FAQs (such as already exist) about each of
the more popular emulators, such as C64s.

Playing M.U.L.E. again!  Ah, nostalgia.