 BeAppleII
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Version 0.1.0 Alpha
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Submitted by: Wildman
Date Posted:
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Aug-26-2016
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Last Updated:
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Aug-26-2016
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License:
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Free
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Downloads:
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2522
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Page Views:
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2832
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User Rating:
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awaiting votes.. 
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About BeAppleII:
This software emulates an Apple ][+ computer with 2 disk drives, the 16kB language card and a color display. There is also a little joystick emulation and a quite audible speaker.
1.Using Emulator
1.1 Installing.
The emulator requires the following files in the same directory :
-BeAppleII executable
-Apple2.rom : Original Apple computer ROM ( same as AppleWin's)
-character.rom : character generator.
-Some disk image files.
It also uses a "EmulatorAppleII_settings" file in the /home/config/settings directory. Uninstalling can be done by wipping off all these files.
1.2. Why another emulator ?
I know that many briliant emulators are available for the Apple ][ computer, I have also heard of an emulator running on BeBoxes, as well as 'Sweet16'. This one do not pretend being better than others, and was designed as a challenging first BeOS programming exercise. Now I think I could make really new applications. This emulator is NOT a port of any preexisting one.
- No assembly langage ( it is thus quite slow comparing to many others ). It should work fine on PowerPC computers.
- Quite user-friendly.
- Maybe the best speaker emulation.
Well, do I mean that you need a >100MHz processor to emulate a poor old 1MHz 6502... Yes, that's it. A K6/2-300 works fine with 8MHz emulation.
1.3. Disk Drives
As the original Apple ][ 5 1/4 disks uses a uncommon format, they cannot be read by any conventionnal floppy disk controller as in P.C., Atari, Amiga, ... Disks are converted to disks images which are stored on the hard drive. This emulator can read 2 kinds of disk images :
DSK : Standard DOS 3.3 disk images :
256bytes*16sectors*35tracks=143360bytes
NIB : Low level formatting, used for copy-protected software
6656bytes*35tracks=232960bytes (Note : 4µs/bit, 300rpm -> 5turns/second -> 50000 bits / track 'theorical')
You select disk images using the Drive buttons. All the selected images are placed in the menu button under. You can also drag & drop files to the screen view ; the dropped files will appear in the Drive 1 slot.
FOR NOW, THERE IS NO DISK PROTECTION DETECTION. NOTHING PREVENTS THE EMULATOR FROM CLOBBERING YOUR IMAGE FILES. COPY ALL YOUR DISK IMAGES BEFORE FEEDING THEM TO THIS EMULATOR ( I never had any problem, but now, you are warned ).
Nothing prevents you from selecting another disk image while the disk drive is running. Like any "real" computer, it can produce impredictable results, including the alteration of both disk images.
The disk image files are not locked : They are read to memory when you select them and updated ( when necessary ) when you close or select another one.
How can I create a fresh new disk image ? To create a new DOS order disk, copy an existing one ( like 'sample.dsk' in the archive ) to a new file and type 'INIT HELLO', Apple][ users may remind this.
1.4. Freezer
There is a freeze/unfreeze state option which saves into a file the exact state of the emulated CPU ( memory, registers, graphic modes ... ). Only the currently selected disk image and the name of the disk images are archived, not all the disk images, take care of keeping them at the same place. That feature can be very useful for saving games at any moment.
1.5. Keyboard
Added to standard Apple ][ keys you can use :
Alt-R : Warm Reset, like pressing the Reset key.
Alt-I : Initialise : Like switching off then on the computer
So, pressing Reset stops programs, whereas Init clears memory and everything else.
F5/F6 : Navigate through selected disk images, Drive 1
F7/F8 : Navigate through selected disk images, Drive 2
Unlike many other emulators, this one does not remap characters, it should work fine on non-qwerty keyboards but some games uses the position of keys as reference ( like A to go up and Z to go down ), you may need to remap your keyboard to qwerty ( Keymap preference panel ) for better ergonomy. ( 'till next version ? )
1.6 : Configuration
CPU Speed : Just try to guess.
Display : Select the display model : Even ugly amber ! The colors are ajusted upon a PAL Apple //e computer.
Joystick : Moving the mouse onto the screen window moves the emulated joystick. The original joystick interface uses a monostable multivibrator to measure the joystick position. You can choose to trim the delay associated to the full range positon or to use the number of times the Joystick IO adress is accessed to determine the position. If the emulated cursor moves far from your mouse's pointer, try first to toggle this radiobutton before tuning the associated value.
Turbodisk : Speeds up drive acceses by artificially decreasing the CPU cycle count. As the speed regulator uses that count, the emulation goes faster for a while but the computer is more busy as the instructions are still emulated. Turbodisk may also alter the sound played just after a disk access. (There is no sound during disk accesses )
1.7 : Licencing
You can use and distribute this software freely.
I don't know ( and don't want to know ) whether you have the right to use the AppleII firmware ROMs if you don't posess a real Apple ][ computer ( Personally, I have 5, I think it's enough ). I don't know ( and .. .. know ) either you can legally use or not the disk images that can be found on the Internet. That software is distributed with the AppleII+ ROMs, because they can be easily found on the Internet, because they are included with many other emulators and because you may not posess an EPROM reader to extract the binary code from your genuine AppleII. IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU CAN USE IT !!!
Again, repeat afte
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Details about this version:
(no information provided)
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Intel (BeOS 5) + Source (189.4K)
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