NES plugin - a proposal

[LambdaCalculus]

Took a look at the TuxNES source last night... you were right, ComposerDude. It's nice and lightweight, so porting it over should be easier. FCE Ultra practically looks like a damn encyclopedia in comparison.

The only thing we may have to improve upon in TuxNES would have to be its mapper support. I'm going to do a little more research in that area to see what I can come up with.

[ComposerDude]

Thanks, LambdaCalculus379, I really appreciate it! Seeing as how it hasn't been touched since 2001, mapper support hasn't really matured as it has in active projects. I've been spending more time familiarizing myself with NES architecture, since that is something I want to be strong in the plugin.

Believe it or not, I would like to see this project have strong emulation and find the best way possible to go about doing it. Rockboy has alot on the idea already, and I think that as we figure this out we may want to come as close as we can in many respects to Rockboy's code. that way, if there are improvements to how TuxNES handles on the firmware, we could possibly patch Rockboy too.

Especially with all the buzz that's been going around because of speed issues and whatnot.
Til then, hang ten,
ComposerDude

[LambdaCalculus]

Anytime, dude!  

I was thinking... want to at least get a wiki page up and running so we can document our findings?

[ComposerDude]

Sorry, I'm tired, and at work (not a good combination! ), but what shall we label it? I'll make it after I get off work.

Yes, it would be a great idea.
ComposerDude

[LambdaCalculus]

Hmmm... good question! I figure since there's Rockboy and RockDoom, we can just keep with the pattern and call the plugin RockNES or something similar.

I'm going to go and get some mapper info during the weekend if I have a little time. I was thinking of looking up information about the Famicom Disk System (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famicom_Disk_System) as well, but at the same time, I don't know if the FDS would be a feasable choice to add to the emulator due to a couple of technical reasons.

Just for the record, my coding skills are still building. I'm pretty good with scripting, but I'm still trying to take in C. So for now, I'm going to do my part by helping to gather any and all information I can.
(Funny how I can learn LISP faster than C...  )

Let me know when you get the initial wiki page up, ComposerDude!

[brarei200]

So is this going to be abel to run of 5g apple ipods

[Llorean]

It's hard to say what the performance requirements are going to be when it's not running on anything yet.

[LambdaCalculus]

We haven't even written one line of code and have absolutely no idea how the performance will be. I mean, for Eris's sake, we haven't even gotten the wiki page up yet!

Right now, ComposerDude and I are trying to focus on gathering information and documents... NOTHING ELSE YET. This is Step 1: "Gather Information". A plugin being worked on by a couple of guys who have minimal to moderate knowledge of C will be guaranteed to have a few roadblocks while we learn.

To repeat: PLEASE DO NOT ASK FOR PROGRESS INFO! We're just getting our notes together and we're waiting for the pot of coffee to finish brewing!

[Llorean]

I'd recommend simply calling the plugin TuxNES rather than RockNES. As a way to give original credit (it's nice to do so.) You'll notice that technically the Doom plugin is simply called "Doom". All these "RockBlah" just makes the list more confusing as a large cluster of things are hidden among the Rs. It *might* even be better to call it NES, though I don't know.

[LambdaCalculus]

I'd recommend simply calling the plugin TuxNES rather than RockNES. As a way to give original credit (it's nice to do so.)

As a Free Software advocate, I agree. We should keep the name as TuxNES.

Richard Stallman would be so proud of you, man.  

[ComposerDude]

So, yeah. There's already a RockNES out there, anyways.

Besides... Llorean is right... and RockNES is a windows thing...

Windows on Rockbox again. No way are we ever doing that!

PluginTuxNES... Gathering information for the future of amateur C programming!

I'm full of it.
ComposerDude, out.

[LambdaCalculus]

D'oh! I forgot that there was another RockNES out there! And it's for Windows... YUCK!

Now I see what Llorean meant. And it's settled: TuxNES it is!

[Llorean]

Honestly, I just meant that I'm tired of RockBlah and BlahBox named plugins.

If there's ever a cleanup for putting them in folders, or even if there's ever simply a cleanup, I'm going to push to have them renamed (or simply rename them, and weather any flames that come my way).

[LambdaCalculus]

Honestly, I just meant that I'm tired of RockBlah and BlahBox named plugins.

Dude, you don't have to worry about it. It's understandable.

It was also when ComposerDude pointed out that there already is another emulator named RockNES out there, that I realized that calling this one RockNES will just cause mass confusion. At least using TuxNES is far less confusing.

Besides, it's named for a cute penguin; what couldn't be cooler?  

I think you're doing one hell of a job here on the forums, Llorean. Keep on Rocking!

[Llorean]

I'm pretty sure I have at least a 51% approval rating still. I know there are a few people who think I'm a bit overzealous. It's really tempting to run a poll and find out, but that would be off topic.

As to the plugin, have you contacted the TuxNES authors? I know they haven't maintained it in a while, but they might be able to point you at areas of interest (performance bogs, etc) that might help you concentrate on important bits during porting.