Official software uploaded: Commander X16 Emulator (Win/Mac/Linux)

TomXP411 · Post by **TomXP411** » Fri May 28, 2021 5:28 pm

1 hour ago, StephenHorn said:

Oh, believe me, I'm well aware of the github repo, I've been one of the more active contributors. ? But there is no release tag for r39, because r39 is not released yet. It is nice, however, that the current head revisions of the emulator and ROM work together at the moment, and that they currently preview the next revision of the hardware that will be in r39.

But if I were to, say, upload a new program for r39 right now, then relatively few people would be able to run it, and in particular it would not work under the "Try It Now" feature.

I don't compile the Windows binary on Linux, personally. I actually have my own VS2019 solution setup, with some additional source files to handle the platform compatibility differences between the cross-compiling environment of the official build and a native Windows environment. It sounds like one of the folks on the unofficial Discord server has recently rolled their own CMake script as well for compiling on Windows.

This is a huge problem, and we need to get past this - because no one can develop against R39 if they don't have R39, and developing against an obsolete R38 is problematic.

This is an especially big deal for people making tools, such as compilers.

Here's the Windows version (as uploaded over in this thread)

https://www.commanderx16.com/forum/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=1154

JimmyDansbo · Post by **JimmyDansbo** » Fri May 28, 2021 5:45 pm

1 hour ago, Elektron72 said:

make WIN_SDL2=/opt/local/i686-w64-mingw32/ MINGW32=/usr/i686-w64-mingw32/ CROSS_COMPILE_WINDOWS=1

I actually had to copy the i686-w64-mingw32 directory to /opt/local/

Even when I provided a different path to WIN_SDL2, it still tried to find the files in /opt/local/i686-w64-mingw32

Thanks for your help ?

MarkJC67 · Post by **MarkJC67** » Thu Apr 21, 2022 6:06 pm

Which software downloads don't work with the r39 version of the emulator? I can't run two programs it says "CUSTOM KERNEL DETECTED USE AT OWN RISK!" AND "PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE" When I do that it just hangs??? Is this how it is expected to behave with the new version as it is incompatible with the programs people have coded previously??? I don't see how I can download the old kernel from github I am sure I am just dim! where is the zip file? Thanks

MarkJC67 · Post by **MarkJC67** » Thu Apr 21, 2022 6:20 pm

Which software downloads don't work with the r39 version of the emulator? I can't run two programs it says "CUSTOM KERNEL DETECTED USE AT OWN RISK!" AND "PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE" When I do that it just hangs??? Is this how it is expected to behave with the new version as it is incompatible with the programs people have coded previously??? I don't see how I can download the old kernel from github I am sure I am just dim! where is the zip file? Thanks

10 mins later:...

I have my previous zip downloaded from a month ago and I have installed that and the programs work fine. I guess you are all working on improving the new kernel.. I think the r38 version should still be used until backward compatibility can be achieved as the software that users download should work on the emulator that they have just download . Thanks for all you work.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » Thu Apr 21, 2022 8:05 pm

On 4/21/2022 at 2:20 PM, MarkJC67 said:

Which software downloads don't work with the r39 version of the emulator? I can't run two programs it says "CUSTOM KERNEL DETECTED USE AT OWN RISK!" AND "PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE" When I do that it just hangs??? Is this how it is expected to behave with the new version as it is incompatible with the programs people have coded previously??? I don't see how I can download the old kernel from github I am sure I am just dim! where is the zip file? Thanks

10 mins later:...

I have my previous zip downloaded from a month ago and I have installed that and the programs work fine. I guess you are all working on improving the new kernel.. I think the r38 version should still be used until backward compatibility can be achieved as the software that users download should work on the emulator that they have just download . Thanks for all you work.

The onus is on the authors of the software to update their software to be compatible with the newest kernal/emulator, not the other way around. It's in active development right now, so it's expected for things to be broken for a while. Eventually things will stabilize again, but for any developers that are now inactive, their stuff will probably not work unless/until they come back. I agree though that maybe the site should put into a separate section any software that's not updated for the newest version, or at least put some message that it's out of date, just so it's clear to users that this software might not work on the newest version. This could probably be done automatically (authors select the version of the kernal they support when they upload it, and when the newest version changes their stuff is automatically marked as out of date until they update it). Similar to how browser extensions work maybe.

Edmond D · Post by **Edmond D** » Thu Apr 21, 2022 8:10 pm

On 4/21/2022 at 11:20 AM, MarkJC67 said:

I think the r38 version should still be used until backward compatibility can be achieved as the software that users download should work on the emulator that they have just download . Thanks for all you work.

I'm not sure that backwards compatibility is warranted. It presents a lot of problems. How would the emulator know which ROM to load after it starts? How would the program know to request a specific version of the ROM? It invites a mess of issues which just makes the emulator more complex.

The final physical shipping product won't have backward compatibility with older ROMs, so the emulator shouldn't need to have it either. Most programs might need to need to be updated when the X16 ships; my assumption is that developers will transition their programs that they feel are valuable to the shipping platform rather quickly.

As you've discovered, older version of the emulator works. Making older compiled versions of the emulator available for download with clear instructions on how to run them side by side would be useful to those who want to do so. Also marking the current uploaded programs with what version of the emulator will help too.

That being said, my hope is that there is a minimal amount of work done as the platform evolves to keep programs and the emulator all working together in whatever versions. Rather, I'd like to see the effort go into the physical shipping of a release product.

kelli217 · Post by **kelli217** » Thu Apr 21, 2022 8:33 pm

I'd like to hear that there are enough parts available for there to be any such physical shipping.

Edmond D · Post by **Edmond D** » Thu Apr 21, 2022 10:26 pm

On 4/21/2022 at 1:33 PM, kelli217 said:

I'd like to hear that there are enough parts available for there to be any such physical shipping.

I assume everyone else would like to hear that too, and the sooner the better. ? I'm content to "camp out" and use the emulator until that happens.

AndyMt · Post by **AndyMt** » Fri Apr 22, 2022 2:46 pm

On 4/21/2022 at 8:06 PM, MarkJC67 said:

Which software downloads don't work with the r39 version of the emulator? I can't run two programs it says "CUSTOM KERNEL DETECTED USE AT OWN RISK!" AND "PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE" When I do that it just hangs??? Is

This must be my games Brixx and Invaderz, as that's the exact message I've implemented. I think I've stated in the download area they are only compatible with r37 or r38. Sorry for that. But I'm on it to make them compatible with r39.

I'd just like to provide both versions, so that "Try now" still works (which is still r38) as well as with r39 (to run on a local install). I'm not sure how to achieve this in the download section.

MarkJC67 · Post by **MarkJC67** » Fri Apr 22, 2022 4:09 pm

Thanks. I downloaded the newer emulator without checking and after I figured out what was wrong re-installed the old version on my computer. I don't currently know enough about the kernel and the changes that have been made between versions I assume they are important and the software will eventually be updated, as required. Its good to know that the project is on going and will one day be available to physically buy. I also think that older versions of the emulator should be made available on your site rather than being sent to github which is very confusing.