Re: Apple II emulator for GS/OS

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Supertimer writes ...
> 
> I'm wondering about the feasability of the title of this post.
> Since the IIGS has a 65C02 compatible processor, it
> would not be a full emulator, but you get the picture.  I'm
> wondering if it is possible to write a GS/OS program that
> will read in the .dsk images used by emulators that run
> on Macs and Win/DOS PCs and run them without having
> to launch out of GS/OS and into ProDOS 8.  Perhaps
> even do it in a black and white window on the IIGS
> desktop.
> 
> Actually, I'm probably asking two questions:
> 
> 1) Will it be possible to write such a IIe emulator for the
>    Apple IIGS that runs under GS/OS.
> 2) If that is not feasable, what about a II+ or IIe emulator
>    limited to 64k and DOS 3.3?
> 
 ....

     It is probably not necessary that an emulator run _under_ GS/OS-- like,
what does a IIe, //c, etc. care about GS/OS anyway? It could be launched from
GS/OS (or ProDOS 8) and start GS/OS (or whatever) upon exit.

     A challenge in running dsks under any emu on the GS is preventing damage
to hard disk, Zip disk, etc. files. Just running ProDOS dsks is no good because
most dsks are DOS 3.3, a speeded DOS 3.3, or some semi-deprotected weird DOS.
The required checking would take a chunk out of your speed.

     On the other hand, there are a number of non-emu ways to improve the
handling of dsk files. One is an application which speeds up and simplifies the
transfer of dsk(s) to diskette(s) and the booting of Slot 6 software. Total
time to get a 2-dsk game going would be less than 2 minutes.

     An improvement on the above is a plug-in card with space for 5-6 140k
RAMdisks with an external connector to insert between the 3.5" and 5.25"
drives. Basically, at any given time, you swap in a couple of RAMdisks for your
5.25" drives and everything goes much more quickly.



Rubywand